" Now, it is possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God; so that it was prophesied that the powers enu- merated by Isaiah would come upon Him, not because He needed power, but because these would not continue after Him. And let this be a proof to you, namely, what I told you was done by the Magi from Arabia, who as soon as the Child was born came to worship Him, for even at His birth He was in possession of His power; and as He grew up like all other men, by using the fitting means. He assigned its own [require- ments] to each development, and was sustained by all kinds of nourishment, and waited for thirty years, more or less, until John appeared before Him as the herald of His approach, and pre- ceded Him in the way of baptism, as I have already shown. And then, when Jesus had gone to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, and when He had stepped into the water, a fire ^ was kindled in the Jordan; and when He came out of the water, the Holy Ghost lighted on Him like a dove, [as] the apostles of this very Christ of ours wrote. Now, we know that he did not go to the river because He stood in need of bap- tism, or of the descent of the Spirit like a dove; even as He submitted to be bom and to be cru- cified, not because He needed such things, but because of the human race, which from Adam had fallen under the power of death and the guile of the serpent, and each one of which had committed personal transgression. For God, wishing both angels and men, who were endowed with freewill, and at their own disposal, to do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made them so, that if they chose the things acceptable to Himself, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit. For it was not His entrance into Jerusalem sitting on an ass, which we have showed was prophesied, that em- powered Him to be Christ, but it furnished men with a proof that He is the Christ; just as it was necessary in the time of John that men have 5 Joel ii 28 f.
6 [The Shechittah probably attended the descent of the Holy Spirit, and what follows in the note seems a gratuitous explanation. The Ebionite corruption of a truth need not be resorted to. See chap, cxxviii: The fire in the bush.] Justin learned this either from tradi- tion or from apocryphal books. Mention is made of a fire both in the Ebionite Gospel and in another publication called Fauli frtEiiicatio, the readers and users of which denied that the rite of baptism had been duly performed, unless guam >nox in aguatn descender-trMt^staii>» super aguam ignis appareat.
J44 DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO.
proof, that they might know who is Christ. For when John remained ' by the Jordan, and preached the baj)tism of repentance, wearing only a leath- ern girdle and a vesture made of camels' hair, eating nothing but locusts and wild honey, men supposed him to be Christ; but he cried to them, * I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying; for He that is stronger than I shall come, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.' - And when Jesus came to the Jordan, He was considered to be the son of Joseph the carpenter; and He appeared without comeliness, as the Scriptures declared; and He was deemed a carpenter (for He was in the habit of working as a carpenter when among men, making ploughs and j'okes; by which He taught the symbols of righteous- ness and an active life); but then the Holy Ghost, and for man's sake, as I formerly stated, lighted on Him in the form of a dove, and there came at the same instant from the heavens a voice, which was uttered also by David when he spoke, personating Christ, what the Father would say to Him: ' Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee; ' ^ [the Father] saying that His generation would take place for men, at the time when they would become acquainted with Him: ' Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee.' " ■• CHAP. LXXXIX.
THE CROSS ALONE IS OFFENSIVE TO TRYPHO ON ACCOUNT OF THE CURSE, YET IT PROVES THAT JESUS IS CHRIST.
Then Trypho remarked, " Be assured that all our nation waits for Christ; and we admit that all the Scriptures which you have quoted refer to Him. Moreover, I do also admit that the name of Jesus, by which the the son of Nave (Nun) was called, has inclined me very strongly to adopt this view. But whether Christ should be so shamefully crucified, this we are in doubt about. For whosoever is crucified is said in the law to be accursed, so that I am exceedingly incredu- lous on this point. It is quite clear, indeed, that the Scriptures announce that Christ had to suffer; but we wish to learn if you can prove it to us whether it was by the suffering cursed in the law."
I replied to him, " If Christ was not to suffer, and the prophets had not foretold that He would be led to death on account of the sins of the people, and be dishonoured and scourged, and reckoned among the transgressors, and as a sheep be led to the slaughter, whose generation, the prophet says, no man can declare, then you would have good cause to wonder. But if these are to be characteristic of Him and mark Him out to all, how is it possible for us to do anything else ' Literally, " sat."
* The repetition seems quite superfluous.
than believe in Him most confidently? And will not as many as have understood the writings of the prophets, whenever they hear merely that He was crucified, say that this is He and no other? ' CHAP. XC. — THE STRETCHED-OUT HANDS OF MOSES SIGNIFIED BEFOREHAND THE CROSS.
