Chp.28 - True Righteousness Through Christ
Trypho continues to be dissatisfied with Justin's answers. "More," says Trypho, "And still a little more." It appears nothing is going to satisfy Trypho's question because he continues to ask with the wrong heart. He is not interested in learning or of hearing Justin's heart of faith because he doesn't believe Justin possesses that which leads to God. The external signs that separated "Israel" unto God were circumcision and the Sabbath which have become the stumbling block to Israel's salvation. The Jews, like Trypho, can't get past these physical signs. But Justin and the prophetic Scriptures declare them to become internally circumcised and internally Sabbath in God. Justin is laboring to show Trypho that salvation is not in the external nature of the law but in the internal nature of the Spirit of the whole law, which has now been witnessed in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. "And Trypho replied, “We heard you adducing this consideration a little ago, and we have given it attention: for, to tell the truth, it is worthy of attention; and that answer which pleases most—namely, that so it seemed good to Him—does not satisfy me. For this is ever the shift to which those have recourse who are unable to answer the question.” Then I said, “Since I bring from the Scriptures and the facts themselves both the proofs and the inculcation of them, do not delay or hesitate to put faith in me, although I am an uncircumcised man; so short a time is left you in which to become proselytes. If Christ’s coming shall have anticipated you, in vain you will repent, in vain you will weep; for He will not hear you. ‘Break up your fallow ground,’ Jeremiah has cried to the people, ‘and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart.’3 " Pausing here, we can see where Justin is leading Trypho to examine the nature of his question. He wants him to notice that he is trusting the works of his own heart for salvation, which is a blemish to God. Justin pieces together the prophetic Word to show him the error of his reasoning: Do not sow, therefore, among thorns, and in untilled ground, whence you can have no fruit. Know Christ; and behold the fallow ground, good, good and fat, is in your hearts. ‘For, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will visit all them that are circumcised in their foreskins; Egypt, and Judah,4 and Edom, and the sons of Moab. For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts.’5 Do you see how that God does not mean this circumcision which is given for a sign? For it is of no use to the Egyptians, or the sons of Moab, or the sons of Edom. But though a man be a Scythian or a Persian, if he has the knowledge of God and of His Christ, and keeps the everlasting righteous decrees, he is circumcised with the good and useful circumcision, and is a friend of God, and God rejoices in his gifts and offerings."
Again, Justin labors to make clear that salvation is not according to a national covenant and its external signs, but according to the inward witness of faith and repentance toward the visitation of God. Salvation is based on experiential faith in the visitation of God's chosen Christ. Israel can no longer, nor ever was called, to trust in these external signs, for they are temporary and earthly. It was not the Sabbath nor circumcision that saved Israel from slavery to Egypt but the power and demonstration of God's justice in Egypt that saved them; and therefore Israel was to trust in the favor of God's visitation. But now, since they have rejected the Christ, they are uncircumcised in heart and deny the Lord of the Saboath, who is Lord over all the nations by virtue of the death of His beloved Son (Rom.9:29), which is the "everlasting" decree and commandment of God (Matt.4:17;Lk.24:47;Rom.10:16;2Thess.1:8;1Pet.4:17). But I will lay before you, my friends, the very words of God, when He said to the people by Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, ‘I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord; and I shall not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for from the rising of the sun unto its setting My name shall be glorified among the Gentiles; and in every place a sacrifice is offered unto My name, even a pure sacrifice: for My name is honoured among the Gentiles, saith the Lord; but ye profane it.’6 And by David He said, ‘A people whom I have not known, served Me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed Me.’7 Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 208). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Their sacrifices were defiled because they were not offered in the prescribed manner. Again, Justin pieces together the prophetic Word that speaks of the pure offering through the righteousness of Christ. How was it that the Gentiles were offering pure sacrifices and the Jews were profaning the name of God in theirs? The "uncircumcised" Gentiles were offering to God according to the commandment while the Jews were offering defiled animals on the alter. The Gentiles offered out of a regenerated heart while the Jews offered out of a defiled heart. It really is a matter of the heart and until Israel finds the true Sabbath and the true Circumcision there will be no forgiveness in her. And though she "hosts" the table of His Eternal name, Yahweh, she will eat and drink to the judgment of her eternal destruction. But of those Gentiles who "host" the Eternal name, the Word made flesh in the Lord Jesus Christ, will eat and drink in the everlasting joy of the Holy Spirit in the image and life of God. All who have ears to hear will obey the voice of His enduring Word (1Cor.11:26-34).
