Chp. 100 ~ Jesus Christ Is The Eternal Word Begotten Unto Us As The Son Of God

“Then what follows—‘But Thou, the praise of Israel, inhabitest the holy place’—declared that He is to do something worthy of praise and wonderment, being about to rise again from the dead on the third day after the crucifixion; and this He has obtained from the Father. 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. 248). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. We have been looking at Psalm 22 through the studying eyes of Justin on his view of Christ in the sufferings of David. He wants to point out that this Psalm of David speaks of all of Christ in his bodily life, death and resurrection. Justin wants us to see that this Jesus, crucified King of the Jews, is the "glory" of Israel; for the works that he performed in his flesh are the ransom price that bought Jacob out of sin. But Justin wants us to see that Christ was "ordained" from the Father to be the glory over Israel's pride. Notice that Justin refers to our Father as "the" Father. Justin doesn't begin by stating that it was "His" Father. The Spirit that abides in Justin agrees that Jesus was a Son unto us and not unto "the" Father. While it is true that in the bodily form of Christ he refers to "the" Father as, "My Father," it is because Jesus is begotten unto us as a Son. For I have showed already that Christ is called both Jacob and Israel; and I have proved that it is not in the blessing of Joseph and Judah alone that what relates to Him was proclaimed mysteriously, but also in the Gospel it is written that He said: ‘All things are delivered unto me by My Father;’ and, ‘No man knoweth the Father but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and they to whom the Son will reveal Him.’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. 248–249). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. In that Justin is showing us that Christ is called both Jacob and Israel, he is teaching that Christ is a Son unto us. While being the Eternal Word (God) made flesh, Christ is sold under sin (descended into Hades) in Jacob and a Son unto us in the new name of Israel, for he came to save His people from their sins. It is this new Name that God desires to write upon the house of Israel because they often sold themselves under sin (Jdg.4:2;Mk.8:36). But Jesus is the "final" glory of Israel who buys back the Father's elect nation from the power of His own Justice, having sold them into/under the bondage of sin. Therefore, for the sake of the children of Israel, Jesus was begotten as a Son unto us, being in the Father's bosom as the Eternal Word, through which the Universe was made (Col.1:9-18). Therefore, unto us, Jesus is the Preeminent Son through which the Father's heart is revealed, being the Eternal Word and Witness of the Father's glory [before the world was made] (Jn.1:1-3). Therefore, only in Him can the creation know and understand the Father, for the Father of creation has chosen only him to be the representative Head of all the sons begotten of the Spirit of the Word. No one knows the Son except by the Spirit, and no one knows the Father except by the Son. Therefore, this man is "the" Son unto us, into which the Father delivered his body unto death, that our souls should be carried into Life in God. Accordingly He revealed to us all that we have perceived by His grace out of the Scriptures, so that we know Him to be the first-begotten of God, and to be before all creatures; likewise to be the Son of the patriarchs, since He assumed flesh by the virgin of their family, and submitted to become a man without comeliness, dishonoured, and subject to suffering. Hence, also, among His words He said, when He was discoursing about His future sufferings: ‘The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the Pharisees and Scribes, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’2 He said then that He was the Son of man, either because of His birth by the virgin, who was, [as I said], of the family of David,3 and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham; or because Adam4 was the father both of Himself and of those who have been first enumerated from whom Mary derives her descent. 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. 249). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Again, it is in this, Christ being a Son unto us, that we know him to be the firstborn of many brethren. Therefore, to be "ordained" above all creation as "truly" man and "truly" God, he is titled the Son of Man and the Son of God. But Justin is laboring here to show that he was a son of the patriarchs all the way down to Adam in the virgin Mary. For he was not conceived of an earthly father, but of the seed of the Galilean woman betrothed to Joseph, the son of David. This was to demonstrate the power of God in the seed of the woman, who was to raise up a son unto God. But this son was conceived by the Holy Spirit, separate from sin. In this, he was begotten of the virgin according to the flesh.

