Concluding the "dialogue"

Justin concludes by going over many familiar points to establish that Church>Israel. One new argument is a typology by which Leah becomes Israel and Rachel the Church.

After some of the heat generated in the dialogue it was touching to see the cordial, even friendly tone on which it concluded.

Justin repeats himself

As I read through chapters 103-121 of the dialogue (rather a generous term as Trypho does not get much of a say!) I must admit to sharing in Trypho's comment:

“You do well; and though you repeat the same things at considerable length, be assured that I and my companions listen with pleasure.”

Most of these chapters are devoted to reading references to Christ and Christians in the OT. Although I sympathise with Justin on this point, I am not so content with those passages where he seeks to establish this from what seems to be an "objective" point of view; but more at ease when he admits that "Would you suppose, sirs, that we could ever have understood these matters in the Scriptures, if we had not received grace to discern by the will of Him whose pleasure it was?"reminding us of the vital role of the Holy Spirit in any genuinely Christian hermeneutic.

In the midst of some of his more aggressive rhetoric against Jews, it is a relief to read him say
" Yet we do not hate you or those who, by your means, have conceived such prejudices against us; but we pray that even now all of you may repent and obtain mercy from God, the compassionate and long-suffering Father of all."

Can one keep the law

Chapters 46-47 deal with Justin's answer to Trypho's next question, concerning whether a Christian can keep the Mosaic law and still be saved. Justin's answer is that they could, but they shouldn't. In this he claims to be more moderate than many other Christians who cast off completely those who seek to keep the law.

Justin also views apostasy as a real possibility. That is, for Justin it is possible for someone who believed in Christ to reject him and thus no longer be saved.

Law and Hard Hearts

In chapters 14-25 Justin continues with his barrage on law-keeping. His main arguments are:

(1) The Jews err by not realising the spiritual meaning that the law pointed to.
(2) Prior to Moses there was no law, nonetheless there were still many considered righteous before God.
(3) Justin also explores considerably the concept of the law being given due to the hardness of the hearts of the Jews. Hence, the law is not presented as being essential to God's will, but more of an emergency measure to avoid more sinning and idolatry. To back up his argument Justin makes use of the OT prophetic rhetoric against Israel. However, the tone takes an unfortunate direction when it moves from being a Jewish critique of fellow countrymen, to being appropriated by an "outsider", a Christian.
(4) A more bizarre argument is developed concerning circumcision, which for Justin was established by God to set the Jews aside as the ones who crucified Jesus (therefore, Justin has to ignore the role played by the "uncircumcised" Romans, an unfortunately too common move in Christian theology).

Jesus the New Law

Briefly:
Chapters 10-13 introduce the division between Trypho and Justin. For Trypho, Christians are in error for not keeping the law. For Justin, Jews are in error for not recognising the new law, the new covenant, Jesus and seeks to quote the OT to prove his point.

Dialogue with Trypho

As this is a very extensive document my blogging on it will resemble Match of the Day, focusing really on the bits that struck me as interesting.

In chapters 1-9 Justin narrates how he meets Trypho, a Jew, and tells him the story of his conversion. Some key points:

(1) The old man who witnessed to Justin emphasises that the prophets did not need to use demonstration as they were witnesses, of events but especially the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Justin's conversion is described in terms of a fire being kindled. Echoes of Wesley and other charismatic conversions?
(3) So far the portrayal of Trypho is positive. He refuses to scorn Justin as those with him did, rather he chooses to engage in intellectual debate. He criticises Christians for ignoring OT law and for setting up a false Christ, as he believes the true Christ needs to be anointed by Elijah.

Epistle of Barnabas

Next in my reading of ancient sources is the Epistle of Barnabas.

One of the striking features of this epistle is the way that it uses the Old Testament to try and deconstruct the claims of Judaism. THus, the OT rather than a source of Judaism, is seen to confront it. This can be seen in the way the author of EB deals with the OT themes of Law/covenant; land, Sabbath and temple.

Law/ Covenant

In a very debatable manner, the author claims that because Moses destroyed the tablets of the law in the episode of the golden calf, the covenant was never really established with the Israelites, hence the true covenant is that which was established in Christ. No explanation is offered for the fact that the OT narrates a subsequent re-giving of the law.

Land

The land flowing in milk and honey is not the land of Canaan, rather it refers to Christians growing in faith ruling over the earth.

Sabbath

In what seemed a rather bizarre form of argument, the author claims that the genuine sabbath refers to the eighth day, when Jesus was raised from the dead.

Temple

The true temple is the Spiritual temple of our hearts.

Ignatius, Judaism and the Old Testament

Whilst the author of the Epistle to Diognetus was very negative about Judaism and the Old Testament, Ignatius can say some complimentary about the Old Covenant, whilst at the same time condemning those who try to teach Christians to keep the Jewish law. As EP Sanders said about Paul, for Igantius the problem with Judaism is that it was not Christianity. Jesus not only fulfills the Old Covenant, but also transcends it.

The following quote outlines Ignatius' position:

He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles and the church... the gospel possesses something transcendent...the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ignatius takes on heresy

In chapters 7 to 11 we see Ignatius express his concern with heresy. Not that he believes that his readers are engaging in heresy, but as a forewarning to hold on to the birth, the passion and the resurrection of Christ.

The heresy Ignatius is concerned with is Judaizing. Not that he is anti-Jewish [at least not in the shorter version] but he simply believes that Christianity fulfils the OT hope so that true Judaism embraces Christianity [a concept missing from the longer version which is definitely anti-Jewish]

The final chapters repeat the appeal for unity of the rest of the letter but it is interesting to notice a proto-trinitarian formula of Father, Son, Spirit appearing, as up to now Ignatius has seemed to concentrate mainly on the Father and the Son.