SYNOPSIS FOR PRESENTATION - John August · PDF file“Revelation” has two parts: ... The vessel is the Hebrew Bible as a book of prophecy, ... serves as divine punishment upon the

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SYNOPSIS FOR PRESENTATION DIALOGUE OR DIATRIBE?

JUSTIN MARTYR, THE “HISTORICAL ARGUMENT,”

AND JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS IN THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

INITIAL DEFINITIONS

JUSTIN MARTYR Early Christian apologist writing in Rome c. 150-160 A.D. The

works which have survived are I Apology, II Apology, and Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew.

THE “HISTORICAL ARGUMENT” A Christological allegory of Genesis 49:10, “A ruler will not fail

out of Judah and a leader out of his thigh until he should come for whom it has been stored up, and he is the expectation of the nations.” Since the time of Jesus, the Jews have been without self-rule. This proves, so the argument goes, that the prophecy has been fulfilled: the Jews, because they rejected Jesus as the Messiah, have been rejected by God. They now stand under divine judgment and have been replaced as the Chosen People by Christians, the new Israel. This interpretation is not Justin’s alone, and he almost certainly received it from earlier tradition.

LOGOS Greek term commonly translated “word” or “study.” In Stoic

belief, the Logos was the divine power that holds the universe

Dialogue or Diatribe: Synopsis 2


together. In Justin’s theology, the Logos is the Word through whom God created (see John 1:3), the divine Reason permeating all creation, and the communicative agent mediating between the transcendent Father-Creator and the created order. As such, the Logos is God’s power at work, creating and sustaining the world.

SUPERSESSIONISM The theological teaching that the Christian Church has

"superceded" (replaced) the Jews as the Chosen People of God. This is said to have occurred as a direct result of Jewish rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.

MAIN THESIS Justin’s beliefs concerning the rejection of the Jews as the Chosen

People, and their replacement by the Christians, are grounded in the so-called “historical argument.” These conclusions, in turn, are grounded in a Christological hermeneutic based upon Justin’s doctrine of the Logos. Justin read the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) through the lens of these beliefs. As a result, his interpretations of various “prophecies” led him to conclude that the Jews, because they had rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah, were now rejected by God in favor the Church, which according to prophecy had become the new Israel.



JUSTIN’S EXPOSITION OF GENESIS 49:10 (DIAL. 52): [For] neither a prophet nor a ruler … failed among your race, until this Jesus Christ both was born and suffered, nor do you dare to shamelessly say [that], nor do you have proof! For … nevertheless among your race there was one called high priest, so that then there was someone offering sacrifices for you according to the law of Moses, and nevertheless ruling lawfully and prophesying in succession, until John was born—as also when your people were carried captive into Babylon, when there was warring on the land and the sacred vessels were carried off, a prophet did not cease among you, as lord and leader and ruler of your people. For the Spirit which was in the prophets both anointed and appointed kings for you. But after the manifestation and death of Jesus our Christ among your race, there has by no means been a prophet, nor is there [now]. But you also ceased to be under your own king, and your land was laid waste, and it has been left behind like a crop-watcher’s hut.

The statement quoted above is rooted in a series of

presuppositions, each of which will be discussed below.

PRESUPPOSITION #1: THE LOGOS AS A CREATIVE AND MEDIATIVE

POWER Thesis: Justin’s doctrine of God and the Logos is grounded in

Platonic and Stoic philosophy.

God is transcendent and impassible, “unbegotten” and not in or of the created world.

God is unnamable; that is, no one was before God; no one is able to give God a name.

God is uncircumscribed; that is, God is not limited to times and places.



God is utterly transcendent: the Father-Creator does not interact with creation.

Long before creation, God had “begotten” the Logos as a

“second God.”

The Logos is God’s communicative agent, an intermediary with creation.

Unlike God, the Logos is “circumscribed” and could be bound to places and times.

The Logos, not God the Father-Creator, appeared to Moses in the burning bush, etc.

Justin is not a Trinitarian in the later Nicene sense, but neither is he tritheistic

The Logos is a “second God,” with the Prophetic (Holy) Spirit in the third rank.

Justin’s concern is to maintain monotheism, while affirming the divinity of the Logos/Son.

The Logos shares the same (will), (substance)

and (mind) with the Father-Creator, but has no

independent thoughts, impulses or existence apart from the Father-Creator.

Thus, the Logos is a sort of demigod: not quite divine as an equal to God, but not human either, acting as mediator between God and the creation.

The intermediary function of the Logos brings the power of the

divine into the world, while maintaining the necessary separation of God from the world.

God created and continues to sustain the world by means of the Logos (see John 1:3).

As an agent in creation, this “Spermatic Logos” sows “seeds of the Logos” in human beings.



