58. Then T said, " I will cite the Scriptures to you The
Did God the Son, and Angels, eat with Abraham?
the Scripture shews, Who is also the Lord Who received it Dial. from the Lord in Heaven, that is, the Creator of thel^IIlLuniverse, to bring those judgments on Sodom and Gomorrah, which are recounted in Scripture thus, The Lord rained Gen. 19, upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord
' out of heaven.''
57.
Said Trypho, when I ceased speaking, ** Scripture Did God apparently compels us so to confess; but you will yourself '^'^^ ^^°° admit that we may well doubt about what is there written, Abrathat He ate of the meat that Abraham prepared and set before Him."
I replied as follovv^s.
" It is written indeed that they ate, but if we read howevey that those three are said to have eaten, and not the two only, who were in fact angels, and are evidently nourished in heaven, even if they do not take the same kind of food as we men do : for of the manna which your fathers ate in the desert. Scripture says. They Ts. 7S, did eat angels' food, I would suggest, that the Scripture"'^' which speaks of their having eaten, may have the same meaning as when we say of fire, that it devours all things ; but we are not to take it as if when they ate, they used, their teeth, and masticated with their jaws, so that we shall find no difficulty in this passage, if v.e are at all skilled in figurative expressions."
Said Trypho, " it is possible that the difficulty may be thus remedied, as to the manner of eating, where in consuming what Abraham had prepared, it is written that they ate.
Proceed therefore to prove to us how this God, Who was seen by Abraham, and was a minister of the God
Who is Creator of the universe, was born of the Virgin, and made a man, as you say, of like passions with all of us." Acts h,
Then I answered, " First permit me, Trypho, to produce at large some other proofs under this head, that you may be thoroughly convinced of the truth of it, and then I will give you that statement which you require."
"Be it as you please," he said; "and in pursuing this plan, you will do what is very agreeable to me."
58.
Then T said, " I will cite the Scriptures to you The without making any mere artificial display of arguments, for'^V^J^i^^
I have no such skill, for grace alone has been given me by God
God the Son appeared as an Angel to Jacob.
Just, to understand His Scriptures; of which afift I besr that all Mart.
^ -* will take the benefit, without reward and without grudging, .
. that I may not on this account incur condemnation in the Judgment, which God the Creator of the world will hereafter hold through Jesus Christ our Lord."
'* In this you act worthily," said Trypho, " of the service of God; but you appear to me to speak ironically, when J Uvayou assert that you have no skill to employ the 'arts of yuvT^Xdisputation. viKuv.
" If such appears to you to be the case," I replied, " be it so ; but I am persuaded that it is as I have said.
Give me your attention, however, that we may the better pursue our remaining proofs."
" Proceed," he said.
" Moses has written again," I continued, " that He Who was seen by the patriarchs, and Who is called God, is also termed Angel and Lord, in order that you may thus perceive Him to be a minister of the Father of the universe, as you have just confessed, in which opinion, when further convinced, you will remain firm.
The word of God, then, by Moses, speaking of Jacob the grandson of Abraham, runs thus
Gen. 31, And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, I saw them with my eyes in my sleep ^ and behold the he-goats and rams which leaped upon the sheep and the goats ivere whifestreaked, and speckled, and grizzled.
And the Angel of God said unto me in my sleep, Jacob, Jacob.
And I said. What is it.
Lord .^ And He said.
Lift up thine eyes, and see the he-goats and the rams which leap upon the sheep and she-goats are white-streaked, and speckled, and grizzled.
For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.
I am the ^Bethel. Qod luhich ap)peared unto thee iii the place of God-, where thou anointedst to Me a pillar, and where thou voivedst a vow.
Now therefore arise, and get thee out of this land, and return into the land of thy nativity, and I will be with thee.
And again in another place it speaks thus of the same Gen32, Jacob.
And he rose up that 7iight, and took his two wives, and his two women-servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jaboc.
And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over all tJiat he had.
And Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled an Angel with him, until the
A Divine Person appeared as a Man to Jacob.
breaking of the day.
But He saw that He prevailed not "Di^h. against him, arid He touched the broad part of his thigh, and * the broad part of Jacob's thigh was benumbed, as he ivrestled with Him.
And He said unto him, Let Me go, for the day hreaketh.
And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
And He said unto him, What is thy name ?
And he said, Jacob.
And He said unto him, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be, for thou hast prevailed with God, and shalt be powerful ivith men.
And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell 7ne Thy name.
And He said. Wherefore is it that thou askest My name r And He blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of that place. The Vision of God^.
For I have seen God face toface, ^ Peniei. and my soul hath rejoiced.
And again in aiiotber place, speaking of the same Jacob, he says, And Jacob came ?;oGren.35, Luz, iMch is in the land of Canaan, that is. Bethel, he and " all the people that were with him.
And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place Betliel, because there
God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother Esau.
But Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under the oak; and Jacob called the name of it. The oak of mourning.
And God appeared to Jacob once more at Luz, when he came out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and blessed him; and said unto him, Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.
" He is called God, and He is, and shall be, God."
And when they all bowed their heads in assent, I said, *' I consider it requisite to cite to you the passage of Scripture which declares, how when Jacob fled from his brother Esau, the same Angel, and God, and Lord, appeared to him, Who Gen. 32, also appeared to Abraham in the form of a man, and afterwards wrestled with Jacob in the same form.
It is this And Jacob went out from the ivell of the oath^, and iventG^n.^s, towards Charran : and he lighted on a certain place, and hei Be*er-* slept there, because the sun was set.
