Friday, September 6, 2019

Joshua M. McNall vs. the claim Justin Martyr Taught Penal Substitution


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.