Addressing
Justin Martyr (ca. AD 100-165) and whether he taught penal substitution, Joshua
McNall wrote:
The crucial material appears in his Dialogue with Trypho (ca. 130). In the
relevant passage, Justin responded to a Jewish man named Trypho, who questioned
whether Jesus could possibly be the Christ, given that he was crucified and
therefore hung upon a tree. The objection concerns the claim of Deuteronomy,
that “anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (21:23). Surely,
Trypho reasoned, the Messiah could not be accursed by God.
Justin responded that Christ was not cursed
for his own sins. Rather, “the whole human race” is under a curse, for we have
failed to do those things “written in the book of the law” (Deut 27:26; Gal
3:10) (Dialogue with Trypho 95). In a
crucial passage, Justin built upon Paul’s argument in Galatians 3:13, that the
Father “wished His Christ for the whole human family to take upon Him the
curses of all.” Thus Christ “submitted to suffer these things according to the
Father’s will, as if he were accursed” (Dialogue
with Trypho 95). Some claim to find
the doctrine of penal substation here, for, as one assessment puts it,
Jesus is presented as taking “upon himself the curse of God that had rested
upon [humanity].”
Yet this is
almost certainly wrong. Justin emphatically denied that Christ was accursed by either
God or the law. For him, “Though a curse lies in the law against person who are
crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God” (Dialogue with Trypho 95). As stated in the next chapter, it was “not
[that] He who has been crucified is cursed by God.” Rather, Justin claimed that
Jesus “submitted to the suffer . . . according to the Father’s will as if He were accursed”—and the as if is crucial (Dialogue with Trypho 95). But if Christ was not accursed by either
God or the law, then what did Justin mean when he said that Jesus took “upon
Himself he curses of all”?
The best possibility is to read the “all” as
speaking of those humans who cursed
Christ. This reading is strengthened by the fact that Justin immediately and
repeatedly returned to the idea that unbelievers (including Trypho) continue to
“curse” Christ today and so bring judgment on themselves (Dialogue with Trypho 95-96). Whatever the case, it is flatly wrong to claim that Justin presented Christ as bearing God’s
curse on our behalf. He explicitly rejected this notion. Justin saw a
divine sanction for Christ’s suffering (it was the Father’s “will” and “wish”),
but in his work the notion that Christ bears God’s curse (or penalty) instead
of us is far from obvious. Thus Justin
should not be claimed as an early exemplar of penal substitution. (Joshua
M. McNall, The Mosaic of Atonement: An
Integrated Approach to Christ’s Work [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan
Academic, 2019], 108-9, emphasis in bold added)
As an aside,
chapters 95-96 of Dialogue with Trypho
(from ANF 1:247) read as follows:
Chapter
XCV.--Christ took upon Himself the curse due to us.
"For the whole human race will be found
to be under a curse. For it is written in the law of Moses, ‘Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law
to do them.' And no one has accurately done all, nor will you venture to deny
this; but some more and some less than others have observed the ordinances
enjoined. But if those who are under this law appear to be under a curse for
not having observed all the requirements, how much more shall all the nations
appear to be under a curse who practise idolatry, who seduce youths, and commit
other crimes? If, then, the Father of all wished His Christ for the whole human
family to take upon Him the curses of all, knowing that, after He had been
crucified and was dead, He would raise Him up, why do you argue about Him, who
submitted to suffer these things according to the Father's will, as if He were
accursed, and do not rather bewail yourselves? For although His Father caused
Him to suffer these things in behalf of the human family, yet you did not
commit the deed as in obedience to the will of God. For you did not practise
piety when you slew the prophets. And let none of you say: If His Father wished
Him to suffer this, in order that by His stripes the human race might be healed,
we have done no wrong. If, indeed, you repent of your sins, and recognise Him
to be Christ, and observe His commandments, then you may assert this; for, as I
have said before, remission of sins shall be yours. But if you curse Him and
them that believe on Him, and, when you have the power, put them to death, how
is it possible that requisition shall not be made of you, as of unrighteous and
sinful men, altogether hard-hearted and without understanding, because you laid
your hands on Him?
Chapter XCVI.--That
curse was a prediction of the things which the Jews would do.
"For the statement in the law, ‘Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree,' confirms our hope which depends on the
crucified Christ, not because He who has been crucified is cursed by God, but
because God foretold that which would be done by you all, and by those like to
you, who do not know that this is He who existed before all, who is the eternal
Priest of God, and King, and Christ. And you clearly see that this has come to
pass. For you curse in your synagogues all those who are called from Him
Christians; and other nations effectively carry out the curse, putting to death
those who simply confess themselves to be Christians; to all of whom we say,
You are our brethren; rather recognise the truth of God. And while neither they
nor you are persuaded by us, but strive earnestly to cause us to deny the name
of Christ, we choose rather and submit to death, in the full assurance that all
the good which God has promised through Christ He will reward us with. And in
addition to all this we pray for you, that Christ may have mercy upon you. For
He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, ‘Love your enemies; be kind
and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.' For we see that the Almighty God is
kind and merciful, causing His sun to rise on the unthankful and on the
righteous, and sending rain on the holy and on the wicked; all of whom He has
taught us He will judge.