And he took of the stojies^^^^^of that place, and put them under his head, and he slept in that place, and dreamed.
And, behold, a ladder was fixed in the earth, whose top reached to Heaven.
And the angels of God ascended and descended upon it.
And the Lord stood upon L
146 He who spake with Moses called hath God and Angel.
Just, itf and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and ^^^^' of Isaac ; fear not.
The land whereon thou sleepest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And thy seed shall he as the dust of the earth, and shall he spread abroad to the sea, and to the south, and to the north, and to the east ; and in thee and i7i thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And behold I will be with thee, and I will keep thee in all the way wherein thou shalt go, and will bring thee into this land: for I will not leave thee until I have done all those things which I have spoken to thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and said. The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.
And he was afraid, and said. How dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
And » Bethel. /aco6 called the 7iame of that place, The house of GodK And Ulammatis^ was the name of that city before.""
God, 59. When I had said this, " permit me now," I continued, but not (( ^Q prove to you from the book of Exodus, how the same
Father, Angel, and God, and Lord, and Man^, Who appeared as ed^tcT"^ man to Abraham and Jacob, also appeared to and conversed
Moses, with Moses in a flame of fire out of the bush."
And on their ^" saying that they would without weariness gladly and readily itol. listen to me, I added, " the following words are contained in Exod.2 the book of Exodus.
But then after a long time the king of 23Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of Exod.3, their bondage.
And so on until you come to. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and thou shalt say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers hath appeared unto me, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, saying, I visit you with a visitation, and see what things have bee?i done to you in Egypt.''
On which I said, *' Do you perceive that He Whom Moses speaks of as an Angel, who conversed with him in the flame of flre, was God, and declares to him that He is the God of Abraham,
Jewish Isaac, and Jacob ?" view or Hira 60.
*^ We do not understand this," said Trypho, " from the seenTir ^ords you havc cited, but that it was an Angel who appeared
}^, ^ LXX. has, ' Ulain-Luz,' taking the preceding word as part of the name.
Jf an Angel ministered, yet Gody there, is not the Father. 147 in the flame of fire, and God who conversed with Moses; so as Uial. that both an Angel and God, who were tw^o Persons together,
'^'^^'^"appeared in that vision."
To which I replied, " Even if it be so, my friends, that both an Angel and God appeared together in that vision to Moses, yet, as has also been proved to you by the words before written. That God Who said to Moses that He was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, will not be the Creator of the universe, but He who was proved to have appeared to Abraham and Jacob, who ministers to the will of the Creator of all things, and who in the judgment of Sodom also ministered to His counsel.
So that even if there were two, as you say, an Angel and God, yet no one who has the least sense will venture to assert, that the Maker and Father of all things left those realms which are above the heavens, and appeared on a little spot of earth."
Said Trypho, '^ Since it has already been proved, that He who appeared to Abraham was called God and Lord, and, as He received it from the Lord of Heaven, brought destruction upon Sodom
; even [if^] there were an Angel with the God who appeared to Moses, we shall understand that the God who spoke with Moses from the bush was not God the Creator of the Universe, but He who is proved to have been seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is also termed and understood to be an Angel of the Creator, because He announces to men the will of the Father and Creator."
" I will now shew you, Trypho," I replied, " that in that vision He alone, who is both called an Angel and is God, was seen by and conversed with Moses; for thus says the Scripture, And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him i^^Exo^ls, aflame of flre, out of the midst of a hush: and he saw that the hush hurned with fire, and the hush was not consumed.
And Moses said, I will go and see this great sight, why the hush is not hurnt.
And when the Lord saw that he came to see, the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the hush.
As therefore the Scripture calls Him who appeared to Jacob in his dream, an Angel, and then declares that that very Angel who was then seen by him in that sleep, said, I am the 6^0(iGt>n.35, who appeared to thee when thou fleddest from the face of thy
« ' If appears to be required by the sense, and is easily supplied here as Otto has done.
L 2
The Divine Word, begotten before all things.
Just, brother Esau; and we read in the time of Abraham on the ^ destruction of Sodom, The Lord brought this judgment /rowi the Lord in heaven: so when the Scripture here says that an Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses, and afterwards declares that He is Lord and God, it means the same Person whom in many passages it points out to have ministered to tlie will of that God, Who is above the world, and to whom there is none superior.
Wisdom
'* But, my friends," 1 continued, " I will produce another ten^of testimony from the Scriptures to prove, that as a ^beginning the Fabefore all creatures God begot of Himself a certain reasonable
Power, which is also called by the Holy Ghost, the Glory of the Lord, at another time a Son, at another Wisdom, at another an x\ngel, at another God, and at another Lord Josh. 5, and Word.
He once calls Himself, Captain of the host, when He appeared to Joshua the son of Nun, in the form of man.
For He has all these appellations, both from His I ^ovxiiministering to the ' will of the Father, and from His S'elA'- ^^i'''^ begotten by ^ wills of the Father.
But is not this (T€», like what we see in ourselves ?
For when we utter a word f o-pxhv, beginning, tlie word used in belong to Him.
Bp. Bull appears at Frov. viii. 22. to which St. Justin refers, least to have strained the point in and which be soon proceeds to cite at making the Nicene Fathers say, ' He length.
The Benedictine says, that was before He was begotten.'
But it St.
Justin is not to be understood of is true that some early Fathers use the eternal generation of the Son, but language with regard to the going of that by which the Father is said to forth of the Word to creation, which have begotten Him before the Creation may be misapplied to the generation of as the beginning of all things.
