Early Christian Views on Crime and Justice

Tertullian, Apology Direct teaching

...e in a confession which you know will bring on us a condemnation at your hands by necessity, not by justice. The man cries out, "I am a Christian." He tells you what he is. You want to hear from him what he is not. Though you hold a place of authority to force out the truth, you do your utmost to get lies from us. "I am," he says, "what you ask whether I am." Why do you torture me to sin? I confess, and you put me to the rack. What would you do if I denied? Certainly you do not quickly believe others when they deny. But when we deny, you believe at once. Let this perversity of yours lead you to suspect that there is some hidden power in the matter, under whose influence you act against legal forms, against the nature of public justice, and even against the laws themselves. For unless I am greatly mistaken, the laws command that offenders be searched out, and not hidden away. They lay down that people who admit a crime are to be condemned, not acquitted. The decrees of the senate and the commands of your chiefs plainly say this. The power of which you are servants is a civil rule, not a tyrannical domination. Among tyrants, indeed, torments used to be inflicted even as punishment

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

If, indeed, any one can convict us of a crime, be it small or great, we do not ask to be excused from punishment, but are prepared to undergo the sharpest and most merciless inflictions.

Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching

...for bloodshed, this endless lust for cruelty? Rather choose one of two alternatives. Either to be a Christian is a crime, or it is not. If it is a crime, why do you not put to death the man who confesses it? If it is not a crime, why do you persecute an innocent man? For I ought to be put to torture if I denied it. If, out of fear of your punishment, I should hide by a deceitful lie what I had previously been, and the fact that I had not worshiped your gods, then I might deserve to be tormented. Then I ought to be forced to confess my crime by the power of suffering, just as in other examinations the guilty, when they deny that they are guilty of the crime of which they are accused, are tortured so that the confession of the reality of the crime, which the voice refuses to make, may be wrung out by bodily suffering. But now, when of my own free will I confess, and cry out, and with frequent and repeated words bear witness that I am a Christian, why do you apply tortures to one who admits it, and who destroys your gods, not in hidden and secret places, but openly and publicly, and in the very marketplace, within hearing of your magistrates and governors? So, although what you bla

Justin Martyr, The Second Apology Supporting witness

Why have you punished this man, not as an adulterer, nor fornicator, nor murderer, nor thief, nor robber, nor convicted of any crime at all, but who has only confessed that he is called by the name of Christian?

1 Peter 2:20 Supporting witness

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

1 Peter 4:15 Supporting witness

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Romans 3:8 Supporting witness

And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

Tertullian, Apology Direct teaching

No law forbids the sifting of the crimes which it prohibits, for a judge never inflicts a righteous vengeance if he is not well assured that a crime has been committed;

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

For it does not comport with your justice, that others when charged with crimes should not be punished till they are convicted, but that in our case the name we bear should have more force than the evidence adduced on the trial, when the judges, instead of inquiring whether the person arraigned have committed any crime, vent their insults on the name, as if that were itself a crime.

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

If anyone can prove that we have committed a crime, whether small or great, we do not ask to escape punishment. We are ready to endure the harshest and most merciless penalties. But if the accusation is only about our name, then the matter is different. It cannot be denied that, up to the present time, the stories told about us are based on nothing better than careless popular rumor, and no Christian has been convicted of a crime. Therefore, it will be your duty, illustrious, kind, and highly learned rulers, to put an end by law to this hateful treatment. Then, just as people and cities throughout the world share in your kindness, we also may be thankful to you, rejoicing that we are no longer victims of false accusation. For it does not fit your justice that, when others are charged with crimes, they are not punished until they are convicted, but in our case the name we bear should count for more than the evidence presented at trial. Instead of asking whether the accused person has committed any crime, the judges pour out insults on the name, as if the name itself were a crime. But no name by itself is considered either good or bad. Names seem bad or good according to whether the

Justin Martyr, The Martyrdom of Justin Martyr Supporting witness

Then the prefect Rusticus said to Chariton, “Tell me more, Chariton, are you also a Christian?” Chariton replied, “I am a Christian by the command of God.” Rusticus the prefect asked the woman Charito, “What do you say, Charito?” Charito answered, “I am a Christian by the grace of God.” Rusticus asked Euelpistus, “And what about you?” Euelpistus, a servant of Caesar, responded, “I too am a Christian, having been freed by Christ; and by the grace of Christ, I share the same hope.” Rusticus the prefect asked Hierax, “And you, are you a Christian?” Hierax answered, “Yes, I am a Christian, for I revere and worship the same God.” Rusticus the prefect asked, “Did Justin make you Christians?” Hierax replied, “I was a Christian, and will be a Christian.” Then Pæon stood up and said, “I too am a Christian.” Rusticus the prefect asked, “Who taught you?” Pæon replied, “From our parents, we received this good confession.” Euelpistus said, “I willingly heard the words of Justin. But I also learned to be a Christian from my parents.” Rusticus the prefect asked, “Where are your parents?” Euelpistus replied, “In Cappadocia.” Rusticus asked Hierax, “Where are your parents?” And he answered, “Christ

Romans 2:2 Supporting witness

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

Romans 2:6 Supporting witness

Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

2 Chronicles 6:23 Supporting witness

then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

1 Kings 8:32 Supporting witness

then shalt thou hear from heaven, and do, and thou shalt judge thy people Israel, that the wicked should be condemned, to recompense his way upon his head; and to justify the righteous, to give to him according to his righteousness.

