Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew
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Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and
first published by T&T Clark in Edinburgh in 1867. Additional
introductionary material and notes provided for the American
edition by A. Cleveland Coxe, 1886.
Chapter I. Introduction.
While I was going about one morning in the walks of the Xystus, [1948] a
certain man, with others in his company, having met me, and said, "Hail, O
philosopher!" And immediately after saying this, he turned round and walked
along with me; his friends likewise followed him. And I in turn having
addressed him, said, "What is there important?"
And he replied, "I was instructed," says he "by Corinthus the Socratic in
Argos, that I ought not to despise or treat with indifference those who
array themselves in this dress [1949] but to show them all kindness, and to
associate with them, as perhaps some advantage would spring from the
intercourse either to some such man or to myself. It is good, moreover, for
both, if either the one or the other be benefited. On this account,
therefore, whenever I see any one in such costume, I gladly approach him,
and now, for the same reason, have I willingly accosted you; and these
accompany me, in the expectation of hearing for themselves something
profitable from you."
"But who are you, most excellent man?" So I replied to him in jest. [1950]
Then he told me frankly both his name and his family. "Trypho," says he, "I
am called; and I am a Hebrew of the circumcision, [1951] and having escaped
from the war [1952] lately carried on there I am spending my days in Greece,
and chiefly at Corinth."
"And in what," said I, "would you be profited by philosophy so much as by
your own lawgiver and the prophets?"
"Why not?" he replied. "Do not the philosophers turn every discourse on God?
and do not questions continually arise to them about His unity and
providence? Is not this truly the duty of philosophy, to investigate the
Deity?"
"Assuredly," said I, "so we too have believed. But the most [1953] have not
taken thought of this whether there be one or more gods, and whether they
have a regard for each one of us or no, as if this knowledge contributed
nothing to our happiness; nay, they moreover attempt to persuade us that God
takes care of the universe with its genera and species, but not of me and
you, and each individually, since otherwise we would surely not need to pray
to Him night and day. But it is not difficult to understand the upshot of
this; for fearlessness and license in speaking result to such as maintain
these opinions, doing and saying whatever they choose, neither dreading
punishment nor hoping for any benefit from God. For how could they? They
affirm that the same things shall always happen; and, further, that I and
you shall again live in like manner, having become neither better men nor
worse. But there are some others, [1954] who, having supposed the soul to be
immortal and immaterial, believe that though they have committed evil they
will not suffer punishment (for that which is immaterial is insensible), and
that the soul, in consequence of its immortality, needs nothing from God."
And he, smiling gently, said, "Tell us your opinion of these matters, and
what idea you entertain respecting God, and what your philosophy is."
Footnotes
[1948] This Xystus, on the authority of Euseb. (iv. 18), was at Ephesus.
There, Philostratus mentions, Appolonius was wont to have
disputations. Otto.
[1949] Euseb. (iv. 11): "Justin, in philosopher's garb, preached the word of
God."
[1950] In jest, no doubt, because quoting a line from Homer, Il., vi. 123.
tis de su essi, pheriste, katathnētōn anthrōpōn.
[1951] [i.e., "A Hebrew of the Hebrews" (Phil. iii. 5).]
[1952] The war instigated by Bar Cochba.
[1953] The opinions of Stoics. Otto.
[1954] The Platonists.
Chapter I. Justin describes his studies in philosophy.
"I will tell you," said I, "what seems to me; for philosophy is, in fact,
the greatest possession, and most honourable before God, [1955] to whom it
leads us and alone commends us; and these are truly holy men who have
bestowed attention on philosophy. What philosophy is, however, and the
reason why it has been sent down to men, have escaped the observation of
most; for there would be neither Platonists, nor Stoics, nor Peripatetics,
nor Theoretics, [1956] nor Pythagoreans, this knowledge being one. [1957] I
wish to tell you why it has become many-headed. It has happened that those
who first handled it [i.e., philosophy], and who were therefore esteemed
illustrious men, were succeeded by those who made no investigations
concerning truth, but only admired the perseverance and self-discipline of
the former, as well as the novelty of the doctrines; and each thought that
to be true which he learned from his teacher: then, moreover, those latter
persons handed down to their successors such things, and others similar to
them; and this system was called by the name of him who was styled the
father of the doctrine. Being at first desirous of personally conversing
with one of these men, I surrendered myself to a certain Stoic; and having
spent a considerable time with him, when I had not acquired any further
knowledge of God (for he did not know himself, and said such instruction was
unnecessary), I left him and betook myself to another, who was called a
Peripatetic, and as he fancied, shrewd. And this man, after having
entertained me for the first few days, requested me to settle the fee, in
order that our intercourse might not be unprofitable. Him, too, for this
reason I abandoned, believing him to be no philosopher at all. But when my
soul was eagerly desirous to hear the peculiar and choice philosophy, I came
to a Pythagorean, very celebrated a man who thought much of his own wisdom.
And then, when I had an interview with him, willing to become his hearer and
disciple, he said, "What then? Are you acquainted with music, astronomy, and
geometry? Do you expect to perceive any of those things which conduce to a
happy life, if you have not been first informed on those points which wean
the soul from sensible objects, and render it fitted for objects which
appertain to the mind, so that it can contemplate that which is honourable
in its essence and that which is good in its essence? Having commended many
of these branches of learning, and telling me that they were necessary, he
dismissed me when I confessed to him my ignorance. Accordingly I took it
rather impatiently, as was to be expected when I failed in my hope, the more
so because I deemed the man had some knowledge; but reflecting again on the
space of time during which I would have to linger over those branches of
learning, I was not able to endure longer procrastination. In my helpless
condition it occurred to me to have a meeting with the Platonists, for their
fame was great. I thereupon spent as much of my time as possible with one
who had lately settled in our city, [1958] a sagacious man, holding a high
position among the Platonists, and I progressed, and made the greatest
improvements daily. And the perception of immaterial things quite
overpowered me, and the contemplation of ideas furnished my mind with wings,
[1959] so that in a little while I supposed that I had become wise; and such
was my stupidity, I expected forthwith to look upon God, for this is the end
of Plato's philosophy.
Footnotes
[1955] hō some omit, and put theō of prev. cl. in this cl., reading so:
"Philosophy is the greatest possession, and most honourable, and introduces
us to God," etc.
[1956] Maranus thinks that those who are different from the masters of
practical philosophy are called Theoretics. I do not know whether they may
be better designated Sceptics or Pyrrhonists. Otto.
[1957] Julian, Orat., vi., says: "Let no one divide our philosophy into many
parts, or cut it into many parts, and especially let him not make many out
of one: for as truth is one, so also is philosophy."
[1958] Either Flavia Neapolis is indicated, or Ephesus. Otto.
[1959] Narrating his progress in the study of Platonic philosophy, he
elegantly employs this trite phrase of Plato s. Otto.
Chapter II. Justin narrates the manner of his conversion.
"And while I was thus disposed, when I wished at one period to be filled
with great quietness, and to shun the path of men, I used to go into a
certain field not far from the sea. And when I was near that spot one day,
which having reached I purposed to be by myself, a certain old man, by no
means contemptible in appearance, exhibiting meek and venerable manners,
followed me at a little distance. And when I turned round to him, having
halted, I fixed my eyes rather keenly on him.
"And he said, "Do you know me?
"I replied in the negative.
"Why, then, said he to me, "do you so look at me?
"I am astonished, I said, "because you have chanced to be in my company
in the same place; for I had not expected to see any man here.
"And he says to me, "I am concerned about some of my household. These are
gone away from me; and therefore have I come to make personal search for
them, if, perhaps, they shall make their appearance somewhere. But why are
you here? said he to me.
"I delight, said I, "in such walks, where my attention is not distracted,
for converse with myself is uninterrupted; and such places are most fit for
philology. [1960]
"Are you, then, a philologian, [1961] said he, "but no lover of deeds or
of truth? and do you not aim at being a practical man so much as being a
sophist?
"What greater work, said I, "could one accomplish than this, to show the
reason which governs all, and having laid hold of it, and being mounted upon
it, to look down on the errors of others, and their pursuits? But without
philosophy and right reason, prudence would not be present to any man.
Wherefore it is necessary for every man to philosophize, and to esteem this
the greatest and most honourable work; but other things only of second-rate
or third-rate importance, though, indeed, if they be made to depend on
philosophy, they are of moderate value, and worthy of acceptance; but
deprived of it, and not accompanying it, they are vulgar and coarse to those
who pursue them.
"Does philosophy, then, make happiness? said he, interrupting.
"Assuredly, I said, "and it alone.
"What, then, is philosophy? he says; "and what is happiness? Pray tell
me, unless something hinders you from saying.
"Philosophy, then, said I, "is the knowledge of that which really exists,
and a clear perception of the truth; and happiness is the reward of such
knowledge and wisdom.
"But what do you call God? said he.
"That which always maintains the same nature, and in the same manner, and
is the cause of all other things that, indeed, is God. So I answered him;
and he listened to me with pleasure, and thus again interrogated me:
"Is not knowledge a term common to different matters? For in arts of all
kinds, he who knows any one of them is called a skilful man in the art of
generalship, or of ruling, or of healing equally. But in divine and human
affairs it is not so. Is there a knowledge which affords understanding of
human and divine things, and then a thorough acquaintance with the divinity
and the righteousness of them?
"Assuredly, I replied.
"What, then? Is it in the same way we know man and God, as we know music,
and arithmetic, and astronomy, or any other similar branch?
"By no means, I replied.
"You have not answered me correctly, then, he said; "for some [branches
of knowledge] come to us by learning, or by some employment, while of others
we have knowledge by sight. Now, if one were to tell you that there exists
in India an animal with a nature unlike all others, but of such and such a
kind, multiform and various, you would not know it before you saw it; but
neither would you be competent to give any account of it, unless you should
hear from one who had seen it.
"Certainly not, I said.
"How then, he said, "should the philosophers judge correctly about God,
or speak any truth, when they have no knowledge of Him, having neither seen
Him at any time, nor heard Him?
"But, father, said I, "the Deity cannot be seen merely by the eyes, as
other living beings can, but is discernible to the mind alone, as Plato
says; and I believe him.
Footnotes
[1960] Philology, used here to denote the exercise of reason.
[1961] Philology, used her to denote the exercise of speech. The two-fold
use of logos oratio and ratio ought to be kept in view. The old man uses it
in the former, Justin in the latter, sense.
Chapter IV. The soul of itself cannot see God.
"Is there then, says he, "such and so great power in our mind? Or can a
man not perceive by sense sooner? Will the mind of man see God at any time,
if it is uninstructed by the Holy Spirit?
"Plato indeed says, replied I, "that the mind's eye is of such a nature,
and has been given for this end, that we may see that very Being when the
mind is pure itself, who is the cause of all discerned by the mind, having
no colour, no form, no greatness nothing, indeed, which the bodily eye looks
upon; but It is something of this sort, he goes on to say, that is beyond
all essence, unutterable and inexplicable, but alone honourable and good,
coming suddenly into souls well-dispositioned, on account of their affinity
to and desire of seeing Him.
"What affinity, then, replied he, "is there between us and God? Is the
soul also divine and immortal, and a part of that very regal mind? And even
as that sees God, so also is it attainable by us to conceive of the Deity in
our mind, and thence to become happy?
"Assuredly, I said.
"And do all the souls of all living beings comprehend Him? he asked; "or
are the souls of men of one kind and the souls of horses and of asses of
another kind?
"No; but the souls which are in all are similar, I answered.
"Then, says he, "shall both horses and asses see, or have they seen at
some time or other, God?
"No, I said; "for the majority of men will not, saving such as shall live
justly, purified by righteousness, and by every other virtue.
"It is not, therefore, said he, "on account of his affinity, that a man
sees God, nor because he has a mind, but because he is temperate and
righteous?
"Yes, said I; "and because he has that whereby he perceives God.
"What then? Do goats or sheep injure any one?
"No one in any respect, I said.
"Therefore these animals will see [God] according to your account, says
he.
"No; for their body being of such a nature, is an obstacle to them.
"He rejoined, "If these animals could assume speech, be well assured that
they would with greater reason ridicule our body; but let us now dismiss
this subject, and let it be conceded to you as you say. Tell me, however,
this: Does the soul see [God] so long as it is in the body, or after it has
been removed from it?