These "seeds of the Logos," are "sparks of divinity," in the sense that they are part of the very divine power by which the world was created and is sustained.

Furthermore, the indwelling of the Logos allows human beings to

live “according to Right Reason.” The doctrine of the Logos allowed Justin to Christianize teachings

borrowed from Greek philosophy and the Hebrew Bible (OT).

For example, Justin taught that Socrates had lived according to the seed of the Logos.

Likewise, the prophets were inspired by the Logos, and thus prophesied concerning the coming of the Messiah.

In contrast to the Greeks or Jews, who have but a “seed” of the

Logos, Christians have the “whole of the Logos” in Jesus Christ.

What ancient teachers such as Socrates had in part, Christians have in whole.

Therefore, no matter how noble Greek thinking (inspired by the

Logos) may have been, the new Christian philosophy is superior.

PRESUPPOSITION #2 LOGOS AS HERMENEUTICAL PRINCIPLE

THESIS "Scripture" for Justin means the Septuagint, the Greek translation

of the Hebrew Bible. Justin knew no Hebrew, but continuously argued that the Jews did not understand their own scriptures.

Every word of Scripture is important when read correctly, i.e., via

Christological allegory.

Discrepancies between Greek and Hebrew texts point to corruption of text by Jews.



“Revelation” has two parts: the message, and the vessel by which

that message is delivered.

The message is that the “Logos himself who had become man and he was called Jesus Christ” (I Apol. 5).

The vessel is the Hebrew Bible as a book of prophecy, foretelling the coming of Jesus.

A true understanding of the Scriptures is available only to

Christians.

The Logos is the key to unlocking the Scriptures

The “whole Logos” brings the gift of understanding and discernment; this requires faith on the part of the reader.

The Jews, who reject Jesus as Messiah, do not have the whole of the Logos.

Only Christians, therefore, have the whole of the Logos; they alone are able to understand the Scriptures.

Why do Jews lack this key? Justin posits three hypotheses:

Ignorance: Jews’ insist upon the literal, rather than the “spiritual” (allegorical) reading.

Blindness: Jews are misled by their rabbis, who teach a misinterpretation.

Obstinacy: Jews understand perfectly, but refuse to accept the Truth as truth.

Finally, Justin also attributes “jealousy” to the Jews:

The Truth is hidden from them by God.

Jews know this.

As a result, Jews “hate those who know these things, and convict you [Jews] with knowledge of your endless hardness of heart” (Dial. 39).

JUSTIN VS. THE JEWISH TEACHERS (DIAL. 112)



Therefore, if you do not despise the dogmas of those who raise themselves up and wish to be called “Rabbi, Rabbi” … you will not be able to actually receive an advantage from the prophets.

While accusing the Jews of obstinacy, Justin also accused them of

excising messianic texts from the Hebrew Bible that, according to Justin, would have proven the Christian's case.

The assumption here seems to be that had Jews seen Genesis 49:10 as a messianic text, it too would have been removed.



PRESUPPOSITION #3: THE LAW AS A PRESCRIPTION FOR JEWISH

SIN

THESIS Christians do not follow the Mosaic Law because it was given to

the Jews alone.

The Law was temporary, limited and ultimately inadequate.

The Law had but one purpose: to curb Jewish sin.

With the coming of Christ, the problem has become worse, for rather than accept Christ, Jews rejected him, and even now continue to place hope in righteousness under the Mosaic Law, rather than through Christ.

JUSTIN ON THE MOSAIC LAW (DIAL. 11) …there will be also a final law, and a covenant ruling over all, it was now necessary for every human being to watch, as many as were seeking the inheritance of God. For the Law given on Horeb is already old, and yours alone; but this [Law of Christ] is simply for all. A law placed alongside another law overrides the one before it. And a covenant placed afterwards nullifies the first. And an eternal and final law and the covenant of faith—which is Christ—has been given to us, after which there is no law, nor order, nor commandment.

JUSTIN ON MOSAIC LAW II (DIAL. 12) This very law you [Jews] have treated shamefully, and you have done evil to his new holy Covenant, and now you neither acknowledge nor repent for your evil deeds.…The Lawgiver is present, and you do not see.…There is already a need of a second circumcision, but you think greatly upon the circumcision of the flesh. The new Law wills you to continually observe the Sabbath, and you think not



working for one day to be pious, not considering why it is prescribed for you.

The Law, given to keep order among a rebellious people, now serves as divine punishment upon the Jews for rejecting Christ.

Dial. 19: “This circumcision is not necessary for all, but you for you alone, in order that, as it was foretold, you might suffer these things which you now suffer in justice.”

Dial. 22: Sabbaths, sacrifices, dietary restrictions and other laws are given “so that giving yourselves to God through this [Temple], you might not worship idols.”