Colossians 3:25 Supporting witness

For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching

...t either I, or these, or any other individual should ever reject the doctrine respecting the future punishment of the wicked and the reward of the good!" What terrors, then, if you except the doctrine of punishment, do we invent and impose upon mankind? And if he should reply that we weave together erroneous opinions drawn from ancient sources, and trumpet them aloud, and sound them before men, as the priests of Cybele clash their cymbals in the ears of those who are being initiated in their mysteries, we shall ask him in reply, "Erroneous opinions from what ancient sources?" For whether he refers to Grecian accounts, which taught the existence of courts of justice under the earth, or Jewish accounts, which, among other things, predicted the life that follows the present one, he will be unable to show that we, who strive to believe on grounds of reason and regulate our lives in conformity with such doctrines, have failed correctly to ascertain the truth.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

...er reward or punishment. Now if righteous judgment gives to both together the proper return for the deeds done, then it is not right that the soul alone should receive the reward for deeds done in union with the body. For the soul by itself has no tendency toward the faults committed in connection with bodily pleasure, food, and bodily training. Nor is it right that the body alone should receive it, for the body by itself cannot discern law and justice. Rather, the human being composed of both is brought to trial for each deed done by him. And if reason does not see this happening either in this life or after death, then the result is very clear to everyone. It does not happen in this life, because reward according to merit has no place in the present life. Many atheists and people who practice every kind of injustice and wickedness live to the very end without suffering disaster. On the other hand, those who have clearly lived as examples of every virtue live with pain, insult, slander, outrage, and all kinds of suffering. Nor does it happen after death, because the two no longer exist together. The soul is separated from the body, and the body itself is dissolved again into th

Hippolytus, Against Plato Direct teaching

For all, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, will be brought before God the Word. For the Father has committed all judgment to Him. And in fulfillment of the Father's counsel, He comes as Judge, whom we call Christ. For it is not Minos and Rhadamanthys who are to judge the world, as you imagine, O Greeks, but He whom God the Father has glorified. We have spoken elsewhere about Him more particularly, for the profit of those who seek the truth. He, in carrying out the Father's righteous judgment for all, assigns to each what is righteous according to his works. And while standing before His judgment, all, both men and angels and demons, will speak with one voice, saying, "Righteous is Your judgment." And the justification of this voice will be seen in the awarding to each of what is just. For to those who have done well, eternal bliss will be assigned righteously. And to the lovers of iniquity, eternal punishment will be given. And the fire that is unquenchable and without end awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm that does not die, and does not waste the body, but continues bursting forth from the body with unending pain. No sleep will give them rest. No night will soot

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

Thus the entire office of justice in this respect becomes an agency for goodness: whatever it condemns by its judgment, whatever it chastises by its condemnation, whatever (to use your phrase) it ruthlessly pursues, it, in fact, benefits with good instead of injuring.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness

but the most righteous Retributor metes out [punishment] according to their deserts, most deservedly, to the ungrateful and to those that are insensible of His kindness;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

2. That, then, was called the day of retribution on which the Lord will render to every one according to his works—that is, the judgment.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

Now, if the righteous judgment awards to both together its retribution for the deeds wrought;

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Metaphrase of Ecclesiastes Supporting witness

and that you believe that all shall be judged severally in the future, and that every man shall receive the just recompense for his deeds, whether they be good or whether they be evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 Supporting witness

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Romans 2:5 Supporting witness

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

2 Thessalonians 1:6 Supporting witness

since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

Wisdom of Sirach 32:19 Supporting witness

Till he have rendered to every man according to his deeds, And to the works of men according to their devices; Till he have judged the cause of his people, And made them to rejoice in his mercy.

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

...th with rain, no one is excluded from His benefits, but He gives His impartial rains equally to the righteous and the unrighteous. We see that, by God's command, the seasons serve with the same patient fairness the guilty and the guiltless, the religious and the impious, those who give thanks and the unthankful. The elements serve them. The winds blow, the springs flow, the abundance of the harvests increases, the fruits of the vineyards ripen, the trees are loaded with apples, the groves put out their leaves, and the meadows their greenery. And although God is provoked by frequent, yes, continual offenses, He softens His anger and patiently waits for the day of retribution that has been determined once for all. Although He has vengeance in His power, He chooses instead to keep patience for a long time, mercifully bearing with people and delaying punishment, so that, if possible, long-continued evil may at some time be changed, and man, caught in the infection of errors and crimes, may, even though late, be converted to God. As He Himself warns and says, "I do not will the death of him that dies so much as that he may return and live." And again, "Return to me," says the Lord. A

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

The punishment began from that point whence the crime also began;

Job 31:11 Supporting witness

For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

Proverbs 21:15 Supporting witness

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

2 Maccabees 13:6 Supporting witness

And whosoever was condemned of sacrilege, or had committed any other grievous crime, there did all men thrust him unto death.

