Chapter 24 of 58

15. See Skarsaune, 177: "There can thus hardly be any doubt that Justin in-

15. See Skarsaune, 177: "There can thus hardly be any doubt that Justin in-

The divinity of the Messiah

God. It has indeed been proved sufficiently by your Scriptural quotations that it was predicted in the Scriptures that Christ should suffer, and that he should come again in glory to accept the eternal kingdom over all nations, and that every kingdom should be made subject to him.14 But what we want you to prove is that Jesus is the Messiah15 spoken of in the Scriptures."

8. "My dear friends," I replied, "anyone with ears would know that I have already proved that very point, and it can be shown also from the facts which you yourselves have admitted. But, lest you think that I am not able to furnish further proof that Jesus is the Messiah, I renew my promise to produce additional arguments in their proper place. For the present, however, I would like to continue on the same subject we were discussing. c h a p t e r 40 "The mystery of the lamb, then, which God ordered you to sacrifice as the Passover was truly a type of Christ, with whose blood the believers, in proportion to the strength of their faith, anoint their homes, that is, themselves.16 You are all aware that Adam, the result of God's creative act, was the abode of his breath of life. That God's precept about the paschal lamb was only temporary I can show as follows.

2. "God does not allow the paschal lamb to be sacrificed in any place other than where his name is invoked17 (that is, in the temple at Jerusalem), for he knew that there would come a time, after Christ's Passion, when the place in Jerusalem (where you sacrificed the paschal lamb) would be taken from you by your enemies, and then simply all sacrifices would cease.

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved.

14. See Dn 7.27.

15. See Skarsaune, 177: "There can thus hardly be any doubt that Justin intended Dial. 40–42 to be read as a continuation of the <law> theme. Nevertheless these chapters clearly stand out from their context. They are concerned with a new aspect of the law, viz. the typological significance of certain OT precepts."

16. Ex 12.7, 21–22. Skarsaune, 300–1, wonders if this is an allusion to baptismal anointing. For the paschal lamb typology see Skarsaune, 178, 299–301;

Daniélou, 273 n 29, citing his Bible et Liturgie, Lex Orandi 11 (Paris: Éditions du

Cerf, 1958), 219–27; O. Perler, in Méliton de Sardes, Sur la pâque: et fragments,

Sources chrétiennes 123 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1966), 29–31.

17. See Dt 16.5–6.

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

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

st. justin martyr 3. "Moreover, that lamb which you were ordered to roast whole18 was a symbol of Christ's Passion on the Cross. Indeed, the lamb, while being roasted, resembles the figure of the cross, for one spit transfixes it horizontally from the lower parts up to the head, and another pierces it across the back and holds it up by its forelegs.

4. "Likewise, the two identical goats which had to be offered during the fast (one of which was to be the scapegoat, and the other the sacrificial goat) were an announcement of the two comings of Christ:19 Of the first coming, in which your priests and elders sent him away as a scapegoat, seizing him and putting him to death; of the second coming, because in that same place of Jerusalem you shall recognize him whom you had subjected to shame, and who was a sacrificial offering for all sinners who are willing to repent and to comply with that fast which Isaiah prescribed when he said, loosing the strangle of violent contracts,20 and to observe likewise all the other precepts laid down by him (precepts which I have already mentioned21 and which all believers in Christ fulfill).

5. "You also know very well that the offering of the two goats, which had to take place during the fast, could not take place anywhere else except in Jerusalem." c h a p t e r 41 "Likewise," I continued, "the offering of flour, gentlemen, which was ordered to be presented for those cleansed from leprosy,22 was a type of the bread of the Eucharist, which our Lord

Jesus Christ commanded us to offer in remembrance of the Passion that he endured for all those souls who are cleansed from sin,23 and that at the same time we should thank God for Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved.

18. Ex 12.9.

19. Lv 16.5–10. Scripture did not require that the goats be alike, but this was a common Jewish practice. See Skarsaune, 178.

20. Is 58.6. See Skarsaune, 55–56.

21. Dial. 15.4.

22. See Lv 14.10. See Skarsaune, 179–80, 304–5.

23. 1 Cor 11.23–25. See also G. A. Nocilli, La catechesi battesimale ed eucaristica di San Giustino martire (Bologne: Edizioni Francescane, 1990); C. Burini, "Il nutrimento eucaristico 'per nostra trasformazione' (Giustino, Apol. 1, 66, 2)," in Sangue e antropologia nella letteratura cristiana (Rome: Ed. Pia Unione del

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

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

The divinity of the Messiah

having created the world, and everything in it, for the sake of mankind, and for having saved us from the sin in which we were born, and for the total destruction of the powers and principalities24 of evil through him who suffered in accordance with his will.

2. "Thus, as I stated already, God speaks through Malachi, one of the twelve [prophets], concerning the sacrifices you then offered up to him, I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not receive your sacrifices from your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a clean oblation; for my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord, but you profane it.25

3. "By making reference to the sacrifices which we Gentiles offer to him in every place, namely, the bread of the Eucharist and the chalice of the Eucharist, he predicted that we should glorify his name, but that you should profane it.

4. "Furthermore, the precept of circumcision, obliging you without fail to circumcise your offspring on the eighth day,26 was a type of the true circumcision by which we are circumcised from error and wickedness through our Lord Jesus Christ, who arose from the dead on the first day of the week. For the first day of the week, while it remains the first of all the days, yet is called the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and still it remains the first.

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved. c h a p t e r 42 "The twelve bells27 which had to be attached to the long robe of the high priest, were representative of the twelve apostles, who relied upon the power of Christ, the Eternal Priest.28

Preziosissimo Sangue, 1983), 913–29; G. W. Lathrop, "Justin, Eucharist and 'Sacrifice': a Case of Metaphor," Worship 64 (1990): 30–48; H. B. Porter, "The Eucharistic Piety of Justin Martyr," Anglican Theological Review 39 (1957): 24–33;

W. Rordorf, "La Trinité dans les ècrits de Justin Martyr" AugR 20 (1980):

285–97.

24. See Gn 1.26–28; Col 2.15.

25. Mal 1.10–12. See Dial. 28.5.

26. Gn 17.12–14.

27. Ex 28.33–34 does not mention the exact number of bells. Justin could have been thinking of the twelve gems in the high-priest's breastplate. See Ex

28.17–21.

28. See Ps 109 (110).4.

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

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

st. justin martyr Through their voices the whole world is filled with the glory and grace of God and his Christ. David testified to this truth when he said, Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.29

2. "And Isaiah speaks as though in the person of the apostles (when they relate to Christ that the people were convinced, not by their words, but by the power of him who sent them), and says, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have preached before him as a little child, as if a root in a thirsty ground.30 (And the rest of the prophecy as quoted above).

3. "When the passage, spoken in the name of many, states, We have preached before him, and adds, as a little child, it proves that sinners shall obey him as servants, and shall all become as one child in his sight. An example of this is had in a human body: although it is made up of many members, it is called, and is, one body.31 So also in the case of the people and the Church: Although they are many individuals, they form one body and are called by one common name.

4. "Therefore," I concluded, "if I were to enumerate all the other Mosaic precepts, gentlemen, I could show that they are types, symbols, and prophecies of what would happen to Christ and those who were foreknown as those who would believe in him, and, similarly, of the deeds of Christ himself. But, since I believe that I have already mentioned a sufficient number of examples, I shall now return to the next point in the order of our discussion."

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved.

29. Ps 18 (19).5.

30. Is 53.1–2.

31. 1 Cor 12.12.

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

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

S C R I P T U R A L T Y P E S O F J E S U S

c h a p t e r 43 "As circumcision, then, originated with Abraham, and the Sabbath, sacrifices, oblations, and festivals with Moses (and it has already been shown that your people were commanded to observe these things because of their hardness of heart), so it was expedient that, in accordance with the will of the Father, these things should have their end in him who was born of the Virgin, of the race of Abraham and the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David: namely, in Christ, the Son of God, who was proclaimed as the future Eternal Law and new covenant for the whole world (as the above-quoted prophecies clearly show).1

2. "We, indeed, who have come to God through Jesus Christ, have received, not a physical, but a spiritual, circumcision, as did Enoch and those like him. Through God's mercy we received this by means of baptism, since we had become sinners, and all men should likewise receive it.

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved.

3. "But the topic to which we must now direct our attention is the mystery of the birth of Christ. Isaiah already stated that man cannot describe it, when he exclaimed, Who shall declare his generation? Because his life is cut off from the earth; for the wickedness of my people he was led to death.2 The prophetic Spirit thus declared that the birth of him who was to die in order to save us sinners by his stripes was inexpressible.3

1. See Is 2.3; 51.9; 55.3; Jer 38 (31).31; Mi 4.2.

2. Is 53.8.

3. See Is 53.5.

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

Created from nottingham on 2021-08-20 07:56:45.

↑ Back to top

↑