Aquila, the Son. he observes, uses for apxV the word S This way of speaking was afterKecpdXaLov, and he cites St. Athenagoras, ward abused to purposes of heterodoxy, Apol.
10.
TertuUian against Hermoas an act of will, such as other acts of penes, chap.
18. and against Praxeas, will, would be an act of creation.
It chap. 6.
St. Irenceus, book 4. chap. 20. can only be understood rightly of an §.
3. and St. Ambrose on Psalm ex. essential act, done therefore from eterand de Fide, book 5. for asset tions of nity and to eternity, God ever willing the same kind.
See note on the Nicene to be as He is.
See St. Athanasius, Anathema, irplu y^vv-qBrivai ovk ?iv Disc. iii. against Arians, §.
Oxf.
Library of the Fathers, vol. viii. p. 272.
Trans, p. 485, 6. and notes d, e, f, g, h. where it is shewn, that the crvyKaTaPeravius would allow a priority of idea
/Sacrts (condescension) of the Son for to the will of the Father in the Divine the work o*' creation is not properly or generation, but the phrase ' concurrent usually calltd His generation.
Even will' is used by St. Cyril and others here, the word ' begot' is used without without this refinement, as excluding any thing to fix its meaning to such a the notion of antecedent purpose, and sense.
Where that sense is clear, the generation in time.
Many passages of word * created' is used, which is only different Fathers are collected and disapplicable to the Son in a sense relative cussed by Petav. De Triu.
1. vi. cap. to the creation, not in His ow^n essence, viii. §. 8. and following. Below in §. 76, in respect of which it is clear tkat the S. Justin may speak only of our Lord's terms OnlyBegotten, and the like, hnman Birth.
The same spoken of as Wisdom in the Proverbs.
we beget it, but not by division, so as to lessen the word Dial. that is in us when we utter it; and as we see one fire kindled
'^^^"^ from another, without that from which it is kindled being diminished, which in fact continues the same, whilst that which is kindled from it does really exist and shine with no diminution of that from which it is kindled.
But the Word of Wisdom shall testify for me, this Same who is God begotten from the Father of all things^, and the Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and Glory of Him who begot Him, and who spoke thus by Solomon ; If I shall tell you Prov. 8, those things that are daily done, and shall reckon up those things ihat were done from everlasting.
The Lord created me the hegiiining, His way unto His tvorksK He set me up from everlasting in the beginfiing, before He made the eaj'th, and? before He created the depths, before the fountains of water issued forth, before the mountains were settled ; before all the hills. He begets me.
God made the earthy and the desert, and the highest i^laces which are inhabited under heaven.
When He prepared the heavens, 1 was with Him : and when He fixed His throne upon the winds; when He established the clouds above ; and when He strengthened the fountains oj the deep ; when He appointed the foundations of the earth, I was with Him, puttiiig all things in their proper places : I was that in which He delighted: and I did always rejoice before Him; when He rejoiced for having finished the habitable world, a?id rejoiced with the sons of men, Novj therefore, my son, hearkeyi unto me : blessed is the man that shall hear me, and the man that shall keep my ways, watching^
' inrvSiv, daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors, for my ^j^j^j^ j^ ways are the ways of life: and will hath been prepared of^^E^^h' the Lord^.
But they that sin against me are wicked towards tuted their own souls, and they that hate me love death. aypw.
62.
" And the ¥/ord of God, my friends, declares i L^f ^g make h 'ATrb rod Uarphs rCov '6\cou ycvvr)- §.
128. where he asserts the distinct 1^^",' eets.
Ben. observes here, that "St.
Personality of the Son, as in §.
1 1. the "^'Pl'es Justin uses the word dirb, ' from' and Unity of God, v/hich was common ^^^^ not vTzh, ' by,' to shew that the subground with Trypho. same, stance of the Son is begotten from that > So the xMss ; but probably it should of the Father, The illustrations of he, ' the Beginning uf His ways rmto ^' ?ls m %. \2Q.
God resembling that of man, are suit- ^ i. e. the objects of our wishes are fire kindled from fire, and the Word of His works able to the same doctrine."
Sf. Ju.stin obtained from the Lord.
Conf. Schleus. returns elsewhere to the subject, see in verb.
64\'i](xis-
^ Let Us make and * One of Us,' imply distinct Persons.
Jtjst. precisely the same thing by Moses also, indicating to us '- that God was speaking to the very same purport^, at the ' 'eSt? creation of man, of Him, Whom 'He manifested when He
I ^^y^ thus. Let Us make man in Our hnage, and after Our 26—28. likeness ; and let them have dominion over the fishes of the n^ ot sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
And God created man; in the Lmage of God created He him, male a7id female created He them.
And God Messed them, saying. Be fruitful, arid multiply, and replenish the earth, and have dominion over it.
"But that you may not pervert the meaning of these words, by urging what your teachers tell you, that God either said. Let Us make, to Himself, as we often do when on the point of setting about something, or to the elements, that is, the earth, and those other substances of which we think that man is composed ; I will recount the words of Moses himself, from which we may be assured indisputably, that He spoke to One different in number from Himself, and Who Gen. 3, was possessed of reason : they are as follows: And God said, Behold Adam is become as one of Us, to know good and evil; but the words, one of Us, shew a number of Persons to be mutually present, that is, two at the least ; for I cannot think that to be true which is taught by what is considered by yourselves to be a heresy, or that its propagators are able to prove that He spoke to angels, and that the human body is the work of angels ; but this Offspring which truly was put forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creation, and to Him the Father speaks : as the Word hath declared by Solomon, saying, that this Offspring, who is called Wisdom by Solomon, was begotten, both as a beginning before all His works, and an offspring by God.
