Over all that we receive we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit... But we all hold this common gathering on Sunday, since it is the first day, on which God transformning darkness and matter made the Universe, and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead. for they crucified him on the day before Saturday, and on the day after Saturday, He appeared to His Apostles and disciples and taught them these things which we have passed on to you also for your consideration.


-- Justin Martyr, The First Apology, ch. 67

The resurrection is in [Justin's] work a reference point for both history and divinity; it is a fixed referent to find God's work in the world. The Word of God is tied to this resurrection promise, but this promise is still future, is still a matter of anticipation. While in Jesus' own resurrection there is a foretaste of it, this future is grasped only by prophecy of God's justice fulfilled. As God's righteous reign is still yet to come, Justin admits, we are now in the midst of decay, dissolution, and all other effects of death. In his writings we have seen how even as Justin affirms the restoration of body and soul in the promised future, his words and language accent the contradiction that, in the present age, we see corruption and mortality reigning outwardly, devouring the body in death. This cycle of death sunders what God has united -- soul and body. Justin Martyr nonetheless affirms that because of the resurrection, the Creator God's will shall be affirmed by the salvation of the entire person. the One who resurrects is not different than the One who has created, and who call the universe, good. The future world Justin Martyr proclaims is that of Jerusalem made New, the Bride of the Incarnate Logos.