Dialogue with Trypho 128.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: They compare the Son to sunlight, drawn back when the Father wills.

Greek text · Archambault 2:256–258

Ἄτμητον δὲ καὶ ἀχώριστον τοῦ πατρὸς ταύτην τὴν δύναμιν ὑπάρχειν, ὅνπερ τρόπον τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φασὶ φῶς ἐπὶ γῆς εἶναι ἄτμητον καὶ ἀχώριστον ὄντος τοῦ ἡλίου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· καί, ὅταν δύσῃ, συναποφέρεται τὸ φῶς· οὕτως ὁ πατήρ, ὅταν βούληται, λέγουσι, δύναμιν αὐτοῦ προπηδᾶν ποιεῖ, καί, ὅταν βούληται, πάλιν ἀναστέλλει εἰς ἑαυτόν. Κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ποιεῖν αὐτὸν διδάσκουσιν.

English · Claude translation

“But they say that this power is indivisible and inseparable from the Father, just as they say the light of the sun on earth is indivisible and inseparable, while the sun is in heaven; and when it sets, the light is carried away with it; so the Father, they say, when he wishes, makes his power spring forth, and when he wishes, draws it back into himself. In this way they teach that he also makes the angels.

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:256–258 · 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)

Topics

Trinity, Heresy

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 128.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/128/3/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 128.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/128/3/).