"So long as it is in the form of a man, it is possible for it, I
continue, "to attain to this by means of the mind; but especially when it
has been set free from the body, and being apart by itself, it gets
possession of that which it was wont continually and wholly to love.
"Does it remember this, then [the sight of God], when it is again in the
man?
"It does not appear to me so, I said.
"What, then, is the advantage to those who have seen [God]? or what has he
who has seen more than he who has not seen, unless he remember this fact,
that he has seen?
"I cannot tell, I answered.
"And what do those suffer who are judged to be unworthy of this
spectacle? said he.
"They are imprisoned in the bodies of certain wild beasts, and this is
their punishment.
"Do they know, then, that it is for this reason they are in such forms,
and that they have committed some sin?
"I do not think so.
"Then these reap no advantage from their punishment, as it seems:
moreover, I would say that they are not punished unless they are conscious
of the punishment.
"No indeed.
"Therefore souls neither see God nor transmigrate into other bodies; for
they would know that so they are punished, and they would be afraid to
commit even the most trivial sin afterwards. But that they can perceive that
God exists, and that righteousness and piety are honourable, I also quite
agree with you, said he.
"You are right, I replied.
Chapter V. The soul is not in its own nature immortal.
"These philosophers know nothing, then, about these things; for they
cannot tell what a soul is.
"It does not appear so.
"Nor ought it to be called immortal; for if it is immortal, it is plainly
unbegotten.
"It is both unbegotten and immortal, according to some who are styled
Platonists.
"Do you say that the world is also unbegotten?
"Some say so. I do not, however, agree with them.
"You are right; for what reason has one for supposing that a body so
solid, possessing resistance, composite, changeable, decaying, and renewed
every day, has not arisen from some cause? But if the world is begotten,
souls also are necessarily begotten; and perhaps at one time they were not
in existence, for they were made on account of men and other living
creatures, if you will say that they have been begotten wholly apart, and
not along with their respective bodies.
"This seems to be correct.
"They are not, then, immortal?
"No; since the world has appeared to us to be begotten.
"But I do not say, indeed, that all souls die; for that were truly a piece
of good fortune to the evil. What then? The souls of the pious remain in a
better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse, waiting
for the time of judgment. Thus some which have appeared worthy of God never
die; but others are punished so long as God wills them to exist and to be
punished.
"Is what you say, then, of a like nature with that which Plato in Timæus
hints about the world, when he says that it is indeed subject to decay,
inasmuch as it has been created, but that it will neither be dissolved nor
meet with the fate of death on account of the will of God? Does it seem to
you the very same can be said of the soul, and generally of all things? For
those things which exist after [1962] God, or shall at any time exist,
[1963] these have the nature of decay, and are such as may be blotted out
and cease to exist; for God alone is unbegotten and incorruptible, and
therefore He is God, but all other things after Him are created and
corruptible. For this reason souls both die and are punished: since, if they
were unbegotten, they would neither sin, nor be filled with folly, nor be
cowardly, and again ferocious; nor would they willingly transform into
swine, and serpents, and dogs and it would not indeed be just to compel
them, if they be unbegotten. For that which is unbegotten is similar to,
equal to, and the same with that which is unbegotten; and neither in power
nor in honour should the one be preferred to the other, and hence there are
not many things which are unbegotten: for if there were some difference
between them, you would not discover the cause of the difference, though you
searched for it; but after letting the mind ever wander to infinity, you
would at length, wearied out, take your stand on one Unbegotten, and say
that this is the Cause of all. Did such escape the observation of Plato and
Pythagoras, those wise men, I said, "who have been as a wall and fortress
of philosophy to us?
Footnotes
[1962] "Beside."
[1963] Otto says: If the old man begins to speak here, then echei must be
read for echein. The received text makes it appear that Justin continues a
quotation, or the substance of it, from Plato.
Chapter VI. These things were unknown to Plato and other philosophers.
"It makes no matter to me, said he, "whether Plato or Pythagoras, or, in
short, any other man held such opinions. For the truth is so; and you would
perceive it from this. The soul assuredly is or has life. If, then, it is
life, it would cause something else, and not itself, to live, even as motion
would move something else than itself. Now, that the soul lives, no one
would deny. But if it lives, it lives not as being life, but as the partaker
of life; but that which partakes of anything, is different from that of
which it does partake. Now the soul partakes of life, since God wills it to
live. Thus, then, it will not even partake [of life] when God does not will
it to live. For to live is not its attribute, as it is God s; but as a man
does not live always, and the soul is not for ever conjoined with the body,
since, whenever this harmony must be broken up, the soul leaves the body,
and the man exists no longer; even so, whenever the soul must cease to
exist, the spirit of life is removed from it, and there is no more soul, but
it goes back to the place from whence it was taken.
Chapter VII. The knowledge of truth to be sought from the prophets alone.
"Should any one, then, employ a teacher? I say, "or whence may any one be
helped, if not even in them there is truth?
"There existed, long before this time, certain men more ancient than all
those who are esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, who
spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and
which are now taking place. They are called prophets. These alone both saw
and announced the truth to men, neither reverencing nor fearing any man, not
influenced by a desire for glory, but speaking those things alone which they
saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Their writings
are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his
knowledge of the beginning and end of things, and of those matters which the
philosopher ought to know, provided he has believed them. For they did not
use demonstration in their treatises, seeing that they were witnesses to the
truth above all demonstration, and worthy of belief; and those events which
have happened, and those which are happening, compel you to assent to the
utterances made by them, although, indeed, they were entitled to credit on
account of the miracles which they performed, since they both glorified the
Creator, the God and Father of all things, and proclaimed His Son, the
Christ [sent] by Him: which, indeed, the false prophets, who are filled with
the lying unclean spirit, neither have done nor do, but venture to work
certain wonderful deeds for the purpose of astonishing men, and glorify the
spirits and demons of error. But pray that, above all things, the gates of
light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or
understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and His Christ have
imparted wisdom.
Chapter VIII. Justin by his colloquy is kindled with love to Christ.
"When he had spoken these and many other things, which there is no time for
mentioning at present, he went away, bidding me attend to them; and I have
not seen him since. But straightway a flame was kindled in my soul; and a
love of the prophets, and of those men who are friends of Christ, possessed
me; and whilst revolving his words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone
to be safe and profitable. Thus, and for this reason, I am a philosopher.
Moreover, I would wish that all, making a resolution similar to my own, do
not keep themselves away from the words of the Saviour. For they possess a
terrible power in themselves, and are sufficient to inspire those who turn
aside from the path of rectitude with awe; while the sweetest rest is
afforded those who make a diligent practice of them. If, then, you have any
concern for yourself, and if you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if
you believe in God, you may since you are not indifferent to the matter
[1964] become acquainted with the Christ of God, and, after being
initiated, [1965] live a happy life."
When I had said this, my beloved friends [1966] those who were with Trypho
laughed; but he, smiling, says, "I approve of your other remarks, and admire
the eagerness with which you study divine things; but it were better for you
still to abide in the philosophy of Plato, or of some other man, cultivating
endurance, self-control, and moderation, rather than be deceived by false
words, and follow the opinions of men of no reputation. For if you remain in
that mode of philosophy, and live blamelessly, a hope of a better destiny
were left to you; but when you have forsaken God, and reposed confidence in
man, what safety still awaits you? If, then, you are willing to listen to me
(for I have already considered you a friend), first be circumcised, then
observe what ordinances have been enacted with respect to the Sabbath, and
the feasts, and the new moons of God; and, in a word, do all things which
have been written in the law: and then perhaps you shall obtain mercy from
God. But Christ if He has indeed been born, and exists anywhere is unknown,
and does not even know Himself, and has no power until Elias come to anoint
Him, and make Him manifest to all. And you, having accepted a groundless
report, invent a Christ for yourselves, and for his sake are inconsiderately
perishing."
Footnotes
[1964] According to one interpretation, this clause is applied to God: "If
you believe in God, seeing He is not indifferent to the matter," etc.
Maranus says that it means: A Jew who reads so much of Christ in the Old
Testament, cannot be indifferent to the things which pertain to Him.
[1965] Literally: having become perfect. Some refer the words to perfection
of character; some initiation by baptism.
[1966] Latin version, "beloved Pompeius."
ChapterX. The Christians have not believed groundless stories.
"I excuse and forgive you, my friend," I said. "For you know not what you
say, but have been persuaded by teachers who do not understand the
Scriptures; and you speak, like a diviner, whatever comes into your mind.
But if you are willing to listen to an account of Him, how we have not been
deceived, and shall not cease to confess Him, although men's reproaches be
heaped upon us, although the most terrible tyrant compel us to deny Him, I
shall prove to you as you stand here that we have not believed empty fables,
or words without any foundation but words filled with the Spirit of God, and
big with power, and flourishing with grace."
Then again those who were in his company laughed, and shouted in an unseemly
manner. Then I rose up and was about to leave; but he, taking hold of my
garment, said I should not accomplish that [1967] until I had performed what
I promised. "Let not, then, your companions be so tumultuous, or behave so
disgracefully," I said. "But if they wish, let them listen in silence; or,
if some better occupation prevent them, let them go away; while we, having
retired to some spot, and resting there, may finish the discourse." It
seemed good to Trypho that we should do so; and accordingly, having agreed
upon it, we retired to the middle space of the Xystus. Two of his friends,
when they had ridiculed and made game of our zeal, went off. And when we
were come to that place, where there are stone seats on both sides, those
with Trypho, having seated themselves on the one side, conversed with each
other, some one of them having thrown in a remark about the war waged in
Judæa.
Footnotes
[1967] According to another reading, "I did not leave."
Chapter X. Trypho blames the Christians for this alone the non-observance of
the law.
And when they ceased, I again addressed them thus:
"Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we are blamed, than this,
that we live not after the law, and are not circumcised in the flesh as your
forefathers were, and do not observe sabbaths as you do? Are our lives and
customs also slandered among you? And I ask this: have you also believed
concerning us, that we eat men; and that after the feast, having
extinguished the lights, we engage in promiscuous concubinage? Or do you
condemn us in this alone, that we adhere to such tenets, and believe in an
opinion, untrue, as you think?"
"This is what we are amazed at," said Trypho, "but those things about which
the multitude speak are not worthy of belief; for they are most repugnant to
human nature. Moreover, I am aware that your precepts in the so-called
Gospel are so wonderful and so great, that I suspect no one can keep them;
for I have carefully read them. But this is what we are most at a loss
about: that you, professing to be pious, and supposing yourselves better
than others, are not in any particular separated from them, and do not alter
your mode of living from the nations, in that you observe no festivals or
sabbaths, and do not have the rite of circumcision; and further, resting
your hopes on a man that was crucified, you yet expect to obtain some good
thing from God, while you do not obey His commandments. Have you not read,
that that soul shall be cut off from his people who shall not have been
circumcised on the eighth day? And this has been ordained for strangers and
for slaves equally. But you, despising this covenant rashly, reject the
consequent duties, and attempt to persuade yourselves that you know God,
when, however, you perform none of those things which they do who fear God.
If, therefore, you can defend yourself on these points, and make it manifest
in what way you hope for anything whatsoever, even though you do not observe
the law, this we would very gladly hear from you, and we shall make other
similar investigations."
Chapter XI. The law abrogated; the New Testament promised and given by God.
