Apologies & Dialogue 1-46

But lest some, reasoning unsoundly, in order to turn men away from what we have taught, should say that we assert Christ to have been born a hundred and fifty years ago under Quirinius, and to have taught what we say he taught later, in the times of Pontius Pilate, and should bring the charge that all men born before him were not accountable — let us anticipate and resolve the difficulty. We have been taught and have declared beforehand that Christ is the firstborn of God, being the Word, in whom every race of mankind has shared. And those who lived with reason are Christians, even though they were accounted godless — such as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus and those like them, and among the barbarians, Abraham and Ananias and Azarias and Misael and Elijah and many others, whose deeds and names we forbear to recount now, knowing it would be a long matter. So that those too who lived before, apart from reason, were useless and enemies to Christ, and murderers of those who lived with reason; but those who lived with reason, and now live, are Christians, and are fearless and untroubled. For what cause, by the power of the Word, according to the will of the Father of all and Master, God, he was brought forth as man through a virgin and named Jesus, and was crucified and died and rose again and ascended into heaven — the intelligent man will be able to grasp from what has been said through so many things. But since the argument concerning the proof of this is not necessary at present, we will proceed for now to the more pressing proofs.