Who in the revelation which was made to Joshua the son of Nun, declared the same truth.
But that what I say may even thus be fully proved to you, listen to these Josh. 5, words from the book of Joshua ; And it came to pass, when g Y^ 2.
J(Jshua was by Jericho, that he lift up his eyes, and saw a Man standing over against him ; and Joshua went unto Him
Ben. supposes that it is meant, he would read iS-fjXwa-a, The Word that the "Word is made inentitjn of as of whom I made mention, the Beginning, in Gen. i.
1. otherwise
Trypho demands proof of the human Birth of the Word.
and said, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And He Dial. said, As Captain of the host of the Lord am I 7iow come. —^^^"'
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and said unto Him, What dost thou command my Lord unto Thy servant ?
And he Captain of the Lord said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Now Jericho was straitly shut up, and made fast, and none went out of it.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Behold, I give into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.''
QS.
Said Trypho, " You prove this both forcibly and at That length, my friend ; proceed now to shew that He con- ^"ord^^ descended to be made man through the Virgin, according took to the will of the Father, and to be crucified, and to die and prove that He afterwards rose again, and ascended into heaven."
" This," I said, " has been already proved, sirs, by the aforecited passages of the Prophets, which I will again repeat and explain for you, to endeavour to bring you to agree with me in this respect.
Do not those words then of Isaiah, Who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken away from the earth, appear to you as if spoken of one who had not His generation of men ; I mean, of Him Who for the sins of His people is said to have been delivered by God to death ; of whose blood Moses also, as I have already stated, said in a parable, He shall wash His rohe in Gen. 49, the blood of the grape ; as if His blood were not engendered * of human seed, but of the will of God ? and the words spoken by David, In the beauties of Thy saints, from the Fs. no, womb have I begotten Thee, before the monmig star.
The ^' ** Lord sware, and ivill not repeiit, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, do they not signify that God and the Father of all things should beget Him again ^, and of a human womb ?
And He says in other words which have been cited already. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, Ps. 46, the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity : therefore ' i.vwO€v, which Ben. explains * from applicable.
For the Greek word iu this the beginning:' but then it should be sense, see S. John iii. 3.
KoX HyaOey, otherwiee the future is in-
1 52 The Messiah is God.
Trypho questions if the Jews Just.
God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness '- above Thy fellows.
Myrrh, precious gum, and cassia fromThy garments, from the ivory palaces whereby they have made Thee glad.
Kings' daughters were in thine honour upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about of divers colours.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget also thine own peop)le, and thy father s house.
And the King shall desire thy beauty; for He is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him.
That He is to be worshipped, and is God, and Christ, witnessed by him who composed these sayings, the above words plainly declare.
And that the Word addresses those who believe in Him, Who are one soul, one synagogue, and one Church, as a daughter—the Church, namely, that is constituted by and partaker of His name,
(for we are all called Christians,)—the following words, v/hich teach us to forget even our forefathers' ancient ways, signify with Ps. 45, equal plainness ; they are as follows: Hearken, O daughter,
' and consider, and incline thine ear, and forget thine own people, and thy father s house ; and the King shall desire thy beauty , for He is thy Lord, and thou shalt ivorship Him'"'
Christ 64. " Grant Him," replied Trypho, " to be, as the ScripbyJews.tures declare, the Lord, and Christ, and God, of you Gentiles, who also are, all of you, termed Christians from His name, yet His confession and worship are not incumbent on us, who are the servants of the God Who created Him."
" If I were as contentious and as vain as yourself, Trypho," I replied, " I should not have continued in conversation with you so long, as you do not endeavour to understand what
say, but only strain your faculties to make some reply ; but now, as I dread the judgment of God, I will make no rash assertions about any one of your nation, as to whether or not he is of the number of those who, by the grace of the Lord of Hosts, may be saved.
Whence, although you cavil unfairly, I will proceed to reply to whatever you advance or oppose ; this indeed I do for those of any nation who wish to seek my opinion, or make enquiries of me on these subjects. You might have gathered from those passages of Scripture which I have cited, had
do not serve the Greater Person.
S. Justin s anstver.
you given your attention to them, that such of your nation Dial. as shall be saved, will be saved through Him, and are of His -^^^^"' portion, in which case you would not have made any enquiries of me on this point.
I will now repeat the words of David which I have already cited, and I entreat you to direct your attention to understanding them, and not to unfair cavilling, and raising objections against them; they are as follows:
The Lord halh reigned; let the people he angry : He sitteth P^- 9^> above the cheruhims ; let the earth he moved.
The Lord is great in Sion, and high ahove all people.
Let them confess Thy great name, for it is terrihle and holy ; and the King's honour loveth judgment.
Thou hast prepared equity : Thou hast executed judgment and righteousness in Jacoh.
Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool ; for He is holy.
Moses and Aaron among His priests ; and Samuel among them that call upon His name.
They called upon the Lord, and He heard them.
He spake unto them in the pillar of cloud ; for they kept His testimonies, and the ordinance which He gave them.
And there are other passages of David which I have previously cited, which, because they are inscribed to Solomon, you foolishly assert to have been spoken of him, although from the words themselves it is plain that they were not spoken of Solomon, because their subject was before the sun, and those of your nation who are to be saved will be saved through Him.
These are the words Give the King Thy judgment, O God, and Thy righteousness Ps. 72, unto the King's Son.
He shall judge Thy people with righ- ~ ' teousness, and Thy poor with judgment.
