Dialogue with Trypho 87.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Trypho asks how a pre-existent God could need the gifts of the Spirit listed in Isa 11:1–3.

Greek text · Archambault 2:66–68

Εἰπὲ οὖν μοι, διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου εἰπόντος τοῦ λόγου· Ἐξελεύσεται ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ἄνθος ἀναβήσεται ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ἐπʼ αὐτὸν πνεῦμα θεοῦ, πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, πνεῦμα βουλῆς καὶ ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα γνώσεως καὶ εὐσεβείας, καὶ ἐμπλήσει αὐτὸν πνεῦμα φόβου θεοῦ, καὶ ὁμολογήσας ταῦτα πρός με, ἔλεγεν, εἰς Χριστὸν εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ θεὸν αὐτὸν προϋπάρχοντα λέγεις, καὶ κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ σαρκοποιηθέντα αὐτὸν λέγεις διὰ τῆς παρθένου γεγεννῆσθαι ἄνθρωπον, πῶς δύναται ἀποδειχθῆναι προϋπάρχων, ὅστις διὰ τῶν δυνάμεων τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, ἃς καταριθμεῖ ὁ λόγος διὰ Ἡσαίου, πληροῦται ὡς ἐνδεὴς τούτων ὑπάρχων;

English · Claude translation

“Tell me, then: when the word says through Isaiah, ‘A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from the root of Jesse; and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him,’ you admitted to me,” he said, “that this was spoken of Christ; and you say that he pre-existed as God, and that according to the will of God he was made flesh and born a man through the Virgin; how can he be shown to have pre-existed, who is filled with the powers of the Holy Spirit which the word lists through Isaiah, as though he lacked them?”

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:66–68 · 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

Isa 11:1 · quotation, high confidence
Isa 11:2 · quotation, high confidence
Isa 11:3 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Christology

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 87.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/87/2/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 87.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/87/2/).