Justin Martyr and Isaiah Exegesis in Judaeo-Christian Borderlines

Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho owes its survival to its sharp polemic against Jews. Antti Laato reads it against the grain and shows how deeply Justin’s Isaiah exegesis is rooted in Jewish and Jewish-Christian traditions – traditions Justin inherited, sharpened, and turned against the very milieu that produced them.

Antti Laato examines Justin Martyr’s interpretation of Isaiah in the Dialogue with Trypho. Isaiah functions as the backbone of Justin’s argumentation, and four major themes derived from the book dominate his exegesis: (1) the new covenant established through the Messiah; (2) Jewish unbelief and divine punishment; (3) christological proof texts; and (4) the identity of Christians as the New Israel. Particular attention is given to the extent to which Justin’s interpretation of Isaiah depends on earlier Christian and Jewish-Christian traditions, as well as to the ways in which his argumentation reflects earlier Jewish exegetical ideas.
Special attention is paid to Justin’s composite quotations. The study demonstrates that he frequently inherited such quotations from earlier Christian tradition. In many cases, Justin intensified traditions that originally expressed more moderate attitudes, transforming them into polemical arguments directed against Jews. His exegesis also reveals substantial dependence on Jewish-Christian traditions concerning the Mosaic Torah, the Messiah, the earthly Jerusalem (which would be rebuilt), baptismal theology, the eschatological conversion of the Jews (which Justin significantly reinterpreted), and the promised Jewish remnant. Justin appropriated a range of Jewish exegetical interpretations of Isaiah that had originally functioned within intra-Jewish discourse and recast them within the context of anti-Jewish polemics.
Ironically, Justin’s writings were preserved not because of the Jewish-Christian traditions they transmit, but because of their sharp criticism of Jews. By moving beyond Justin’s polemical rhetoric, critical scholarship can recover valuable and often more positive Jewish-Christian traditions that lie behind his interpretation of Isaiah.

1 Introduction
1.1 Why Justin's Exegesis on Isaiah?
1.2 Preliminary Remarks
1.3 Brevard Childs and His Struggle with Justin's Isaiah
1.4 Methodological Aspects and Analytical Procedure
2 Justin Martyr's Isaiah Exegesis - An Overview
2.1 Justin's Isaiah Quotations and Allusions
2.2 General Remarks on Justin's Isaiah Exegesis
2.3 Isaiah References and Theological Topics in Dialogue
2.4 The Structure of Dialogue
3 New Covenant Established by the Messiah
3.1 Justin Argumentation in Dialogue 8-15
3.2 Isaiah 51:4-5 - A Prophetic Proof for the New Covenant
3.3 Isaiah 55:3-13 - The New Covenant Related to David
3.4 Isaiah 6:10 - Inability to Understand
3.5 Isaiah 1:16-20 - Exhortation to Baptism
3.6 Isaiah 52:10-54:6 - Proof for the Suffering and Dying Messiah
3.7 Isaiah 58:1-11 and 1:11-15 - From Jewish Ritualism to True Ethical Behaviour
3.8 Conclusions
4 Hardheartedness and Punishment of Jews
4.1 Justin's Argumentation in Dialogue 16-47
4.2 Isaiah 29:13-14 and 42:18-19 - The Hardheartedness of Jews
4.3 Isaiah 1:7-9 - Land Destroyed and the Remnant Left
4.4 Isaiah 57:1-4 and 3:9-15; 5:18-25 - Sinful Jews Cursing and Destroying the Righteous
4.5 Isaiah 56:7 and 66:1 - Temple Rejected
4.6 Isaiah 26:2-3 and 2:5-6 and 65:1-3 - Returning to God and New Circumcision
4.7 Isaiah 63:15-64:12 and 42:6-7 and 62:10-63:6 - Christian Inheritance in Jerusalem
4.8 Isaiah 66:23-24 - The Last Judgement
4.9 Conclusions
5 Christological Proofs
5.1 Justin's Argumentation in Dialogue 48-108
5.2 Isaiah 39:8-40:17 - Appearance of Christ and His Forerunner
5.3 Isaiah 7:10-16a + 8:4 + 16b-17 - Christ Is Immanuel and Maher-Salal-Hash-Baz
5.4 Isaiah 35:1-7 - Christ and Miracles
5.5 Isaiah 33:13-19 - The Birth of Jesus and Holy Communion
5.6 Isaiah 6:8 and 9:5 - Jesus as the Great Prophet and Great Angel
5.7 Isaiah 30:1-5 - Daemons of Egypt
5.8 Isaiah 65:17-25 and 66:5-11 - The Millennium Kingdom
5.9 Isaiah 27:1 - Great Serpent Destroyed
5.10 Isaiah 50:4 - Jesus in front of Pilate
5.11 Conclusions
6 The New Israel Consists of Christians
6.1 Justin's Argumentation in Dialogue 109-142
6.2 Isaiah 60:19-20 - Eternal Light in Jerusalem
6.3 Isaiah 49:6 and 42:16 and 43:10 and 42:6-7 and 49:8 - The Light to Nations
6.4 Isaiah 14:1 and 19:24-25 - Foreigners Will Join Israel
6.5 Isaiah 42:1-4 and 43:15 - Christ Is Jacob and Israel
6.6 Isaiah 65:8-12 - Remnant Left Among the Jews
6.7 Isaiah 54:8-9 - Noah as Typos
6.8 Conclusions
7 The Book of Isaiah in Justin's Dialogue - Summary and Conclusions
7.1 Justin's Interpretation of the Book of Isaiah
7.2 From Intra-Jewish Confrontation to Interreligious Polemics

• By (author) Antti Laato