Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 80.4

Justin Martyr · Dialogue with Trypho · ca. 155–160 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Those who deny the resurrection are not Christians, just as some Jewish sects are not true Jews.

Greek text · Archambault 2:32–36

Εἰ γὰρ καὶ συνεβάλετε ὑμεῖς τισι λεγομένοις Χριστιανοῖς, καὶ τοῦτο μὴ ὁμολογοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλασφημεῖν τολμῶσι τὸν θεὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τὸν θεὸν Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τὸν θεὸν Ἰακώβ, οἳ καὶ λέγουσι μὴ εἶναι νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν, ἀλλὰ ἅμα τῷ ἀποθνήσκειν τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, μὴ ὑπολάβητε αὐτοὺς Χριστιανούς, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ Ἰουδαίους, ἄν τις ὀρθῶς ἐξετάσῃ, ὁμολογήσειεν εἶναι τοὺς Σαδδουκαίους ἢ τὰς ὁμοίας αἱρέσεις Γενιστῶν καὶ Μεριστῶν καὶ Γαλιλαίων καὶ Ἑλληνιανῶν καὶ Φαρισαίων καὶ Βαπτιστῶν (καὶ μὴ ἀηδῶς ἀκούσητέ μου πάντα ἃ φρονῶ λέγοντος), ἀλλὰ λεγομένους μὲν Ἰουδαίους καὶ τέκνα Ἀβραάμ, καὶ χείλεσιν ὁμολογοῦντας τὸν θεόν, ὡς αὐτὸς κέκραγεν ὁ θεός, τὴν δὲ καρδίαν πόρρω ἔχειν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ.

English · Claude translation

“For if you have met some who are called Christians, and do not confess this, but even dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, who also say that there is no resurrection of the dead, but that as soon as they die their souls are taken up into heaven, do not suppose that they are Christians; just as no one, if he examines rightly, would admit that the Sadducees, or the similar sects of the Genistae and Meristae and Galileans and Hellenians and Pharisees and Baptists, are Jews (and do not be displeased at hearing me say all that I think), but they are called Jews and children of Abraham, and confess God with their lips, as God himself has cried, but have their heart far from him.

About this passage

Source
Archambault 2:32–36 · 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
Topics
Heresy, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Genistae, Meristae, and Hellenians are otherwise little known; this is one of the earliest lists of Jewish sects.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 80.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/80/4/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 80.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/80/4/).

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