Justin Martyr

First Apology

Chapter XI - What Kingdom Christians Look For

When you hear that we look for a kingdom, without even asking us you presume we
are talking about a kingdom on earth. We are talking about a kingdom with God,
which we say in our confession of faith yet you have made that confession a crime
worthy of death! If we wanted a kingdom on earth, we would deny Jesus so that you
wouldnt kill us, and we would try to hide our faith so that we could advance
politically. But because we do not care about what happens to us on earth, we do not
care if people reject us - we will all die eventually, anyway.

Chapter XVII - Christ Taught Civil Obedience

We, more than anyone else in the empire, pay all of the taxes, big or small, because
thats what Jesus told us to do. For someone asked him once if we ought to pay our
taxes to Caesar and Jesus replied, Tell me, whose image does the coin bear? And they
said, Caesars. He then told them, give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what
is Gods. It is true we worship God alone, but we gladly serve you in other things. We
acknowledge you are king and pray that you make good choices. But if you ignore our
prayers, we wont be upset, since we believe (actually, we are convinced) that every
person will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to what he has done. And those
who have lots of earthly power will have even more to answer for, as Jesus said, To
whom God has given more, of him more will be required.

1. Does Justin think God wants the Christians to conquer the world?

2. What does Justin say he and his fellow Christians wont do for Caesar?

3. Justin is writing this to the Roman Emperor, does he seem to care about whether or
not the emperor likes them?

From: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/justin.html - Adapted by Mr. Stripp

Eusebius

Church History

And so, all of Gods enemies were destroyed, completely eliminated from earth. And so
another of Gods prophecies was fulfilled: I have seen the wicked ruling, towering like
giant trees, but I passed by again and they were gone, they had disappeared and could
not be found.
And finally it was a glorious day, with no clouds and the light of heaven shining on
Christs church throughout the world. Even those who didnt believe shared in at least
some of Gods blessings.

God, who defends his peoples lives, knew there were evil-doers, and made a great light
shine into the dark and gloomy night. He raised up a deliverer for all, leading into the
world with a strong arm, his servant, Constantine.

Life of Constantine

Constantine, a good and faithful servant, openly acted and declared that he was an
obedient minister of the Lord. So God rewarded him, making him king and emperor.
So victorious that only he could pursue unending conquest, completely unstoppable
and invincible, and he became the most successful ruler ever. God loved him so much,
because he was so righteous, that he conquered more nations than any ruler before him,
and kept his power easily until his death.

1. Does Eusebius think God wants Christians to conquer the world?

2. How does Eusebius describe Constantine?

3. Eusebius portrays Constantine as wholly devoted to Christianity, is this confirmed

by what you learned yesterday? Why or why not?

From: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/eusebius.html - Adapted by Mr. Stripp