"There will be no other God, O Trypho, nor was there from eternity any other
existing" (I thus addressed him), "but He who made and disposed all this
universe. Nor do we think that there is one God for us, another for you, but
that He alone is God who led your fathers out from Egypt with a strong hand
and a high arm. Nor have we trusted in any other (for there is no other),
but in Him in whom you also have trusted, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob. But we do not trust through Moses or through the law; for then
we would do the same as yourselves. But now [1968] (for I have read that
there shall be a final law, and a covenant, the chiefest of all, which it is
now incumbent on all men to observe, as many as are seeking after the
inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on Horeb is now old, and belongs
to yourselves alone; but this is for all universally. Now, law placed
against law has abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which
comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous one; and an
eternal and final law namely, Christ has been given to us, and the covenant
is trustworthy, after which there shall be no law, no commandment, no
ordinance. Have you not read this which Isaiah says: "Hearken unto Me,
hearken unto Me, my people; and, ye kings, give ear unto Me: for a law shall
go forth from Me, and My judgment shall be for a light to the nations. My
righteousness approaches swiftly, and My salvation shall go forth, and
nations shall trust in Mine arm? [1969] And by Jeremiah, concerning this
same new covenant, He thus speaks: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in
the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of
Egypt [1970] ). If, therefore, God proclaimed a new covenant which was to
be instituted, and this for a light of the nations, we see and are persuaded
that men approach God, leaving their idols and other unrighteousness,
through the name of Him who was crucified, Jesus Christ, and abide by their
confession even unto death, and maintain piety. Moreover, by the works and
by the attendant miracles, it is possible for all to understand that He is
the new law, and the new covenant, and the expectation of those who out of
every people wait for the good things of God. For the true spiritual Israel,
and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham (who in uncircumcision
was approved of and blessed by God on account of his faith, and called the
father of many nations), are we who have been led to God through this
crucified Christ, as shall be demonstrated while we proceed.
Footnotes
[1968] Editors suppose that Justin inserts a long parenthesis here, from
"for" to "Egypt." It is more natural to take this as an anacoluthon. Justin
was going to say, "But now we trust through Christ," but feels that such a
statement requires preliminary explanation.
[1969] According to the LXX, Isa. li. 4, 5.
[1970] Jer. xxxi. 31, 32.
Chapter XII. The Jews violate the eternal law, and interpret ill that of
Moses.
I also adduced another passage in which Isaiah exclaims: "Hear My words,
and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given Him for a witness to
the people: nations which know not Thee shall call on Thee; peoples who know
not Thee shall escape to Thee, because of thy God, the Holy One of Israel;
for He has glorified Thee. [1971] This same law you have despised, and His
new holy covenant you have slighted; and now you neither receive it, nor
repent of your evil deeds. "For your ears are closed, your eyes are blinded,
and the heart is hardened, Jeremiah [1972] has cried; yet not even then do
you listen. The Lawgiver is present, yet you do not see Him; to the poor the
Gospel is preached, the blind see, yet you do not understand. You have now
need of a second circumcision, though you glory greatly in the flesh. The
new law requires you to keep perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are
idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has been
commanded you: and if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has
been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances:
if there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be
so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true
sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure.
Footnotes
[1971] Isa. lv. 3 ff. according to LXX.
[1972] Not in Jeremiah; some would insert, in place of Jeremiah, Isaiah or
John. [St. John xii. 40; Isa. vi. 10; where see full references in the
English margin. But comp. Jer. vii. 24, 26, Jer. xi. 8, and Jer. xvii. 23.]
Chapter XIII. Isaiah teaches that sins are forgiven through Christ's blood.
"For Isaiah did not send you to a bath, there to wash away murder and other
sins, which not even all the water of the sea were sufficient to purge; but,
as might have been expected, this was that saving bath of the olden time
which followed [1973] those who repented, and who no longer were purified by
the blood of goats and of sheep, or by the ashes of an heifer, or by the
offerings of fine flour, but by faith through the blood of Christ, and
through His death, who died for this very reason, as Isaiah himself said,
when he spake thus: "The Lord shall make bare His holy arm in the eyes of
all the nations, and all the nations and the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of God. Depart ye, depart ye, depart ye, [1974] go ye out from
thence, and touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her, be ye
clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, for [1975] ye go not with haste.
For the Lord shall go before you; and the Lord, the God of Israel, shall
gather you together. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; and He shall
be exalted, and be greatly glorified. As many were astonished at Thee, so
Thy form and Thy glory shall be marred more than men. So shall many nations
be astonished at Him, and the kings shall shut their mouths; for that which
had not been told them concerning Him shall they see, and that which they
had not heard shall they consider. Lord, who hath believed our report? and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have announced Him as a child
before Him, as a root in a dry ground. He hath no form or comeliness, and
when we saw Him He had no form or beauty; but His form is dishonoured, and
fails more than the sons of men. He is a man in affliction, and acquainted
with bearing sickness, because His face has been turned away; He was
despised, and we esteemed Him not. He bears our sins, and is distressed for
us; and we esteemed Him to be in toil and in affliction, and in evil
treatment. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. With His stripes we
are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Every man has turned to
his own way; and the Lord laid on Him our iniquities, and by reason of His
oppression He opens not His mouth. He was brought as a sheep to the
slaughter; and as a lamb before her shearer is dumb, so He openeth not His
mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. And who shall declare
His generation? For His life is taken from the earth. Because of the
transgressions of my people He came unto death. And I will give the wicked
for His grave, and the rich for His death, because He committed no iniquity,
and deceit was not found in His mouth. And the Lord wills to purify Him from
affliction. If he has been given for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived
seed. And the Lord wills to take His soul away from trouble, to show Him
light, and to form Him in understanding, to justify the righteous One who
serves many well. And He shall bear our sins; therefore He shall inherit
many, and shall divide the spoil of the strong, because His soul was
delivered to death; and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare
the sins of many, and was delivered for their transgression. Sing, O barren,
who bearest not; break forth and cry aloud, thou who dost not travail in
pain: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the
married wife. For the Lord said, Enlarge the place of thy tent and of thy
curtains; fix them, spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy
stakes; stretch forth to thy right and thy left; and thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles, and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inherited. Fear
not because thou art ashamed, neither be thou confounded because thou hast
been reproached; for thou shalt forget everlasting shame, and shalt not
remember the reproach of thy widowhood, because the Lord has made a name for
Himself, and He who has redeemed thee shall be called through the whole
earth the God of Israel. The Lord has called thee as [1976] a woman forsaken
and grieved in spirit, as [1977] a woman hated from her youth. [1978]
Footnotes
[1973] 1 Cor. x. 4. Otto reads: which he mentioned and which was for those
who repented.
[1974] Three times in Justin, not in LXX.
[1975] Deviating slightly from LXX., omitting a clause.
[1976] LXX. "not as," etc.
[1977] LXX. "not as," etc.
[1978] Isa. lii. 10 ff. following LXX. on to liv. 6.
Chapter XIV. Righteousness is not placed in Jewish rites, but in the
conversion of the heart given in baptism by Christ.
"By reason, therefore, of this laver of repentance and knowledge of God,
which has been ordained on account of the transgression of God's people, as
Isaiah cries, we have believed, and testify that that very baptism which he
announced is alone able to purify those who have repented; and this is the
water of life. But the cisterns which you have dug for yourselves are broken
and profitless to you. For what is the use of that baptism which cleanses
the flesh and body alone? Baptize the soul from wrath and from covetousness,
from envy, and from hatred; and, lo! the body is pure. For this is the
symbolic significance of unleavened bread, that you do not commit the old
deeds of wicked leaven. But you have understood all things in a carnal
sense, and you suppose it to be piety if you do such things, while your
souls are filled with deceit, and, in short, with every wickedness.
Accordingly, also, after the seven days of eating unleavened bread, God
commanded them to mingle new leaven, that is, the performance of other
works, and not the imitation of the old and evil works. And because this is
what this new Lawgiver demands of you, I shall again refer to the words
which have been quoted by me, and to others also which have been passed
over. They are related by Isaiah to the following effect: "Hearken to me,
and your soul shall live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given Him for a witness to
the people, a leader and commander to the nations. Nations which know not
Thee shall call on Thee; and peoples who know not Thee shall escape unto
Thee, because of Thy God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified Thee.
Seek ye God; and when you find Him, call on Him, so long as He may be nigh
you. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will obtain mercy, because He will
abundantly pardon your sins. For my thoughts are not as your thoughts,
neither are my ways as your ways; but as far removed as the heavens are from
the earth, so far is my way removed from your way, and your thoughts from my
thoughts. For as the snow or the rain descends from heaven, and shall not
return till it waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives
seed to the sower and bread for food, so shall My word be that goeth forth
out of My mouth: it shall not return until it shall have accomplished all
that I desired, and I shall make My commandments prosperous. For ye shall go
out with joy, and be taught with gladness. For the mountains and the hills
shall leap while they expect you, and all the trees of the fields shall
applaud with their branches: and instead of the thorn shall come up the
cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle. And the Lord
shall be for a name, and for an everlasting sign, and He shall not fail!
[1979] Of these and such like words written by the prophets, O Trypho," said
I, "some have reference to the first advent of Christ, in which He is
preached as inglorious, obscure, and of mortal appearance: but others had
reference to His second advent, when He shall appear in glory and above the
clouds; and your nation shall see and know Him whom they have pierced, as
Hosea, one of the twelve prophets, and Daniel, foretold.
Footnotes
[1979] Isa. lv. 3 to end.
Chapter XV. In what the true fasting consists.
"Learn, therefore, to keep the true fast of God, as Isaiah says, that you
may please God. Isaiah has cried thus: "Shout vehemently, and do not spare:
lift up thy voice as with a trumpet, and show My people their
transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek Me from day to
day, and desire to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and
forsook not the judgment of God. They ask of Me now righteous judgment, and
desire to draw near to God, saying, Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest
not? and afflicted our souls, and Thou hast not known? Because in the days
of your fasting you find your own pleasure, and oppress all those who are
subject to you. Behold, ye fast for strifes and debates, and smite the
humble with your fists. Why do ye fast for Me, as to-day, so that your voice
is heard aloud? This is not the fast which I have chosen, the day in which a
man shall afflict his soul. And not even if you bend your neck like a ring,
or clothe yourself in sackcloth and ashes, shall you call this a fast, and a
day acceptable to the Lord. This is not the fast which I have chosen, saith
the Lord; but loose every unrighteous bond, dissolve the terms of wrongous
covenants, let the oppressed go free, and avoid every iniquitous contract.
Deal thy bread to the hungry, and lead the homeless poor under thy dwelling;
if thou seest the naked, clothe him; and do not hide thyself from thine own
flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy garments
[1980] shall rise up quickly: and thy righteousness shall go before thee,
and the glory of God shall envelope thee. Then shalt thou cry, and the Lord
shall hear thee: while thou art speaking, He will say, Behold, I am here.
And if thou take away from thee the yoke, and the stretching out of the
hand, and the word of murmuring; and shalt give heartily thy bread to the
hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light arise in
the darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day: and thy God shall
be with thee continually, and thou shalt be satisfied according as thy soul
desireth, and thy bones shall become fat, and shall be as a watered garden,
and as a fountain of water, or as a land where water fails not. [1981]
"Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, as the words of God in
all these passages demand."
Footnotes
[1980] himatia; some read iamata, as in LXX., "thy health," the better
reading probably.
[1981] Isa. lviii. 1-12.
Chapter XVI. Circumcision given as a sign, that the Jews might be driven away
for their evil deeds done to Christ and the Christians.
"And God himself proclaimed by Moses, speaking thus: "And circumcise the
hardness of your hearts, and no longer stiffen the neck. For the Lord your
God is both Lord of lords, and a great, mighty, and terrible God, who
regardeth not persons, and taketh not rewards. [1982] And in Leviticus:
"Because they have transgressed against Me, and despised Me, and because
they have walked contrary to Me, I also walked contrary to them, and I shall
cut them off in the land of their enemies. Then shall their uncircumcised
heart be turned. [1983] For the circumcision according to the flesh, which
is from Abraham, was given for a sign; that you may be separated from other
nations, and from us; and that you alone may suffer that which you now
justly suffer; and that your land may be desolate, and your cities burned
with fire; and that strangers may eat your fruit in your presence, and not
one of you may go up to Jerusalem. [1984] For you are not recognised among
the rest of men by any other mark than your fleshly circumcision. For none
of you, I suppose, will venture to say that God neither did nor does foresee
the events, which are future, nor foreordained his deserts for each one.
Accordingly, these things have happened to you in fairness and justice, for
you have slain the Just One, and His prophets before Him; and now you reject
those who hope in Him, and in Him who sent Him God the Almighty and Maker of
all things cursing in your synagogues those that believe on Christ. For you
have not the power to lay hands upon us, on account of those who now have
the mastery. But as often as you could, you did so. Wherefore God, by
Isaiah, calls to you, saying, "Behold how the righteous man perished, and no
one regards it. For the righteous man is taken away from before iniquity.
