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In a discussion with Trypho, a Jew, Justin Martyr makes well formulated arguments using prophetic quotes from the Tanakh to show why Christians believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Jewish Messiah. But, he moves away from solid footing in his approach to Torah and the call of God upon the Jewish people. He told Trypho that God had imposed the laws upon the Jews as a punitive measure for their on-going rebellion against God and His Messiah. Please note that the laws handed down to Moses came before the rejection of Yeshua!

Now, Trypho was well-acquainted with the apostolic writings, and pushes the hostility button a few times himself. He is just as respectfully antagonistic towards Martyr. Since this discussion revolves around church history, I want to show a segment of the Trypho's argument, which I believe gives a clear indication of the mindset as early as the mid second century. 

To give context, Trypho is speaking in opposition to Martyr’s proclamation that Yeshua meets the criteria as Messiah by pointing to the divergent ways in which Jews and Christians follow Adonai. He states,

“But this is what we (Jews) are most at a loss about: that you (Christians), professing to be pious, and supposing yourselves better than others are not in any particular separate from them (Gentiles), and do not alter your mode of living from the nations (Goyim/Gentiles), in that you observe no festival or Sabbaths, and do not have the rite of circumcision, and further, resting your hopes on a man that was crucified, you yet expect to obtain some good thing from God, while you do not obey His commandments” (earlychristianwritings.com).

Trypho was saying then, and what Jews are observing today is that Christians profess to follow a Jewish Messiah, but don’t live a lifestyle that reflects a Jewish influence. They have a point, though the Apostle Paul argues that certain obligations are not required for Gentiles (Acts 15). Trypho did not understand any more than modern Judaism does today that Jews and Gentiles remain in their condition when entering into the Kingdom under Yeshua. They are, in a very real sense, still adhering to a system when Gentiles converted to Judaism to enter the Kingdom of God. To paraphrase Paul’s comment in 2 Corinthians 3:14, a partial veil exists. Only by Messiah is this veil removed (v. 14b).

Had Trypho understood Paul’s Rule for All the Churches,[1] as stated in 1 Corinithians 7:17,  “Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches”(NASB), he would have known that born again Gentiles were encouraged to participate as fully as desired, yet without conversion, in the Feasts, Rosh Chodesh (New Moon), and Shabbat (Saturday Sabbath).[2] They were participating, and actually, will be again during the Millennial Reign (see below). The blessing provided by Adonai to the foreigner and the eunuch, should they choose to “take hold” of Adonai’s commands, is not a requirement, but an invitation (Isaiah 56:3-7). What we must do, however, is abstain from those things clarified by the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:19-20, and what Galatians 5:19 includes as an "act of the flesh." Any form of idolatry is expressly forbidden. The Moral Law applies corporately.

This brings us back to the point Trypho was making. By the second century, pagan practices were being infused into the faith. This study will not cover the Christian holidays or days of worship, except to note that they illustrate a separation by the councils from the remembrances of God’s appointed times. The changes made to these observances, which commemorated God’s outstretched arm and provision, were perceived as a separation from the Jewish foundation of Christianity. By doing so, Christians participating in these revised, or all together different holidays looked completely different from a Jewish Messiah. Therefore, Trypho makes the case that 1. Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah, and 2. Christianity has a different god.

This dialog between Justin Martyr and Trypho continues for several chapters. Chapter XI, entitled: The Law Abrogated; The New Testament Promised and Given by God, provides insight into the mindset of Martyr and perhaps his generation. In this section, he tells Trypho that Christ is the final law, and the law “promulgated on Horeb is now old and belongs to yourselves alone…” Though he rightfully says, "...in Christ, the entire law is perfectly fulfilled," meaning Christ kept it, he misrepresents the Old and New Testaments by quoting from the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 31: 31- 34. In it, Martyr uses Jeremiah’s reference of the terms, "old" and "new," to build a case that the former has replaced the latter. These prophetic verses deal entirely with a spiritual advantage provided by Messiah that transfers the Mosaic Law written on stone tablets into the heart of a believer. By the way, Jeremiah's prophecy was given to the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

Apostle Paul touches on this concept in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, and again in Hebrews 8. There was a glory that came with the stone tablets, one which shown brightly on Moses face. But a greater glory came by the Spirit when the Law was “written on men’s hearts.” Once the Law is written upon the heart, it saturates the soul. This is surely a greater glory, and one that doesn’t fade, providing everlasting remunerations. Furthermore, Paul’s mention of a covenant being "old, in the process of aging, and vanishing all together" is in the future tense (Heb. 8: 13). Again, the same verses from Jeremiah are referenced in the book of Hebrews to emphasize the transference of Moses’ stone tablets into the heart of man, a process that is still aging.

In chapters XVI and XVIII of this dialogue, Martyr drives home the prevailing thought that all the Laws and Sabbaths and Feasts were given as a means of setting the Jewish people apart from all other nations in order, “...That which you (Jews) justly suffer” (context mine). He skims past the part of those covenants that confirms Adonai's faithfulness to be their God and they, His people, a light to the nations that they may know the One True God! He overlooks the fact that the appointed times of God are essentially set-aside appointments on God’s calendar to meet with His people. Martyr relates the rememberance of God through His appointed times and commands as a way of reigning in an unruley people. If this is the purpose of remembering, then why did our Savior command us to keep the communion in “remembrance of Me”? Why is this last Passover Seder called a "last super"?