2. Then I replied, "Since I base my arguments and sugges-

A Christian interpretation of ritual laws

fants be circumcised either a day before or a day after the Sabbath? And why did he not instruct those persons who lived before the time of Moses and Abraham to observe these same precepts; men who are called just and were pleasing to God, even though they were not circumcised in the ﬂesh, and did not keep the Sabbaths?" c h a p t e r 28 Trypho then observed, "We listened attentively earlier when you put this question, and, to tell you the truth, you deserved our attention, but it does not seem good to me, as it does to most, only to say that it was God's will. For that is always the sly stock reply of those who cannot answer the question."

2. Then I replied, "Since I base my arguments and suggestions on the Scriptures and facts, you should not hesitate to believe me, despite the fact that I am uncircumcised, for there is only a short time left for conversion. If Christ should come again before your conversion, you will weep and repent in vain, for then he will not heed you. Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns, exclaimed Jeremiah to the people. Be circumcised to the Lord, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart. 22

3. "Do not sow, therefore, amid thorns and upon unplowed soil, from which you can reap no fruit. Acknowledge Christ, and then fallow ground, rich and fertile, will certainly be in your hearts.

"For behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that has their foreskin circumcised; upon Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and upon the children of Moab. For all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the ﬂesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. 23

4. "Do you not see that God does not desire this circumcision which is given as a sign? For such circumcision is of no use to the Egyptians, the Moabites, or the Edomites.24 Even though a man be a Scythian, or a Persian, and yet knows God and his

Son, and observes his lasting precepts of justice, he is circum22. Jer 4.3–4. See Skarsaune, 70–72.

23. Jer 9.25–26. See Skarsaune, 157, 161, 314, 328–29.

24. See Letter of Barnabas 9.6; Origen, Contra Celsum 5.47–48.

Justin, Martyr, Saint. Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3), edited by Michael Slusser, Catholic University of America Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/de

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st. justin martyr cised with the only good and useful circumcision, and both he and his offerings are pleasing to God.

5. "In this regard, permit me, my friends, to quote the words which God spoke to his people through Malachi, one of his twelve prophets: I have no pleasure in you, said the Lord; and I will not receive your sacriﬁces from your hands; for from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name has been gloriﬁed among the Gentiles; and in every place there is sacriﬁce, and there is offered a clean oblation to my name; for my name is honored among the Gentiles, said the Lord, but you profane it.25

6. "And through the mouth of David God said, A people whom I knew not has served me; as soon as they heard me they have obeyed me.26 c h a p t e r 29 "Let us come together with the Gentiles and glorify God, for he has deigned to look down upon us also. Let us glorify him through the King of glory and the Lord of hosts.27 For he has shown his benevolence toward us Gentiles, too, and he accepts our sacriﬁces more willingly than he does yours. If I have been approved by God, what need have I of circumcision? If I have already been baptized with the grace of the Holy Spirit, what use have I of your baptism?28

2. "I feel sure that I can persuade by these words even those who are short on intelligence. For the words which I use are not my own, nor are they embellished by human rhetoric, but they are the words as David sang them, as Isaiah announced them as good news, as Zechariah proclaimed them, and as Moses wrote them. Aren't you acquainted with them, Trypho?

You should be, for they are contained in your Scriptures, or rather not yours, but ours. For we believe and obey them, whereas you, though you read them, do not grasp their spirit.

3. "Do not be angry with us, therefore, nor blame us for be25. Mal 1.10–12. See Skarsaune, 173, 185, 307, 331, 439–40.

26. Ps 17 (18).44–45. See Skarsaune, 129.

27. On "King of Glory" see P. Beskow, Rex gloriae. The Kingship of Christ in the early church (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell, 1962).

28. See J. E. Morgan-Wynne, "The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience in Justin Martyr," VigChr 38 (1984): 172–77.

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A Christian interpretation of ritual laws

ing uncircumcised in our body; indeed, God created us that way. Nor should you consider it dreadful if we drink hot water29 on the Sabbath, for God doesn't stop controlling the movement of the universe on that day, but he continues directing it then as he does on all other days. Besides, your chief priests were commanded by God to offer sacriﬁces on the Sabbath, as well as on other days. Then, too, there are so many just men who are approved by God himself, yet they never performed any of your legal ceremonies. c h a p t e r 30 "But the fact that God can be falsely accused by the unintelligent of not having always taught the same truthful doctrines to all, you can blame on your own sinfulness. Indeed, many regarded such doctrines as irrational and unworthy of God, for they had not received the grace from God to understand that these same doctrines have called your people, mired in sin and sick of a spiritual disease, to conversion and spiritual repentance;30 nor did they understand that the prophecy, which was given to mankind after the death of Moses, is eternal.31

2. "This, gentlemen, is indeed mentioned in the psalm. That we who have been enlightened by these doctrines consider them to be sweeter than honey and the honey-comb,32 is evident from the fact that even under the threat of death we do not deny his name. Furthermore, it is equally clear as the word of the prophecy, speaking in the name of one of his followers, metaphorically afﬁrms that we believers beseech him to safeguard us from strangers,33 that is, from wicked and deceitful, spirits.

29. It was not permitted to a Jew to light a ﬁre (Ex 35.3), or to cook food on the Sabbath (Ex 16.23). From ancient times, however, it was customary to have a Gentile light the ﬁre on the Sabbath.

30. See Ps 18 (19).8. See also Skarsaune, 174–76, accepting Marcovich's emendation: pr¯" ; [sic], or, "repentance of the Father." The patrov" of the Greek text is probably a mistake for pneuvmato". The copyist could have confused the two abbreviations, pr¯" and pn¯" as in Melito, Peri Pascha 56, line 410.

See "Nomina sacra," EECh, s.v.; and Larry W. Hurtado, "The Origin of the Nomina Sacra: A Proposal," JBL 117 (1998): 655–73.

31. Dial. 30.1 repeats the argument of Dial. 23.

32. Ps 18 (19).11b.

33. See Ps 18 (19).14a.

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