His grave shall be in peace, he is taken away from the midst. Draw near
hither, ye lawless children, seed of the adulterers, and children of the
whore. Against whom have you sported yourselves, and against whom have you
opened the mouth, and against whom have you loosened the tongue? [1985]
Footnotes
[1982] Deut. x. 16 f.
[1983] Lev. xxvi. 40, 41.
[1984] See Apol., i. 47. The Jews [By Hadrian's recent edict] were
prohibited by law from entering Jerusalem on pain of death. And so Justin
sees in circumcision their own punishment.
[1985] Isa. lvii. 1-4.
Chapter XVII. The Jews sent persons through the whole earth to spread
calumnies on Christians.
"For other nations have not inflicted on us and on Christ this wrong to such
an extent as you have, who in very deed are the authors of the wicked
prejudice against the Just One, and us who hold by Him. For after that you
had crucified Him, the only blameless and righteous Man, through whose
stripes those who approach the Father by Him are healed, when you knew that
He had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, as the prophets foretold
He would, you not only did not repent of the wickedness which you had
committed, but at that time you selected and sent out from Jerusalem chosen
men through all the land to tell that the godless heresy of the Christians
had sprung up, and to publish those things which all they who knew us not
speak against us. So that you are the cause not only of your own
unrighteousness, but in fact of that of all other men. And Isaiah cries
justly: "By reason of you, My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles. [1986]
And: "Woe unto their soul! because they have devised an evil device against
themselves, saying, Let us bind the righteous, for he is distasteful to us.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked!
evil shall be rendered to him according to the works of his hands. And
again, in other words: [1987] "Woe unto them that draw their iniquity as
with a long cord, and their transgressions as with the harness of a
heifer's yoke: who say, Let his speed come near; and let the counsel of the
Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it. Woe unto them that call evil
good, and good evil; that put light for darkness, and darkness for light;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! [1988] Accordingly, you
displayed great zeal in publishing throughout all the land bitter and dark
and unjust things against the only blameless and righteous Light sent by
God.
For He appeared distasteful to you when He cried among you, "It is written,
My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves!
[1989] He overthrew also the tables of the money-changers in the temple, and
exclaimed, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay
tithe of mint and rue, but do not observe the love of God and justice. Ye
whited sepulchres! appearing beautiful outward, but are within full of dead
men's bones. [1990] And to the Scribes, "Woe unto you, Scribes! for ye have
the keys, and ye do not enter in yourselves, and them that are entering in
ye hinder; ye blind guides!
Footnotes
[1986] Isa. lii. 5.
[1987] Isa. iii. 9 ff.
[1988] Isa. v. 18, 20.
[1989] Matt. xxi. 13.
[1990] This and following quotation taken promiscuously from Matt. xxiii.
and Luke xi.
Chapter XVIII. Christians would observe the law, if they did not know why it
was instituted.
"For since you have read, O Trypho, as you yourself admitted, the doctrines
taught by our Saviour, I do not think that I have done foolishly in adding
some short utterances of His to the prophetic statements. Wash therefore,
and be now clean, and put away iniquity from your souls, as God bids you be
washed in this laver, and be circumcised with the true circumcision. For we
too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short
all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined
you, namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your
hearts. For if we patiently endure all things contrived against us by wicked
men and demons, so that even amid cruelties unutterable, death and torments,
we pray for mercy to those who inflict such things upon us, and do not wish
to give the least retort to any one, even as the new Lawgiver commanded us:
how is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm
us, I speak of fleshly circumcision, and Sabbaths, and feasts?
Chapter XIX. Circumcision unknown before Abraham. The law was given by Moses
on account of the hardness of their hearts.
"It is this about which we are at a loss, and with reason, because, while
you endure such things, you do not observe all the other customs which we
are now discussing."
"This circumcision is not, however, necessary for all men, but for you
alone, in order that, as I have already said, you may suffer these things
which you now justly suffer. Nor do we receive that useless baptism of
cisterns, for it has nothing to do with this baptism of life. Wherefore also
God has announced that you have forsaken Him, the living fountain, and
digged for yourselves broken cisterns which can hold no water. Even you, who
are the circumcised according to the flesh, have need of our circumcision;
but we, having the latter, do not require the former. For if it were
necessary, as you suppose, God would not have made Adam uncircumcised; would
not have had respect to the gifts of Abel when, being uncircumcised, he
offered sacrifice and would not have been pleased with the uncircumcision of
Enoch, who was not found, because God had translated him. Lot, being
uncircumcised, was saved from Sodom, the angels themselves and the Lord
sending him out. Noah was the beginning of our race; yet, uncircumcised,
along with his children he went into the ark. Melchizedek, the priest of the
Most High, was uncircumcised; to whom also Abraham the first who received
circumcision after the flesh, gave tithes, and he blessed him: after whose
order God declared, by the mouth of David, that He would establish the
everlasting priest. Therefore to you alone this circumcision was necessary,
in order that the people may be no people, and the nation no nation; as also
Hosea, [1991] one of the twelve prophets, declares. Moreover, all those
righteous men already mentioned, though they kept no Sabbaths, [1992] were
pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until
Moses, under whom your nation appeared unrighteous and ungrateful to God,
making a calf in the wilderness: wherefore God, accommodating Himself to
that nation, enjoined them also to offer sacrifices, as if to His name, in
order that you might not serve idols. Which precept, however, you have not
observed; nay, you sacrificed your children to demons. And you were
commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For
His word makes this announcement, saying, "That ye may know that I am God
who redeemed you. [1993]
Footnotes
[1991] Hos. i. and Hos. ii.
[1992] [They did not Sabbatize; but Justin does not deny what is implied in
many Scriptures, that they marked the week, and noted the seventh day. Gen.
ii. 3, Gen. viii. 10, 12.]
[1993] Ezek. xx. 12.
Chapter XX. Why choice of meats was prescribed.
"Moreover, you were commanded to abstain from certain kinds of food, in
order that you might keep God before your eyes while you ate and drank,
seeing that you were prone and very ready to depart from His knowledge, as
Moses also affirms: "The people ate and drank, and rose up to play. [1994]
And again: "Jacob ate, and was satisfied, and waxed fat; and he who was
beloved kicked: he waxed fat, he grew thick, he was enlarged, and he forsook
God who had made him. [1995] For it was told you by Moses in the book of
Genesis, that God granted to Noah, being a just man, to eat of every animal,
but not of flesh with the blood, which is dead." [1996] And as he was ready
to say, "as the green herbs," I anticipated him: "Why do you not receive
this statement, "as the green herbs, in the sense in which it was given by
God, to wit, that just as God has granted the herbs for sustenance to man,
even so has He given the animals for the diet of flesh? But, you say, a
distinction was laid down thereafter to Noah, because we do not eat certain
herbs. As you interpret it, the thing is incredible. And first I shall not
occupy myself with this, though able to say and to hold that every vegetable
is food, and fit to be eaten. But although we discriminate between green
herbs, not eating all, we refrain from eating some, not because they are
common or unclean, but because they are bitter, or deadly, or thorny. But we
lay hands on and take of all herbs which are sweet, very nourishing and
good, whether they are marine or land plants. Thus also God by the mouth of
Moses commanded you to abstain from unclean and improper [1997] and violent
animals: when, moreover, though you were eating manna in the desert, and
were seeing all those wondrous acts wrought for you by God, you made and
worshipped the golden calf. [1998] Hence he cries continually, and justly,
"They are foolish children, in whom is no faith. [1999]
Footnotes
[1994] Ex. xxxii. 6.
[1995] Deut. xxxii. 15.
[1996] nekrimaion, or "dieth of itself;" com. reading was ekrimaion, which
was supposed to be derived from ekriptō, and to mean "which ought to be cast
out:" the above was suggested by H. Stephanus.
[1997] aoikos kai paranomos.
[1998] "The reasoning of St. Justin is not quite clear to interpreters. As
we abstain from some herbs, not because they are forbidden by law, but
because they are deadly; so the law of abstinence from improper and violent
animals was imposed not on Noah, but on you as a yoke on account of your
sins." Maranus.
[1999] Deut. xxxii. 6, 20.
Chapter XXI. Sabbaths were instituted on account of the people's sins, and
not for a work of righteousness.
"Moreover, that God enjoined you to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you
other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your
unrighteousness, and that of your fathers, as He declares that for the sake
of the nations, lest His name be profaned among them, therefore He permitted
some of you to remain alive, these words of His can prove to you: they are
narrated by Ezekiel thus: "I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and
keep My judgments, and take no part in the customs of Egypt; and hallow My
Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that
I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding ye rebelled against Me, and your
children walked not in My statutes, neither kept My judgments to do them:
which if a man do, he shall live in them. But they polluted My Sabbaths. And
I said that I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness, to
accomplish My anger upon them; yet I did it not; that My name might not be
altogether profaned in the sight of the heathen. I led them out before their
eyes, and I lifted up Mine hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would
scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes,
and polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after the devices of their
fathers. Wherefore I gave them also statutes which were not good, and
judgments whereby they shall not live. And I shall pollute them in their own
gifts, that I may destroy all that openeth the womb, when I pass through
them. [2000]
Footnotes
[2000] Ezek. xx. 19-26.
Chapter XXII. So also were sacrifices and oblations.
"And that you may learn that it was for the sins of your own nation, and for
their idolatries and not because there was any necessity for such
sacrifices, that they were likewise enjoined, listen to the manner in which
He speaks of these by Amos, one of the twelve, saying: "Woe unto you that
desire the day of the Lord! to what end is this day of the Lord for you? It
is darkness and not light, as when a man flees from the face of a lion, and
a bear meets him; and he goes into his house, and leans his hands against
the wall, and the serpent bites him. Shall not the day of the Lord be
darkness and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it? I have
hated, I have despised your feast-days, and I will not smell in your solemn
assemblies: wherefore, though ye offer Me your burnt-offerings and
sacrifices, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the
peace-offerings of your presence. Take thou away from Me the multitude of
thy songs and psalms; I will not hear thine instruments. But let judgment be
rolled down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent. Have ye
offered unto Me victims and sacrifices in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
saith the Lord. And have ye taken up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star
of your god Raphan, the figures which ye made for yourselves? And I will
carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the Almighty
God. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of
Samaria: those who are named among the chiefs have plucked away the
first-fruits of the nations: the house of Israel have entered for
themselves. Pass all of you unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye unto
Hamath the great, and go down thence to Gath of the strangers, the noblest
of all these kingdoms, if their boundaries are greater than your boundaries.
Ye who come to the evil day, who are approaching, and who hold to false
Sabbaths; who lie on beds of ivory, and are at ease upon their couches; who
eat the lambs out of the flock, and the sucking calves out of the midst of
the herd; who applaud at the sound of the musical instruments; they reckon
them as stable, and not as fleeting, who drink wine in bowls, and anoint
themselves with the chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph. Wherefore now they shall be captives, among the first
of the nobles who are carried away; and the house of evil-doers shall be
removed, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim.
[2001] And again by Jeremiah: "Collect your flesh, and sacrifices, and eat:
for concerning neither sacrifices nor libations did I command your fathers
in the day in which I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.
[2002] And again by David, in the forty-ninth Psalm, He thus said: "The God
of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the
sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion is the perfection of His
beauty. God, even our God, shall come openly, and shall not keep silence.
Fire shall burn before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about
Him. He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that He may judge
His people. Assemble to Him His saints; those that have made a covenant with
Him by sacrifices. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God
is judge. Hear, O My people, and I will speak to thee; O Israel, and I will
testify to thee, I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy
sacrifices; thy burnt-offerings are continually before me. I will take no
bullocks out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds: for all the beasts
of the field are Mine, the herds and the oxen on the mountains. I know all
the fowls of the heavens, and the beauty of the field is Mine. If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fulness
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer
unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and
call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify Me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare
My statutes, and to take My covenant into thy mouth? But thou hast hated
instruction, and cast My words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, thou
consentedst with him; and hast been partaker with the adulterer. Thy mouth
has framed evil, and thy tongue has enfolded deceit. Thou sittest and
speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These
things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I would be
like thyself in wickedness. I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order
before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest He tear you
in pieces, and there be none to deliver. The sacrifice of praise shall
glorify Me; and there is the way in which I shall show him My salvation.