2 Maccabees 4:48 Supporting witness

Thus they that followed the matter for the city, and for the people, and for the holy vessels, did soon suffer unjust punishment.

Deuteronomy 25:2 Supporting witness

then it shall come to pass, if the unrighteous should be worthy of stripes, thou shalt lay him down before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them according to his iniquity.

Psalms 28:4 Supporting witness

Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.

Hosea 12:2 Supporting witness

The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds.

Job 34:11 Supporting witness

For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.

Isaiah 5:23 Supporting witness

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!

Zephaniah 1:15 Supporting witness

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the Gentiles: as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee: thy recompense shall be returned on thine own head.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

But if any humble person shall have committed any such crime, there are at hand for his punishment the scourge, fire, the rack, the cross, and whatever torture men can invent in their anger and rage.

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness

To degrade a magistrate, or use insulting language to a senator, you have made by decree a crime, followed by the severest punishment.

Justin Martyr, The Second Apology Background

...rvants and indulging in drunkenness and vice and wanting him to do the same, accused her of being a Christian when she left without his consent. She presented a request to the Emperor, asking for permission to settle her affairs before defending against the accusation, which was granted. Unable to prosecute her, her husband targeted a man named Ptolemaeus, her teacher in Christian doctrines, with the help of a centurion who was friendly to him. The centurion took Ptolemaeus, interrogating him only on whether he was a Christian. Ptolemaeus, being truthful, confessed, was imprisoned, and later, when questioned by Urbicus, again affirmed his belief truthfully and was sentenced. Lucius, another Christian, witnessing this unjust judgment, questioned Urbicus: “What cause is there for this judgment? Why punish a man not guilty of adultery, immorality, murder, theft, or any crime, but only for being called a Christian? This judgment does not reflect well on Emperor Pius, nor the philosopher, son of Caesar, nor the sacred senate.” Urbicus responded, “You seem to be like this man,” to which Lucius replied, “Most certainly I am,” and was ordered to be executed. Lucius gave thanks, knowing

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness

... because they say that these ways are not in this life, but among the shades below. We speak more clearly and correctly when we say that one is the way of life, and the other is the way of death. Here also we say that there are two ways. But the one on the right hand, in which the just walk, does not lead to Elysium, but to heaven, because they become immortal. The other, on the left, leads to Tartarus, because the unjust are sentenced to eternal tortures. Therefore we must hold to the way of justice, which leads to life. Now the first duty of justice is to acknowledge God as a parent, to fear Him as a master, and to love Him as a father. For the same Being who begot us, who gave us life with vital breath, who nourishes and preserves us, has authority over us not only as a father but also as a master. He has authority to correct us, and the power of life and death. Therefore a twofold honor is due to Him from man, that is, love joined with fear. The second duty of justice is to acknowledge man as a brother. For if the same God made us, and brought all men into being on equal terms for justice and eternal life, then it is clear that we are united by the bond of brotherhood. And h

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

... is mine, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. But the man who is righteous, and does judgment and justice"—and so the prophet lists the rest of the virtues, and then adds as a conclusion, "Such a one is just"—"he shall surely live, says the Lord God. And if he begets a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and does not walk in the way of his righteous father"—and when the prophet has added what follows, he adds in the conclusion—"he shall certainly not live. He has done all this wickedness. He shall surely die. His blood shall be upon him." Yet they will ask you, "Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father; or his righteousness, having exercised righteousness and mercy himself?" And you shall say to them, "The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." And a little after he says: "When the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, all his righteousness, because of all his wickedness which he has committed, sha

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

Wherefore do you also allot different penalties to different offenses, lest any injustice should happen, and provoke God to indignation.

Alexander of Lycopolis, Of the Manicheans Supporting witness

but law inflicting punishment upon any one who has been caught in the commission of anything unjust.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background

The Caution Observed at Heathen Tribunals Before the Condemnation of Criminals Affords Christians a Good Example.

Ezra 8:24 Background

And whosoever shall transgress the law of thy God, and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment.

1 Esdras 8:24 Background

And whosoever shall transgress the law of thy God, and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment.

Nehemiah 7:26 Background

And whosoever shall not do the law of God, and the law of the king readily, judgment shall be taken upon him, whether for death or for chastisement, or for a fine of his property, or casting into prison.

1 Maccabees 14:45 Background

and whosoever should do otherwise, or break any of these things, he should be punished.