In Dialogue with Trypho 138, Justin Martyr wrote:
“You know, then,
sirs,” I said, “that God has said in Isaiah to Jerusalem: ‘I saved thee in the
deluge of Noah.’ By this which God said was meant that the mystery of saved men
appeared in the deluge. For righteous Noah, along with the other mortals at the
deluge, i.e., with his own wife, his three sons and their wives, being eight in
number, were a symbol of the eighth day, wherein Christ appeared when He rose
from the dead, for ever the first in power. For Christ, being the first-born of
every creature, became again the chief of another race regenerated by Himself
through water, and faith, and wood, containing the mystery of the cross; even
as Noah was saved by wood when he rode over the waters with his household.
Accordingly, when the prophet says, ‘I saved thee in the times of Noah,’ as I
have already remarked, he addresses the people who are equally faithful to God,
and possess the same signs. For when Moses had the rod in his hands, he led
your nation through the sea. And you believe that this was spoken to your
nation only, or to the land. But the whole earth, as the Scripture says, was
inundated, and the water rose in height fifteen cubits above all the mountains:
so that it is evident this was not spoken to the land, but to the people who
obeyed Him: for whom also He had before prepared a resting-place in Jerusalem,
as was previously demonstrated by all the symbols of the deluge; I mean, that
by water, faith, and wood, those who are afore-prepared, and who repent of the
sins which they have committed, shall escape from the impending judgment of
God. (ANF 1:268)
Commenting on Justin’s use of water/flood imagery, Jean Daniélou noted that:
. . . the image of water suggests come complex
and profound comparisons. Water as the principle of destruction (A conception found
throughout the O.T. In the N.T. [Rv. 21:1] the abolition of the sea is especially
mentioned as a feature of the new heaven and the new earth) is the common
factor linking the water of the Flood, the water of baptism, and the descent
into Hades. The death of Christ in his descent into the waters of death, while
baptism is a symbolic death, of which the outward sign is immersion in water.
Justin’s exposition, therefore, is true to the biblical symbolism of the water
of baptism. (Jean Daniélou, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture: A
History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea, Volume 2 [trans.
John Austin Baker; London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973], 207)
“You know, then, sirs,” I said,
“that God has said in Isaiah to Jerusalem: ‘I saved thee in the deluge of
Noah.’ By this which God said was meant that the mystery of saved men appeared
in the deluge. For righteous Noah, along with the other mortals at the deluge,
i.e., with his own wife, his three sons and their wives, being eight in number,
were a symbol of the eighth day, wherein Christ appeared when He rose from the
dead, for ever the first in power. For Christ, being the first-born of every
creature, became again the chief of another race regenerated by Himself through
water, and faith, and wood, containing the mystery of the cross; even as Noah
was saved by wood when he rode over the waters with his household. Accordingly,
when the prophet says, ‘I saved thee in the times of Noah,’ as I have already
remarked, he addresses the people who are equally faithful to God, and possess
the same signs. For when Moses had the rod in his hands, he led your nation
through the sea. And you believe that this was spoken to your nation only, or
to the land. But the whole earth, as the Scripture says, was inundated, and the
water rose in height fifteen cubits above all the mountains: so that it is
evident this was not spoken to the land, but to the people who obeyed Him: for
whom also He had before prepared a resting-place in Jerusalem, as was
previously demonstrated by all the symbols of the deluge; I mean, that by
water, faith, and wood, those who are afore-prepared, and who repent of the
sins which they have committed, shall escape from the impending judgment of
God. (Dialogue with Trypho, 138 [ANF 1:268])
Commenting
on the above passage, Commenting on Justin’s use of water/flood imagery, Jean
Daniélou noted that:
.
. . the image of water suggests come complex and profound comparisons. Water as
the principle of destruction (A conception found throughout the O.T. In the
N.T. [Rv. 21:1] the abolition of the sea is especially mentioned as a
feature of the new heaven and the new earth) is the common factor linking the
water of the Flood, the water of baptism, and the descent into Hades. The death
of Christ in his descent into the waters of death, while baptism is a symbolic
death, of which the outward sign is immersion in water. Justin’s exposition,
therefore, is true to the biblical symbolism of the water of baptism. (Jean
Daniélou, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture: A History of Early
Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea [trans. John Austin
Baker; London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973], 2:207)