Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Peter Kirby wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:38 pm
Luke 3:22 textual variant (this day have I begotten Thee) // Trypho 103
Luke 3:23 (about 30) // Trypho 88
Luke 3:38 (descent of Mary) // Trypho 100
Luke 22:44 (bloody sweat) // Trypho 103
Luke 24:27 (beginning with Moses and all the Prophets) // Trypho 50 [typo for 1 Apology 50]
Luke 24:32 (see that it is I) // On the Resurrection (?), fragment 9
I also read a bit on this, and there seems little question that the fragments "On the Resurrection" didn't come from Justin.
What remains:

1-2.

Luke 3.21-22: 21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; today I have begotten You [Bezae ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε, Vaticanus ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα, in You I am well pleased].”

Luke 22.39-46: 39 And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. 40 Now when He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you do not come into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” [43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.] 45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you do not come into temptation.”

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 103.6-8: 6 “For this Devil, when he went up from the river Jordan at the time when the voice spoke to Him, ‘You are my Son; today have I begotten You’ (= Luke 3.22 Bezae), is recorded in the Memorabilia of the apostles to have come to Him and tempted Him, even so far as to say to Him, ‘Worship me,’ and Christ answered him, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve’ (= Matthew 4.8-10; Luke 4.5-8). For, as he had deceived Adam, so he hoped that he might contrive some mischief against Christ also. 7 Moreover, the statement, ‘All my bones are poured out and dispersed like water; my heart has become like wax, melting in the midst of my belly’ (= Psalm 22.14), was a prediction of that which happened to Him on that night when men came out against Him to the Mount of Olives to seize Him. 8 For in the Memorabilia which I say were drawn up by His apostles and those who followed them, (it is recorded) that His sweat fell down like drops of blood while He was praying (= Luke 22.43-44) and saying, ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass’ (= Luke 22.42), His heart and also His bones trembling, His heart being like wax melting in His belly in order that we may perceive that the Father wished His Son really to undergo such sufferings for our sakes, and may not say that He, being the Son of God, did not feel what was happening to Him and inflicted on Him.” / 6 «Καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ὁ διάβολος ἅμα τῷ ἀναβῆναι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῷ λεχθείσης, ‹Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε,› ἐν τοῖς ἀπομνημονεύμασι τῶν ἀποστόλων γέγραπται προσελθὼν αὐτῷ καὶ πειράζων μέχρι τοῦ εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ, ‹Προσκύνησόν μοι,› καὶ ἀποκρίνασθαι αὐτῷ τὸν Χριστόν, ‹Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ. κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις.› ὡς γὰρ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐπλάνησεν, ἔλεγε καὶ τοῦτον δυνηθῆναι ἐργάσασθαί τι. 7 καὶ τὸ, Ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθη καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου, ἐγενήθη ἡ καρδία μου ὡσεὶ κηρὸς τηκόμενος ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου, ὅπερ γέγονεν αὐτῷ ἐκείνης τῆς νυκτός, ὅτε ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν συλλαβεῖν αὐτόν, προαγγελία ἦν. 8 ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἀπομνημονεύμασιν, ἅ φημι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐκείνοις παρακολουθησάντων συντετάχθαι, γέγραπται ὅτι ἱδρὼς ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι κατεχεῖτο, αὐτοῦ εὐχομένου καὶ λέγοντος, ‹Παρελθέτω, εἰ δυνατόν, τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο,› ἐντρόμου τῆς καρδίας δῆλον ὅτι οὔσης καὶ τῶν ὀστῶν ὁμοίως καὶ ἐοικυίας τῆς καρδίας κηρῷ τηκομένῳ εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν, ὅπως εἰδῶμεν ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν καὶ ἐν τοιούτοις πάθεσιν ἀληθῶς γεγονέναι δι' ἡμᾶς βεβούληται, καὶ μὴ λέγωμεν ὅτι ἐκεῖνος, τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς ὤν, οὐκ ἀντελαμβάνετο τῶν γινομένων καὶ συμβαινόντων αὐτῷ.

3.

Luke 3.23: 23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years old, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli....

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 88.2: 2 For even at His birth He was in possession of His power; and as He grew up like all other men, by using the fitting means, He assigned its own to each development, and was sustained by all kinds of nourishment, and waited for thirty years, more or less, until John appeared before Him as the herald of His approach, and preceded Him in the way of baptism, as I have already shown. / 2 καὶ γὰρ γεννηθεὶς δύναμιν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἔσχε· καὶ αὐξάνων κατὰ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων, χρώμενος τοῖς ἁρμόζουσιν, ἑκάστῃ αὐξήσει τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀπένειμε, τρεφόμενος τὰς πάσας τροφάς, καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη ἢ πλείονα ἢ καὶ ἐλάσσονα μείνας, μέχρις οὗ προελήλυθεν Ἰωάννης κῆρυξ αὐτοῦ τῆς παρουσίας καὶ τὴν τοῦ βαπτίσματος ὁδὸν προϊών, ὡς καὶ προαπέδειξα.

4.