[2003] Accordingly He neither takes sacrifices from you nor commanded them
at first to be offered because they are needful to Him, but because of your
sins. For indeed the temple, which is called the temple in Jerusalem, He
admitted to be His house or court, not as though He needed it, but in order
that you, in this view of it, giving yourselves to Him, might not worship
idols. And that this is so, Isaiah says: "What house have ye built Me? saith
the Lord. Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. [2004]
Footnotes
[2001] Amos v. 18 to end, Amos vi. 1-7.
[2002] Jer. vii. 21 f.
[2003] Ps. l. (in E. V.).
[2004] Isa. lxvi. 1.
Chapter XXIII. The opinion of the Jews regarding the law does an injury to
God.
"But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish
opinions, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch
and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed
Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances;
or that God has not wished each race of mankind continually to perform the
same righteous actions: to admit which, seems to be ridiculous and absurd.
Therefore we must confess that He, who is ever the same, has commanded these
and such like institutions on account of sinful men, and we must declare Him
to be benevolent, foreknowing, needing nothing, righteous and good. But if
this be not so, tell me, sir, what you think of those matters which we are
investigating." And when no one responded: "Wherefore, Trypho, I will
proclaim to you, and to those who wish to become proselytes, the divine
message which I heard from that man. [2005] Do you see that the elements are
not idle, and keep no Sabbaths? Remain as you were born. For if there was no
need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of
feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now,
after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has
been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. For
when Abraham himself was in uncircumcision, he was justified and blessed by
reason of the faith which he reposed in God, as the Scripture tells.
Moreover, the Scriptures and the facts themselves compel us to admit that He
received circumcision for a sign, and not for righteousness. So that it was
justly recorded concerning the people, that the soul which shall not be
circumcised on the eighth day shall be cut off from his family. And,
furthermore, the inability of the female sex to receive fleshly
circumcision, proves that this circumcision has been given for a sign, and
not for a work of righteousness. For God has given likewise to women the
ability to observe all things which are righteous and virtuous; but we see
that the bodily form of the male has been made different from the bodily
form of the female; yet we know that neither of them is righteous or
unrighteous merely for this cause, but [is considered righteous] by reason
of piety and righteousness.
Footnotes
[2005] The man he met by the sea-shore.
Chapter XXIV. The Christians circumcision far more excellent.
"Now, sirs," I said, "it is possible for us to show how the eighth day
possessed a certain mysterious import, which the seventh day did not
possess, and which was promulgated by God through these rites. But lest I
appear now to diverge to other subjects, understand what I say: the blood of
that circumcision is obsolete, and we trust in the blood of salvation; there
is now another covenant, and another law has gone forth from Zion. Jesus
Christ circumcises all who will as was declared above with knives of stone;
[2006] that they may be a righteous nation, a people keeping faith, holding
to the truth, and maintaining peace. Come then with me, all who fear God,
who wish to see the good of Jerusalem. Come, let us go to the light of the
Lord; for He has liberated His people, the house of Jacob. Come, all
nations; let us gather ourselves together at Jerusalem, no longer plagued by
war for the sins of her people. "For I was manifest to them that sought Me
not; I was found of them that asked not for Me; [2007] He exclaims by
Isaiah: "I said, Behold Me, unto nations which were not called by My name. I
have spread out My hands all the day unto a disobedient and gainsaying
people, which walked in a way that was not good, but after their own sins.
It is a people that provoketh Me to my face. [2008]
Footnotes
[2006] Josh. v. 2; Isa. xxvi. 2, 3.
[2007] Isa. lxv. 1-3.
[2008] Isa. lxv. 1-3.
Chapter XXV. The Jews boast in vain that they are sons of Abraham.
"Those who justify themselves, and say they are sons of Abraham, shall be
desirous even in a small degree to receive the inheritance along with you;
[2009] as the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of Isaiah, cries, speaking thus
while he personates them: "Return from heaven, and behold from the
habitation of Thy holiness and glory. Where is Thy zeal and strength? Where
is the multitude of Thy mercy? for Thou hast sustained us, O Lord. For Thou
art our Father, because Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel has not
recognised us. But Thou, O Lord, our Father, deliver us: from the beginning
Thy name is upon us. O Lord, why hast Thou made us to err from Thy way? and
hardened our hearts, so that we do not fear Thee? Return for Thy servants
sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance, that we may inherit for a little Thy
holy mountain. We were as from the beginning, when Thou didst not bear rule
over us, and when Thy name was not called upon us. If Thou wilt open the
heavens, trembling shall seize the mountains before Thee: and they shall be
melted, as wax melts before the fire; and fire shall consume the
adversaries, and Thy name shall be manifest among the adversaries; the
nations shall be put into disorder before Thy face. When Thou shall do
glorious things, trembling shall seize the mountains before Thee. From the
beginning we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God besides Thee: and
Thy works, [2010] the mercy which Thou shall show to those who repent. He
shall meet those who do righteousness, and they shall remember Thy ways.
Behold, Thou art wroth, and we were sinning. Therefore we have erred and
become all unclean, and all our righteousness is as the rags of a woman set
apart: and we have faded away like leaves by reason of our iniquities; thus
the wind will take us away. And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, or
remembers to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast turned away Thy face from us,
and hast given us up on account of our sins. And now return, O Lord, for we
are all Thy people. The city of Thy holiness has become desolate. Zion has
become as a wilderness, Jerusalem a curse; the house, our holiness, and the
glory which our fathers blessed, has been burned with fire; and all the
glorious nations [2011] have fallen along with it. And in addition to these
[misfortunes], O Lord, Thou hast refrained Thyself, and art silent, and hast
humbled us very much. " [2012]
And Trypho remarked, "What is this you say? that none of us shall inherit
anything on the holy mountain of God?"
Footnotes
[2009] Other edd. have, "with us."
[2010] Otto reads: "Thy works which Thou shalt do to those who wait for
mercy."
[2011] Some suppose the correct reading to be, "our glorious institutions
[manners, customs, or ordinances] have," etc., ethē for ethnē.
[2012] Isa. lxiii. 15 to end, and Isa. lxiv.
Chapter XXVI. No salvation to the Jews except through Christ.
And I replied, "I do not say so; but those who have persecuted and do
persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the
holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented
of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance
along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are
descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are
circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy
inheritance of God. For God speaks by Isaiah thus: "I, the Lord God, have
called Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will strengthen
Thee; and I have given Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out them that are bound
from the chains, and those who sit in darkness from the prison-house.
[2013] And again: "Lift up a standard [2014] for the people; for, lo, the
Lord has made it heard unto the end of the earth. Say ye to the daughters of
Zion, Behold, thy Saviour has come; having His reward, and His work before
His face: and He shall call it a holy nation, redeemed by the Lord. And thou
shalt be called a city sought out, and not forsaken. Who is this that cometh
from Edom? in red garments from Bosor? This that is beautiful in apparel,
going up with great strength? I speak righteousness, and the judgment of
salvation. Why are Thy garments red, and Thine apparel as from the trodden
wine-press? Thou art full of the trodden grape. I have trodden the
wine-press all alone, and of the people there is no man with Me; and I have
trampled them in fury, and crushed them to the ground, and spilled their
blood on the earth. For the day of retribution has come upon them, and the
year of redemption is present. And I looked, and there was none to help; and
I considered, and none assisted: and My arm delivered; and My fury came on
them, and I trampled them in My fury, and spilled their blood on the
earth. " [2015]
Footnotes
[2013] Isa. xlii. 6, 7.
[2014] susseismon, "a shaking," is the original reading; but LXX has
sussēmon, a standard or signal, and this most edd. adopt.
[2015] Isa. lxii. 10 to end, Isa. lxiii. 1-6.
Chapter XXVII. Why God taught the same things by the prophets as by Moses.
And Trypho said, "Why do you select and quote whatever you wish from the
prophetic writings, but do not refer to those which expressly command the
Sabbath to be observed? For Isaiah thus speaks: "If thou shalt turn away thy
foot from the Sabbaths, so as not to do thy pleasure on the holy day, and
shalt call the Sabbaths the holy delights of thy God; if thou shalt not lift
thy foot to work, and shalt not speak a word from thine own mouth; then thou
shalt trust in the Lord, and He shall cause thee to go up to the good things
of the land; and He shall feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. " [2016]
And I replied, "I have passed them by, my friends, not because such
prophecies were contrary to me, but because you have understood, and do
understand, that although God commands you by all the prophets to do the
same things which He also commanded by Moses, it was on account of the
hardness of your hearts, and your ingratitude towards Him, that He
continually proclaims them, in order that, even in this way, if you
repented, you might please Him, and neither sacrifice your children to
demons, nor be partakers with thieves, nor lovers of gifts, nor hunters
after revenge, nor fail in doing judgment for orphans, nor be inattentive to
the justice due to the widow nor have your hands full of blood. "For the
daughters of Zion have walked with a high neck, both sporting by winking
with their eyes, and sweeping along their dresses. [2017] For they are all
gone aside, He exclaims, "they are all become useless. There is none that
understands, there is not so much as one. With their tongues they have
practised deceit, their throat is an open sepulchre, the poison of asps is
under their lips, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the way of
peace they have not known. [2018] So that, as in the beginning, these
things were enjoined you because of your wickedness, in like manner because
of your stedfastness in it, or rather your increased proneness to it, by
means of the same precepts He calls you to a remembrance or knowledge of it.
But you are a people hard-hearted and without understanding, both blind and
lame, children in whom is no faith, as He Himself says, honouring Him only
with your lips, far from Him in your hearts, teaching doctrines that are
your own and not His. For, tell me, did God wish the priests to sin when
they offer the sacrifices on the Sabbaths? or those to sin, who are
circumcised and do circumcise on the Sabbaths; since He commands that on the
eighth day even though it happen to be a Sabbath those who are born shall
be always circumcised? or could not the infants be operated upon one day
previous or one day subsequent to the Sabbath, if He knew that it is a
sinful act upon the Sabbaths? Or why did He not teach those who are called
righteous and pleasing to Him, who lived before Moses and Abraham, who were
not circumcised in their foreskin, and observed no Sabbaths to keep these
institutions?"
Footnotes
[2016] Isa. lviii. 13, 14.
[2017] Isa. iii. 16.
[2018] Various passages strung together; comp. Rom. iii. 10, and foll.
verses.
Chapter XXVIII. True righteousness is obtained by Christ.
And Trypho replied, "We heard you adducing this consideration a little ago,
and we have given it attention: for, to tell the truth, it is worthy of
attention; and that answer which pleases most namely, that so it seemed
good to Him does not satisfy me. For this is ever the shift to which those
have recourse who are unable to answer the question."
Then I said, "Since I bring from the Scriptures and the facts themselves
both the proofs and the inculcation of them, do not delay or hesitate to put
faith in me, although I am an uncircumcised man; so short a time is left you
in which to become proselytes. If Christ's coming shall have anticipated
you, in vain you will repent, in vain you will weep; for He will not hear
you. "Break up your fallow ground, Jeremiah has cried to the people, "and
sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and circumcise the
foreskin of your heart. [2019] Do not sow, therefore, among thorns, and in
untilled ground, whence you can have no fruit. Know Christ; and behold the
fallow ground, good, good and fat, is in your hearts. "For, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will visit all them that are circumcised in
their foreskins; Egypt, and Judah, [2020] and Edom, and the sons of Moab.
For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are
uncircumcised in their hearts. [2021] Do you see how that God does not mean
this circumcision which is given for a sign? For it is of no use to the
Egyptians, or the sons of Moab, or the sons of Edom. But though a man be a
Scythian or a Persian, if he has the knowledge of God and of His Christ, and
keeps the everlasting righteous decrees, he is circumcised with the good and
useful circumcision, and is a friend of God, and God rejoices in his gifts
and offerings. But I will lay before you, my friends, the very words of God,
when He said to the people by Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, "I have
no pleasure in you, saith the Lord; and I shall not accept your sacrifices
at your hands: for from the rising of the sun unto its setting My name shall
be glorified among the Gentiles; and in every place a sacrifice is offered
unto My name, even a pure sacrifice: for My name is honoured among the
Gentiles, saith the Lord; but ye profane it. [2022] And by David He said,
"A people whom I have not known, served Me; at the hearing of the ear they
obeyed Me. [2023]
Footnotes
[2019] Jer. iv. 3.
