Dialogue with Trypho 122.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: If the law could illuminate, no new covenant would be needed; Christ gives light to the nations.

Greek text · Archambault 2:228

Οὔκ, ἔφην, ἀπιδὼν πρὸς τὸν Τρύφωνα. Ἐπεὶ εἰ νόμος εἶχε τὸ φωτίζειν τὰ ἔθνη καὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας αὐτόν, τίς χρεία καινῆς διαθήκης; Ἐπεὶ δὲ καινὴν διαθήκην καὶ νόμον αἰώνιον καὶ πρόσταγμα ὁ θεὸς προεκήρυσσε πέμψειν, οὐχὶ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον ἀκουσόμεθα καὶ τοὺς προσηλύτους αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τοὺς προσηλύτους αὐτοῦ, ἡμᾶς τὰ ἔθνη, οὓς ἐφώτισεν, ὥς πού φησιν· Οὕτω λέγει κύριος· Καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησά σοι, καὶ ἔδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην ἐθνῶν, τοῦ καταστῆσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ κληρονομίαν κληρονομῆσαι ἐρήμους.

English · Claude translation

“No,” I said, looking at Trypho. “For if the law were able to illuminate the nations and those who have it, what need would there be of a new covenant? But since God proclaimed beforehand that he would send a new covenant and an eternal law and ordinance, we shall not understand the old law and its proselytes, but Christ and his proselytes, us the nations, whom he has illuminated; as he says somewhere: ‘Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you, and I have given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth and to inherit desolate inheritances.’

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:228 · 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

Isa 49:8 · quotation, high confidence
Jer 31:31 (38:31 LXX) · allusion, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 122.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/122/5/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 122.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/122/5/).