Luke 24.27, 45-49: 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures. .... 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 50.12: 12 Accordingly, after He was crucified, even all His acquaintances forsook Him, having denied Him; and afterward, when He had risen from the dead and appeared to them, and had taught them to read the prophecies in which all these things were foretold as coming to pass, and when they had seen Him ascending into heaven and had believed, and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to every race of men, they taught these things, and were called apostles. / 12 μετὰ οὖν τὸ σταυρωθῆναι αὐτὸν καὶ οἱ γνώριμοι αὐτοῦ πάντες ἀπέστησαν, ἀρνησάμενοι αὐτόν· ὕστερον δέ, ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντος καὶ ὀφθέντος αὐτοῖς καὶ ταῖς προφητείαις ἐντυχεῖν, ἐν αἷς πάντα ταῦτα προείρητο γενησόμενα, διδάξαντος, καὶ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνερχόμενον ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες καὶ δύναμιν ἐκεῖθεν αὐτοῖς πεμφθεῖσαν παρ’ αὐτοῦ λαβόντες καὶ εἰς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων ἐλθόντες, ταῦτα ἐδίδαξαν καὶ ἀπόστολοι προσηγορεύθησαν.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 106.1: 1 “The remainder of the Psalm makes it manifest that He knew His Father would grant to Him all things which He asked, and would raise Him from the dead; and that He urged all who fear God to praise Him because He had compassion on all races of believing men, through the mystery of Him who was crucified; and that He stood in the midst of His brethren the apostles — who repented of their flight from Him when He was crucified, after He rose from the dead, and after they were persuaded by Himself that, before His passion He had mentioned to them that He must suffer these things, and that they were announced beforehand by the prophets — and when living with them sang hymns to God, as is made evident in the Memorabilia of the apostles.” / 1 «Καὶ ὅτι ἠπίστατο τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ πάντα παρέχειν αὐτῷ, ὡς ἠξίου, καὶ ἀνεγερεῖν αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς φοβουμένους τὸν θεὸν προέτρεπεν αἰνεῖν τὸν θεὸν διὰ τὸ ἐλεῆσαι καὶ διὰ τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ σταυρωθέντος τούτου πᾶν γένος τῶν πιστευόντων ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ὅτι ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ ἔστη, τῶν ἀποστόλων, οἵτινες, μετὰ τὸ ἀναστῆναι αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ πεισθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ταῦτα αὐτὸν δεῖ παθεῖν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν ὅτι προεκεκήρυκτο ταῦτα, μετενόησαν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀφίστασθαι αὐτοῦ ὅτε ἐσταυρώθη, καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν διάγων ὕμνησε τὸν θεόν, ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπομνημονεύμασι τῶν ἀποστόλων δηλοῦται γεγενημένον, τὰ λείποντα τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ἐδήλωσεν.»

I have added both Luke 24.45-49 and Dialogue 106.1 for extra context on that last one, since both of these sections in Justin Martyr kind of comes off as a sort of summary of the last chapter of Luke and/or the first chapter of Acts. It is at least interesting that Justin (twice) claims that Jesus' acquaintances forsook him after the crucifixion; in the gospels they are hightailing it before the trial. And Justin also claims that the risen Jesus sang hymns to God with the apostles, a detail not found in any gospel of which I am aware (they do sing a hymn after the Last Supper, on the way to Gethsemane).
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

I have to admit, I remain baffled by important aspects of Luke-Acts. Other gospels and acts have textual issues, obviously, some of them pretty obvious (the endings of Mark, the pericope de adultera in John), but Luke-Acts seems to have more than its fair share of issues spread across multiple chapters: (A) the so called Western noninterpolations affect Luke more than any other gospel text, (B) key liturgical moments seem especially affected by textual issues, such as the baptism of Jesus and the words of the Last Supper, and (C) the Western text of Acts has been called its own edition of that book, so extensive are the additions and alterations.

While Justin seems to be summarizing the last chapter of Luke, he claims to be reading a text in which the risen Jesus sings hymns with the apostles, yet no such thing is found in our text of Luke (or in any other extant gospel text) after the crucifixion. After the ascension, to be sure, the apostles return to Jerusalem "with great joy" in Luke 24.52, but Justin's precise claim is that Jesus, while still living with them, sang hymns.

Irenaeus does something similar with regard to Acts at one point:

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.14.1: But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow laborer in the gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself. For he says that when Barnabas and John who was called Mark had parted company from Paul and sailed to Cyprus (= Acts 15.39), “we came to Troas” [nos venimus in Troadem]; and when Paul had beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, “Come into Macedonia, Paul, and help us” (= Acts 16.9), “immediately,” he says, “we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, understanding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them” (= Acts 16.10).

Acts 16.6-10: 6 They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 and passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

He quotes the "we" section of Acts as beginning a couple of verses before it actually begins in our extant manuscripts of Acts.

And then there is Tertullian in Against Marcion 4.19.10 associating the birth of Jesus with a census taken in Judea by Sentius Saturninus, whereas Luke 2.2 clearly states Quirinius, not Saturninus.

