07 — The Logos Theology
Justin’s most original and influential contribution to Christian thought is his theology of the Logos — the divine Word, “another God and Lord” begotten of the Father, through whom God made and governs the world, who appeared to the patriarchs, who scattered “seeds” of truth among all rational beings, and who at last became flesh in Jesus Christ. From this doctrine flows Justin’s bold claim that those who lived by reason before Christ — Socrates, Heraclitus, and others — were in a real sense Christians. These files treat the logos spermatikos, the “seminal Word,” and the Word made flesh.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)
This is the dogmatic core of the collection. Justin took the term Logos — which carried, at once, the biblical “Word of the Lord,” the Johannine Word who was God and became flesh, and the Stoic and Platonic “reason” that orders the cosmos and indwells the mind — and made it the bridge between the gospel and the whole inheritance of Greek wisdom. His doctrine of the logos spermatikos, the “seminal Word” whose seeds are sown in all humanity, let him claim the truth in the philosophers for Christ while accounting for their errors, and his doctrine of the Logos who appeared in the theophanies and became incarnate laid an early foundation for the Church’s later trinitarian and christological dogma. These two files divide the cosmic, pre-incarnate Logos from the Word made flesh, and weigh both the achievement and the criticisms.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Logos Spermatikos | The “seminal Word” (logos spermatikos): how the pre-incarnate Logos sowed seeds of truth among all peoples; the claim that “those who lived with the Logos are Christians” — Socrates, Heraclitus, Abraham; the difference between the seed and the whole; the theology and its later critics. |
| The Word Made Flesh | The Logos as “another God and Lord” begotten of the Father; the Old Testament theophanies as appearances of the Word; the incarnation of the Logos in Jesus Christ; and the place of Justin’s subordinationist Logos-Christology in the road to Nicaea. |
See Also
- Philosophy as the True Faith — the claim on Greek truth the Logos doctrine grounds
- The Debate with Trypho — the “second God” argument from the theophanies
- The First Christian Philosopher — the influence and the critics
- Theosis — the economy of the Word in which the Logos doctrine matures
References
- Justin, First Apology 5, 46; Second Apology 8, 10, 13. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1.
- Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 56–62, 100, 128. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1.
- Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1978.
- Barnard, L. W. Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.