Dialogue with Trypho 138.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Christ is the beginning of a new race regenerated through water, faith, and the wood of the cross, as Noah was saved on wood.

Greek text · Archambault 2:296

Ὁ γὰρ Χριστός, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως ὤν, καὶ ἀρχὴ πάλιν ἄλλου γένους γέγονε, τοῦ ἀναγεννηθέντος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διʼ ὕδατος καὶ πίστεως καὶ ξύλου, τοῦ τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ σταυροῦ ἔχοντος, ὃν τρόπον καὶ ὁ Νῶε ἐν ξύλῳ διεσώθη ἐποχούμενος τοῖς ὕδασι μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων. Ὅταν οὖν εἴπῃ ὁ προφήτης· Ἐπὶ Νῶε ἔσωσά σε, ὡς προέφην, τῷ ὁμοίως πιστῷ λαῷ πρὸς θεὸν ὄντι καὶ τὰ σύμβολα ταῦτα ἔχοντι λέγει. Καὶ γὰρ ῥάβδον ἔχων ὁ Μωσῆς μετὰ χεῖρα διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης διήγαγεν ὑμῶν τὸν λαόν.

English · Claude translation

“For Christ, being the firstborn of all creation, has also become the beginning again of another race, which has been regenerated by him through water and faith and wood, which contains the mystery of the cross; just as Noah too was saved in wood, borne upon the waters with his family. When, then, the prophet says, ‘In Noah I saved you,’ as I said before, he speaks to the people likewise faithful to God and having these symbols. For Moses too, having a rod in his hand, led your people through the sea.

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:296 · 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

Col 1:15 · echo, high confidence
1 Pet 3:21 · echo, high confidence
Exod 14:16 · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Baptism, Christology

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 138.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/138/2/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 138.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/138/2/).