I have no hard statistics on this matter, and of course I know that the church fathers make mistakes, but there just seems to be this potent combination of high textual variability in Luke-Acts with strange misquotations of Luke-Acts.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by hakeem »

Ben C. Smith wrote: I have added both Luke 24.45-49 and Dialogue 106.1 for extra context on that last one, since both of these sections in Justin Martyr kind of comes off as a sort of summary of the last chapter of Luke and/or the first chapter of Acts. It is at least interesting that Justin (twice) claims that Jesus' acquaintances forsook him after the crucifixion; in the gospels they are hightailing it before the trial. And Justin also claims that the risen Jesus sang hymns to God with the apostles, a detail not found in any gospel of which I am aware (they do sing a hymn after the Last Supper, on the way to Gethsemane).
It is clear that Justin is not quoting or paraphrasing gLuke or Acts of the Apostle since he claimed all the acquaintances of Jesus not only forsook him but they all denied him after he was crucified. In the Gospels only Peter denied knowing Jesus and the event supposedly happened before he was crucified.

But, most significantly he repeats that it was the apostle who preached the Gospel to every race of men which is in direct contradiction to Acts of the Apostles.

Justin's First Apology 50
Accordingly, after He was crucified, even all His acquaintances forsook Him, having denied Him; and afterwards, when He had risen from the dead and appeared to them, and had taught them to read the prophecies in which all these things were foretold as coming to pass, and when they had seen Him ascending into heaven, and had believed, and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to every race of men, they taught these things, and were called apostles.

It is most fascinating that even though Justin identified the Memoirs of the Apostles as his source for his stories of Jesus and mentioned events that are not in the NT Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles that there are unrelenting attempts to make it appear that he was using NT Gospels, Acts and the Epistles.

Justin is not a witness of gLuke, Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline Epistles, nor of Marcion's Apostolikon, Evangelium and Antithesis. Those writings did not exist in his time.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Secret Alias »

Sitting in a car lineup at Starbucks I think of you look at the Epistle of the Apostles there is the same singing ending to the Gospel (from memory).
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Secret Alias »

And there came voices of many angels, rejoicing and singing praises and saying: Gather us, O Priest, unto the light of the majesty. And when they drew nigh unto the firmament, we heard his voice saying unto us: Depart hence in peace.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Secret Alias wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:14 am Sitting in a car lineup at Starbucks I think of you look at the Epistle of the Apostles there is the same singing ending to the Gospel (from memory).
Secret Alias wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:17 am And there came voices of many angels, rejoicing and singing praises and saying: Gather us, O Priest, unto the light of the majesty. And when they drew nigh unto the firmament, we heard his voice saying unto us: Depart hence in peace.
Similar, to be sure. But not quite the same as Jesus himself singing. The Epistle of the Apostles is another great example, though, of adding details to gospel stories.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Secret Alias »

Maybe it was an Apocalypse from Egypt. I forget which one. But it uses the Transfiguration and has I think Jesus singing. Amazing what memory remembers and what it forgets as we get on in years.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by hakeem »

The Epistles of the Apostles is also a very good example of what one would expect Justin to write about Saul/Paul if he [Justin] knew Acts of the Apostles and the so-called Pauline Epistles.

The author of the Epistles of the Apostles claimed the resurrected Jesus [before his ascension] did tell the apostles that they would meet Saul/Paul who would preach the Gospel and instruct the people.


The Epistles of the Apostles 31
And behold a man shall meet you, whose name is Saul, which being interpreted is Paul: he is a Jew, circumcised according to the law, and he shall receive my voice from heaven with fear and terror and trembling.

And his eyes shall be blinded, and by your hands by the sign of the cross shall they be protected (healed: other Eth. MSS. with spittle by your hands shall his eyes, &c.).

Do ye unto him all that I have done unto you. Deliver it (? the word of God) unto the other. And at the same time that man shall open his eyes and praise the Lord, even my Father which is in heaven.

He shall obtain power among the people and shall preach and instruct; and many that hear him shall obtain glory and be redeemed.

But thereafter shall men be wroth with him and deliver him into the hands of his enemies, and he shall bear witness before kings that are mortal, and his end shall be that he shall turn unto me, whereas he persecuted me at the first. He shall preach and teach and abide with the elect, as a chosen vessel and a wall that shall not be overthrown, yea, the last of the last shall become a preacher unto the Gentiles, made perfect by the will of my Father.

Saul/Paul appears to be the most significant early evangelist in the NT so it is implausible that Justin could have forgotten to have mentioned him while having knowledge of Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline Epistles and his Churches.
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by mbuckley3 »

As a supplementary to this diversion, note that Hebrews 2.12 has the (by implication) resurrected 'Jesus' speak through Psalm 22.22 :
'απαγγελώ τό 'όνομά σου τοίς 'αδελφοίς μου,
'εν μέσώ 'εκκλησίας 'υμνήσω σε

(Apologies for the atrocious accenting !)
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Re: Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Luke, and Marcion.

Post by Peter Kirby »

MrMacSon wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:46 pm
Peter Kirby wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:38 pm ... there seems little question that the fragments "On the Resurrection" didn't come from Justin.
  • So, it did come from Justin?
That wasn't a double negative.
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