HistoricalChristian.Faith

Justin Martyr on the Biblical Canon

Dates: c. 155 · Wikipedia
Summary: Writing his First Apology at Rome around 155, Justin gives the earliest clear notice that the Gospels function as Scripture: he calls them the apostles' "memoirs … which are called Gospels," and reports that on Sundays "the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read" in the assembly — the apostolic records set, in worship, beside the prophets. He never enumerates a closed list, so he attests the Gospels' rising scriptural standing, not yet a fixed canon.

Claims & evidence

The Gospels are the apostles' eyewitness "memoirs"

For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone.

— The First Apology, ch. 66, source. Justin's term for the Gospels is apomnēmoneumata, "memoirs" or "recollections" — the word a Greek reader would use for a record of a teacher's words and deeds (Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates). He treats them as apostolic eyewitness testimony to what Jesus said and did, and the appended clause "which are called Gospels" shows that Gospel is already the settled name for these books by the 150s. Here he cites them as the authority for the words of institution at the Eucharist.

The memoirs are read in worship, beside the prophets

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.

— The First Apology, ch. 67, source. This is the stronger datum for canon-history: the apostolic "memoirs" are read aloud in the Sunday assembly on a footing with "the writings of the prophets" — that is, with the Old-Testament Scriptures. Liturgical reading of this kind is the practical mark of a book's scriptural status, so by c. 155 the Gospels are not merely consulted but publicly read as Scripture in the Roman church. (In his Dialogue with Trypho Justin again calls these books "the memoirs … which were drawn up by His apostles and those who followed them," tying the Gospels to apostles and apostolic men alike.)

Notes

• Justin is the earliest block on the canon timeline — a generation before Irenaeus argues for exactly four Gospels and the Muratorian fragment draws up the first surviving book-list. He marks the point where the Gospels are functioning as Scripture but the boundary is not yet drawn.
• A caution belongs on the witness: Justin never enumerates the Gospels, never names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John individually, and never lists the Pauline or Catholic epistles as Scripture in this work. He speaks of "memoirs" in the plural without fixing their number, and his Gospel quotations sometimes blend or harmonize the texts (a feature that fed his pupil Tatian's Diatessaron). So he attests the Gospels' rising scriptural standing and their liturgical use, not a closed or counted canon.
• The same two passages do double duty as early evidence for Sunday worship and the Eucharist; here they are adduced only for what they show about the standing of the Gospel-books.