Chapter LXVIII.—He complains of the obstinacy of Trypho; he answers his
objection; he convicts the Jews of bad faith.
And Trypho said, “You endeavour to prove an incredible and well-nigh impossible
thing; [namely], that God endured to be born and become man.”
“If I undertook,” said I, “to prove this by doctrines or arguments of man, you should
not bear with me. But if I quote frequently Scriptures, and so many of them, referring to
this point, and ask you to comprehend them, you are hard-hearted in the recognition of the
mind and will of God. But if you wish to remain for ever so, I would not be injured at all;
and for ever retaining the same [opinions] which I had before I met with you, I shall leave
you.”
And Trypho said, “Look, my friend, you made yourself master of these [truths] with
much labour and toil.439 And we accordingly must diligently scrutinize all that we meet
with, in order to give our assent to those things which the Scriptures compel us [to believe].”
Then I said to this, “I do not ask you not to strive earnestly by all means, in making an
investigation of the matters inquired into; but [I ask you], when you have nothing to say,
not to contradict those things which you said you had admitted.”
And Trypho said, “So we shall endeavour to do.”
I continued again: “In addition to the questions I have just now put to you, I wish to
put more: for by means of these questions I shall strive to bring the discourse to a speedy
termination.”
And Trypho said, “Ask the questions.”
Then I said, “Do you think that any other one is said to be worthy of worship and called
Lord and God in the Scriptures, except the Maker of all, and Christ, who by so many
Scriptures was proved to you to have become man?”
And Trypho replied, “How can we admit this, when we have instituted so great an inquiry
as to whether there is any other than the Father alone?”
Then I again said, “I must ask you this also, that I may know whether or not you are of
a different opinion from that which you admitted some time ago.”440
He replied, “It is not, sir.”
Then again I, “Since you certainly admit these things, and since Scripture says, ‘Who
shall declare His generation?’ ought you not now to suppose that He is not the seed of a
human race?”
439 [Note the courteous admission of Trypho, and the consent of both parties to the duty of searching the
Scriptures.]
440 τέως: Vulg. παρὰ Θεῷ, vitiose. —Otto.
Chapter LXVIII.—He complains of the obstinacy of Trypho; he answers his objection; he convicts the Jews of bad faith.
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Chapter LXVIII.—He complains of the obstinacy of Trypho; he answers his…