Chp.67 (Pt.1) - Trypho Believes The Elohim Is A Democracy

From our last discussion we labored to establish the proper understanding of the Trinity so that we may not be confused by the same mind that holds Trypho captive to his sin and blinds him from seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor.4:4). We also labored to show you that in order to understand the virgin birth we must first understand the operation of the Trinity. Whether the Jews admit it or not the Old Testament does have a sufficient revelation to form the doctrine of the Trinity, as these were the very Scriptures Christ himself used to defend his equality with the Father (Matt.21:42;26:56;Lk.4:21;24:27;Jn.5:39;10:35). But Trypho is avoiding this to stump Justin with the Hebrew understanding of a word that can have two meanings. Justin has to prove that the word for virgin in the Septuagint was intended to mean virgin by the translators who translated the Hebrew into Greek. The primary meaning of parthenos focuses on the virginity of a woman in Greek culture, which is displayed not only in the Septuagint, such as Judges 19:24 and Genesis 24:43;34:3 of the Hebrew culture, but also in the Greek New Testament such as Matt.25:1;Acts 21:9; and in one case referring to the virginity of men in Rev.14:4. So the Septuagint translators are absolutely pointing out her virginity, but Trypho's dispute is not with the Greek word but with the intentions of the Hebrew word almah; so in order to cast doubt onto Justin's understanding he makes him aware that the word may not mean virgin in the original scripts. Then I said to this, “Trypho, I wish to persuade you, and all men in short, of this, that even though you talk worse things in ridicule and in jest, you will not move me from my fixed design; but I shall always adduce from the words which you think can be brought forward [by you] as proof [of your own views], the demonstration of what I have stated along with the testimony of the Scriptures. You are not, however, acting fairly or truthfully in attempting to undo those things in which there has been constantly agreement between us; namely, that certain commands were instituted by Moses on account of the hardness of your people’s hearts. For you said that, by reason of His living conformably to law, He was elected and became Christ, if indeed He were proved to be so.” 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. 231). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Justin says this in response to Trypho's reaction to the following Scripture passage to redirect his thoughts on the context and purpose of Isaiah. Isaiah 7:10–16 (Brenton LXX En) 10 And the Lord again spoke to Achaz, saying, 11 Ask for thyself a sign of the Lord thy God, in the depth or in the height. 12 And Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? and how do ye contend against the Lord? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows either to prefer evil, or choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which thou art afraid of because of the two kings. And Trypho answered, “The Scripture has not, ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,’ but, ‘Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son,’ and so on, as you quoted. But the whole prophecy refers to Hezekiah, and it is proved that it was fulfilled in him, according to the terms of this prophecy. Moreover, in the fables of those who are called Greeks, it is written that Perseus was begotten of Danae, who was a virgin; he who was called among them Zeus having descended on her in the form of a golden shower. And you ought to feel ashamed when you make assertions similar to theirs, and rather [should] say that this Jesus was born man of men. And if you prove from the Scriptures that He is the Christ, and that on account of having led a life conformed to the law, and perfect, He deserved the honour of being elected to be Christ, [it is well]; but do not venture to tell monstrous phenomena, lest you be convicted of talking foolishly like the Greeks.” 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. 231). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Trypho not only casts doubt on the meaning of the word but twists Justin's belief, associating it with the ludicrous ideas of the Greek gods, blaspheming Justin's character and faith. But he does this at the expense of not knowing the law and the promise of the Word of God which cannot lie. Lest we be like Trypho, lets discover first how the word "almah" is used to presume upon the virginity of Rebekah, who was to be chosen for Isaac as a bride, as this same word is used here to refer to the virgin (Gen.24:43). If the Spirit did intend here to mean merely a "young woman" the use of the word "naarah" would have been more applicable, as we see it used in Deut.22:19 and Judg. 19:3,24 to depict a young woman who just lost her virginity, or a widow who is available for remarriage (Ruth 2:6). Nevertheless "naarah" was used also to refer to Rebekah as a "young woman" available for marriage in the preceding context (Gen.24:16), but when Abraham's eldest servant was recollecting how the LORD brought all this together for him "almah" is used as the summary word after all was confirmed. There should be no doubt that "almah" is intended to mean virgin in the Hebrew cultural context. Nevertheless, there is more to make our case from the law of God, beginning in Genesis, to prove that the Christ is not merely 'a man' elected by