Dialogue with Trypho 102.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: God made angels and men free and judges them while preserving their freedom, as at Babel.

Greek text · Archambault 2:130

Ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν εἶναι γενέσθαι, ἐποίησεν αὐτεξουσίους πρὸς δικαιοπραξίαν καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀνθρώπους, καὶ χρόνους ὥρισε μέχρις οὗ ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν εἶναι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἔχειν αὐτούς· καὶ ὅτι καλὸν εἶναι ὁμοίως ἐγνώριζε, καὶ καθολικὰς καὶ μερικὰς κρίσεις ἐποίει, πεφυλαγμένου μέντοι τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου. Ὅθεν φησὶν ὁ λόγος καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ πύργου καταβολῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν γλωσσῶν πολυφθογγίᾳ καὶ ἐξαλλοιώσει ταῦτα. Καὶ εἶπε κύριος· Ἰδοὺ γένος ἓν καὶ χεῖλος ἓν πάντων, καὶ τοῦτο ἤρξαντο ποιῆσαι· καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἐξ αὐτῶν πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιεῖν.

English · Claude translation

“But, as he knew it was good to happen, he made both angels and men free to do righteousness, and set times for as long as he knew it was good for them to have free will; and because he likewise knew it was good, he made general and particular judgments, while preserving free will. Hence the word says this, at the overthrow of the tower and the confusion and change of languages: ‘And the Lord said: Behold, they are one race and all have one language, and this they have begun to do; and now nothing will fail them of all that they undertake to do.’

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:130 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Archambault. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Archambault (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Gen 11:6 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 102.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/102/4/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 102.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/102/4/).