Footnote 430:[ (return) ]
To Justin the name of the Son is the most important; see also Athenag. 10. The Logos had indeed been already called the Son of God by Philo, and Celsus expressly says (Orig., c. Cels. II. 31); "If according to your doctrine the Word is really the Son of God then we agree with you;" but the Apologists are the first to attach the name of Son to the Logos as a proper designation. If, however, the Logos is intrinsically the Son of God, then Christ is the Son of God, not because he is the begotten of God in the flesh (early Christian), but because the spiritual being existing in him is the antemundane reproduction of God (see Justin, Apol. II. 6: 'ο 'υιος του πατρος και Θεου, 'ο μονος λεγομενος κυριως 'υιος)—a momentous expression.
Footnote 431:[ (return) ]
Athenag., 10; Tatian, Orat. 5.
Footnote 432:[ (return) ]
The clearest expression of this is in Tatian 5, which passage is also to be compared with the following: Θεος ην εν αρχη, την δε αρχην λογου δυναμιν παρειληφαμεν. 'Ο γαρ δεσποτης των 'ολων, αυτος 'υπαρχων του παντος 'η 'υποστασις, κατα μεν την μηδεπω γεγενημενην ποιησιν μονος ην, καθο δε πασα δυναμις, 'ορατων τε και αορατων αυτος 'υποστασις ην, συν αυτω τα παντα συν αυτω δια λογικης δυναμεως αυτος και 'ο λογος, 'ος ην αυτο, 'υπεστησε. Θεληματι δε της απλοτητος αυτου προπηδα λογος, 'ο δε λογος, ου κατα κενου χωρησας, εργον πρωτοτοκον του πατρος γινεται. Τουτον ισμεν του κοσμου την αρχην. Γεγονε δε κατα μερισμον, ου κατα αποκοπην το γαρ αποτμηθεν του πρωτου κεχωρισται, το δε μεριοθεν οικονομας την 'αιρεσιν προσλαβον ουκ ενδεα τον 'οθεν ειληπται πεποιηκεν. Ωσπερ γαρ αρο μιας δαδος αναπτεται μεν πυρα πολλα, της δε πρωτης δαδος δια την εξαψιν των πολλων δαδων ουκ ελαττουται το φως, 'ουτω και 'ο λογος προελθων εκ της του πατρος δυναμεως ουκ αλογον πεποιηκε τον γεγεννηκοτα. In the identification of the divine consciousness, that is, the power of God, with the force to which the world is due the naturalistic basis of the apologetic speculations is most clearly shown. Cf. Justin, Dial. 128, 129.
Footnote 433:[ (return) ]
The word "beget" (γενναν) is used by the Apologists, especially Justin, because the name "Son" was the recognised expression for the Logos. No doubt the words εξερευγεσθαι, προβαλλεσθαι, προερχεσθαι, προπηδαν and the like express the physical process more exactly in the sense of the Apologists. On the other hand, however, γενναν appears the more appropriate word in so far as the relation of the essence of the Logos to the essence of God is most clearly shown by the name "Son."
Footnote 434:[ (return) ]
None of the Apologists has precisely defined the Logos idea. Zahn, l.c., p. 233, correctly remarks: "Whilst the distinction drawn between the hitherto unspoken and the spoken word of the Creator makes Christ appear as the thought of the world within the mind of God, yet he is also to be something real which only requires to enter into a new relation to God to become an active force. Then again this Word is not to be the thought that God thinks, but the thought that thinks in God. And again it is to be a something, or an Ego, in God's thinking essence, which enters into reciprocal intercourse with something else in God; occasionally also the reason of God which is in a state of active exercise and without which he would not be rational." Considering this evident uncertainty it appears to me a very dubious proceeding to differentiate the conceptions of the Logos in Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian, and Theophilus, as is usually done. If we consider that no Apologist wrote a special treatise on the Logos, that Tatian (c. 5) is really the only one from whom we have any precise statements, and that the elements of the conception are the same in all, it appears inadvisable to lay so great stress on the difference as Zahn, for instance, has done in the book already referred to, p. 232 f. Hardly any real difference can have existed between Justin, Tatian, and Theophilus in the Logos doctrine proper. On the other hand Athenagoras certainly seems to have tried to eliminate the appearance of the Logos in time, and to emphasise the eternal nature of the divine relationships, without, however, reaching the position which Irenæus took up here.
Footnote 435:[ (return) ]
This distinction is only found in Theophilus (II. 10); but the idea exists in Tatian and probably also in Justin, though it is uncertain whether Justin regarded the Logos as having any sort of being before the moment of his begetting.
Footnote 436:[ (return) ]
Justin, Apol. II. 6., Dial. 61. The Logos is not produced out of nothing, like the rest of the creatures. Yet it is evident that the Apologists did not yet sharply and precisely distinguish between begetting and creating, as the later theologians did; though some of them certainly felt the necessity for a distinction.
Footnote 437:[ (return) ]
All the Apologists tacitly assume that the Logos in virtue of his origin has the capacity of entering the finite. The distinction which here exists between Father and Son is very pregnantly expressed by Tertullian (adv. Marc. II. 27): "Igitur quæcumque exigitis deo digna, habebuntur in patre invisibili incongressibilique et placido et, ut ita dixerim, philosophorum deo. Quæcumque autem ut indigna reprehenditis deputabuntur in filio et viso et audito et congresso, arbitro patris et ministro." But we ought not to charge the Apologists with the theologoumenon that it was an inward necessity for the Logos to become man. Their Logos hovers, as it were, between God and the world, so that he appears as the highest creature, in so far as he is conceived as the production of God; and again seems to be merged in God, in so far as he is looked upon as the consciousness and spiritual force of God. To Justin, however, the incarnation is irrational, and the rest of the Greek Apologists are silent about it.
Footnote 438:[ (return) ]
The most of the Apologists argue against the conception of the natural immortality of the human soul; see Tatian 13; Justin, Dial. 5; Theoph. II. 27.
Footnote 439:[ (return) ]
The first chapter of Genesis represented to them the sum of all wisdom, and therefore of all Christianity. Perhaps Justin had already written a commentary to the Hexaëmeron (see my Texte und Untersuchungen I. 1, 2, p. 169 f.). It is certain that in the second century Rhodon (Euseb., H. E. V. 13. 8), Theophilus (see his 2nd Book ad Autol.), Candidus, and Apion (Euseb., H. E. V. 27) composed such. The Gnostics also occupied themselves a great deal with Gen. I.-III.; see, e.g., Marcus in Iren. I. 18.