Editing Justin Martyr (section)

=== Catechetical sources ===
Justin quotes many sayings of Jesus in ''1 Apol''. 15–17 and smaller sayings clusters in ''Dial''. 17:3–4; 35:3; 51:2–3; and 76:4–7. The sayings are most often harmonizations of Matthew and Luke that appear to be grouped together topically and organized into sayings collections, including material that probably originated from an early Christian [[catechism]].<ref name="Koester 1990 p. 361">Koester (1990) ''Ancient Christian Gospels'' p.&nbsp;361 – "The most striking feature is that these sayings exhibit many harmonizations of the text of Matthew and Luke.  However, the simple assumption of a harmonized gospel cannot explain all the peculiarities of the quotations."</ref><ref name="Bellinzoni 1967 pp. 99–100">Bellinzoni (1967) ''Sayings of Jesus in Justin Martyr'' pp.&nbsp;99–100 – "It has already been argued above that the entire section ''Apol''. 15–17 may have been based on a single source different from the sources underlying the rest of Justin's sayings of Jesus, and I have tried to indicate that this section has many features in common with primitive Christian catechisms."</ref>

The following example of an ethical teaching [[Expounding of the Law#Oaths|On Swearing Oaths]] in ''1 Apol''. 16:5 shows a combination of sayings material found in Matthew and the [[Epistle of James]]:

<blockquote>Do not swear at all (Mt 5:34).  Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No (Jas 5:12).  Everything beyond these is from evil (Mt 5:37).</blockquote>

The saying "Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No" from James 5:12 is interpolated into a sayings complex from Matthew 5:34,37. The text appears in a large number of [[Patristic]] quotations and twice in the [[Clementine literature|Clementine Homilies]] (''Hom''. 3:55, 19:2). Thus, it is likely that Justin was quoting this harmonized text from a catechism.<ref name="Bellinzoni 1967 pp. 64–67">Bellinzoni (1967) ''Sayings of Jesus in Justin Martyr'' pp.&nbsp;64–67; p.&nbsp;66 – "the form of the saying in James is a more simple paranetic form than the text of Matthew, where each example is elaborated and where the command is not what one should do but what one should say. It, therefore, appears that the form of the saying in Jas. 5:12 is older than Matthew's version.&nbsp;... This evidence would seem to indicate that ''Apol''. 16:5 was here based on the text of Mt. 5:34,37 that had either been harmonized in part with Jas. 5:12 or with the parenetic tradition that underlies Jas. 5:12.  The evidence of several of the fathers indicates a widespread knowledge of a text similar to ''Apol''. 16:5." (Clem. of Alex. ''Strom''. V 14,99; Clem. of Alex. ''Strom''. VII 11,67; Cyril of Alex. ''De Ador. et Verit. VI; Eusebius ''Dem. Ev.'' III 3,13; Eusebius ''Comm. in Ps. 14'' 4; Epiphanius ''Adv. Her. XIX 6,21; Gregory of Nyssa ''In Cant. of Cant.'' Homily XIII)</ref><ref name="Koester 1990 p. 363">Koester (1990) ''Ancient Christian Gospels'' p.&nbsp;363 – "Thus...it is not likely that Justin is quoting from the text of Matthew but from a catechism, whose text was influenced by the formulation preserved in Jas 5:12 but not necessarily dependent upon the Epistle of James."</ref>

The harmonization of Matthew and Luke is evident in the following quotations of Mt 7:22–23 and Lk 13:26–27, which are used by Justin twice, in ''1 Apol''. 16:11 and ''Dial''. 76:5:

<blockquote>Many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not in your name eat and drink and do powerful deeds?' And then I shall say to them, 'go away from me, workers of lawlessness'.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not in your name eat and drink and prophecy and drive out demons?' And I shall say to them, 'go away from me'.</blockquote>

