So atheists might actually be.... CHRISTIANS???

Question

Check this out:

"We have been taught that Christ is the firstborn of God, and we have declared above that he is the Logos of whom every race of men were partakers. And those who lived according to reason (logos) are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham and Ananias, and Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline to recount, because we know it would be tedious."
-St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 46

So, the very first "Defender" (apologist) of the faith, writing less than a hundred years after Jesus died, thinks that anyone who lives according to reason (the logos) is actually a Christian of sorts.... What do YOU say?

Actually the Greek word "logos" is ambiguous... it is usually translated "word" in english, but it has the sense of expression, thought, reason, etc. Latin, like English, lacks that ambiguous characteristic. This is characteristic of the difference between Latin thought and Greek thought which would inevitably lead to doctrinal differences...

Answer 1

I've asked a similar question in the past--Is it really imperative that one accepts Christ to live like Christ? I don't think so. But to be a Christian, well, I don't think many would agree that you can be a heathen and a Christian simultaneously. From what I understand, accepting Christ is the only real obligation a Christian has.

Answer 2

Many (not all) Christians today define Christianity as primarily based on belief, on doctrine, not on principle. They believe you must be born again, you must have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that if you don't have these things, it doesn't help just to try to be 'good'. Christianity tends to be a 'one way' religion rather than a 'many paths' religion.

Apparently this idea goes way back to the early days! But before the canonization of the New Testament there was no Christian 'Bible', only a collection of various texts, so there was no 'official' version of Christianity and some groups were more accepting of paganism or atheism than others.

Justin Martyr had some interesting ideas, but he was a vicious anti-semite! He probably believed a pagan or atheist had a better chance of understanding Christianity than a Jew.

Answer 3

You have a little error one way or the other with the quote. LOGOS does NOT mean reason, its greek for WORD. So therefore people living according to the WORD are Christians which is also what the Bible teaches. He may have been struggling to answer the question of what happens to people that live by Gods word but never accepted or denied Christ.

The idea that anybody who lives good by any earthly standard is going to be saved is folly for unbelievers.

Answer 4

Moot point, since the bishops hadn't yet decided what a Christian was until a couple of hundred years later.

Presumably those who died before they had a chance to affirm, or deny the Apostles Creed were exempt from the more onerous requirements.

They certainly had to be slaughtered by non-Christians, rather than Christians, which probably makes it all right.

Answer 5

I view apologetics as somewhat diluted theology and "logos" is a Greek translation of "word") and as such is a symbol for Christ, the word incarnate, or "word made Flesh:' which is also called "the Word of God" (John, 1:1-4).

This being said anyone who believes in Logos in that context may be described as Christian; but I fear there is oversimplification of terms within such vague and universal application of apologetic ideologies and thusly the grounds for such a broad association are somewhat dubious.

Answer 6

With regards to the Classical Greek phylosophers they lived 400 years before the teachings of Christ.

Socrates spirituality was a mystery, One of the charges of the trial that led to his execution was "Creating new Gods". During the trial he drew one of his questioners into acussing him of Atheism, so he could reply. "Then how could I create new Gods".

Socrates was a martyr that never claimed to be divine. The Greeks of that time comformed to a Polytheistic Religion.

Answer 7

I say, "Why is it so important to you that I be called christian?"

I live my life according to the christian tennets I was brought up with - does that make me even more of a christian?

I am an atheist - I DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANY GOD!!! OK?

Answer 8

... because we should all trust some guy's word just because he lived a LONG long time ago...

I think it would be stupid to assume that you can just call someone a Christian because they live moral/reason-influenced lives. Reason existed before Christianity, and it would be no less ridiculous to assume that if you call yourself a Christian you live with reason.

Answer 9

Christianity is a form of organized belief. You cannot have belief without doubt. Without a doubt you cannot believe. Anything without doubt is knowledge, and we know religion is not so much about knowledge is it? So Christians are believers and doubters and so are athiests. Really one in the same.

Answer 10

Yeah, apparently Christianity has a monopoly on virtue and decency. If you're a good person, you're a Christian. I never liked how "good" was made synonymous with "Christianity". Christianity ISN'T the only good, not even if they claim that they are.