Dial

This treatise is a (fictionalized?) account of a dialogue between Justin, who presents himself as a Christian philosopher, and Trypho, represented as "a Hebrew of the circumcision," i.e. a Jew. It was written shortly after the Bar Kokhba? rebellion, and is an early example of triumphalist Christian anti-Judaism, as well as a rich source of information on proto-orthodox Christian practices and self-definition, especially vis a vis Judaism.

One of the arguments that Justin was trying to support in his elevation of Christianity over Judaism, was to try and establish that the covenant of circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant (Gen.17:10-14), not as a means of righteousness. Justin, in Chapter XIX of this dialogue, makes use of the examples of Adam, Abel, Noah, Enoch, and Melchizedek as being righteous before God yet uncircumcised. He also points out the passage from Lev.26:41, how that God was more concerned about their uncircumcised heart rather than whether or not their foreskin was circumcised. Justin accuses these Jews of being as their forefathers were: more concerned with observing ordinances than with obeying God concerning justice and mercy and refraining from iniquity; as also was commanded by Jesus, whom they refused to listen to.