First Apology 11 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Christians expect God's kingdom, not a human one; that is why they confess even at the cost of death.

Greek text · Rauschen, 24

Καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἀκούσαντες βασιλείαν προσδοκῶντας ἡμᾶς, ἀκρίτως ἀνθρώπινον λέγειν ἡμᾶς ὑπειλήφατε, ἡμῶν τὴν μετὰ θεοῦ λεγόντων, ὡς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀνεταζομένους ὑφʼ ὑμῶν ὁμολογεῖν εἶναι Χριστιανούς, γινώσκοντες τῷ ὁμολογοῦντι θάνατον τὴν ζημίαν κεῖσθαι, φαίνεται. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνθρώπινον βασιλείαν προσεδοκῶμεν, κἂν ἠρνούμεθα, ὅπως μὴ ἀναιρώμεθα, καὶ λανθάνειν ἐπειρώμεθα, ὅπως τῶν προσδοκωμένων τύχωμεν· ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸ νῦν τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχομεν, ἀναιρούντων οὐ πεφροντίκαμεν τοῦ καὶ πάντως ἀποθανεῖν ὀφειλομένου.

English · Claude translation

And you, hearing that we expect a kingdom, have supposed without examination that we speak of a human one, whereas we speak of the kingdom with God; as is clear also from the fact that when examined by you we confess to being Christians, knowing that death is the penalty laid down for the one who confesses. For if we expected a human kingdom, we would deny it, so as not to be killed, and would try to escape notice, so as to obtain what we expect. But since we do not set our hopes on the present, we do not care about those who kill us, since we must die in any case.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 24 · 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.

Scripture

John 18:36 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Eschatology, Persecution

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/11/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/11/).