GENESIS 22 IN DER FRÜHEN KIRCHE
GENESIS 22 IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Summary/Abstract: This paper on the subsequent understanding of the story of the Sacrifice of Abraham or the Binding of Isaac (Gen 22) in early Christian documents (New Testament, early Patristic authors) first tries to establish which Jewish interpretative expansions on the Hebrew text can be dated to the period of the Second Temple. They concern Isaac’s clear willingness to give away his life as a sacrifice (with martyrological overtones), controversies in the heavenly world as the reason why God decided to submit Abraham to the test of obedience, the identification of the mountain with the temple in Jerusalem. Soteriological interpretations of the binding of Isaac found in rabbinic sources, however, may rather be the result of later Jewish reactions to the Christian handling of Gen 22, with Jesus’ real death being claimed to constitute a sacrifice superior to what happened to Isaac who eventually appeared to have been saved from death. The paper then briefly discusses the main evidence of Gen 22 being referred to by New Testament authors (Jas 2:20-24; Heb 11:17-19; Rom 8:31-39) and some examples of early Greek Christian authors (Melito of Sardes, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa) to show how Gen 22 has been interpreted using a variety of typological approaches. It concludes with the rather enigmatic text “To Abraham”, recently published from the Bodmer Papyri.

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