Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (c.150)
St. Justin Martyr (CUA Press, 2003)


245 pp. First reading.
Posted 19 November 2006.

In the first centuries of the Christian era the Church navigated the transition from Jewish to pagan culture, and St. Justin Martyr's surviving writings illustrate this process in miniature. In his Apologies, Justin addressed his argument outward to the prevailing Roman culture; in his Dialogue with Trypho, he turns around to address himself to Jewish concerns.

In the first part of the Dialogue, Justin describes his intellectual and spiritual journey to Christianity. He was born c.100 in the city of Flavia Neapolis, some thirty miles north of Jerusalem, to pagan parents. He received a Greek education, and explored the philosophical ideas of the Stoics, the Aristotelians, and the Pythagoreans, before finally being persuaded by the Platonists, a commitment that would heavily influence his later theological thought. At approximately age 30, Justin was walking one day along the edge of the sea and struck up a conversation with an old man. By the time the conversation was over, we read, Justin had been persuaded of the truth of the Christian Gospel. At a time when Christianity was illegal in the Empire, when bizarre rumours about the Christians were in wide circulation, and when Christians were persecuted and killed for their faith, Justin become an outspoken defender of the faith, arguing both for justice in the treatment of the Christian faithful by the state, and for the truth of the Christian religion. His valour was not universally appreciated, however, and eventually, some years after the composition of the Dialogue, he was denounced as a Christian by one Crescens whom he had often met in public debate, and brought, together with six friends, before the authorities. Refusing to make sacrifices to the pagan gods, Justin and his friends were condemned. They were beheaded at Rome, under Marcus Aurelius, in the year 165. Ever after, Justin has been known as St Justin Martyr.

Many of the topics discussed by Justin and his interlocutor in this dialogue are those one would expect to be of special interest to a Jew. Justin defends the institution of a new covenant, and offers arguments as to why Jewish ritual law need no longer be observed. Against Trypho's objections that the Messiah should come in glory, Justin argues that Scripture foretells two distinct advents of the Messiah: one humbly and one gloriously.

This aspect of Justin's method is worth emphasizing: he rigorously confines himself to arguments based on Old Testament Scripture. The identify of Christ as Messiah is argued by detailed attention to scriptural types of Jesus and to the many titles under which Christ is named in the Old Testament; the Virgin birth is defended from prophetic writings; the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus is found to be foretold by a close reading of Psalm 22; the Resurrection is related to the 'Sign of Jonah'; an analogy is drawn between the Passion of Christ and the Passover.

Arguments from Jewish Scriptures extend even to topics one might expect would be addressed on other grounds. For instance, the resolution of the apparent contradiction between the doctrines of the divinity of Christ and the unity of God was already beginning in Justin's time -- and indeed in Justin's own writings -- to be articulated in the language of Greek philosophy. Yet in the Dialogue he argues the point by exegesis of the story of Abraham, Sarah, and the three visitors (Genesis 18). Later he defends the survival of the soul after death by drawing on Old Testament passages, rather than offering philosophical arguments. In all this Justin shows himself a clear-minded and capable apologist for Christianity, for of course if one hopes to persuade a man of something, one must do so from premises which that man accepts.

If he does Trypho the honour of meeting him on his own terms, he does nevertheless sometimes fail to conduct himself in an entirely gentlemanly manner. The text is peppered with high-spirited insults which I can modestly describe as intemperate. Trypho, however, receives them with remarkable equanimity -- at least in Justin's telling.

There are relatively few direct references to New Testament Scripture in the Dialogue. The canon of Scripture had not, of course, been defined in Justin's time. He alludes, directly or indirectly, to each of the four Gospels (especially Matthew and Luke), several of the Pauline letters and Apostolic epistles, and to the Book of Revelations. It is interesting to note that he also alludes to the (eventually) non-canonical Protoevangelium of James, from which he draws the detail that Christ was born in a cave near Bethlehem.

The Dialogue is a more difficult text than the Apologies, mostly because of its close analysis of Scriptural texts. Nevertheless it gives a welcome insight into the way that Christians of the second century understood their relationship to Judaism. On a more personal level, the story of Justin's conversion is memorable and affecting.

[Christian confidence]
“Now it is obvious that no one can frighten or subdue us who believe in Jesus throughout the whole world. Although we are beheaded and crucified, and exposed to wild beasts, and chains, and flames, and every other means of torture, it is evident that we will not retract our profession of faith; the more we are persecuted, the more do others in ever-increasing numbers embrace the faith and become worshippers of God through the name of Jesus. Just as when one cuts off the fruit-bearing branches of the vine, it grows again and other blossoming and fruitful branches spring forth, so it is with us Christians. For the vine planted by God and Christ the Redeemer is his people.”

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