[2020] So in A.V., but supposed to be Idumæa.
[2021] Jer. ix. 25 f.
[2022] Mal. i. 10, etc.
[2023] Ps. xviii. 43.
Chapter XXIX. Christ is useless to those who observe the law.
"Let us glorify God, all nations gathered together; for He has also visited
us. Let us glorify Him by the King of glory, by the Lord of hosts. For He
has been gracious towards the Gentiles also; and our sacrifices He esteems
more grateful than yours. What need, then, have I of circumcision, who have
been witnessed to by God? What need have I of that other baptism, who have
been baptized with the Holy Ghost? I think that while I mention this, I
would persuade even those who are possessed of scanty intelligence. For
these words have neither been prepared by me, nor embellished by the art of
man; but David sung them, Isaiah preached them, Zechariah proclaimed them,
and Moses wrote them. Are you acquainted with them, Trypho? They are
contained in your Scriptures, or rather not yours, but ours. [2024] For we
believe them; but you, though you read them, do not catch the spirit that is
in them. Be not offended at, or reproach us with, the bodily uncircumcision
with which God has created us; and think it not strange that we drink hot
water on the Sabbaths, since God directs the government of the universe on
this day equally as on all others; and the priests, as on other days, so on
this, are ordered to offer sacrifices; and there are so many righteous men
who have performed none of these legal ceremonies, and yet are witnessed to
by God Himself.
Footnotes
[2024] [This striking claim of the Old Testament Scriptures is noteworthy.]
Chapter XXX. Christians possess the true righteousness.
"But impute it to your own wickedness, that God even can be accused by those
who have no understanding, of not having always instructed all in the same
righteous statutes. For such institutions seemed to be unreasonable and
unworthy of God to many men, who had not received grace to know that your
nation were called to conversion and repentance of spirit, [2025] while they
were in a sinful condition and labouring under spiritual disease; and that
the prophecy which was announced subsequent to the death of Moses is
everlasting. And this is mentioned in the Psalm, my friends. [2026] And that
we, who have been made wise by them, confess that the statutes of the Lord
are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb, is manifest from the fact that,
though threatened with death, we do not deny His name. Moreover, it is also
manifest to all, that we who believe in Him pray to be kept by Him from
strange, i.e., from wicked and deceitful, spirits; as the word of prophecy,
personating one of those who believe in Him, figuratively declares. For we
do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons
which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served, in
order that, after our conversion by Him to God, we may be blameless. For we
call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do
fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ,
crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And
thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power, by
virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of
His suffering.
Footnotes
[2025] Or, "repentance of the Father;" patros for pneumatos. Maranus
explains the confusion on the ground of the similarity between the
contractions for the words, prs and pns.
[2026] Ps. xix.
Chapter XXXI. If Christ's power be now so great, how much greater at the
second advent!
"But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following
the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall
follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of
man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him. These are the
words: "I beheld till the thrones were set; and the Ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure
wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, His wheels as burning fire. A fiery
stream issued and came forth from before Him. Thousand thousands ministered
unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The books
were opened, and the judgment was set. I beheld then the voice of the great
words which the horn speaks: and the beast was beat down, and his body
destroyed, and given to the burning flame. And the rest of the beasts were
taken away from their dominion, and a period of life was given to the beasts
until a season and time. I saw in the vision of the night, and, behold, one
like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven; and He came to the
Ancient of days, and stood before Him. And they who stood by brought Him
near; and there were given Him power and kingly honour, and all nations of
the earth by their families, and all glory, serve Him. And His dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not be taken away; and His kingdom
shall not be destroyed. And my spirit was chilled within my frame, and the
visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by,
and inquired the precise meaning of all these things. In answer he speaks to
me, and showed me the judgment of the matters: These great beasts are four
kingdoms, which shall perish from the earth, and shall not receive dominion
for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I wished to know exactly about the
fourth beast, which destroyed all [the others] and was very terrible, its
teeth of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, made waste, and
stamped the residue with its feet: also about the ten horns upon its head,
and of the one which came up, by means of which three of the former fell.
And that horn had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things; and its
countenance excelled the rest. And I beheld that horn waging war against the
saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of days came; and He
gave judgment for the saints of the Most High. And the time came, and the
saints of the Most High possessed the kingdom. And it was told me concerning
the fourth beast: There shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall
prevail over all these kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall
destroy and make it thoroughly waste. And the ten horns are ten kings that
shall arise; and one shall arise after them; [2027] and he shall surpass the
first in evil deeds, and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak
words against the Most High, and shall overthrow the rest of the saints of
the Most High, and shall expect to change the seasons and the times. And it
shall be delivered into his hands for a time, and times, and half a time.
And the judgment sat, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and
to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and the power, and the great
places of the kingdoms under the heavens, were given to the holy people of
the Most High, to reign in an everlasting kingdom: and all powers shall be
subject to Him, and shall obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. I,
Daniel, was possessed with a very great astonishment, and my speech was
changed in me; yet I kept the matter in my heart. " [2028]
Footnotes
[2027] Literally, "And the ten horns, ten kings shall arise after them."
[2028] Dan. vii. 9-28.
Chapter XXXII. Trypho objecting that Christ is described as glorious by
Daniel, Justin distinguishes two advents.
And when I had ceased, Trypho said, "These and such like Scriptures, sir,
compel us to wait for Him who, as Son of man, receives from the Ancient of
days the everlasting kingdom. But this so-called Christ of yours was
dishonourable and inglorious, so much so that the last curse contained in
the law of God fell on him, for he was crucified."
Then I replied to him, "If, sirs, it were not said by the Scriptures which I
have already quoted, that His form was inglorious, and His generation not
declared, and that for His death the rich would suffer death, and with His
stripes we should be healed, and that He would be led away like a sheep; and
if I had not explained that there would be two advents of His, one in which
He was pierced by you; a second, when you shall know Him whom you have
pierced, and your tribes shall mourn, each tribe by itself, the women apart,
and the men apart, then I must have been speaking dubious and obscure
things. But now, by means of the contents of those Scriptures esteemed holy
and prophetic amongst you, I attempt to prove all [that I have adduced], in
the hope that some one of you may be found to be of that remnant which has
been left by the grace of the Lord of Sabaoth for the eternal salvation. In
order, therefore, that the matter inquired into may be plainer to you, I
will mention to you other words also spoken by the blessed David, from which
you will perceive that the Lord is called the Christ by the Holy Spirit of
prophecy; and that the Lord, the Father of all, has brought Him again from
the earth, setting Him at His own right hand, until He makes His enemies His
footstool; which indeed happens from the time that our Lord Jesus Christ
ascended to heaven, after He rose again from the dead, the times now running
on to their consummation; and he whom Daniel foretells would have dominion
for a time, and times, and an half, is even already at the door, about to
speak blasphemous and daring things against the Most High. But you, being
ignorant of how long he will have dominion, hold another opinion. For you
interpret the "time as being a hundred years. But if this is so, the man of
sin must, at the shortest, reign three hundred and fifty years, in order
that we may compute that which is said by the holy Daniel "and times to be
two times only. All this I have said to you in digression, in order that you
at length may be persuaded of what has been declared against you by God,
that you are foolish sons; and of this, "Therefore, behold, I will proceed
to take away this people, and shall take them away; and I will strip the
wise of their wisdom, and will hide the understanding of their prudent
men; [2029] and may cease to deceive yourselves and those who hear you, and
may learn of us, who have been taught wisdom by the grace of Christ. The
words, then, which were spoken by David, are these: [2030] "The Lord said
unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Sion: rule
Thou also in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee shall be, in the day, the
chief of Thy power, in the beauties of Thy saints. From the womb, before the
morning star, have I begotten Thee. The Lord hath sworn, and will not
repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord
is at Thy right hand: He has crushed kings in the day of His wrath: He shall
judge among the heathen, He shall fill [with] the dead bodies. [2031] He
shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall He lift up the head.
Footnotes
[2029] Isa. xxix. 14.
[2030] Ps. cx.
[2031] plērōsei ptōmata; Lat. version, implebit ruinas. Thirlby suggested
that an omission has taken place in the mss. by the transcriber's fault.
Chapter XXXIII. Ps. cx. is not spoken of Hezekiah. He proves that Christ was
first humble, then shall be glorious.
"And," I continued, "I am not ignorant that you venture to expound this
psalm as if it referred to king Hezekiah; but that you are mistaken, I shall
prove to you from these very words forthwith. "The Lord hath sworn, and will
not repent, it is said; and, "Thou art a priest forever, after the order of
Melchizedek, with what follows and precedes. Not even you will venture to
object that Hezekiah was either a priest, or is the everlasting priest of
God; but that this is spoken of our Jesus, these expressions show. But your
ears are shut up, and your hearts are made dull. [2032] For by this
statement, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for
ever, after the order of Melchizedek, with an oath God has shown Him (on
account of your unbelief) to be the High Priest after the order of
Melchizedek; i.e., as Melchizedek was described by Moses as the priest of
the Most High, and he was a priest of those who were in uncircumcision, and
blessed the circumcised Abraham who brought him tithes, so God has shown
that His everlasting Priest, called also by the Holy Spirit Lord, would be
Priest of those in uncircumcision. Those too in circumcision who approach
Him, that is, believing Him and seeking blessings from Him, He will both
receive and bless. And that He shall be first humble as a man, and then
exalted, these words at the end of the Psalm show: "He shall drink of the
brook in the way, and then, "Therefore shall He lift up the head.
Footnotes
[2032] pepērōntai. Maranus thinks pepōrōntai more probable, "hardened."
Chapter XXXIV. Nor does Ps. lxxii. apply to Solomon, whose faults Christians
shudder at.
"Further, to persuade you that you have not understood anything of the
Scriptures, I will remind you of another psalm, dictated to David by the
Holy Spirit, which you say refers to Solomon, who was also your king. But it
refers also to our Christ. But you deceive yourselves by the ambiguous forms
of speech. For where it is said, "The law of the Lord is perfect, you do
not understand it of the law which was to be after Moses, but of the law
which was given by Moses, although God declared that He would establish a
new law and a new covenant. And where it has been said, "O God, give Thy
judgment to the king, since Solomon was king, you say that the Psalm refers
to him, although the words of the Psalm expressly proclaim that reference is
made to the everlasting King, i.e., to Christ. For Christ is King, and
Priest, and God, and Lord, and angel, and man, and captain, and stone, and a
Son born, and first made subject to suffering, then returning to heaven, and
again coming with glory, and He is preached as having the everlasting
kingdom: so I prove from all the Scriptures. But that you may perceive what
I have said, I quote the words of the Psalm; they are these: "O God, give
Thy judgment to the king, and Thy righteousness unto the king's son, to
judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment. The
mountains shall take up peace to the people, and the little hills
righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the
children of the needy, and shall abase the slanderer. He shall co-endure
with the sun, and before the moon unto all generations. He shall come down
like rain upon the fleece, as drops falling on the earth. In His days shall
righteousness flourish, and abundance of peace until the moon be taken away.
And He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the
ends of the earth. Ethiopians shall fall down before Him, and His enemies
shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall offer gifts; and all the kings of the
earth shall worship Him, and all the nations shall serve Him: for He has
delivered the poor from the man of power, and the needy that hath no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy: He
shall redeem their souls from usury and injustice, and His name shall be
honourable before them. And He shall live, and to Him shall be given of the
gold of Arabia, and they shall pray continually for Him: they shall bless
Him all the day. And there shall be a foundation on the earth, it shall be
exalted on the tops of the mountains: His fruit shall be on Lebanon, and
they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall be
blessed for ever. His name shall endure before the sun; and all tribes of
the earth shall be blessed in Him, all nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and
blessed be His glorious name for ever, and for ever and ever; and the whole
earth shall be filled with His glory. Amen, amen. [2033] And at the close
of this Psalm which I have quoted, it is written, "The hymns of David the
son of Jesse are ended. [2034] Moreover, that Solomon was a renowned and
great king, by whom the temple called that at Jerusalem was built, I know;
but that none of those things mentioned in the Psalm happened to him, is
evident. For neither did all kings worship him; nor did he reign to the ends
of the earth; nor did his enemies, falling before him, lick the dust. Nay,
also, I venture to repeat what is written in the book of Kings as committed
by him, how through a woman's influence he worshipped the idols of Sidon,
which those of the Gentiles who know God, the Maker of all things through
Jesus the crucified, do not venture to do, but abide every torture and
vengeance even to the extremity of death, rather than worship idols, or eat
meat offered to idols."