JUSTIN ON CIRCUMCISION AS A MARK FOR DIVINE PUNISHMENT (DIAL. 16)

For the circumcision according to the flesh was given by Abraham to be a sign, in order that you might be separated from all nations and from us, so you alone might suffer that which you now are justly suffering—your lands laid waste and your cities destroyed with fire—that others eat your fruits before you, and no one of you goes up into Jerusalem. For you are not known among other people from anything other than the circumcision of your flesh, and none of you, I think, will dare to say that God does not have foreknowledge of the things which were about to happen and are happening, and he is preparing what is deserving for the end. And these things happened well and justly for you, for you killed the just One and his prophets before him, and now you reject those who hope in him, and the one having sent him, God the Father and maker of all things, and heap insults as much as you can upon him, cursing in your synagogues those who believe in Christ. For you do not have authority to put your hands on us, because of those who now rule over you, but as often as you were able, you did this also.

Therefore, Christians do not observe Mosaic Law because they

understand why it was given.



God’s gave laws to the Jews in direct proportional to the increasing sin of the people, laws which now serve to punish the people for their blindness and obstinacy.

JUSTIN ON WHY CHRISTIANS DO NOT THE OBSERVE MOSAIC LAW (DIAL. 18)

For we would also observe these things, that is, the circumcision of the flesh, and Sabbaths and in short all the feasts, if we did not know on account of which sin it was prescribed for you, that is, on account of your lawlessness and hard-heartedness.

JUSTIN ON GRADUAL INCREASE OF LAW IN RESPONSE TO INCREASING JEWISH SIN (DIAL. 92)

For if someone should wish to inquire of you, since Enoch and Noah together with their children and others like them were acceptable to God while not being circumcised nor observing Sabbaths, for what reason God appointed through other guardians and lawgivers, after so many generations, that those from Abraham until Moses were to be justified on account of circumcision, but that those from Moses and afterwards would be justified on account of circumcision and other commandments, that is, Sabbaths and feasts and offerings and sacrifices, [God will be slandered] unless you show that on account of God, having foreknowledge, he knew your nation would be worthy to be expelled from Jerusalem, and no one would be permitted to enter into there.

Jewish rejection of Christ, and their idolatry concerning the

Mosaic Law, stands as proof of Jewish blindness and obstinacy.

Jews should have known by the “signs” that Moses gave them that Christ was Messiah, for Moses and the other prophets foretold that the Logos would become flesh



JUSTIN ON JEWISH OBSTINACY (DIAL. 93)

But you [Jews] have not shown friendship or love toward God or the prophets or toward yourselves, but as has been shown, you were found to always be worshippers of idols and murderers of the just, as also until you laid hands even on Christ himself. For having the ability to understand that this [man] is the Christ from the signs existing through Moses, you refuse to do so…

Tied to Jewish obstinacy is the first Jewish conspiracy theory.

Justin believed that Roman persecution of Christians was the carrying-out of Jewish animosity, which in Dial. 60 is also tied to the workings of demons.

JUSTIN ON ROMAN PERSECUTION AS JEWISH “CONSPIRACY” (DIAL. 96)

…but is was foretold of God that all of you, and those like you, would not believe that this one who existed from the beginning, and was an eternal priest of God, and a king, and the Christ, was being about to come.…For you curse in your synagogues all those who have become Christians,

and the other nations1 are also carrying out your curse by their deed, killing those who are only confessing themselves to be Christians.

PRESUPPOSITION #4: JUDAISM AND THE “NEW ISRAEL”

1 Or “the Gentiles.” In Jewish usage, the Greek word here translated as “nations” meant the non-Jewish nations.



THESIS Justin repeats and builds upon his allegory of Genesis 49:10 in

Dial. 120.

After Jacob, the descendants are split between his sons.

This Justin takes this to be a prophesy that some Jews would believe in Christ, while others would not, with unbelievers constituting the majority.

What Jews fail to understand or see (ignorance/blindness) or actively rejected (obstinacy), Gentiles have accepted, thus proving the fulfillment of Genesis 49:10.

Jewish rejection of Truth also proves the fulfillment of Isaiah

24:14—God will replace them

Justin parsed “Israel” into “Isra” (“a man who overcomes”) and “el” (“power”).

“Israel” is therefore tied to Christ, and to Christians, who have become the new Israel.

Conversely, “jealousy” is tied to “remnant.”

According to Justin, God is withholding final judgment out of foresight that some Jews will convert.

JUSTIN ON JEWISH CONVERSIONS (DIAL. 39)

…day by day some are becoming disciples into the name of Christ, and leaving behind the way of deception. They also receive good gifts, each as he is worthy, being enlightened through the name of this same Christ.

