Zechariah, not to mention the New Testament book of Revelation. When pressed by "Trypho"
as to whether he really believed it, Justin admitted, "Many who belong to the pure and pious
faith, are true Christians, think otherwise"; however, he said,
I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a
resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be rebuilt, adorned,
and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare. (Dial. 80)
Referring to John's Apocalypse, Justin looked forward to a millennium of Jesus' presence in
Jerusalem, after which the general (i.e., eternal) resurrection would happen (Dial. 81). He was
the first to use the specific phrase , which he linked with what he considered
to be Daniel's great christophany (Dan 7:928). For Justin, the first coming would be
answered by a second coming in glory, to rule all nations (Gen 49:10).
When we read this material, we must be alert to the apologetic thrust of Justin's words.
He faced the stigma of the crucified Messiah, and "He overcame the skandalon by the
hermeneutical tour de force of applying the Jewish Old Testament Messianic passages to the
Second Coming. The Jewish Messianic expectations were thus postponed by Christians, not
discarded."
31
Nonetheless, some tension remains in his eschatology. In some places he pictures a
general resurrection exclusively, positing no distinction between a temporal millennium and an
eternal consummation.
32
But the overall tone in the Dialogue is clearly chiliastic. Moule argues
that rather than see this as a hopelessly contradictory aspect of Justin's thought, or as a sign of
developing theological sophistication that gradually moved away from primitive chiliasm, we
should recognize that even the New Testament uses various forms of eschatology: realized
eschatology when speaking of individual identify, futurist when speaking of group destiny, and
apocalyptic when speaking of cosmological salvation.
33
Though its doubtful that we can make
such neat distinctions, that general outline indicates that we should allow Justin the same
degree of flexibility.
15
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31
Gregory, "Chiliastic Hermeneutic," 182.
32
1 Apol. 8, 1819; and here and there even in the Dialogue.
33
C. F. D. Moule, "Influence of Circumstances on the Use of Eschatological Terms,"
Journal of Theological Studies ns 15 (April 1964) 115.