Footnotes
[2033] Ps. lxxii.
[2034] [A striking passage in De Maistre (Œuvres, vol. vi. p. 275) is worthy
of comparison.]
Chapter XXXV. Heretics confirm the Catholics in the faith.
And Trypho said, "I believe, however, that many of those who say that they
confess Jesus, and are called Christians, eat meats offered to idols, and
declare that they are by no means injured in consequence." And I replied,
"The fact that there are such men confessing themselves to be Christians,
and admitting the crucified Jesus to be both Lord and Christ, yet not
teaching His doctrines, but those of the spirits of error, causes us who are
disciples of the true and pure doctrine of Jesus Christ, to be more faithful
and stedfast in the hope announced by Him. For what things He predicted
would take place in His name, these we do see being actually accomplished in
our sight. For he said, "Many shall come in My name, clothed outwardly in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. " [2035] And,
"There shall be schisms and heresies. [2036] And, "Beware of false
prophets, who shall come to you clothed outwardly in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. [2037] And, "Many false Christs and
false apostles shall arise, and shall deceive many of the faithful. [2038]
There are, therefore, and there were many, my friends, who, coming forward
in the name of Jesus, taught both to speak and act impious and blasphemous
things; and these are called by us after the name of the men from whom each
doctrine and opinion had its origin. (For some in one way, others in
another, teach to blaspheme the Maker of all things, and Christ, who was
foretold by Him as coming, and the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of
Jacob, with whom we have nothing in common, since we know them to be
atheists, impious, unrighteous, and sinful, and confessors of Jesus in name
only, instead of worshippers of Him. Yet they style themselves Christians,
just as certain among the Gentiles inscribe the name of God upon the works
of their own hands, and partake in nefarious and impious rites.) Some are
called Marcians, and some Valentinians, and some Basilidians, and some
Saturnilians, and others by other names; each called after the originator of
the individual opinion, just as each one of those who consider themselves
philosophers, as I said before, thinks he must bear the name of the
philosophy which he follows, from the name of the father of the particular
doctrine. So that, in consequence of these events, we know that Jesus
foreknew what would happen after Him, as well as in consequence of many
other events which He foretold would befall those who believed on and
confessed Him, the Christ. For all that we suffer, even when killed by
friends, He foretold would take place; so that it is manifest no word or act
of His can be found fault with. Wherefore we pray for you and for all other
men who hate us; in order that you, having repented along with us, may not
blaspheme Him who, by His works, by the mighty deeds even now wrought
through His name, by the words He taught, by the prophecies announced
concerning Him, is the blameless, and in all things irreproachable, Christ
Jesus; but, believing on Him, may be saved in His second glorious advent,
and may not be condemned to fire by Him."
Footnotes
[2035] Matt. vii. 15.
[2036] 1 Cor. xi. 19.
[2037] Matt. vii. 15.
[2038] Matt. xxiv. 11.
Chapter XXXVI. He proves that Christ is called Lord of Hosts.
Then he replied, "Let these things be so as you say namely, that it was
foretold Christ would suffer, and be called a stone; and after His first
appearance, in which it had been announced He would suffer, would come in
glory, and be Judge finally of all, and eternal King and Priest. Now show if
this man be He of whom these prophecies were made."
And I said, "As you wish, Trypho, I shall come to these proofs which you
seek in the fitting place; but now you will permit me first to recount the
prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both
God and Lord of hosts, and Jacob, in parable by the Holy Spirit; and your
interpreters, as God says, are foolish, since they say that reference is
made to Solomon and not to Christ, when he bore the ark of testimony into
the temple which he built. The Psalm of David is this: "The earth is the
Lord s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. He
hath rounded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He
that is clean of hands and pure of heart: who has not received his soul in
vain, and has not sworn guilefully to his neighbour: he shall receive
blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the
generation of them that seek the Lord, that seek the face of the God of
Jacob. [2039] Lift up your gates, ye rulers; and be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of
glory? The Lord strong and mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, ye rulers;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come
in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of
glory. [2040] Accordingly, it is shown that Solomon is not the Lord of
hosts; but when our Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, the
rulers in heaven, under appointment of God, are commanded to open the gates
of heaven, that He who is King of glory may enter in, and having ascended,
may sit on the right hand of the Father until He make the enemies His
footstool, as has been made manifest by another Psalm. For when the rulers
of heaven saw Him of uncomely and dishonoured appearance, and inglorious,
not recognising Him, they inquired, "Who is this King of glory? And the
Holy Spirit, either from the person of His Father, or from His own person,
answers them, "The Lord of hosts, He is this King of glory. For every one
will confess that not one of those who presided over the gates of the temple
at Jerusalem would venture to say concerning Solomon, though he was so
glorious a king, or concerning the ark of testimony, "Who is this King of
glory?
Footnotes
[2039] Maranus remarks from Thirlby: "As Justin wrote a little before, "and
is called Jacob in parable, it seems to convince us that Justin wrote, "thy
face, O Jacob. " [The meaning in this latter case becomes plain, if we
observe that "O Israel" is equivalent to, and means, "O house of Jacob:" an
apostrophe to the Church of the ancient people.]
[2040] Ps. xxiv.
Chapter XXXVII. The same is proved from other Psalms.
"Moreover, in the diapsalm of the forty-sixth Psalm, reference is thus made
to Christ: "God went up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing ye to our God, sing ye: sing to our King, sing ye; for God is King of
all the earth: sing with understanding. God has ruled over the nations. God
sits upon His holy throne. The rulers of the nations were assembled along
with the God of Abraham, for the strong ones of God are greatly exalted on
the earth. [2041] And in the ninety-eighth Psalm, the Holy Spirit
reproaches you, and predicts Him whom you do not wish to be king to be King
and Lord, both of Samuel, and of Aaron, and of Moses, and, in short, of all
the others. And the words of the Psalm are these: "The Lord has reigned, let
the nations be angry: [it is] He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth
be shaken. The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the nations.
Let them confess Thy great name, for it is fearful and holy, and the honour
of the King loves judgment. Thou hast prepared equity; judgment and
righteousness hast Thou performed in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God, and
worship the footstool of His feet; for He is holy. Moses and Aaron among His
priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name. They called (says
the Scripture) on the Lord, and He heard them. In the pillar of the cloud He
spake to them; for [2042] they kept His testimonies, and the commandment
which he gave them. O Lord our God, Thou heardest them: O God, Thou wert
propitious to them, and [yet] taking vengeance on all their inventions.
Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God
is holy. " [2043]
Footnotes
[2041] Ps. xlvii. 5-9. [The diapsalm is here used for what follows the
"Selah."]
[2042] "For" wanting in both Codd.
[2043] Ps. xcix.
Chapter XXXVIII. It is an annoyance to the Jew that Christ is said to be
adored. Justin confirms it, however, from Ps. xlv.
And Trypho said, "Sir, it were good for us if we obeyed our teachers, who
laid down a law that we should have no intercourse with any of you, and that
we should not have even any communication with you on these questions. For
you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this
crucified man was with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of
the cloud; then that he became man, was crucified, and ascended up to
heaven, and comes again to earth, and ought to be worshipped."
Then I answered, "I know that, as the word of God says, this great wisdom of
God, the Maker of all things, and the Almighty, is hid from you. Wherefore,
in sympathy with you, I am striving to the utmost that you may understand
these matters which to you are paradoxical; but if not, that I myself may be
innocent in the day of judgment. For you shall hear other words which appear
still more paradoxical; but be not confounded, nay, rather remain still more
zealous hearers and investigators, despising the tradition of your teachers,
since they are convicted by the Holy Spirit of inability to perceive the
truths taught by God, and of preferring to teach their own doctrines.
Accordingly, in the forty-fourth [forty-fifth] Psalm, these words are in
like manner referred to Christ: "My heart has brought forth a good matter;
[2044] I tell my works to the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Fairer in beauty than the sons of men: grace is poured forth into Thy lips:
therefore hath God blessed Thee for ever. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O
mighty One. Press on in Thy fairness and in Thy beauty, and prosper and
reign, because of truth, and of meekness, and of righteousness: and Thy
right hand shall instruct Thee marvellously. Thine arrows are sharpened, O
mighty One; the people shall fall under Thee; in the heart of the enemies of
the King [the arrows are fixed]. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a
sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved
righteousness, and hast hated iniquity; therefore thy God [2045] hath
anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. [He hath anointed
Thee] with myrrh, [2046] and oil, and cassia, from Thy garments; from the
ivory palaces, whereby they made Thee glad. Kings daughters are in Thy
honour. The queen stood at Thy right hand, clad in garments [2047]
embroidered with gold. Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine
ear, and forget thy people and the house of thy father: and the King shall
desire thy beauty; because He is thy Lord, they shall worship Him also. And
the daughter of Tyre [shall be there] with gifts. The rich of the people
shall entreat Thy face. All the glory of the King's daughter [is] within,
clad in embroidered garments of needlework. The virgins that follow her
shall be brought to the King; her neighbours shall be brought unto Thee:
they shall be brought with joy and gladness: they shall be led into the
King's shrine. Instead of thy fathers, thy sons have been born: Thou shalt
appoint them rulers over all the earth. I shall remember Thy name in every
generation: therefore the people shall confess Thee for ever, and for ever
and ever.
Footnotes
[2044] [Hebrew and Greek, "a good word," i.e., the Logos.]
[2045] Or, "God, thy God."
[2046] staktē.
[2047] Literally, "garments of gold, variegated."
Chapter XXXIX. The Jews hate the Christians who believe this. How great the
distinction is between both!
"Now it is not surprising," I continued, "that you hate us who hold these
opinions, and convict you of a continual hardness of heart. [2048] For
indeed Elijah, conversing with God concerning you, speaks thus: "Lord, they
have slain Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars: and I am left alone,
and they seek my life. And He answers him: "I have still seven thousand men
who have not bowed the knee to Baal. [2049] Therefore, just as God did not
inflict His anger on account of those seven thousand men, even so He has now
neither yet inflicted judgment, nor does inflict it, knowing that daily some
[of you] are becoming disciples in the name of Christ, and quitting the path
of error; who are also receiving gifts, each as he is worthy, illumined
through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit of
understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing,
another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of
God."
To this Trypho said to me, "I wish you knew that you are beside yourself,
talking these sentiments."
And I said to him, "Listen, O friend, [2050] for I am not mad or beside
myself; but it was prophesied that, after the ascent of Christ to heaven, He
would deliver [2051] us from error and give us gifts. The words are these:
"He ascended up on high; He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to men.
[2052] Accordingly, we who have received gifts from Christ, who has ascended
up on high, prove from the words of prophecy that you, "the wise in
yourselves, and the men of understanding in your own eyes, [2053] are
foolish, and honour God and His Christ by lip only. But we, who are
instructed in the whole truth, [2054] honour Them both in acts, and in
knowledge, and in heart, even unto death. But you hesitate to confess that
He is Christ, as the Scriptures and the events witnessed and done in His
name prove, perhaps for this reason, lest you be persecuted by the rulers,
who, under the influence of the wicked and deceitful spirit, the serpent,
will not cease putting to death and persecuting those who confess the name
of Christ until He come again, and destroy them all, and render to each his
deserts."
And Trypho replied, "Now, then, render us the proof that this man who you
say was crucified and ascended into heaven is the Christ of God. For you
have sufficiently proved by means of the Scriptures previously quoted by
you, that it is declared in the Scriptures that Christ must suffer, and come
again with glory, and receive the eternal kingdom over all the nations,
every kingdom being made subject to Him: now show us that this man is He."
And I replied, "It has been already proved, sirs, to those who have ears,
even from the facts which have been conceded by you; but that you may not
think me at a loss, and unable to give proof of what you ask, as I promised,
I shall do so at a fitting place. At present, I resume the consideration of
the subject which I was discussing.
