Apparently Justin was adopting a rabbinic speculation that made this same move in discussions
of the messianic age. One such example of this comes up during the rabbinic discussion of
Adam's sin and punishment:
Just as happened to Adam, who sinned and incurred the penalty of death.... the Holy One,
blessed be He, prolonged his day, for though it says: For in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die (Gen. II, 17), he lived nine hundred and thirty years, not completing the
"day" of the Holy One, blessed be He. (Midrash Num 5:4)
Thus, the divine day is interpreted as one thousand years, and Adam died seventy years short
of that full day, as God had said he would. This connection was also common in Christian
writings. "Barnabas" worked it into his cosmic week of salvation (Epist. Barn. 15); in fact, this
many have influenced Justin's own use of Psalm 90:4. Later, Hippolytus of Rome interpreted
the verse in this same way in his commentary on Daniel's visions (Comm. Dan. 2). And
Lactantius later employed it to the same effect (Inst. 7.14). Victorinus of Pettau also used it in
On Creation of the World.
Here is a virtual roll call of the ante-Nicene chiliastic fathers--Justin, Hippolytus, Lactantius,
and Victorinus--all of whom demonstrate virtually the same hermeneutic of Ps. 90:4. This
research demonstrates that Ps. 90:4 is the most consistently cited verse in patristic millennial
arguments, far more so than the locus classicus Rev. 20:49.
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Justin concluded his defense of chiliasm with the note that eschatological believers "neither
marry nor are given in marriage. In fact, they can no longer die, because they are equal to
angels and are sons of God, since they are sons of the resurrection" (Dial. 81; citing Luke
20:3536). Very possibly Justin incorporated this passage as part of a defensive posture
toward those who accused chiliasts of seeking carnal rather than spiritual blessings. It probably
seemed wise to head off the most immediate objections to chiliasm; so Justin urged a sexually
chaste millennium. But in this argument, Justin stood alone; no other citation of Luke
20:3536 has anything to do with the millennium.
Gregory includes Plato's Phaedo in the list of influences to which Justin may have
looked. He compares similar imagery of gold and jewels, long life, and other blessings that
Plato considered the reward of the righteous soul. Later Origen had his "chiliasts" express their
hopes in words like Phaedo (Princ. 2.11.2). Two responses to Gregory come to mind: First,
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Gregory, "Chiliastic Hermeneutic," 226.