In Dial. 21, however, Justin contended that Jews are punished, but

not destroyed, so that God’s name will not be profaned among the nations/Gentiles.



As a result, the Jews’ only hope is conversion to Christianity.

Justin’s hope for Jewish conversion is a surprising converse to his animosity toward them.

Again and again, Trypho is called upon to reject the teachings of the rabbis and embrace Christian truth.

SYNOPSIS: JUSTIN’S USE OF THE “HISTORICAL

ARGUMENT” I believe that Justin’s Dialogue is based upon actual encounters

between Jews and early Christians, but does not represent a transcript of a historical event as such.

The Dialogue is thus an intricate web of Justin’s recollection, permeated by rhetorical embellishment.

Justin very clearly writes as the winner.

Trypho is in many ways a straw figure, responding only sporadically, and not convincingly, to Justin’s rambling arguments.

One intriguing facet of the Dialogue is that Justin and Trypho address one another as “friend” throughout. In fact, the Dialogue ends with Justin’s private prayer that Trypho (probably representative of all Jews) would convert to Christianity.

Thus, we get a confusing portrait of Justin’s attitude toward Jews.

Evangelistic zeal to convert Jews to Christianity is tempered by impatience at Jewish resistance.

Hence, I suspect, come his charges of ignorance, blindness and obstinacy.



DEFINITIONS: ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-JUDAISM AND “ANTI-

JEWISH” Hatred of Jews based upon ethnic or racial differences has

traditionally been called “Anti-Semitism.”

The term was coined in the 19th century by Wilhelm Marr, who assumed the existence of a “Semitic” race to compliment the so-called “Semitic” languages.

1. Conversely, “anti-Judaism” is a term used to describe hatred of Jews based religious or theological differences.

2. “Anti-Jewish” seeks to combine the facets of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, while taking into account the fact that the distinction between the two is not always clear.

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE HISTORICAL ARGUMENT

1. The historical argument as a theological teaching assumes that God breaks promises.

The covenant of Sinai is not seen as completed in Christ so much as replaced by him.

Jews who convert are thereupon considered Christians.

However, a companion teaching, as seen in Justin, is often that most Jews will not convert, out of blindness, ignorance and obstinacy.

As a result, the Jewish people are declared de facto rejected by God, and replaced by the Christian Church as the Chosen People of God.

2. One can draw an uneasy connection between Justin’s thoughts and Hitler’s actions, not because Justin was a proto-Nazi, but because Hitler’s rise to power came no less on the shoulders of the Church’s long history of anti-Jewish rhetoric (and action) than on the anti-Semitism endemic to European society after the Enlightenment



In the light of events such as the destruction of Jerusalem, Christian rhetoricians taught that the Jews were suffering the consequences of rejecting Christ: (1) divine rejection as the Chosen People, and (2) continued punishment and separation from society.

3. To modern readers, Justin’s use of “race” () to

describe the Jews stands as an ominous foreshadowing of later race-based hatred for Jews.

The Dialogue portrays Jews as “outsiders” in a Christian world.

Christians have appropriated the Jewish Scriptures, referring to it as the “Old Testament.”

Meanwhile, Jewish identity, marked by the practice of circumcision, is seen as identity as "set apart" for divine punishment.

In fact, Justin states that Jews as a nation/race/people persecute Christians most.

JUSTIN ON JEWISH PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS (DIAL. 17; JUSTIN QUOTES ISAIAH 52:5 (LXX)

The other nations have not treated Christ and us, his followers, as unjustly as have you Jews, who, indeed, are the very instigators of that evil opinion they [the Gentiles] have of the Just One and of us, his disciples. After you had crucified the only sinless and just Man . . . and after you realized that he had risen from the dead and had ascended into heaven . . . you not only failed to feel remorse for your evil deed, but you even dispatched certain picked men from Jerusalem to every land, to report the outbreak of the godless heresy of the Christians and to spread those ugly rumors against us which are repeated by those who do not know us. As a result, you are to blame not only for your own wickedness, but also for that of all others. With good reason, therefore, does Isaiah cry out: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.” For the other nations have not had such a grudge in this unjust way against us and against Christ, as far as you, the very ones who are the cause of the preconceived



evil which [the Gentiles] have both against us and that one [Christ], preconceived evil. For after you crucified that unblemished and just man…[and] when you knew he had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, as the prophets had foretold, you not only did not repent from your evil deeds, but after choosing select men from Jerusalem, you sent them out into all the land, saying the godless Christian rose up. And those who do not know us were saying all these things against us.

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SYNOPSIS FOR PRESENTATION - John August · PDF file“Revelation” has two parts: ... The vessel is the Hebrew Bible as a book of prophecy, ... serves as divine punishment upon the