Let the mountains take up peace unto the people, and the little hills righteousness.
He shall judge the poor of the people : He shall save the children of the needy, and shall humble the false accuser ; and He shall remairi as long as the sun, and before the moon, from generation to generation : and so on until the following:
His name remaineth before the sun, and all the tribes of the ^-17-19. earth shall he blessed through Him: all nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, Who only doth wondrous things, and blessed he the name of His glory for ever and ever : and all the earth shall he filled with His glory.
Amen, Amen.
And in other words of David, which I have already cited, it is also stated, that He should come
; ; ;
154 Trypho objects that God * gives not His Glory to another,'
Just, down from the highest heavens and return again to the Mart, ^^.^q place, that you may be assured that God has come down from above, and has been made man among men, and that the Same will come again, when they who pierced Him shall look upon Him and lament.
They are as follows The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 1—6 sheiveth His handy-work.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night froclaimeth knowledge.
There is neither speech nor language, whose voices are not heard.
Their sound is gone out i^ito all the earth, and their zvords unto the ends of the tvorld.
In the sun hath He set His tabernacle and He as a bridegroom coming out of His chamber, shall rejoice as a giant to run His course.
His going forth is from the end of heaven, and His circuit unto the end of it and there is nothing that shall be hid from the heat thereof''
God'H ^^. To this Trypho replied thus: "I am so overwhelmed stm^not ^y so many passages of Scripture, that I know not what to given to g^y of that of Isaiah, in which God declares that He will auother.
/ n 77-7^7 Is, 42 give His glory to no other, saying, 1 am the Lord hod; ^' that is My Name ; and My glory and My powers I will not give to another''
"If," I replied, "you stopped in this citation in simplicity, and with no bad faith, so as not to recount what precedes, or add what follows, you are excusable, but if you did so from thinking yourself able to bring our conversation into a difficulty, and to force me to assert that the Scriptures contradict one another, you are in error : for I will never venture either to think or to say such a thing.
But if there is any Scripture which can be urged as appearing to be contrary to some other, for I am persuaded that such is never really the case, 1 would rather confess that I do not understand its meaning; and I should labour to persuade those who undertake to prove the contradictoriness of the Scriptures, to embrace the same opinion.
How you meant the citation which you have made, God knows ; but I will recall it to your memory as it was spoken, that so you may be sure, from this very passage, that God gives His glory to His Christ alone ; and I will add, sirs, a few of the words that precede and follow those which Trypho has quoted
I will not produce those of a different section, but such only
Answer from the context, * to 710 otherlthan Christ,'
as are united together in one, and do you give me Dial. your attention : they are as follows:
Thus saith the Lorcl ^^^^^'
God, Who made the Heaven, and established it; Whosl-u, founded the earth, and all that is therein, and gave breath to the people upon it, and a spirit to them that walk on it.
I the Lord Thy God have called Thee in righteousness, and I will hold Thine hand, and will make Thee strong.
And I have given Thee for a covenant of the people ; for a Light of the Gentiles, to opeii the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the 'prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.
I am the Lord God, That is My Name :
My glory will L not give to another, neither My powers to graven images.
Things ivhich were from the beginning, behold they are come to pass : they are new things which I declare; and before they are declared have been made manifest to you.
Sing unto the Lord a new song ; His power is from the end of the earth.
Ye that go down to the sea, and sail therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Rejoice, O wilderness, and the cities thereof, and the villages 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 power in the islands.
The Lord of Hosts shall go forth ; He shall tread down war; He shall stir up jealousy, and He shall cry against His enemies with strength''
When I had concluded, I said, '* Do you understand, my friends, that God says, that He will give His glory to Him
Whom He has made to be a light to the Gentiles, and to no other: and not as Trypho says, that He will keep it to Himself?"
Said Trypho, *'We understand this also; proceed therefore to the rest of your discourse."
QQ.
Then I continued my conversation, from whence I Christ's at first digressed', shewing that He was to be born of a^^yj °[jj Virgin, and that Isaiah had foretold that He should be so, foretold. whose prophecy I repeated.
It is as follows : And the Lord 1^,7 spake unto Ahaz, saying. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy 10—16.
God, in the depth, or in the height above.
And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
And Lsaiah said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Where-
IsaiaKs prophecy of Christ horn of a Virgin.
Just, fore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign.
Behold^ the ' Virgin shall conceive and hear a Son^ and they shall call His name Emmanuel.
Butter and honey shall He eat^ hefore He shall know either to refuse the evil or choose the good: for hefore the Child shall know evil or good, He shall refuse the Is. 8, 4. evil and choose the good.
For hefore the Child shall know to call father or mother, He shall take away the strength of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria hefore the king of Is. 7, Assyria.
And the land which"^ thou ahhorrest shall he taken from hefore hoth her kings: hut God shall hring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not yet come upon thee, from the day that He took aivay
Ephraim from Judah, even the king of Assyria, Then I added, that among the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, no one was ever born of a virgin, nor said to have been so, except only this our Christ, as is plain to every one.
Trypho's 67. To this Trypho replied, '* The Scripture does not tions say, ^ Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son,'
^^"^ but, * Behold, a young woman shall conceive, and bring forth tions. a Son:' what follows being as you have cited it; and the proved^ ^^°^^ prophecy was spoken of Hezekiah, to whom subneedless sequent events befel in agreement with it.