"Bring us on, then," said [Tr}'pho], "by the Scriptures, that we may also be persuaded by you; for we know that He should suffer anil be led as a sheep. But prove to us whether He must be crucified and die so disgracefully and sadishonourably by the death cursed in the law.s For we cannot bring ourselves even to think of this."
" You know," said I, " that what the prophets said and did they veiled by parables and types, as you admitted to us; so that it was not easy for all to understand the most [of what they said], since they concealed the truth by these means, that those who are eager to find out and learn it might do so with much labour."
They answered, " We admitted this."
" Listen, therefore," say I, " to what follows; for Moses first exhibited this seeming curse of Christ's by the signs which he made."
" Of what [signs] do you speak?" said he.
" When the people," replied I, " waged war with Amalek, and the son of Nave (Nun) by name Jesus (Joshua), led the fight, Moses himself prayed to God, stretching out both hands, and Hur with Aaron supported them during the whole day, so that they might not hang down when he got wearied. For if he gave up any part of this sign, which was an imitation of the cross, the people were beaten, as is recorded in the writings of Moses; but if he remained in this form, Amalek w^as proportionally defeated, and he who prevailed prevailed by the cross. For it was not because Moses so prayed that the people were stronger, but because, while one who bore the name of Jesus (Joshua) was in the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of the cross. For who of you knows not that the prayer of one who accompanies it with lamen- tation and tears, with the body prostrate, or with bended knees, propitiates God most of all? But in such a manner neither he nor any other one, while sitting on a stone, prayed. Nor even the stone symbolized Christ, as I have shown.
CHAP. XCI. — THE CROSS WAS FORETOLD IN THE BLESSINGS OF JOSEPH, AND IN THE SERPENT THAT WAS LIFTED UP.
" And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross, when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, S [This intense abhorrence of the cross made it worth while to show that these similitudes existed under the law. They were ad hominem appeals, and suited to Jewish modes of thought.]
DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO.
245 * From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable fruits of the sun,' and for the coming together of the months, and for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph. Let him be glorified among his breth- ren; "■ his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bul- lock; his horns the horns of an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.' ^ Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which por- trays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns.
And the expression, ' With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to another,' is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations. For some out of all the nations, through the power of this mystery, having been so pushed, that is, pricked in their hearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God. But the same figure is revealed for the destruction and condemnation of the unbeliev- ers; even as Amalek was defeated and Israel victorious when the people came out of Egypt, by means of the type of the stretching out of Moses' hands, and the name of Jesus (Joshua), by which the son of Nave (Nun) was called. And it seems that the type and sign, which wa.s erected to counteract the serpents which bit Israel, was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared to come thereafter on the serpent through Him that would be crucified, but salvation to those who had been bitten by him and had betaken themselves to Him that sent His Son into the world to be cru- cified.^ For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning; and in Isaiah tells us that he shall be put to death as an enemy by the mighty sword, which is Christ.
CHAP. XCII. — UNLESS THE SCRIPTURES BE UNDER- STOOD THROUGH god's GREAT GRACE, GOD WILl. NOT APPEAR TO HAVE TAUGHT ALWAYS THE SAMR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1 There is a variety of reading here: either a.^<i(T<iQv -nr^-iutv KOLTMOey Kadapiiv: or, a/3u<raou nriyuiv koltujO^v, xal Ka9' uipav yevvr]iJ.6iTuiv, k.t.A., which we prefer.
2 The translation in the text is a rendering of the Septuagint. The Mss. of Justin read: " Being glorified as the first-born among kis brethren."
3 Deut. xxxiii. 13-17- 4 f A clumsy exposition of St. John, m. 14.]
"Unless, therefore, a man by God's, great grace receives the power to understand what has been said and done by the prophets, the appear- ance of being able to repeat the words or the deeds will not profit him, if he cannot explain the argument of them. And will they not as- suredly appear contemptible to many, since -they are related by those who understood them not ^ For if one should wish to ask you why, since Enoch, Noah with his sons, and all others in similar circumstances, who neither were circum- cised nor kept the Sabbath, pleased God, God demanded by other leaders, and by the giving of the law after the lapse of so many genera- tions, that those who lived between the times of Abraham and of Moses be justified by circum- cision, and that those who lived after Moses be justified by circumcision and the other ordi- nances— to wit, the Sabbath, and sacrifices, and libations,5 and offerings; [God will be slan- dered] unless you show, as I have already said, that God who foreknew was aware that your na- tion would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem, and that none would be permitted to enter into it. (For*' you are not distinguished in any other way than by the fleshly circumcision, as I remarked previously. For Abraham was de- clared by God to be righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on account of faith. For before he was circumcised the following state- ment was made regarding him: ' Abraham be- lieved God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.' 7 And we, therefore, in the uncir- cunicision of our flesh, believing God through Christ, and having that circumcision which is of advantage to us who have acquired it — namely, that of the heart — we hope to appear righteous before and well-pleasing to God: since already we have received His testimony through the words of the prophets.) [And, further, God will be slandered unless you show] that you were commanded to observe the Sabbath, and to present offerings, and that the Lord submitted to have a place called by the name of God, in order that, as has been said, you might not become impious and godless by worshipping idols and forgetting God, as indeed you do always appear to have been. (Now, that God enjoined the ordi- nances of Sabbaths and offerings for these rea- sons, I have proved in what I previously remarked; but for the sake of those who came to-day, I 5 Or, " ashes," anoSCiv for a-irovSuii'.
