[3] His writings (the only remaining being his apology to Autolycus) indicate that he was born a pagan, not far from the Tigris and Euphrates, and was led to embrace Christianity by studying the Holy Scriptures, especially the prophetical books.

Eusebius, however, speaks of the zeal which he and the other chief shepherds displayed in driving away the heretics who were attacking Christ's flock, with special mention of his work against Marcion.

William Sanday[6] describes him as "one of the precursors of that group of writers who, from Irenaeus to Cyprian, not only break the obscurity which rests on the earliest history of the Church, but alike in the East and in the West carry it to the front in literary eminence, and distance all their heathen contemporaries".

He contrasts the account of the creation of the universe and of man, on which, together with the history contained in the earlier chapters of Genesis, he comments at great length but with singularly little intelligence, with the statements of Plato, "reputed the wisest of all the Greeks",[9] of Aratus, who had the insight to assert that the earth was spherical,[10] and other Greek writers on whom he pours contempt as mere ignorant retailers of stolen goods.

The omission by the Greeks of all mention of the Old Testament from which they draw all their wisdom, is ascribed to a self-chosen blindness in refusing to recognize the only God and in persecuting the followers of the only fountain of truth.

Almost the only point in which he will allow the pagan writers to be in harmony with revealed truth is in the doctrine of retribution and punishment after death for sins committed in life.

He adopts Herodotus's derivation[13] of θεός (theòs) from τίθημι (tithemi), since God set all things in order, comparing with it that of Plato[14] from θεεῖν (theein), because the Deity is ever in motion.

[15] He asserts that Satan is called the dragon (Greek drakon) on account of his having revolted apodedrakenai from God,[16] and traces the Bacchanalian cry "Evoe" to the name of Eve as the first sinner.

He discovers the reason of blood coagulating on the surface of the ground in the divine word to Cain,[17] the earth struck with terror refusing to drink it in.

In addition, Theophilus misquotes Plato several times,[18] ranking Zopyrus among the Greeks,[19] and speaking of Pausanias as having only run a risk of starvation instead of being actually starved to death in the temple of Minerva.

For in glory He is incomprehensible, in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power incomparable, in wisdom unrivalled, in goodness inimitable, in kindness unutterable.

Rather, Theophilus himself puts it as "God, his Word (Logos) and his Wisdom (Sophia),"[20] perhaps following the early Christian practice of identifying the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom of God, as he seems to demonstrate in his interpretation of Psalm 33:6,[21] and which is also expressed in the works his contemporary, Irenaeus of Lyon, who commenting on that selfsame verse writes, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by his spirit all their power."

[22]This practice served as a way to express Christian doctrine in a way that is more relatable to contemporary views—to ideas found in Greek philosophy or Hellenistic Judaism in which such concepts as Nous (Mind), Logos (Word, Reason) and Sophia (Wisdom) were common.

As the Patripassionist heresies arose, however, the formula of "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" became more prominently featured, as such beliefs denied the persons of the Economy (an earlier developed term for the Trinity).

[27] More important is a distinct citation from the opening of the Gospel of St. John (1:1-3), mentioning the evangelist by name, as one of the inspired men by whom the Holy Scriptures were written[28] The use of a metaphor found in 2 Peter 1:19 bears on the date of that epistle.

Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God.In his third book Theophilus presents a detailed chronology “from the foundation of the world" to emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The silence regarding his Apology in the East is remarkable; we fail to find the work mentioned or quoted by Greek writers before the time of Eusebius.

This article uses text from A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies by Henry Wace.