First Apology 42 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 74–76

Ὅταν δὲ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι ὡς ἤδη γενόμενα λέγῃ, ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις δοξάσαι ἐστίν, ὅπως ἀπολογίαν μὴ παράσχῃ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, καὶ τοῦτο διασαφήσομεν. Τὰ πάντως ἐγνωσμένα γενησόμενα προλέγει ὡς ἤδη γενόμενα· ὅτι δὲ οὕτως δεῖ ἐκδέχεσθαι, ἐνατενίσατε τῷ νοῒ τοῖς λεγομένοις. Δαυῒδ ἔτεσι χιλίοις καὶ πεντακοσίοις πρὶν ἢ Χριστὸν ἄνθρωπον γενόμενον σταυρωθῆναι τὰ προειρημένα ἔφη, καὶ οὐδεὶς τῶν πρὸ ἐκείνου γενομένων σταυρωθεὶς εὐφροσύνην παρέσχε τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν μετʼ ἐκεῖνον. Ὁ καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς σταυρωθεὶς καὶ ἀποθανὼν ἀνέστη, καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἀνελθὼν εἰς οὐρανόν, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς παρʼ αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν ἔθνεσι κηρυχθεῖσιν εὐφροσύνη ἐστὶ προσδοκώντων τὴν κατηγγελμένην ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀφθαρσίαν.

English · Claude translation

And when the prophetic Spirit speaks of things that are to come as though they had already happened, as may be seen in what we have cited, so that it may not give an excuse to readers, we will make this clear too. Things that are certainly known to be going to happen it foretells as though they had already happened; and that it must be understood so, attend closely with your mind to what is said. David said the words cited fifteen hundred years before Christ became man and was crucified, and no one of those who lived before him gave joy to the nations by being crucified, nor any of those after him. But our Jesus Christ, crucified and dead, rose again, and reigned, having ascended into heaven; and in what was proclaimed from him through the apostles among all the nations there is joy for those who expect the incorruption he has announced.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 74–76 · 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, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

“Fifteen hundred years”: Justin's figure is too high; David lived about a thousand years before Christ.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (missing accent); digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (wrong letter)): ὄνθρωπον → ἄνθρωπον; πᾶσιν ἐθνεσι → πᾶσιν ἔθνεσι.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 42 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/42/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 42 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/42/).