Dialogue with Trypho 23.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision, which was a sign, not righteousness.

Greek text · Archambault 1:106–108

Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ ὢν διὰ τὴν πίστιν, ἣν ἐπίστευσε τῷ θεῷ, ἐδικαιώθη καὶ εὐλογήθη, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ σημαίνει· τὴν δὲ περιτομὴν εἰς σημεῖον, ἀλλʼ οὐκ εἰς δικαιοσύνην ἔλαβεν, ὡς καὶ αἱ γραφαὶ καὶ τὰ πράγματα ἀναγκάζει ἡμᾶς ὁμολογεῖν. Ὥστε δικαίως εἴρητο περὶ ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ, ὅτι ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἐκ τοῦ γένους αὐτῆς, ἣ οὐ περιτμηθήσεται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ.

English · Claude translation

“For Abraham himself, while uncircumcised, was justified and blessed because of the faith with which he believed God, as the Scripture indicates; and he received circumcision as a sign, not for righteousness, as both the Scriptures and the facts compel us to admit. So it was rightly said of that people that ‘that soul shall be cut off from its people which shall not be circumcised on the eighth day.’

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:106–108 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Archambault (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Scripture

Gen 15:6 · allusion, high confidence
Rom 4:10 · echo, high confidence
Rom 4:11 · echo, high confidence
Gen 17:14 · quotation, high confidence

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 23.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/23/4/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 23.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/23/4/).