Dialogue with Trypho 5.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The old man argues that if the soul were immortal by nature it would also be uncreated.

Greek text · Archambault 1:26–28

Οὐδὲν οὖν ἴσασι περὶ τούτων ἐκεῖνοι οἱ φιλόσοφοι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι ψυχὴ ἔχουσιν εἰπεῖν. Οὐκ ἔοικεν. Οὐδὲ μὴν ἀθάνατον χρὴ λέγειν αὐτήν· ὅτι εἰ ἀθάνατός ἐστι, καὶ ἀγέννητος δηλαδή. Ἀγέννητος δὲ καὶ ἀθάνατός ἐστι κατά τινας λεγομένους Πλατωνικούς. Ἦ καὶ τὸν κόσμον σὺ ἀγέννητον λέγεις; Εἰσὶν οἱ λέγοντες, οὐ μέντοι γε αὐτοῖς συγκατατίθεμαι ἐγώ.

English · Claude translation

“Those philosophers, then, know nothing about these things; for they cannot even say what the soul is.” “It seems not.” “Nor indeed should one call it immortal; for if it is immortal, it is clearly also unbegotten.” “But it is unbegotten and immortal according to some who are called Platonists.” “Do you also say that the world is unbegotten?” “There are some who say so; but I do not agree with them.”

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:26–28 · 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)

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/5/1/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/5/1/).