Dialogue with Trypho 92.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Why did God add circumcision and the law if the patriarchs pleased him without them?

Greek text · Archambault 2:90–92

Εἰ γάρ τις ἐξετάζειν βούλοιτο ὑμᾶς, ὅτι Ἐνὼχ καὶ Νῶε ἅμα τοῖς τέκνοις, καὶ εἴ τινες ἄλλοι τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασι, μήτε ἐν περιτομῇ γενόμενοι μήτε σαββατίσαντες εὐηρέστησαν τῷ θεῷ, τίς ἡ αἰτία τοῦ διʼ ἄλλων προστατῶν καὶ νομοθεσίας μετὰ τοσαύτας γενεὰς ἀξιοῦν τὸν θεὸν δικαιοῦσθαι τοὺς μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ μέχρι Μωσέως διὰ περιτομῆς, τοὺς δὲ ἀπὸ Μωσέως καὶ διὰ περιτομῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐντολῶν, τουτέστι σαββάτου καὶ θυσιῶν καὶ σποδῶν καὶ προσφορῶν, εἰ μή, ὡς προείρηται ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ, ἀποδείξετε ὅτι διὰ τὸ τὸν θεόν, προγνώστην ὄντα, ἐγνωκέναι ἄξιον γενησόμενον τὸν λαὸν ὑμῶν ἐκβληθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ μηδένα ἐπιτρέπεσθαι εἰσελθεῖν ἐκεῖ;

English · Claude translation

“For if someone should wish to ask you why, since Enoch and Noah with his children, and any others like them, pleased God without being circumcised or keeping the Sabbath, God after so many generations required others to be justified through other leaders and legislation, those from Abraham to Moses by circumcision, and those from Moses by circumcision and the other commandments, that is, Sabbath and sacrifices and ashes and offerings, unless you show, as I said before, that it was because God, being foreknowing, knew that your people would deserve to be expelled from Jerusalem and that no one would be allowed to enter it?

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:90–92 · 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. 92.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/92/2/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 92.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/92/2/).