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Justin Martyr: First Apology
ANF historical edition · Translated text
Chapter XLII.—Prophecy using the past tense.
But when the Spirit of prophecy speaks of things that are about to come to pass as if they had already taken place, —as may be observed even in the passages already cited by me, —that this circumstance may afford no excuse to readers [for misinterpreting them], we will make even this also quite plain. The things which He absolutely knows will take place, He predicts as if already they had taken place. And that the utterances must be thus received, you will perceive, if you give your attention to them.
The words cited above, David uttered 1500 Edition note 1 years before Christ became a man and was crucified; and no one of those who lived before Him, nor yet of His contemporaries, afforded joy to the Gentiles by being crucified. But our Jesus Christ, being crucified and dead, rose again, and having ascended to heaven, reigned; and by those things which were published in His name among all nations by the apostles, there is joy afforded to those who expect the immortality promised by Him.
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