Chapter CXXI.—From the fact that the Gentiles believe in Jesus, it is evident
that He is Christ.
And as they kept silence, I went on: “[The Scripture], speaking by David about this
Christ, my friends, said no longer that ‘in His seed’ the nations should be blessed, but ‘in
Him.’ So it is here: ‘His name shall rise up for ever above the sun; and in Him shall all nations
be blessed.’648 But if all nations are blessed in Christ, and we of all nations believe in Him,
then He is indeed the Christ, and we are those blessed by Him. God formerly gave the sun
as an object of worship,649 as it is written, but no one ever was seen to endure death on ac-
count of his faith in the sun; but for the name of Jesus you may see men of every nation who
have endured and do endure all sufferings, rather than deny Him. For the word of His truth
and wisdom is more ardent and more light-giving than the rays of the sun, and sinks down
into the depths of heart and mind. Hence also the Scripture said, ‘His name shall rise up
above the sun.’ And again, Zechariah says, ‘His name is the East.’650 And speaking of the
same, he says that ‘each tribe shall mourn.’651 But if He so shone forth and was so mighty
in His first advent (which was without honour and comeliness, and very contemptible), that
in no nation He is unknown, and everywhere men have repented of the old wickedness in
each nation’s way of living, so that even demons were subject to His name, and all powers
and kingdoms feared His name more than they feared all the dead, shall He not on His
glorious advent destroy by all means all those who hated Him, and who unrighteously de-
parted from Him, but give rest to His own, rewarding them with all they have looked for?
To us, therefore, it has been granted to hear, and to understand, and to be saved by this
Christ, and to recognise all the [truths revealed] by the Father. Wherefore He said to Him:
‘It is a great thing for Thee to be called my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and turn
again the dispersed of Israel. I have appointed Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou
mayest be their salvation unto the end of the earth.’652
648 Ps. lxxii. 17.
649 So Justin concludes from Deut. iv. 19; comp. chap. lv. [The explanation is not very difficult (see Rom. i.
28), but the language of Justin is unguarded.]
650 Zech. vi. 12.
651 Zech. xii. 12.
652 Isa. xlix. 6.
Chapter CXXI.—From the fact that the Gentiles believe in Jesus, it is evident that He is Christ.
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Chapter CXXI.—From the fact that the Gentiles believe in Jesus, it is evident…