Chp.29 - Christ Is Useless To Those Who Serve The Law
“Let us glorify God, all nations gathered together; for He has also visited us. Let us glorify Him by the King of glory, by the Lord of hosts. For He has been gracious towards the Gentiles also; and our sacrifices He esteems more grateful than yours. What need, then, have I of circumcision, who have been witnessed to by God?" Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 208). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Therefore, now, Justin brings us all, both Jew and Gentile, into one fellowship to glorify God. Christ was not only given for the Jews but also for all the nations to be exalted. But even here we must be warned not to boast in our own sacrifices but only in the undefiled sacrifice of God (Rom.11:17-23), as Justin catches himself, saying: "What need have I of that other baptism, who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost? I think that while I mention this, I would persuade even those who are possessed of scanty intelligence. For these words have neither been prepared by me, nor embellished by the art of man; but David sung them, Isaiah preached them, Zechariah proclaimed them, and Moses wrote them. Are you acquainted with them, Trypho? They are contained in your Scriptures, or rather not yours, but ours.1" Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, pp. 208–209). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Justin redirects his sacrifice and worship toward the work of the Word, which was given not only to the Hebrews but to the nations. The apostle Peter was often confronted of this issue within himself and therefore prophetically wrote: 2 Peter 1:19–21 (NKJV) 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. By this Peter means that the Word is of no private origin or for any secret knowledge. The witness of God is threefold: this is to say that its source is from heaven but is both internal and external in the created order. This witness originates outside of man and outside of the created order, but rests or validates itself in the scientific means of the creation. It possesses both the witness of heaven and of men, but is also personally experiential in the inner man to the agreement of the objective Word. "For we believe them; but you, though you read them, do not catch the spirit that is in them. Be not offended at, or reproach us with, the bodily uncircumcision with which God has created us; and think it not strange that we drink hot water on the Sabbaths, since God directs the government of the universe on this day equally as on all others; and the priests, as on other days, so on this, are ordered to offer sacrifices; and there are so many righteous men who have performed none of these legal ceremonies, and yet are witnessed to by God Himself." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 209). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Israel was to be an instrument of God to demonstrate justice and mercy to all the nations, but the pride of Israel had blinded her from her mission and purpose as God's elect nation. It is by this sin that Israel is judged and opposed by the cross of Jesus Christ.
Chp.30 - Christians Are Instruments Of God's Righteousness
“But impute it to your own wickedness, that God even can be accused by those who have no understanding, of not having always instructed all in the same righteous statutes. For such institutions seemed to be unreasonable and unworthy of God to many men, who had not received grace to know that your nation were called to conversion and repentance of spirit,2 while they were in a sinful condition and labouring under spiritual disease; and that the prophecy which was announced subsequent to the death of Moses is everlasting." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 209). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
Justin draws attention to the fact Israel wasn't chosen to be sanctified because she was somehow superior to all the other nations, but because she was inferior. In this, she was to be an instrument of light and understanding for the nations held under the dominion of sin. But by this she failed and is to come forward from her backslidings and whorings with the idols of Satan's kingdom. Justin also quotes Psalm 19, which David, too, spoke of the threefold witness of God. David mentions the witness of the heavens (vs.1-6), the witness of the Word (vs.7-11), and the sanctification of the inner man (vs.12-14). "And that we, who have been made wise by them, confess that the statutes of the Lord are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb, is manifest from the fact that, though threatened with death, we do not deny His name. . . . For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served, in order that, after our conversion by Him to God, we may be blameless. For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ . . . they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power, by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 209). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. By this objective, Christians suffer as instruments of God's righteousness. The external object of the Christian's faith is who sanctifies their life of suffering in His name. Through this, salvation is made effectual to those who call upon God out of a pure heart who suffer according to truth by the will of God.
