Justin Martyr's Battle to Save the Old Testament

Approximately a hundred years after the death of Jesus, a fierce battle erupted over the Old Testament. Numerous devout Christians engaged in heated disputes regarding its contents and even debated its rightful status as a Christian book. On one side, many Jewish converts accused Paul and the majority of the other Apostles of committing a Great Apostasy, claiming that they were straying from the deep roots of their Jewish tradition. They argued that this posed a threat to the souls of believers everywhere. Their goal was to preserve the strict practices and teachings of the Old Testament and incorporate more of them into the still emerging Christian Faith.

On the other side, Marcionite Christians harbored such strong aversion to the Old Testament that they advocated for abandoning it completely. They even attempted to eliminate from the New Testament practices and beliefs they deemed too supportive of Jewish ideas. The resolution of this conflict would have far-reaching implications for almost every aspect of the new Christian Faith and the daily lives of believers for centuries to come.

So, who emerged victorious in these crucial, climactic Scripture Wars? Ultimately, it was God, but not without raising up a great saint whose astute mind and profound faith eradicated both false understandings of how the gentle, loving God of the New Testament corresponds to the often stern God of the Old. That saint was Justin of Neapolis, now recognized as St. Justin Martyr. The following pages recount the unexpectedly thrilling tale of Justin's encounters with these robust early heresies that threatened to immobilize the young Church just as she was beginning to take root.

"Scripture Wars" serves as an inspiring, real-life testament to our Father's providence, a story that continues to fortify the faith of Catholics even today, eighteen centuries later.

product information: