2. I answered, "If you quoted that passage honestly and with-Press.

st. justin martyr shall continue with the sun, and before the moon throughout all generations.9 And so forth, down to the words: His name continues before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things. And blessed be the name of his majesty forever, and the whole earth shall be ﬁlled with his majesty. Amen. Amen.10

7. "Keep in mind, too, that from other words of David which I cited above, it can be proved that he would come forth from the highest heavens and was to ascend again to the same place, in order that you may know that he came forth as God from above, and became man in the midst of men, and will one day return to earth, when they who pierced him will look upon him and weep.

8. "The words are as follows: The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the ﬁrmament declares the work of his hands. Day to day utters speech, and night to night shows knowledge. There are neither tongues nor words whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world. He has set his tabernacle in the sun, and, as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, he has rejoiced as a giant to run his course. His going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end thereof, and there is none who shall be hidden from his heat." 11 c h a p t e r 65 "Abashed as I am," said Trypho, "by so many quotations from Scripture, I am at a loss how to explain that passage from Isaiah in which God states that he shares his glory with no one else, when he says: I am the Lord, God; this is my name; my glory and my powers I will not give to another."12

2. I answered, "If you quoted that passage honestly and without malice, Trypho, and stopped without adding the words which both precede and follow it, then you may be excused.

But you are sadly mistaken if you did so in the hope of embarrassing me into admitting that some passages of Scripture contradict others, for I would not be so bold as to assert, or even

9. Ps 71 (72).1–5. See Skarsaune, 84.

10. Ps 71 (72).17–19. See Skarsaune, 84.

11. Ps 18 (19).1–7.

12. Is 42.8. See Skarsaune, 62.

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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The virginal birth

imagine, such a thing. If such a passage were quoted, and appeared to contradict another (since I am positive that no passage contradicts another), I would rather openly confess that I do not know the meaning of the passage, and I shall do my utmost to have my opinion shared by those who imagine that the Scriptures sometimes contradict one another.

3. "Only God knows why you proposed this last difﬁculty, but I will repeat the passage for you in its exact wording, so that you may see that God gives his glory to his Christ alone. And, gentlemen, I will add a few words of the content of the passage quoted by Trypho, and also those which immediately follow them. The words which I cite will not be taken from another chapter, but only from the context. I ask you, then, to reﬂect on the following words:

4. "Thus said the Lord God who created the heavens, and stretched them out; who established the earth, and the things that spring out of it; who gives bread to the people upon it, and spirit to those who tread on it. I, the Lord your God, have called you to justice, and will clasp your hand, and will make you strong. And I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to free the prisoners from their chains, and to bring forth out of the prison those who sit in darkness.

5. "I am the Lord God; this is my name; I will not give my glory to another, nor my powers to graven images. Things which were from the beginning, behold they are come to pass; they are new things which I declare, and before they are announced they are made manifest to you.

Sing you to the Lord a new song: His beginning is from the ends of the earth. You that go down to the sea, and sail on it; you islands, and you who inhabit them.

6. "Rejoice, O desert, and the villages and houses therein; and the inhabitants of Kedar shall rejoice, and the inhabitants of the rock shall shout from the top of the mountains; they shall give glory to God; they shall declare his powers in the islands. The Lord God almighty shall go forth; he shall destroy all war; he shall stir up zeal, and he shall shout vigorously against his enemies.13

7. "Do you not see," I asked on concluding the quotation, 13. Is 42.5–13. See Skarsaune, 62.

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st. justin martyr "that God afﬁrms that he will give his glory to him alone whom he has appointed to be the light of the Gentiles, and not, as Trypho claims, that he will reserve his glory for himself only?"

"We can see that," conceded Trypho. "Now, ﬁnish the rest of the argument." c h a p t e r 66 And I resumed my argument where I had left off. I was proving that Christ was born of a virgin, and that Isaiah had foretold that he was to be so born. I repeated the words of the prophecy as follows:

2. "And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz saying: Ask a sign of the Lord your God, in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And Isaiah said: Hear ye therefore,

O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to contend with men, that you are to contend with God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Immanuel.

3. "He shall eat butter and honey before he knows to reject evil, and choose good. For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil to choose the good. For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria. And the land shall be forsaken, which you shall hardly endure on account of the presence of the two kings. But God shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days that have not come upon you, since the day that he took away Ephraim from Judah—the king of the Assyrians.14

"Everyone knows," I added, "that of all the carnal descendants of Abraham, no one was ever born of a virgin, or even claimed to be so born, except our Christ." c h a p t e r 67 Then Trypho retorted, "The quotation is not, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, but Behold a young woman shall con14. Is 7.10–17; 8.4; Mt 1.23. See Dial. 43.6; Massaux, 82; Skarsaune, 32–34,

200–2, 239, 380, 448; S. A. Panimolle, "Storicità dell'incarnazione del verbo e Vangelo dell'Infanzia nel Dialogo con Trifone di san Giustino," Marianum 52

(1990): 63–85.

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