Dialogue with Trypho 56

2 verses • Goodspeed Greek (Die ältesten Apologeten, 1914)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Justin's exegesis of Genesis 18-19 (the three visitors at Mamre and the destruction of Sodom) as proof that the divine being who appeared to Abraham was 'another God and Lord' distinct from the Maker of all things. The chapter is the opening salvo of the Logos argument that runs through Dial. 56-62. Trypho's objection sets up the entire stretch: how can there be a 'God' other than the Maker without abandoning monotheism? Justin's answer borrows the conceptual framework that Philo had already articulated for the Jewish-Hellenistic tradition — the Logos as a divine being numerically distinct from but ontologically continuous with the supreme God.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

Justin's argument in §56 is the earliest extant Christian deployment of the Philonic Two Powers / Logos framework explicitly applied to Christology. The phrase 'another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things' is structurally identical to Philo's 'second God' (deuteros theos) at Somn. I.§230 — both authors face the same exegetical problem (how to read Genesis theophanies without compromising monotheism) and reach the same structural solution (numerical distinction within an ordered subordination). What changes in Justin is the identification of this 'other God' with the pre-existent Christ.

Translation Friction

Trypho's objection — preserved in the text — is the substantive Jewish counterposition that Philo never had to confront. For Trypho, the Genesis 18-19 appearances are angels: God-the-Maker dispatches messengers, and the Maker himself remains transcendent and invisible. Justin's reply concedes that two of the three figures at Mamre are angels but insists the third is 'God and Lord' — and that the doubled 'Lord rained on Sodom sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven' (Gen 19:24) requires two distinct divine subjects. The argument's force depends on a specific reading of the Hebrew/Greek grammar, and Trypho will not concede.

Connections

Genesis 18:1-2 (the three visitors at Mamre); Genesis 18:22-33 (Abraham's intercession before 'the Lord'); Genesis 19:24 ('the Lord rained on Sodom from the Lord' — the doubled-Lord prooftext); Genesis 21:9-12 (the returning Lord); Philo, Confusion of Tongues §146 (the title catalog — Logos as ἀρχάγγελος πολυώνυμος); Philo, Confusion of Tongues §63 (the Logos as πρεσβύτατος υἱός); Philo, On the Cherubim §28 (the Logos between the divine Powers); Philo, Who Is the Heir §205 (Logos as μεθόριος between Creator and creation); Philo, On Dreams §230 (the Logos as δεύτερος θεός); Justin, 1 Apology 63 (parallel argument); Origen, Against Celsus V.39 (cites the same Genesis theophanies for the same purpose).

Dialogue with Trypho 56:1

καὶ διηγησάμενος αὐτοῖς πᾶσαν τὴν γραφὴν τῆς διηγήσεως ὃ ὑμεῖς ἐκαλέσατε φανέρωσιν θεοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι παρὰ τὴν δρῦν τὴν Μαμβρῆ, ὅτε ἐκάθητο πρὸς τῇ θύρᾳ τῆς σκηνῆς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ, καὶ ἀναβλέψας τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς εἶδεν, καὶ ἰδοὺ τρεῖς ἄνδρες εἱστήκεισαν ἀπέναντι αὐτοῦ.

I read them the whole passage you yourselves call the appearing of God to Abraham at the oak of Mamre — when Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent at noon, and looking up he saw three men standing before him.

REF When I had recited the whole narrative which you yourselves called a manifestation of God to Abraham at the oak of Mamre, while he sat at the door of his tent in the noon-tide — when, lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him… (Schaff, ANF I, p. 223)

Notes & Key Terms 2 terms

Key Terms

δρῦς Μαμβρῆ drys Mambrē

"oak of Mamre" — the great tree at Mamre near Hebron where Abraham received the divine visitors (Genesis 18:1-2 LXX)

Septuagintal place name from Genesis 13:18, 18:1. The site became central to Jewish and Christian theophany-interpretation as the locus of the visible appearance of the divine.

φανέρωσις θεοῦ phanerōsis theou

"manifestation of God" — the visible disclosure of the divine; a theophany

Justin's chosen term for the Mamre event. The verbal cognate φανερόω appears at John 1:31, 14:21, 17:6 and 1 John 1:2, 3:5, 4:9 — each NT use also concerns the visible disclosure of the divine in a specific person or moment.

Translator Notes

Goodspeed, Die ältesten Apologeten, pp. 156-157 (Dial. 56.1); Schaff, ANF I, p. 223 (Roberts/Donaldson English). The chapter opens with Justin recounting Genesis 18:1-2 to his Jewish interlocutors as the foundation for the Logos argument that occupies Dial. 56-62. Trypho and his companions have already conceded that the Genesis 18 narrative describes a 'manifestation of God' — Justin will now press them on which 'God' did the manifesting.
Numbering convention for justin-dialogue (per Quality Contract §7-8 and the SoT v5.34 standing decision): chapter = Goodspeed chapter number; verse = TCR-internal sentence number against the Schaff ANF I English baseline. The convention is distinct from Bobichon's Paradosis 47 (2003) critical-edition sub-numbering; cite as 'Justin, Dial. 56.1 (TCR)' to avoid confusion.
The Genesis 18:1-2 LXX reading Justin works from has ὤφθη αὐτῷ ὁ θεός ('God appeared to him') at v.1 and τρεῖς ἄνδρες ('three men') at v.2. Philo had read the same passage in QG IV.1-2 (Armenian) as a theophany requiring careful identification of which figure is which: one is God-himself, two are subordinate Powers. Justin inherits the substantive framework — three figures, one of whom is the divine speaker — and applies it Christologically: the speaker is the pre-existent Logos = Christ.
Cross-references for the Mamre theophany throughout the Philonic corpus: Philo Conf. §146 (the title catalog Justin will explicitly echo at Dial. 61.1); Philo Cher. §28 (the Logos between two angelic-cherubim Powers); Philo Heres. §205 (the Logos as boundary/mediator).