And as in the fables of the Greeks it is related how Perseus was born of Danae, who was a virgin, he vv^hom they call Jupiter, showering peuo-ai/- on ^ her in the form of gold; you, who state the same things as I TOS. these men, ought to be ashamed of yourselves, and should rather confess this Jesus to be a man born of men; and if you can shew from the Scriptures that He is the Christ, assert that He was held worthy of being chosen to be such,
§.49. from His having lived according to the law and perfectly but do not venture to utter your present marvels, lest you be convicted of mere folly, like the Greeks."
To which I replied, " I would have you, Trypho, and all men, convinced of this, namely, that even if you deride and mock me, and say even worse things against me than these, you will not move me from my resolution; but from those very words and facts which you think to bring forward to confute me will I construct, with the testim.ony of the Scriptures, the proof of all that I have asserted.
But you ™The reading is restored from the foiraer quotation, §. 43.
Christ not exalted for keep'mg the Mosaic Law.
do not act uprightly, nor as a lover of the truth, when you Dial. endeavour to destroy those arguments on which we have '^^^^"hitherto mutually agreed, namely, that some of the Mosaic commandments were given because of the hardness of your nation's hearts ; for you said, that it was because of His having lived strictly according to the Law that He was chosen to be the Christ, if indeed He can be proved to be Christ at all."
*^ You confessed," said Trypho, " that He was circumcised, and kept the other ordinances of the Law which are laid down by Moses."
''I confessed it," I said, "and I continue to do so; but I did not say that He underwent all these rites, as if He were justified by them; but that He might fulfil that dispensation according to the will of His Father, Who is the Creator of all things, and Lord and God.
I also confess, that He condescended to be made man, and to die on the Cross, and to suffer all that your nation inflicted on Him.
But since, Trypho, you now dissent from the assertions to which you previously agreed, tell me whether those just men and Patriarchs before Moses, who kept none of those ordinances which the Scripture proves to have been first instituted and ordained by Moses, have salvation in the inheritance of the blessed, or not ?"
" The Scriptures," he replied, " compel me to confess that they have."
I will ask you again," I said, " If God ordered your fathers to offer their oblations and sacrifices because He had need of them, or because of their hardness of heart, and proneness to idolatry ?"
** The Scriptures," he answered, " compel me to answer the latter also."
" And have those Scriptures also foretold that God had promised to make a new covenant, beside the one which He made at Mount Horeb ?"
He said, " They have."
" Was not that ancient covenant delivered to your fathers with such fear and trembling, that they v/ere unable to listen to God?"
" It was," he said.
" Why then did God," said I, *' promise another covenant, which should be established, unlike the former, without
S. Justin holds Trypho to his concessions.
Just, fear, and trembling, and lightnings; and which should shew ^what kind of a command and work God knew to be fitting as perpetual, and adapted to the needs of all men on the one hand, and yet what kind of an one He ordered as in Exod. accordance with your people's hearts, as He hath also proj^'
^gj* claimed by the Prophets, on the other ?"
31.32; "Those," said Trypho, "who are lovers of truth and is! 21.
' ^ot contention, must necessarily agree to this in all particulars."
" I know not," said I, " how you can accuse others of being lovers of contention, whilst you have so often shewn yourself to be such in tliis discussion, frequently contradicting what you had previously assented to."
Bad QS.
" Because," said Trypho, " you undertake to prove theJews. 3thing w^hich is incredible and almost impossible, that God condescended to be born, and to be made man."
*' If,"
I replied, " I had endeavoured to prove this by human doctrines or arguments, you ought not to endure me ; but if I have continually recited so many passages of Scripture to this very effect, and entreated you to understand them, you are but hard of heart as to knowing and understanding the mind and will of God.
But if you determine always to remain the same, I shall thereby suffer no injury, but I shall always hold what I did before I began to converse with you, and shall leave you."
" Consider, my friend," said Trypho, " that you gained these opinions with much labour and trouble, and it is right that we should first test all that is proposed to us, and then should assent to whatever Scripture requires."
" I do not wish," T replied, " that you should not take every pains to examine into the subjects of our discussion, but do not, when you have nothing else to offer, contradict what you before declared your assent to."
" We will endeavour," said Trypho, " to do as you say."
" In addition to the questions," said I, " which I have already proposed, I now wish to ask you a few others, for by these means I shall endeavour, without loss of time, to conclude this discussion."
" Ask them then," said he.
'' Do you think that there is any other to be worshipped,
Divine generation of Christ.
The Septuagint.
and called Lord and God in Scripture, except Him Who Dial. created this Universe, and Christ, Who has been proved hy ^^^^"' so many passages of Scripture to have been made man ?"
" Hovv," said Trypho, " can we say such a thing, since we have held so long a discussion, as to whether there is any other God except the Father alone ?"
" It is necessary," I said, '^ for me to ask you even this, that I may know whether your opinion is different to that which you have already admitted ?"
He said it was not.
'* As then," I said, " you really agree to this, and to the Scripture which says.
Who shall declare His generation^ Is.a3,8. ought you not to understand that He is not of human generation ?"
" How then," he asked, " does the Scripture say by David, that of his loins would God take to Himself a Son, and confirm the kingdom to Him, and place Him upon the throne of His glory?"
" If this prophecy of Isaiah, Behold^ a Virgin shall conceive, was not spoken to the house of David," I replied, " but to some other house of the twelve tribes, the matter might perhaps admit of doubt ; but since it was spoken to the house of David, that which was spoken to David himself by i Chron.
God in mystery, was explained, as to the manner of itsi2.'i3l coming to pass, by Isaiah : unless you are ignorant, my ^^- ^^• friends,"
I said, " that many of those sayings which were spoken darkly, and in parables, or mysteries, or by symbolic actions, were explained by the Prophets who came after those who spoke or cited them."
