Is Justin in the Bible?

Justin is not in the Bible, but Justus, the name it comes from, is. Three men in the New Testament are called Justus, a Latin name meaning “just” or “upright.” Justin, from the Roman name Iustinus, became a Christian name through Justin Martyr, a teacher of the faith beheaded in Rome around 165.

Is the name Justin in the Bible?

No one in the Old or New Testament is named Justin, and no translation of the Bible uses the name. Justus, the older name from which Justin was formed, occurs three times. In the Greek of the New Testament it is a Latin name written in Greek letters, and each of the three men also had another name.

The first Justus was put forward for a place among the Twelve. After Judas’s death, the apostles looked for a man who had been with them from the baptism of John until Jesus was taken up, to become “a witness to his resurrection.” They “put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.” They prayed and cast lots, “and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:21–26). Scripture says nothing more about Joseph Justus.

The second was a man in Corinth. When the synagogue there turned against Paul’s preaching, Paul “went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue” (Acts 18:7). Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, then believed in the Lord together with his entire household. The King James Version calls this man simply Justus.

The third, “Jesus who is called Justus,” sends greetings at the end of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Paul names him with Aristarchus and Mark as the only Jewish believers among his fellow workers, and says, “they have been a comfort to me” (Colossians 4:10–11).

What does Justin mean?

Justin comes from Iustinus, a Roman name formed from Iustus, “just, lawful, upright.” It is Latin, not Hebrew, and it has no Hebrew meaning. In the Latin Bible, though, iustus is the ordinary word for a righteous person. The line Paul quotes from the prophet Habakkuk, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), reads in the Vulgate, the Latin Bible of the Western Church, Iustus autem ex fide vivit. In Acts 7:52 and 22:14 the Vulgate uses the same word as a title for Jesus, and the King James Version translates it “the Just One.”

The name has forms in many languages: Giustino in Italian, Justino in Spanish and Portuguese, Justyn in Polish and Iestyn in Welsh. Justina and the French Justine are the feminine forms. Justinian, the name of the sixth-century emperor, was formed from Justin in the same way that Justin was formed from Justus.

Justin Martyr

The saint who made the name Christian was born around 100 in Flavia Neapolis, now Nablus, in Samaria, to a pagan family. By his own account he went looking for the truth about God among the philosophers, studying in turn with a Stoic, a Peripatetic, a Pythagorean and a Platonist. While walking by the sea he met an old man who convinced him that human reasoning could not reach God, and that he needed the prophets, who had been inspired by the Holy Spirit and could make God known. The story may be arranged to make a point, but his writings do show the influence of Stoic and, even more, Platonist thought. Justin became a Christian by about 130 and taught the faith in Asia Minor and in Rome, where he kept a school.

His surviving works are two Apologies, defenses of Christianity addressed to the Roman authorities, and the Dialogue with Trypho, a long debate with a Jew named Trypho about the prophecies of the Old Testament. Around 165 he and six companions were brought before Rusticus, the prefect of Rome, refused to sacrifice to the gods, and were beheaded. The Catholic Church keeps his feast on 1 June.

Other Christians named Justin

Justin de Jacobis (1800–1860) was an Italian Vincentian priest who left for Ethiopia as a missionary in 1839 and was secretly ordained a bishop at Massawa in 1849. He learned Amharic, Tigrinya and Ge’ez, and insisted that the Ethiopian priests he trained keep their own rite rather than adopt the Latin one. He died on 31 July 1860, and Pope Paul VI canonized him on 26 October 1975. The name was also borne by two Byzantine emperors, Justin I and Justin II, and the feminine Justina by several early martyrs, among them Justina of Padua, who died around 303 and is a patron saint of that city.

Is Justin a Christian name?

Yes. Justin is a saint’s name, and for Catholics Justin Martyr is its patron. In the United States it was among the 20 most popular names for boys every year from 1980 to 2000, reaching 7th place in 1988. It ranked 233rd in 2025.

Related reading

• Matthias in the Bible: A Mystery in Numbers
• Exploring the Meaning of Righteousness in the Bible
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names