[Footnote 428: According to what has been set forth in the text it is
incorrect to assert that the Apologists adopted the Logos doctrine in
order to reconcile monotheism with the divine honours paid to the
crucified Christ. The truth rather is that the Logos doctrine was
already part of their creed before they gave any consideration to the
person of the historical Christ, and _vice versa_ Christ's right to
divine honours was to them a matter of certainty independently of the
Logos doctrine.]
[Footnote 429: We find the distinction of Logos (Son) and Spirit in
Justin, Apol. I. 5, and in every case where he quotes formulae (if we are
not to assume the existence of interpolation in the text, which seems to
me not improbable; see now also Cramer in the Theologische Studien,
1893. pp. 17 ff., 138 ff.). In Tatian 13 fin. the Spirit is represented
as [Greek: ho diakonos tou peponthotos Theou]. The conception in Justin,
Dial. 116, is similar. Father, Word, and prophetic Spirit are spoken of
in Athenag. 10. The express designation [Greek: trias] is first found in
Theophilus (but see the Excerpta ex Theodoto); see II. 15: [Greek: hai
treis hemerai tupoi heisin tes triados, tou Theou kai tou logou autou
kai tes sophias autou]; see II. 10, 18. But it is just in Theophilus
that the difficulty of deciding between Logos and Wisdom appears with
special plainness (II. 10). The interposition of the host of good angels
between Son and Spirit found in Justin, Apol. I. 5 (see Athenag.), is
exceedingly striking. We have, however, to notice, provided the text is
right, (1) that this interposition is only found in a single passage,
(2) that Justin wished to refute the reproach of [Greek: atheotes], (3)
that the placing of the Spirit after the angels does not necessarily
imply a position inferior to theirs, but merely a subordination to the
Son and the Father common to the Spirit and the angels, (4) that the
good angels were also invoked by the Christians, because they were
conceived as mediators of prayer (see my remark on I. Clem, ad Corinth.
LVI. 1); they might have found a place here just for this latter reason.
On the significance of the Holy Spirit in the theology of Justin, see
Zahn's Marcellus of Ancyra, p. 228: "If there be any one theologian of
the early Church who might be regarded as depriving the Holy Spirit of
all scientific _raison d'etre_ at least on the ground of having no
distinctive activity, and the Father of all share in revelation, it
is Justin." We cannot at bottom say that the Apologists possessed a
doctrine of the Trinity.]
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