Dialogue with Trypho 38.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Justin persists out of concern for them, urging them to set aside their teachers' tradition.

Greek text · Archambault 1:170

Κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Οἶδα ὅτι, ὡς ὁ τοῦ θεου λόγος ἔφη, κέκρυπται ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ἡ σοφία ἡ μεγάλη αὕτη τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων καὶ παντοκράτορος θεοῦ. Διὸ συμπαθῶν ὑμῖν προσκάμνειν ἀγωνίζομαι, ὅπως τὰ παράδοξα ἡμῶν ταῦτα νοήσητε, εἰ δὲ μή, ἵνα κἂν αὐτὸς ἀθῷος ᾦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως. Ἔτι γὰρ καὶ παραδοξοτέρους δοκοῦντας ἄλλους λόγους ἀκούσετε· μὴ ταράσσεσθε δέ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον προθυμότεροι γινόμενοι ἀκροαταὶ ἐξετασταὶ μένετε, καταφρονοῦντες τῆς παραδόσεως τῶν ὑμετέρων διδασκάλων, ἐπεὶ οὐ τὰ διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος ἐλέγχονται νοεῖν δυνάμενοι, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἴδια μᾶλλον διδάσκειν προαιρούμενοι.

English · Claude translation

And I answered, “I know that, as the word of God said, this great wisdom of God, the Maker of all things and Almighty, is hidden from you. Therefore, out of sympathy for you, I strive to labor, so that you may understand these paradoxes of ours; or if not, so that I at least may be innocent on the day of judgment. For you will hear other words that seem still more paradoxical; but do not be troubled; rather, becoming more eager, remain as listeners and examiners, despising the tradition of your teachers, since they are shown to be unable to understand what was spoken from God by the prophetic Spirit, and prefer to teach their own things.

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:170 · 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 29:14 · allusion, medium confidence
1 Cor 2:7 · echo, medium confidence
Ezek 3:19 · echo, medium confidence
Mark 7:8 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 38.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/38/2/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 38.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/38/2/).