Baruch ha ba B'Shem AdonaiWrote:

Saint Justin Martyr (Justin the Martyr), whom lived from 100 165 AD, was an early Christian apologist. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian apologies of notable size.





In Chapter LXXX of his dialogue with Trypho, Saint Justin Martyr wrote:

Then I answered, "I am not so miserable a fellow, Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. Moreover, I pointed out to you that some who are called Christians, but are godless, impious heretics, teach doctrines that are in every way blasphemous, atheistical, and foolish. But that you may know that I do not say this before you alone, I shall draw up a statement, so far as I can, of all the arguments which have passed between us; in which I shall record myself as admitting the very same things which I admit to you. For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines[delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genist, Meristae, Gelilaeans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews (do not hear me impatiently when I tell you what I think), but are [only] called Jews and children of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him. But 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 built, adorned, and enlarged, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.[1]

Abridgment: Their motto in this regard might well be Tatian's word: 'Not Immortal, O Greeks, is the soul in itself, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die.' (Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos, xiii. 1). The difference between Christian and non-Christian in this matter was so great that belief in the 'Resurrection of the flesh' could become a shibboleth. One who believes in the 'Immortality of the soul' shows thereby that he is not a Christian. As Justin says: 'If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians... and who say that there is no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians.' (Dial. LXXX 4)





Summary: The ancient Church differs most of all from Hellenism in its belief in the Resurrection. Christian tradition affirmed the 'Resurrection of the flesh, ' which the Apologists opposed to the Hellenistic doctrine of the 'Immortality of the soul.' The antithesis was conscious and intentional, for at no point so much as this was their opposition to the Hellenistic spirit felt by the early Christians. The Platonic, Hellenistic doctrine of the Immortality of the soul seemed to the Apologists a godless and blasphemous doctrine, which above all they must attack and destroy.

Interesting quote.



The signifigance of death, and life after death, was a battleground that went back to the time of Paul writing to the church at Corinth in the mid 1st century. Death to the Greeks was a good thing because of the immortality of the immaterial soul alone. So this whole business of a "resurrection of the dead" (literally: standing up in the midst of corpses) was anathema to the Platonist. To the Platonist, resurrection of the dead was a bad thing because the material world, especially our bodies, are evil defiled filthy prison houses of the indestructible and pure soul. Death to them was release from that prison house, so that we can ascend to heavens, to behold the pure Forms in a bodiless state and forever contemplate the perfection of Pythagoras' theorem and so on.



But for Christians, the hope was in life after life after death, i.e. the resurrection of the body and the glorification of all creation (including the heavens and the earth).



j

Yes, interesting.



The conjunction here makes things difficult, though, since it's clearly incorrect to say there is no resurrection (there would have to be, regardless of one's stance on Jesus being able to provide immediate post-death continuity of life in terms of spirit), as there are a -whole lot- of people having existed previous to or outside of knowledge of Jesus, and such, except in certain extraordinary cases (e.g. Elijah) would have no means to have eternal life in any form, as Jesus, by His own statements, was making that possibility present through Himself.



So, to me, it's hard to take the statement which argues against two particular premises together as making a definitive statement regarding both individually--especially given the noted opposition to the "competing metaphysics" of local paganism which would render the entire plan of salvation superfluous, if every soul were automatically, intrinsically immortal.

Rev. 6

9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.