Footnotes
[2048] Literally, "of a hard-hearted opinion."
[2049] 1 Kings xix. 14, 18.
[2050] ō houtos. [Or, Look you, listen!]
[2051] Literally, "carry us captive."
[2052] Ps. lxviii. 19.
[2053] Isa. v. 21.
[2054] Contrasting either Catholics with heretics, or Christians with Jews.
[Note this word Catholic, as here used in its legitimate primitive sense.]
Chapter XL. He returns to the Mosaic laws, and proves that they were figures
of the things which pertain to Christ.
"The mystery, then, of the lamb which God enjoined to be sacrificed as the
passover, was a type of Christ; with whose blood, in proportion to their
faith in Him, they anoint their houses, i.e., themselves, who believe on
Him. For that the creation which God created to wit, Adam was a house for
the spirit which proceeded from God, you all can understand. And that this
injunction was temporary, I prove thus. God does not permit the lamb of the
passover to be sacrificed in any other place than where His name was named;
knowing that the days will come, after the suffering of Christ, when even
the place in Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the
offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be
wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would
undergo. For the lamb, [2055] which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in
the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the
lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached
the legs of the lamb. And the two goats which were ordered to be offered
during the fast, of which one was sent away as the scape [goat], and the
other sacrificed, were similarly declarative of the two appearances of
Christ: the first, in which the elders of your people, and the priests,
having laid hands on Him and put Him to death, sent Him away as the scape
[goat]; and His second appearance, because in the same place in Jerusalem
you shall recognise Him whom you have dishonoured, and who was an offering
for all sinners willing to repent, and keeping the fast which Isaiah speaks
of, loosening the terms [2056] of the violent contracts, and keeping the
other precepts, likewise enumerated by him, and which I have quoted, [2057]
which those believing in Jesus do. And further, you are aware that the
offering of the two goats, which were enjoined to be sacrificed at the fast,
was not permitted to take place similarly anywhere else, but only in
Jerusalem.
Footnotes
[2055] Some think this particularly refers to the paschal lamb, others to
any lamb which is roasted.
[2056] Literally, "cords."
[2057] Chap. xv.
Chapter XLI. The oblation of fine flour was a figure of the Eucharist.
"And the offering of fine flour, sirs," I said, "which was prescribed to be
presented on behalf of those purified from leprosy, was a type of the bread
of the Eucharist, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ prescribed,
in remembrance of the suffering which He endured on behalf of those who are
purified in soul from all iniquity, in order that we may at the same time
thank God for having created the world, with all things therein, for the
sake of man, and for delivering us from the evil in which we were, and for
utterly overthrowing [2058] principalities and powers by Him who suffered
according to His will. Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the
twelve [prophets], as I said before, [2059] about the sacrifices at that
time presented by you: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord; and I
will not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for, from the rising of the
sun unto the going down of the same, My name has been glorified among the
Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure
offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord: but ye
profane it. [2060] [So] He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in
every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and
also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and
that you profane [it]. The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them]
always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true
circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through
Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely
through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath,
remaining the first [2061] of all the days, is called, however, the eighth,
according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the
first.
Footnotes
[2058] Literally, "overthrowing with a perfect overthrow."
[2059] Chap. xxviii.
[2060] Mal. i. 10-12.
[2061] Or, "being the first."
Chapter XLII. The bells on the priest's robe were a figure of the apostles.
"Moreover, the prescription that twelve bells [2062] be attached to the
[robe] of the high priest, which hung down to the feet, was a symbol of the
twelve apostles, who depend on the power of Christ, the eternal Priest; and
through their voice it is that all the earth has been filled with the glory
and grace of God and of His Christ. Wherefore David also says: "Their sound
has gone forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the
world. [2063] And Isaiah speaks as if he were personating the apostles,
when they say to Christ that they believe not in their own report, but in
the power of Him who sent them. And so he says: "Lord, who hath believed our
report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have preached before
Him as if [He were] a child, as if a root in a dry ground. [2064] (And what
follows in order of the prophecy already quoted. [2065] ) But when the
passage speaks as from the lips of many, "We have preached before Him, and
adds, "as if a child, it signifies that the wicked shall become subject to
Him, and shall obey His command, and that all shall become as one child.
Such a thing as you may witness in the body: although the members are
enumerated as many, all are called one, and are a body. For, indeed, a
commonwealth and a church, [2066] though many individuals in number, are in
fact as one, called and addressed by one appellation. And in short, sirs,"
said I, "by enumerating all the other appointments of Moses I can
demonstrate that they were types, and symbols, and declarations of those
things which would happen to Christ, of those who it was foreknown were to
believe in Him, and of those things which would also be done by Christ
Himself. But since what I have now enumerated appears to me to be
sufficient, I revert again to the order of the discourse. [2067]
Footnotes
[2062] Ex. xxviii. 33 gives no definite number of bells. Otto presumes
Justin to have confounded the bells and gems, which were twelve in number.
[2063] Ps. xix. 4.
[2064] Isa. liii. 1, 2.
[2065] Chap. xiii.
[2066] ekklēsia Lat. vers. has conventus.
[2067] Literally, "to the discourse in order."
Chapter XLIII. He concludes that the law had an end in Christ, who was born
of the Virgin.
"As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices
and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were
enjoined on account of the hardness of your people's heart, so it was
necessary, in accordance with the Father's will, that they should have an
end in Him who was born of a virgin, of the family of Abraham and tribe of
Judah, and of David; in Christ the Son of God, who was proclaimed as about
to come to all the world, to be the everlasting law and the everlasting
covenant, even as the forementioned prophecies show. And we, who have
approached God through Him, have received not carnal, but spiritual
circumcision, which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received
it through baptism, since we were sinners, by God's mercy; and all men may
equally obtain it. But since the mystery of His birth now demands our
attention I shall speak of it. Isaiah then asserted in regard to the
generation of Christ, that it could not be declared by man, in words already
quoted: [2068] "Who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from
the earth: for the transgressions of my people was He led [2069] to
death. [2070] The Spirit of prophecy thus affirmed that the generation of
Him who was to die, that we sinful men might be healed by His stripes, was
such as could not be declared. Furthermore, that the men who believe in Him
may possess the knowledge of the manner in which He came into the world,
[2071] the Spirit of prophecy by the same Isaiah foretold how it would
happen thus: "And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask for thyself a
sign from the Lord thy God, in the depth, or in the height. And Ahaz said, I
will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And Isaiah said, Hear then, O
house of David; Is it a small thing for you to contend with men, and how do
you contend with the Lord? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and his name shall
be called Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows or
prefers the evil, and chooses out the good; [2072] for before the child
knows good or ill, he rejects evil [2073] by choosing out the good. For
before the child knows how to call father or mother, he shall receive the
power of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in presence of the king of
Assyria. And the land shall be forsaken, [2074] which thou shalt with
difficulty endure in consequence of the presence of its two kings. [2075]
But God shall bring on thee, and on thy people, and on the house of thy
father, days which have not yet come upon thee since the day in which
Ephraim took away from Judah the king of Assyria. [2076] Now it is evident
to all, that in the race of Abraham according to the flesh no one has been
born of a virgin, or is said to have been born [of a virgin], save this our
Christ. But since you and your teachers venture to affirm that in the
prophecy of Isaiah it is not said, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive, but,
"Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son; and [since] you
explain the prophecy as if [it referred] to Hezekiah, who was your king, I
shall endeavour to discuss shortly this point in opposition to you, and to
show that reference is made to Him who is acknowledged by us as Christ.
Footnotes
[2068] Chap. xiii.
[2069] Or, "was I led."
[2070] Isa. liii. 8.
[2071] Literally, "He was in the world, being born."
[2072] See Chap. lxvi.
[2073] Literally, "disobeys evil" (apeithei ponēra). Conjectured: apōthei,
and apeithei ponēria.
[2074] The mss. of Justin read, "shall be taken:" katalēphthēsetai. This is
plainly a mistake for kataleiphthēsetai; but whether the mistake is
Justin's or the transcribers , it would be difficult to say, as Thirlby
remarks.
[2075] The rendering of this doubtful: literally, "from the face of the two
kings," and the words might go with "shall be forsaken."
[2076] Isa. vii. 10-17 with Isa. viii. 4 inserted. The last clause may also
be translated, "in which He took away from Judah Ephraim, even the king of
Assyria."
Chapter XLIV. The Jews in vain promise themselves salvation, which cannot be
obtained except through Christ.
"For thus, so far as you are concerned, I shall be found in all respects
innocent, if I strive earnestly to persuade you by bringing forward
demonstrations. But if you remain hard-hearted, or weak in [forming] a
resolution, on account of death, which is the lot of the Christians, and are
unwilling to assent to the truth, you shall appear as the authors of your
own [evils]. And you deceive yourselves while you fancy that, because you
are the seed of Abraham after the flesh, therefore you shall fully inherit
the good things announced to be bestowed by God through Christ. For no one,
not even of them, [2077] has anything to look for, but only those who in
mind are assimilated to the faith of Abraham, and who have recognised all
the mysteries: for I say, [2078] that some injunctions were laid on you in
reference to the worship of God and practice of righteousness; but some
injunctions and acts were likewise mentioned in reference to the mystery of
Christ, on account of [2079] the hardness of your people's hearts. And that
this is so, God makes known in Ezekiel, [when] He said concerning it: "If
Noah and Jacob [2080] and Daniel should beg either sons or daughters, the
request would not be granted them. [2081] And in Isaiah, of the very same
matter He spake thus: "The Lord God said, they shall both go forth and look
on the members [of the bodies] of the men that have transgressed. For their
worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be
a gazing-stock to all flesh. [2082] So that it becomes you to eradicate
this hope from your souls, and hasten to know in what way forgiveness of
sins, and a hope of inheriting the promised good things, shall be yours. But
there is no other [way] than this, to become acquainted with this Christ,
to be washed in the fountain [2083] spoken of by Isaiah for the remission of
sins; and for the rest, to live sinless lives."
Footnotes
[2077] i.e., of Abraham's seed.
[2078] Justin distinguishes between such essential acts as related to God s
worship and the establishment of righteousness, and such ceremonial
observances as had a mere temporary significance. The recognition of this
distinction he alleges to be necessary to salvation: necessary in this
sense, that justification must be placed not on the latter, but on the
former; and without such recognition, a Jew would, as Justin says, rest his
hopes on his noble descent from Abraham.
[2079] More probably, "or on account of," etc.
[2080] In Bible, "Job;" Maranus prefers "Jacob," and thinks the mention of
his name very suitable to disprove the arrogant claims of Jacob's posterity.
[2081] Ezek. xiv. 20.
[2082] Isa. lxvi. 24.
[2083] Some refer this to Christ's baptism. See Cyprian, Adv. Jud. i. 24.
Otto.
Chapter XLV. Those who were righteous before and under the law shall be saved
by Christ.
And Trypho said, "If I seem to interrupt these matters, which you say must
be investigated, yet the question which I mean to put is urgent. Suffer me
first."
And I replied, "Ask whatever you please, as it occurs to you; and I shall
endeavour, after questions and answers, to resume and complete the
discourse."
Then he said, "Tell me, then, shall those who lived according to the law
given by Moses, live in the same manner with Jacob, Enoch, and Noah, in the
resurrection of the dead, or not?"
I replied to him, "When I quoted, sir, the words spoken by Ezekiel, that
"even if Noah and Daniel and Jacob were to beg sons and daughters, the
request would not be granted them, but that each one, that is to say, shall
be saved by his own righteousness, I said also, that those who regulated
their lives by the law of Moses would in like manner be saved. For what in
the law of Moses is naturally good, and pious, and righteous, and has been
prescribed to be done by those who obey it; [2084] and what was appointed to
be performed by reason of the hardness of the people's hearts; was similarly
recorded, and done also by those who were under the law. Since those who did
that which is universally, naturally, and eternally good are pleasing to
God, they shall be saved through this Christ in the resurrection equally
with those righteous men who were before them, namely Noah, and Enoch, and
Jacob, and whoever else there be, along with those who have known [2085]
this Christ, Son of God, who was before the morning star and the moon, and
sub