Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho

Has anyone ever seen God himself? The Bible seems to both affirm and deny this. In Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho (written c. 155-61), Justin claims that the “God” seen in any Old Testament theophany was not the one God, the Creator (i.e. the Father), but was instead another “God” – the pre-human Jesus. In Justin’s view, it is impossible that God himself could be visibly seen. Thus, for instance, the prophet Isaiah must have seen Jesus, not God (in the vision described in Isaiah 6).

In this episode, Prof. Dale Tuggy challenges Justin’s hypothesis, and questions why an omnipotent being couldn’t in some sense appear to humans? What does the Bible say? What does Moses, John, Paul, a psalmist, and the author of the letter to the Hebrews say? Can we read it as consistent about whether or not God can be seen?

To continue reading this Bible article, click here.

Author: Dale Tuggy

Keywords: Justin Martyr, Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, Trypho, Trypho the Jew, trinity, pre-Nicene, christology, theophany, logos

Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.