In both cases, Justin is using the same harmonized text of Matthew and Luke, although neither of the quotations includes the entire text of those gospel passages.  The last phrase, "workers of lawlessness", has an exact parallel with [[2 Clement]] 4:5.  This harmonized text also appears in a large number of quotations by the [[Church Fathers]].<ref name="Koester 1990 pp. 356,365–67">Koester (1990) ''Ancient Christian Gospels'' pp.&nbsp;356,365–67; p.&nbsp;367 – "The method of harmonization includes two different procedures: (1) whenever the texts of Matthew and Luke are closely parallel, either the Matthean or the Lukan phrase or a conflation of both is chosen; (2) whenever the texts of Matthew and Luke differ considerably, as in Matt 7:22 and Luke 13:26, major portions of the two texts are combined; thus, one finds Luke's 'we were eating and drinking' as well as Matthew's 'we prophesied etc.'."</ref><ref name="Bellinzoni 1967 pp. 22–25">Bellinzoni (1967) ''Sayings of Jesus in Justin Martyr'' pp.&nbsp;22–25; pp.&nbsp;24–25 – "These consistent features of harmonization found in ''Apol''. 16:11 and ''Dial''. 76:5 leave little doubt that Justin used as a source for these passages a written harmony of Mt. 7:22f and Lk. 13:26f, and this harmonization of Matthew and Luke is further evident in several of the early fathers quoted in the texts below.&nbsp;... A comparison of this harmonization of Matthew and Luke in the patristic quotations leaves little doubt that Justin used a harmony of Mt. 7:22f and Lk. 13:26f and that this harmony was known to other fathers in substantially the same form as that used by Justin (Origen ''Contra Celsum'' II 49; Origen ''Ev. Jo.'' XXXII 8,11; Pamphilius ''Apol. pro Orig.'' V). Further, the witness of ''2 Clement'' here proves the existence of this harmonization of Matthew and Luke previous to Justin."</ref> ''1 Apol''. 16:11 is part of a larger unit of sayings material in ''1 Apol'' 16:9–13 which combines a warning against being unprepared with a warning against false prophets.  The entire unit is a carefully composed harmony of parallel texts from Matthew and Luke.<ref name="Bellinzoni 1967 pp. 98–99">Bellinzoni (1967) ''Sayings of Jesus in Justin Martyr'' pp.&nbsp;98–99; p.&nbsp;99 – "Therefore we can conclude with certainty that these five verses are based on a source that was a carefully composed harmony of material from Matthew and Luke and that was based on the order of Matthew 7."</ref><ref name="Koester 1990 pp. 367–370">Koester (1990) ''Ancient Christian Gospels'' pp.&nbsp;367–370; p.&nbsp;369 – "This section of Justin's quotation of Jesus' sayings rests on deliberate and careful composition of the parallel texts of Matthew and Luke, but is also disrupted by interpolations from different contexts." p.&nbsp;370 – "Thus Justin himself did not compose this cluster of sayings for this particular context.  He use an already existing collection."</ref>  This unit is part of a larger collection of sayings found in ''1 Apol''. 15–17 that appear to have originated from a catechism used by Justin's school in Rome, which may have had a wide circulation.  Justin excerpted and rearranged the catechetical sayings material to create ''Apol''. 15–17 and parallel passages in the ''Dialogue''.<ref name="Bellinzoni 1967 p. 100">Bellinzoni (1967) ''Sayings of Jesus in Justin Martyr'' p.&nbsp;100 – "It is, therefore, quite probable from the foregoing discussion that there is underlying ''Apol''. 15–17 a primitive Christian catechism in use in Justin's school in Rome, a catechism that was known in similar form to Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and the author of the Pseudo-Clementine ''Homilies'', a catechism based primarily on the text of the Sermon on the Mount but that harmonized related material from Mark, Luke, and from other parts of Matthew, and a catechism whose tradition was of great influence in later manuscript witnesses of the synoptic gospels."</ref><ref name="Koester 1990 p. 375">Koester (1990) ''Ancient Christian Gospels'' p.&nbsp;375 – "The catechetical character of these clusters of sayings is evident in their usage by Justin&nbsp;... It is difficult to determine in each instance the degree to which Justin has supplemented and rearranged these collections. But it appears that the catechetical collections already existed and that Justin himself did not compose them."</ref>