" Certainly," said Trypho.
*' If then I prove to you, that this prophecy of Isaiah was spoken of this Christ of ours, and not, as you say, of Hezekiah, shall I not make you ashamed of believing your teachers in this point, who presume to affirm, that the translation which your seventy elders made in the time of Ptolemy the king of Egypt, is in some respects untrue ? for whatever in the Scriptures appears to be in plain contradiction to their foolish and conceited opinion, they presume to say was not written so; and whatever they can pervert to a supposed adaptation to human affairs, such they affirm
Heathen fables are imifations of the Truth.
Just, to have been written not of our Jesus Christ, but of him of —-—^ whom they undertake to interpret them.
The passage in question, for instance, they teach you to have been spoken of Hezekiah, in which, as I have said, I will shew that they utter a falsehood; but the Scriptures which we allege to them, an.d which plainly speak of Christ as about to suffer and be worshipped, and as God, and which I have already cited to you, they are compelled to admit to have been indeed spoken of Christ, but they venture to assert that ours is not the Christ, although they confess that He shall come, and suffer, and reign, and be worshipped as God; which I will also prove to be ridiculous and senseless.
But as I am first compelled to answer to what you have urged in the way of ridicule ; to this I will first direct my reply, and afterwards offer some proof of the remaining questions.
Heathen 69.
** Be v.ell assured then, Trypho," I continued, *' that imita^- ^^^® very things which he who is called * the devil' did in tions of semblance of the truth, to be related by the Greeks, (as he did also by the Egyptian magicians, and by the false prophets in the time of Elias,) have fixed in me a firm knowledge and belief of the Scriptures
; for when they say, that Bacchus, the son of Jupiter, was begotten of tlie connexion which he held with Semele, and that he was the discoverer of the vine; and that when he was torn in pieces and killed, he rose again, and ascended into heaven; in memory of which they introduce wine"' in their mysteries; do not I see Gen. 49, that he has imitated that prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob, which I have already cited, and which is recorded by Moses? and when they make mention of Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, as strong, and going all round the world, then dying and ascending into heaven, do I not perceive
Ps.19,5. that this Scripture, in which it is said of Christ, Mighty as a giant to run His course, is imitated in like manner ?
And when he introduces ^sculapius raising the dead, and healing other ills, do I not maintain, that he has in this also imitated
"> The Mss. read ohos in the text, of the first Apology, §. 54.
The Ben. liut have ovos (an ass) written in the editor considers, that, although an ass margin, a reading which is followed by was sacred to Bacchus, olvos agrees Grabe, Otto, and others, but against best with the context of both passages, which the Benedictine protests both The other leading, however, bears a here, and also in the parallel passage good sense.
Christ the healing Fountain.
the prophecies about Christ ?
But as 1 have produced no Dial. passage of Scripture which shews that Christ should do ^^^"
' these things, I am compelled to remind you of one, from which you may perceive how the Scripture foretold even to those who were destitute of the knowledge of God,—I speak of the Gentiles who had eyes and saw not, hearts and understood not, and who worshipped images wrought out of matter,—that they should renounce these idolatries, and put their trust in this Christ.
It is thus said. Be glad, O Is. 35, thirsty wilderness, let the desert rejoice, and blossom as the ~ lily : and the solitary places of Jordan shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice. And the glory of Libanus hath been given unto it, and the excellency of Carmel.
And my people shall see the excellency of the Lord, and the glory of God.
Be ye strengthened, ye weak hands and feeble knees.
Be comforted, ye fearful in heart ; be strong, fear not.
Behold, our God 7'ecompenseth, and ivill recompense judgment ; He ivill come and save us.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerer shall speak plain ; because water hath broken out in the wilderness, and a stream in a thirsty land, and the parched ground shall become as pools, and i7i the thirsty land there shall be a spring of ivater.
*' The fountain of living water which gushed out from God in a land destitute of the knowledge of God, namely, the land of the Gentiles, was this Christ, Who appeared even in your nation, and healed those who were from their birth, and according to the flesh, blind, and deaf, and lame, by His word, making one to leap, another to hear, another to see : raising the dead, and restoring them to life ; and urging the men of those times by His works to acknowledge
Him.
" But they who saw these actions considered them to be a magic phantasy, and presumed to call Him a magician and deluder of the people: but Hs did these things in order to persuade those, who were afterwards to believe in Him, that if any who was afflicted with a personal blemish should observe the doctrines which He delivered to them,
162 The priests of Mithra imitate the Christian prophets.
Just. He would raise him up whole at His second coming, and ^make him free from death, corruption, and pain.
The 70.
'* And when they who teach the traditions of the Hes^oV ii^ysteries of Mithras say that he was born of a rock, and Mithra. call the place a cave in which they are accustomed to initiate his disciples, do I not see that they imitate the saying
Dan. 2, of Daniel, A stone was cut out of a great mountain without hands? and the same in like manner with Isaiah, all of whose
'the words they have endeavoured to imitate: for they* have spirits contrived that discourses of righteousness in action should be uttered even by these.
But it is necessary for me to cite to you the words of Isaiah, that you may know from Is. .33, them that this is so.
They are. Hear ye that are far off 13—20.
^^^J^f^^ I Jiave done ; and they that are near shall acknowledge my might.
The sinners in Zion have revolted.
Tearfulness shall seize the wicked.
Who shall discover to you the everlasting place ?
