A friend today said that one of his fellow-students, when asked to write a paper about what courage was, wrote “This is.” and handed it in. That’s bold, and he was rewarded with an “A.” Here are some actions that are more bold. A man we call Justin Martyr wrote to the Roman Caesar, boldly announcing who he was, because of the reasons that the Christians were being persecuted:

To the Emperor Titus AElius Adrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, and to his son Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the natural son of Caesar, and the adopted son of Pius, a lover of learning, and to the sacred Senate, with the whole People of the Romans, I, Justin, the son of Priscus and grandson of Bacchius, natives of Flavia Neapolis in Palestine, present this address and petition in behalf of those of all nations who are unjustly hated and wantonly abused, myself being one of them.

From the third paragraph of his letter:

But lest any one think that this is an unreasonable and reckless utterance, we demand that the charges against the Christians be investigated, and that, if these be substantiated, they be punished as they deserve; [or rather, indeed, we ourselves will punish them.]*

This is really amazing. Not only is he advocating that anybody who has done any wrong be punished, but he is even saying that if the church was told about it that they would punish the people themselves. That is somebody I would have thoroughly enjoyed being around. Unfortunately he was whipped and then beheaded in AD 168. A man named Ignatius was torn apart by lions more than fifty years before that (AD 111) for publicly reproving Emperor Trajan. The emperor was in the middle of worshiping his gods for a series of victories he had achieved and was not amused.** Just because something is billed as “Christian,” does not make it above reproof. Justin Martyr made this clear in his letter to the Caesar. Paul said something similar to Timothy (II Timothy 3:16,17):

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Using Scripture to reprove those who do not believe it is folly. The man who kindled a desire in Justin Martyr to seek out the God in Scripture instead explained how the prophets had predicted Jesus’ coming. This reproof is for our own – the Christians. One final tale of some of the early men who moved the church comes from shortly after AD 400. A man named Epiphanius, a Bishop of Salamina in Cyprus, stood very much against the worship of anyone other than those in the God-head (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit). He stood in the tradition of Justin and Ignatius, whether he realized it or not. Epiphanius admonished people to not erect images of the saints (including Mary) or to worship them in any way:

Beloved children, be mindful not to bring any images in the church, or to erect them over the graves of the saints; but bear God constantly in your hearts.

It is recorded that he ripped down a curtain at a church he visited because it had a painting of Christ or some other saint and recommended that it be used to bury someone in. He commanded that they not put up another like it because it was contrary to our faith.*** As was simply demonstrated by my friend’s classmate, courage is putting your own comfort on the line. When your life is at stake, you delve deeper to be absolutely certain that you are right. How sure are you of your beliefs?

• For Justin Martyr, see the first volume of The Early Church Fathers. It contains a collection of his writings (The quotes are from his First Apology) as well as an account of his trial. Also see Martyr’s Mirror, pages 111 and 112. ** The story of Ignatius I borrowed from pages 105-107 of Martyr’s Mirror. *** The story concerning Epiphanius came from page 171 of the same book.