a council of other men but by the Holy Spirit and through the sovereign decree of the Heavenly Father. Therefore Trypho's first assumption is that this mighty warrior king will ascend to power through the seed of David and be elected to reign through the councils/standards of men. But the Scriptures will prove otherwise. John 7:42 (NKJV) 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” This was a Pharisaical assumption in the days of Christ. The Scriptures do teach that the Christ would be born in the town of Bethlehem, but not necessarily "born/begotten" through the literal "seed" line of David. Romans 1:1–4 (NKJV) 1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Therefore this should not automatically be interpreted to mean "born of" but rather to mean "made by law" the seed of David. The verb ginomai means it "took place" or was "made to become" the seed of David. This fits without contradiction to both Matthew and Luke's genealogy of Joseph, who adopted Jesus through law as Mary's firstborn, having no earthly father. Mary's genealogy is absent and therefore we see Paul command Timothy and Titus to avoid genealogies that cause dispute and discord (1Tim.1:4;Tit.3:9;Heb.7:3,6). The writer of Hebrews also points out that the "priesthood" of Jesus is according to Melchizedek (the king of righteousness) who has no genealogy. Therefore the virgin birth demonstrates a superior genealogy than that of Joseph who was the seed of David, but Mary needs no genealogy through the tithes of Melchizedek (Heb.7:7), making the firstborn of Mary the perfect successor to be the perfect sacrifice for sin--the Father's standard (Matt.5:48). Matthew 1:1–17 (NKJV) 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: . . . 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations. Luke 3:23–38 (NKJV) 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, . . . 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. This last statement stands out above all the rest except for the one that surrounds Jesus. Adam is called here son of God, and those after him are known as sons of men, having earthly fathers. Adam is above all the rest, except for Jesus, in terms of sonship to God. Adam and Jesus are both begotten after the flesh, by God himself, apart from the male seed. These two persons came into the world separate from sin and needed no (spiritual) adoption. Christ was God of God (self-existent) in the flesh but because he was born of a women (for our perspective) he is called Son of God. But the first Adam, having no earthly parents, yet having his beginning with God is called son of God. Both are men and both are sons of God, but the last Adam was a life giving Spirit while the first Adam destroyed life and subjected men to death (1Cor.15:45;Jn.6:63;Rom.8:11). One man's death gives life and the other man's death "serves" justice (Rom.5:17-21;6:23). So, therefore, Luke's genealogy (as well as Matthew's) is pointing out that Christ is NOT a son of Adam according to the male seed (Joseph), because the prophesy concerns the Mediator (who will reconcile) and will come through "her seed" to show the Son of God is born of a virgin according to the Word spoken in the garden (Gen.3:15). Thus the Jews, and the Davidic line, must observe the "sign" according to the original promise. Though Christ is "adopted," according to the flesh, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit through Mary, making him the rightful King of the Jews, of the Davidic line by Hebrew law, whose birthright cannot be taken away as the firstborn of God (1Chr.5:-3;Lk.1:32-33). Joseph the husband of Mary, shown to be clearly the rightful successor of the Davidic line by Matthew's genealogy, gives his birthright to Mary's firstborn whom he called JESUS [mighty savior], according to the Word of the LORD and upon this "sign" spoken beforehand by two witnesses (The Angel Gabriel and the Prophet Isaiah)(Matt.1:16-25;Isa.7:10-17). This is all essential to show how the Mosaic Law brings forth Christ as King of the Jews, born under the law and made a curse for us, to reconcile us to God, imputing the holy righteousness of God (the image of Yahweh Elohim) to the sons of Adam made in the image of sin (Gen.3:22;5:1-3;Matt.5:20,48;1Pet.1:16;2Cor.5:21;Gal.3:10-13). Moses begins with the genealogy of Adam according to the day he was created in righteousness--the likeness of God, but after the sin of Cain and the death of Abel we see Moses continue the genealogy of Adam's children in the days of death and in the pattern of his image and likeness of sin. These are the children of men who have fallen from righteousness and who begin to call on the name of the Lord for salvation out of the depths of sin and death (Gen.4:26). The virgin birth is sign unto them, which will set apart this mighty warrior King from the sin of Adam to demonstrate the righteousness of God for those who call upon the name of the LORD. But this man elected to let go of his rights over the creation, being very Yahweh of very Yahweh, to be subjected to the creation in order to demonstrate the love of God's glory toward all the sons of men, but especially those chosen for the love of His image of justice and mercy, truth and grace--the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (Jn.1:1-2,14,17). Men did not choose him (Jn.6:66;15:16), but the Father chose him for our death and guilt (Acts 2:23), while the Holy Spirit blew upon us to choose him for everlasting life (Jn.3:8;6:57,63,65,68).