He that ivalketh righteously , that speaketh uprightly, that hateth iniquity and unrighteousness, and keepeth his hands clean from bribes ; that stoppeth his ears from hearing the unjust judgment of blood, that shutfeth his eyes from seeing unrighteousness ; he shall dwell in the high cave of the strong rock.
Bread shall be giveii him, and his water shall be sure.
Ye shall see the Ki?ig in His glory, and your eyes shall beholdafar off.
Your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord.
Where is the scribe? tvhere are the prudent '^ where is he that counteth those that are nourished, the small and great people ?
With ivhom they have not co7isulted, neither have they known the deepness of their voice, so that they might not hear.
A despicable people whom he that hears cannot understand.
" It is plain that this prophecy speaks of the bread which 2 7rot€?i/. our Christ gave us to oifer^, in commemoration of His having taken flesh in behalf of those who believe in Him, for whose sake He also suflered; and of the cup which He
3 Euxodirected us to offer in the Eucharist^ for a remembrance of Zr" His blood.
" That we shall see this King with glory this prophecy declares, and its words assert that a people which was foreknown as hereafter about to believe in Him, should
The Jews have mutilated the Septuagint.
cultivate the fear of the Lord ; and the same prophecy has Dial. also loudly affirmed, that they who are considered to be ^^^"' acquainted with the Scriptures, and who listen to the Prophets, have no understanding of them.
But when I hear, Trypho, I said, of Perseus having been born of a Virgin, T know that this is also a fabrication of that deceiver the serpent.
71. " But I differ from your teachers, who do not allow, The that the translation of the seventy Elders in the time of jP^.''^^'
Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, was well done, and endeavour to make a translation ° themselves.
And I would have you know, that they have wholly removed many passages from the version made by those Elders that were with Ptolemy, by which it was plainly proved, that He who was crucified, was foretold as God, and man, and as about to suffer death on the cross ; but as I know that your whole nation denies these, I will not enter on such questions but I proceed to direct my investigation to those which are still admitted by you.
All that I have produced hitherto, you have acknowledged, except that you oppose the words,
Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and affirm that it is said.
Behold, a young woman shall conceive ; and I have undertaken to prove, that this prophecy was not spoken of Hezekiah, as you were taught, but of my Christ; and of this
I will afford proof."
Trypho replied, " First, I entreat you to inform us of some of those passages, which you affirm to have been wholly suppressed."
72. "I will do," I answered, "as you wish.
From the Pasfollowing explanation which Esdras made on the law of the \^^^ Passover, they have erased this passage ; And Esdras said Esdras to the people, This Passover is our Saviour and refuge ; a^zcZremiah if you have understood, and it has entered into your hearts, ^"P" that we are about to humble Him on a standard^, and after-hy the wards if we trust in Him, this place shall not be desolate for ^"^' ever, saith the God of Hosts: but if you believe Him not, nor " Ed. Ben. observes, that this does Version remained in use amongst Jews not mean a new translation of the who spoke Greek, whole of the Old Testament, but only p 'Ej/ (r/j^e/y.
Which St.
Justin of certain passages, as it is evident doubtless understood of the Cross, from the next sentence, that the LXX See Apol. i.
§. GO. p. 45.
M 2
The Jewish mutilations of the Septuagint.
Just, listen to His teaching, you shall he a laughingstock of the '' Gentiles'^: and from Jeremiah, they have removed the Jerem. following; I was like a guileless lamb that was brought to be sacrificed: they devised devices against Me, saying, Come, let us cast a tree into His bread, arid let us cut Him offfrom the land of the living, and let His Name be no more remembered.
And as this passage of Jeremiah is still found in some copies in the Jewish Synagogue, (for it was erased not long ago,) since it is proved even by these words that the Jews took counsel together about this Christ to put Him to death by crucifixion, and He is spoken of, as was foretold by Isaiah, as led like a sheep to the slaughter, and is here shewn to be like a guileless lamb : they are by these passages reduced to such a dift^lculty, that they proceed to blaspheme Him, And from the writings of Jeremiah in like manner, they have removed the following ; The Lord God remembered His dead from Israel that slept in the earth of the sepulchre, and He came down to them to preach His Salvation\
Words 73.
" And from the ninety-sixth Psalm of David they pressed ^^^^ erased the few words, From the wood ; for the passage in Ps. which said.
Tell it among the heathen, the Lord hath reigned from the wood^ : they have reduced to.
Tell it among the heathen, that the Lord hath reigned.
But it w^as never said of any one of your nation, that he has reigned as God and King over the heathen, except of this Man alone. Who was crucified. Whom also the Holy Ghost, in the same Psalm, states to have been saved by His resurrection, declaring that He does not resemble the gods of the heathen, for they are idols of devils.
But that you may understand what is said, I will recite the whole Psalm to you ; it is as Ps. 96. follows ; O sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the whole earth : sing unto the Lord, and bless His Name ; shew forth His salvatioji from day to day ; declare <i This passage is also given by miah.''
It is not found any where in Lactantius, with a few verbal alterour text.
Bened. and Otto in loc. ations, in the ISth chap, of the 4th =* Ed. Ben. observes, that the Latin Book of his Institutes.
The Editors Fathers u,-?e this passage much, but the are unable to say whence it comes.
Greek do not quote it, unless perhaps r " St. Irenseus cites the same pasSt. Barnabas, cap. 8. may allude to it, sage, book iii. chap.
20. where he and possibly Celsus, as quoted by ascribes it to Isaiah ; but in the 22d Origen, b. vi. p. 298. 'but every where chap, of his 4th book he repeats it, and gives it, like St. Justin above, to Jeiertction from the Tree.'