Compare Paul’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9:1-23 with Justin’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Chapter XLIII: RESPONSIBILITY ASSERTED
Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologist. Many of his works are no longer surviving, but two dialogues and two apologies remain. His most well known work is the First Apology. The First Apology was written in the mid second century, aimed to provoke the ruling emperor, Antoninus Pius. The First Apology served a dual purpose, to defend Christian philosophy and to encourage fellow Christians. Throughout the First Apology, Justin invoked reason, justice, and Old Testament prophecies to prove the legitimacy of Christianity. For the majority of the First Apology, Justin was able to defend Christianity while remaining entirely biblically sound, but in chapter forty-three, Justin directly contradicted a portion of the Bible.
In Romans chapter nine, Paul discussed God’s supreme authority over the actions of man. Paul stated that the future does not depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:14-16). In Romans 9:11, Paul recalled the story of Jacob and Esau and used it to prove God’s power to predestinate by saying, “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls.” Contrarily, Justin reasons in chapter forty-three of his First Apology that humans do have the power to change their future in this statement; “For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds, which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy of reward or praise did he not of himself choose the good, but were created for this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made.” Romans chapter nine was very clear on the matter of predestination, so it is odd that Justin rejected it so directly.
As already established, Justin explicitly refuted a portion of the Bible. For a Christian writer to do this, the question of motives must be posed. Either Justin himself did not agree with Paul’s thoughts in Romans chapter nine, or he thought that his argument would be better accepted by Antoninus if he switched that position. The latter seems most likely. Justin was desperate for Antoninus to respect Christianity and it’s followers, so desperate that he may have purposely contradicted the Bible. Sadly, Justin would never live to see if his letter made a difference in the world of Christianity because he was martyred for his faith by Marcus Aurelius (Antoninus’ son) in 165.
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