6 We have adopted the parenthesis inserted by Maranus. Langus would insert before it, Tt if ere aitoKpivaadai.; " What will you have to answer? " 7 Gen. XV. 6.
246 DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO.
wish to repeat nearly the whole.) For if this is not the case, God will be slandered/ as hav- ing no foreknowledge, and as not teaching all men to know and to do the same acts of righteousness (for many generations of men ap- pear to have existed before Moses); and the Scripture is not true which affirms that ' God is true and righteous, and all His ways are judg- ments, and there is no unrighteousness in him.' But since the Scripture is true, God is always willing that such even as you be neither foolish nor lovers of yourselves, in order that you may obtain the salvation of Christ,^ who pleased God, and received testimony from Him, as I have already said, by alleging proof from the holy words of prophecy.
CHAP. XCIII. — THE SAME KIND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BESTOWED ON ALL. CHRIST COMPREHENDS IT IN TWO PRECEPTS.
" For [God] sets before every race of mankind that which is always and universally just, as well as all righteousness; and every race knows that adultery, and fornication, and homicide,^ and such like, are sinful; and though they all commit such practices, yet they do not escape from the knowledge that they act unrighteously whenever they so do, with the exception of those who are possessed with an unclean spirit, and who have been debased by education, by wicked customs, and by sinful institutions, and who have lost, or rather quenched and put under, their natural ideas. For we may see that such persons are unwilling to submit to the same things which they inflict upon others, and reproach each other with hostile consciences for the acts which they perpetrate. And hence I think that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ spoke well when He summed up all righteousness and piety in two commandments. They are these: ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.' ■♦ For the man who loves God with all the heart, and with all the strength, being filled with a God-fearing mind, will reverence no other god; aifd since God wishes it, he would rever- ence that aiigel who is beloved by the same Lord and God. And th€ man who loves his neighbour as himself will wish for him the same good things that he wishes for himself, and no man will wish evil things for himself. Accord- ingly, he who loves his neighbour would pray and labour that his neighbour may be possessed of the same benefits as himself. Now nothing else is neighbour to man than that similarly- affectioned and reasonable being — man. There- ' We have supplied this phrase twice above.
2 Literally, salvation along with Christ, that is, salvation by the aid of Christ.
3 avSpo/jiavia is read in MSS. for a.vSpo<f>ovim, * Matt. xxii. 37.
fore, since all righteousness is divided into two branches, namely, in so far as it regards God and men, whoever, says the Scripture, loves the Lord God with all the heart, and all the strength, and his neighbour as himself, would be truly a righteous man. But you were never shown to be possessed of friendship or love either towards God, or towards the prophets, or towards your- selves, but, as is evident, you are ever found to be idolaters and murderers of righteous men, so that you laid hands even on Christ Himself; and to this very day you abide in your wickedness, execrating those who prove that this man who was crucified by you is the Christ. Nay, more than this, you suppose that He was crucified as hostile to and cursed by God, which supposition is the product of your most irrational mind. For though you have the means of understanding that this man is Christ from the signs given by Moses, yet you will not; but, in addition, fancy- ing that we can have no arguments, you put whatever question comes into your minds, while you yourselves are at a loss for arguments when- ever you meet with some firmly established Christian.
CHAP. XCIV. — IN WH-^VT SENSE HE WHO HANGS ON A TREE IS CURSED.
