First Apology 22 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 46–48

Υἱὸς δὲ θεοῦ, ὁ Ἰησοῦς λεγόμενος, εἰ καὶ κοινῶς μόνον ἄνθρωπος, διὰ σοφίαν ἄξιος υἱὸς θεοῦ λέγεσθαι· πατέρα γὰρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε πάντες συγγραφεῖς τὸν θεὸν καλοῦσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἰδίως, παρὰ τὴν κοινὴν γένεσιν, γεγεννῆσθαι αὐτὸν ἐκ θεοῦ λέγομεν λόγον θεοῦ, ὡς προέφημεν, κοινὸν τοῦτο ἔστω ὑμῖν τοῖς τὸν Ἑρμῆν λόγον τὸν παρὰ θεοῦ ἀγγελτικὸν λέγουσιν. Εἰ δὲ αἰτιάσαιτό τις ἐσταυρῶσθαι αὐτόν, καὶ τοῦτο κοινὸν τοῖς προκατηριθμημένοις παθοῦσιν υἱοῖς καθʼ ὑμᾶς τοῦ Διὸς ὑπάρχει. Ἐκείνων τε γὰρ οὐχ ὅμοια τὰ πάθη τοῦ θανάτου ἀλλὰ διάφορα ἱστορεῖται· ὥστε μηδὲ τὸ ἴδιον τοῦ πάθους ἥττονα δοκεῖν εἶναι τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ, ὡς ὑπεσχόμεθα, προϊόντος τοῦ λόγου καὶ κρείττονα ἀποδείξομεν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀποδέδεικται· ὁ γὰρ κρείττων ἐκ τῶν πράξεων φαίνεται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ διὰ παρθένου γεγεννῆσθαι φέρομεν, κοινὸν καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν Περσέα ἔστω ὑμῖν. Ὧι δὲ λέγομεν χωλοὺς καὶ παραλυτικοὺς καὶ ἐκ γενετῆς πονηροὺς ὑγιεῖς πεποιηκέναι αὐτὸν καὶ νεκροὺς ἀνεγεῖραι, ὅμοια τοῖς ὑπὸ Ἀσκληπιοῦ γεγενῆσθαι λεγομένοις καὶ ταῦτα φάσκειν δόξομεν.

English · Claude translation

And the Son of God, called Jesus, even if he were only a man in the ordinary way, would be worthy to be called Son of God because of his wisdom; for all writers call God the father of men and gods. And if we say that he was born of God in a special way, beyond ordinary birth, as the Word of God, as we said before, let this be something in common with you who say that Hermes is the word that brings messages from God. And if anyone objects that he was crucified, this too is in common with the sons of Zeus you count, who suffered. For their sufferings in death are recorded as not alike but different; so that he does not seem inferior because of the particular kind of his suffering; but, as we promised, we will show as the argument proceeds that he is even superior, or rather it has been shown; for the superior is shown by his deeds. And if we say that he was born of a virgin, let this too be in common with you and Perseus. And when we say that he made the lame and paralyzed and those blind from birth well, and raised the dead, we shall seem to say things like those said to have been done by Asclepius.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 46–48 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 8–114 · Greek text: G. Rauschen, S. Iustini Apologiae duae (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Rauschen (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Christology

Notes

Translation notes

“Those blind from birth” (ἐκ γενετῆς πονηρούς): literally “born defective”; the sense is probably those disabled or blind from birth.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (missing breathing)): ὁ Ιησοῦς λεγόμενος → ὁ Ἰησοῦς λεγόμενος.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/22/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/22/).