Dialogue with Trypho 56:3

πειράσομαι ὑμᾶς πεῖσαι... ὅτι ἐστὶν καὶ λέγεται θεὸς καὶ κύριος ἕτερος ὑπὸ τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων, ὃς καὶ ἄγγελος καλεῖται διὰ τὸ ἀγγέλλειν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁπόσα βούλεται αὐτοῖς ἀγγεῖλαι ὁ τῶν ὅλων ποιητής, ὑπὲρ ὃν ἄλλος θεὸς οὐκ ἔστιν.

Let me try to persuade you that there is another — and there is said to be another — God and Lord, subordinate to the Maker of all things. This same one is also called Angel, because his work is to announce to humanity whatever the Maker of all things wants announced to them. Above the Maker of all things, there is no other God.

REF I shall attempt to persuade you… that there is, and that there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things, who is also called an Angel, because He announces to men whatever the Maker of all things — above whom there is no other God — wishes to announce to them. (Schaff, ANF I, p. 223)

Notes & Key Terms 3 terms

Key Terms

θεὸς καὶ κύριος ἕτερος theos kai kyrios heteros

"another God and Lord" — a divine being numerically distinct from the supreme God, yet ontologically continuous with him

Justin's binitarian thesis statement. ἕτερος ('other / another') marks numerical distinction; θεὸς καὶ κύριος preserves the divine titulature. The whole phrase parallels Philo's δεύτερος θεός (Somn. I.§230) — 'second god' — but with the Christian addition that this 'other God' is identified with the historical Jesus.

ὑπὸ τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων hypo ton poiētēn tōn holōn

"subordinate to the Maker of all things" — the prepositional phrase that preserves monotheism — the 'other God' is ranked below the supreme Maker

ὑπό + accusative carries the sense of ordered subordination, not simple location. The 'other God' is not equal to the Maker; he is hierarchically below. This is the pre-Nicene subordinationist grammar that the Arian controversy will eventually force a decision on: are 'other' and 'subordinate' compatible with sharing one divine essence?

ἀγγέλλω angellō

"to announce" — to bring a message, to announce, to declare; verbal root of ἄγγελος ('messenger / angel')

Justin's etymology: the Logos is called ἄγγελος because his work is ἀγγέλλειν — announcing the Maker's will. Philo at Heres. §205 names the same office πρεσβευτής ('ambassador'). The titles are different; the function is identical.

Translator Notes

Goodspeed, Die ältesten Apologeten, p. 157 (Dial. 56.4 — Schaff paragraphs this slightly differently); Schaff, ANF I, p. 223 (Roberts/Donaldson English). This sentence is the single most-cited line in Dial. 56 — 'another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things' is Justin's binitarian thesis statement. Modern scholarship on Justin's Logos Christology (Goodenough 1923, Barnard 1967, Bobichon 2003, Edwards 2018) treats it as the touchstone.
The structural parallel to Philo, On Dreams §230 (TCR /philo-somn/1/230) is exact. Philo writes καλεῖ δὲ θεὸν τὸν πρεσβύτατον αὐτοῦ νυνὶ λόγον... ὁ δὲ δεύτερος θεὸς ἐν δευτέρᾳ τάξει κατονομάζηται — 'Moses calls God's most ancient Logos a god... the second god is named in second rank.' Justin's θεὸς καὶ κύριος ἕτερος ὑπὸ τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων is the same proposition under a different verbal form. The conceptual continuity is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that pre-Nicene Christian Logos-Christology develops out of pre-Christian Hellenistic Jewish theology rather than being a Hellenistic innovation imposed on a Semitic original.
Note that Justin keeps the Logos's office under three titles in one sentence: θεός (God), κύριος (Lord), ἄγγελος (Angel/Messenger). The cluster mirrors Philo's five-title catalog at Conf. §146 (TCR /philo-conf/1/146 — ἀρχή, ὄνομα θεοῦ, λόγος, ὁ κατ' εἰκόνα ἄνθρωπος, ὁρῶν Ἰσραήλ). The Philonic 'archangel of many names' (ἀρχάγγελος πολυώνυμος) is exactly what Justin asserts here: the same divine figure carries multiple titles because the multiplicity of titles points to a single referent.
On the rationale for the Angel title: ἀγγέλλειν means 'to announce / to bring a message.' The Logos is called 'Angel' not because it is a created angelic being but because its office is announcing — bringing the Maker's word to humanity. Heres. §205 (TCR /philo-heres/1/205) packs the same function under πρεσβευτής ('ambassador'). The Logos is the one who carries God's word into the world.

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