" For tell me, was it not God who commanded by Moses that no image or likeness of anything which was in heaven above or which was on the earth should be made, and yet who caused the brazen serpent to be made by Moses in the wil- derness, and set it up for a sign by which those bitten by serpents were saved? Yet is He free from unrighteousness. For by this, as I pre- viously remarked. He proclaimed the mystery, by which He declared that He would break the power of the serpent which occasioned the trans- gression of Adam, and [would bring] to them that believe on Him [who was foreshadowed] by this sign, i.e., Him who was to be crucified, salvation from the fangs of the serpent, which are wicked deeds, idolatries, and other unright- eous acts. Unless the matter be so understood, give me a reason why Moses set up the brazen serpent for a sign, and bade those that were bitten gaze at it, and the wounded were healed; and this, too, when he had himself commanded that no likeness of anything whatsoever should be made^'' On this, another of those who came on the second day said, " You have spoken truly: we cannot give a reason. For I have freijuently interrogated the teachers about this matter, and none of them gave me a reason: therefore con- tinue what you are speaking; for we are paying attention while you unfold the mystery, c)n ac- count of which the doctrines of the prophets ar:i falsely slandered."
DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO.
247 Then I replied, "Just as God commanded the sign to be made by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse hes on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved.'
CHAP. XCV. — CHRIST TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE CURSE DUE TO US.
" For the whole human race will be found to be under a curse. For it is written in the law of Moses, ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' ^ And no one has accu- rately done all, nor will you venture to deny this; but some more and some less than others have observed the ordinances enjoined. But if those who are under this law appear to be under a curse for not having observed all the require- ments, how much more shall all the nations ap- pear to be under a curse who practise idolatry, who seduce youths, and commit other crimes? If, then, the Father of all wished His Christ for the whole human family to take upon Him the curses of all, knowing that, after He had been crucified and was dead. He would raise Him up, why do you argue about Him, who submitted to suffer these things according to the Father's will, as if He were accursed, and do not rather bewail yourselves? For although His Father caused Him to suffer these things in behalf of the human family, yet you did not commit the deed as in obedience to the will of God. For you did not practise piety when you slew the prophets. And let none of you say: If His Father wished Him to suffer this, in order that by His stripes the human race might be healed, we have done no wrong. If, indeed, you repent of your sins, and recognise Him to be Christ, and observe His commandments, then you may assert this; for, as I have said before, remission of sins shall be yours. But if you curse Him and them that believe on Him, and, when you have the power, put them to death, how is it possible that requi- sition shall not be made of you, as of unright- eous and sinful men, altogether hard-hearted and without understanding, because you laid your hands on Him?
CHAP. XCVI. — THAT CURSE WAS A PREDICTION OF THE THINGS WHICH THE JEWS WOULD DO.
" For the statement in the law, ' Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree,' 3 confirms our hope which depends on the crucified Christ, not because He who has been crucified is cursed by God, but because God foretold that which would ' [Gal. iii. 13.] * Deut. xxvii. a6. 3 Deut. xxi. 33.
be done by you all, and by those like to you, who do not know * that this is He who existed before all, who is the eternal Priest of God, and King, and Christ. And you clearly see that this has come to pass. For you curse in your synagogues all those who are called s from Him Christians; and other nations effectively carry out the curse, putting to death those who simply confess them- selves to be Christians; to all of whom we say. You are our brethren; rather recognise the truth of God. And while neither they nor you are persuaded by us, but strive earnestly to cause us to deny the name of Christ, we choose rather and submit to death, in the full assurance that all the good which God has promised through Christ He will reward us with. And in addition to all this we pray for you, that Christ may have mercy upon you. For He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, ' Love your enemies; be kind and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.' ^ For we see that the Almighty God is kind and merciful, causing His sun to rise on the un- thankful and on the righteous, and sending rain on the holy and on the wicked; all of whom He has taught us He will judge.
CHAP. XCVII. — OTHER PREDICTIONS OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
" For it was not without design that the proph- et Moses, when Hur and Aaron upheld his hands, remained in this form until evening. For indeed the Lord remained upon the tree almost until evening, and they buried Him at eventide; then on the third day He rose again. This was de- clared by David thus: ' With my voice I cried to the Lord, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down, and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.' ^ And Isaiah likewise mentions concerning Him the manner in which He would die, thus: ' I have spread out My hands unto a people disobedient, and gainsaying, that walk in a way which is not good.' ^ And that He would rise again, Isaiah himself said: * His burial has been taken away from the midst, and I will give the rich for His death.' 9 And again, in other words, David in the twenty-first '° Psalm thus refers to the suffering and to the cross in a parable of mystery: ' They pierced my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones. They considered and gazed on me; they parted my garments among themselves, and cast lots upon my vesture.' For when they crucified Him, driving in the nails, they pierced His hands and feet; and those who crucified Him parted