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Authorship, Date, and Context
The First Apology was composed in Greek by the Christian philosopher and martyr Justin of Flavia Neapolis (ancient Shechem in Samaria). The work is formally addressed to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, to his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius (the Philosopher) and Lucius Verus, to the sacred Senate, and to the entire Roman populace.
Patristic scholarship predominantly dates the treatise between 150 and 155 CE based on internal evidence: Justin explicitly records that 150 years had elapsed since the birth of Christ, mentions the widespread dissemination of Marcion's teaching, and names Munatius Felix as prefect of Egypt (an official attested in Oxyrhynchus papyri between 151 and 154 CE).
Structure
The treatise spans 67 chapters (often preserved with a supplementary chapter 68 containing Hadrian's imperial rescript to Minucius Fundanus), neatly arranged into three overarching thematic divisions.
The opening section (chapters 1 to 12) establishes an exordium demanding judicial impartiality and refuting popular libels regarding Christian atheism, treason, and immoral feasts. The second and central division (chapters 13 to 60) presents Christian theology and ethics, highlighting the Incarnation of the divine Logos, Christ's moral precepts, an extensive apologetic demonstration drawn from Old Testament messianic prophecies, and a polemic against pagan idolatry interpreted as demonic imitation. The closing section (chapters 61 to 67) delivers a detailed firsthand account of primitive liturgical life: baptismal regeneration, the Eucharistic liturgy, and the Sunday weekly assembly.
Themes and Key Passages
Prominent theological motifs include the seminal Word (Logos Spermatikos), wherein partial truths grasped by Greek philosophers find fulfillment in Christ; the moral purity of the Christian community (chastity, almsgiving, non-violence, and civic obedience); and the earliest surviving systematic liturgical witness to baptism and the Eucharist in ante-Nicene history.
In chapter two, affirming the moral innocence of believers before the imperial tribunal, Justin writes: "For as for us, we reckon that no evil can be done us, unless we be convicted as evil-doers or be proved to be wicked men; and you, you can kill, but not hurt us."
Summary by Parts
Judicial Plea and Rebuttal of Calumnies (chapters 1-12): Justin insists that believers be investigated for actual misconduct rather than persecuted merely for bearing a name; Christians worship the one Creator, pay imperial taxes conscientiously, and await an eternal divine realm rather than a mortal, political kingdom.
The Mystery of the Logos and Prophetic Verification (chapters 13-60): Justin expounds how Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son and Reason of God, contrasting bloodless prayer and thanksgiving with sacrificial idolatry; he methodically cites Hebrew prophecy to prove the virgin birth, miraculous healings, crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, and the calling of the Gentiles.
Sacramental Rites and the Sunday Assembly (chapters 61-67): Justin explains Christian baptism in water with the Trinitarian invocation as regeneration and illumination; he chronicles the prayers of the faithful, the kiss of peace, and the Eucharistic consecration of bread, wine, and water distributed by deacons; he describes the Sunday gathering featuring the public reading of the memoirs of the apostles and the prophets, followed by the presider's exhortation and voluntary charity for the needy.
Reception
The First Apology exerted a profound formative impact on subsequent Christian thought, cited and utilized by Tatian, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, and Eusebius of Caesarea in Church History (IV, 18). Its sacramental chapters remain premier documentary landmarks for historians reconstructing the second-century Christian liturgy.
The Greek text survives almost exclusively through Codex Parisinus graecus 450 (dated to 1364), from which the sixteenth-century Codex Claromontanus 82 was copied. Modern critical editions originate with Robert Estienne (Paris, 1551), the Maurist edition of Dom Prudent Maran (1742), J. C. T. von Otto's Corpus Apologetarum (1876), and the 1885 English version included in the Ante-Nicene Fathers series.
Sources
- Jules Lebreton, St. Justin Martyr (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8) (1910).
- Alexander Roberts; James Donaldson, The First Apology (St. Justin Martyr) (1885).