Justin doesn't try to answer the question of Mary's genealogy with Scripture because it's not in Scripture, but we know she was a woman of Nazareth near Galilee. Surely, this was to demonstrate the superiority of the "new birth" over the dead legalism of the genealogy of the presumed line of David. For Mary's virginity was empowered by the "understanding" of the new birth, making her a citizen of the true Israel (Deut.21:10-14:1Cor.11:1-16). Galilee was considered to be the region of the Gentiles, unlike Samaria which was a culture of half-blooded Jews and Gentiles, but rather to be more of a mix of pure-blooded Jews as a minority in the midst of a majority of complete foreigners, hence the term Galilee. The modern Hebrew name gelîl, according to its vowel pattern, is in construct and requires another term to follow it in the genitive (cf. the plural gelîlê kesep̱, “rings of silver” [Est. 1:6] and gelîlê zāhāḇ, “cylinders of gold” [Cant. 5:14]). Such a phrase occurs in Isa. 9:1 (MT 8:23), gelîl haggôyîm, “the region of the gentiles/nations.” The word became a proper name, however; cf. qeḏeš baggālîl, “Qadesh in (the) Galilee” (Josh. 20:7; 21:32; 1 Ch. 6:76 [MT 61]) and beʾereṣ haggālîl, “in the land of (the) Galilee” (1 K. 9:11), always written with the definite article. The feminine forms of the word, gelîlâ, pl gelîlôṯ, also occur, used of the region of the Philistines (Josh. 13:2), of the regions of the Jordan (Josh. 22:10f), and once of Galilee (2 K. 15:29). This last reference, as accented, appears to be with the -â directive (“toward the Galilee”), but the presence of the ʾeṯ of the direct object almost certainly requires the form to be a feminine singular with an erroneous accent. In the Greek of Josephus and the NT, the word Galilaía occurs regularly as a proper noun. It is reasonable to infer that the origin of the term is indicated in Isa. 9:1—that “Galilee” was at first a pejorative term or at least descriptive of the fact that it was occupied or traversed by a large number of foreigners, and that “the Region” (“the Galil”) subsequently became a proper name. It is possible that Gôyim was originally the name of a people, for in Gen. 14:1 it appears in a list of kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, etc., as “Tidal king of Goiim,” and it would make little sense to speak of a “king of nations.” If so, Harosheth-ha-Goyim in Jgs. 4:2 could also be understood as “the wooded hills of the Goyim.” Later, because of gentile traffic in the region, gôyim came to be understood as meaning “gentiles.” Ewing W. (1979–1988). Galeed. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 2, p. 386). Wm. B. Eerdmans. It makes much sense to speak of a King of the nations when the Christ was begotten as "the" Son unto us of the region. But the Pharisees refused to accept the adoption of a Gentile king into the line of David (Jn.7:41,52;Acts 1:11;Jdg.4:21). Jesus is King of the Jews by adoption in the Law, but "King of the nations" by the virgin's new birth. Therefore Mary’s glory is not from being born of the line of David but by raising up a King unto God who would redeem her from the pride of her sins, for she will surely still bear the marks of her sin on her body, having born and raised this child unto all of us in pain and suffering. In this, Mary learned obedience to her Lord and to her Christ (Lk.8:21). For we know that the fathers of women are the fathers likewise of those children whom their daughters bear. For [Christ] called one of His disciples—previously known by the name of Simon—Peter; since he recognised Him to be Christ the Son of God, by the revelation of His Father: and since we find it recorded in the memoirs of His apostles that He is the Son of God, and since we call Him the Son, we have understood that He proceeded before all creatures from the Father by His power and will (for He is addressed in the writings of the prophets in one way or another as Wisdom, and the Day,5 and the East, and a Sword, and a Stone, and a Rod, and Jacob, and Israel); and that He became man by the virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. 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. 249). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Justin makes it his aim to hold Mary, the virgin, under the authority of this child born unto us, the redeemed, in the glory of the child's "sonship" to be the first "of us" accepted by God (Matt.3:17;17:5). And in the acceptance of his true sonship, many of us were made sons and daughters of the King of kings, crucified by the Romans as King of the Jews, but raised to everlasting life as King over all nations. Because he was raised over sin, we shall no longer be ruled by the deeds of our body in the inner man. He is the "Eternal Word" because the prophets spoke of him as the Beginning and the End of creation. In his death, this world shall pass away, but in his life, there shall be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness rules always.

For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy One begotten of her is the Son of God;6 and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to thy word.’ ”7 And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him. 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. 249). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.