Against Heresies: Book 3 - Irenaeus

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Preface.

Thou hast indeed enjoined upon me, my very dear friend, that I should
bring to light the Valentinian doctrines, concealed, as their votaries
imagine; that I should exhibit their diversity, and compose a treatise
in refutation of them. I therefore have undertaken--showing that they
spring from Simon, the father of all heretics--to exhibit both their
doctrines and successions, and to set forth arguments against them all.
Wherefore, since the conviction of these men and their exposure is in
many points but one work, I have sent unto thee [certain] books, of
which the first comprises the opinions of all these men, and exhibits
their customs, and the character of their behaviour. In the second,
again, their perverse teachings are cast down and overthrown, and, such
as they really are, laid bare and open to view. But in this, the third
book I shall adduce proofs from the Scriptures, so that I may come
behind in nothing of what thou hast enjoined; yea, that over and above
what thou didst reckon upon, thou mayest receive from me the means of
combating and vanquishing those who, in whatever manner, are
propagating falsehood. For the love of God, being rich and ungrudging,
confers upon the suppliant more than he can ask from it. Call to mind
then, the things which I have stated in the two preceding books, and,
taking these in connection with them, thou shalt have from me a very
copious refutation of all the heretics; and faithfully and strenuously
shalt thou resist them in defence of the only true and life-giving
faith, which the Church has received from the apostles and imparted to
her sons. For the Lord of all gave to His apostles the power of the
Gospel, through whom also we have known the truth, that is, the
doctrine of the Son of God; to whom also did the Lord declare: "He that
heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me, and
Him that sent Me." [3308]
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[3308] Luke x. 16.
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Chapter I.--The apostles did not commence to preach the Gospel, or to place
anything on record until they were endowed with the gifts and power of the
Holy Spirit. They preached one God alone, Maker of heaven and earth.

1. We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than
from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did
at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of
God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar
of our faith. [3309] For it is unlawful to assert that they preached
before they possessed "perfect knowledge," as some do even venture to
say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles. For, after our
Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from
on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from
all [His gifts], and had perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends
of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from
God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do
all equally and individually possess the Gospel of God. Matthew also
issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews [3310] in their own dialect,
while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations
of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and
interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been
preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book
the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord,
who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel
during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

2. These have all declared to us that there is one God, Creator of
heaven and earth, announced by the law and the prophets; and one Christ
the Son of God. If any one do not agree to these truths, he despises
the companions of the Lord; nay more, he despises Christ Himself the
Lord; yea, he despises the Father also, and stands self-condemned,
resisting and opposing his own salvation, as is the case with all
heretics.
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[3309] See 1 Tim. iii. 15, where these terms are used in reference to
the Church.

[3310] On this and similar statements in the Fathers, the reader may
consult Dr. Roberts's Discussions on the Gospels, in which they are
fully criticised, and the Greek original of St. Matthew's Gospel
maintained.
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Chapter II.--The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition.

1. When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn
round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct,
nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the
truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of
tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means
of written documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also Paul declared, "But
we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of
this world." [3311] And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be the
fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their
idea, the truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another
in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or
has even been indifferently in any other opponent, [3312] who could
speak nothing pertaining to salvation. For every one of these men,
being altogether of a perverse disposition, depraving the system of
truth, is not ashamed to preach himself.

2. But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates
from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession
of presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that
they themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but even than
the apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth. For
[they maintain] that the apostles intermingled the things of the law
with the words of the Saviour; and that not the apostles alone, but
even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the Demiurge, at
another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma,
but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have
knowledge of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their
Creator after a most impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that
these men do now consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition.

3. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal, my very dear
friend, endeavouring like slippery serpents to escape at all points.
Wherefore they must be opposed at all points, if perchance, by cutting
off their retreat, we may succeed in turning them back to the truth.
For, though it is not an easy thing for a soul under the influence of
error to repent, yet, on the other hand, it is not altogether
impossible to escape from error when the truth is brought alongside it.
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[3311] 1 Cor. ii. 6.

[3312] This is Harvey's rendering of the old Latin, in illo qui contra
disputat.
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Chapter III.--A refutation of the heretics, from the fact that, in the various
Churches, a perpetual succession of bishops was kept up.

1. It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may
wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the
apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a
position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops
in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to
our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like what
these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden
mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to "the perfect"
apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them
especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches
themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very
perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving behind
as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to
these men; which men, if they discharged their functions honestly,
would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall away,
the direst calamity.

2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this,
to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to
confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil
self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion,
assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating
that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very
ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by
the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing
out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means
of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that
every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its
pre-eminent authority, [3313] that is, the faithful everywhere,
inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously
by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.

3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this
Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded
Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement
was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed
apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the
preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their
traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were
many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles.
In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among
the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most powerful
letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their
faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from
the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven
and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called
Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses,
set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for the
devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so,
may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached by
the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of the
Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are now
propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god
beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this
Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus; then,
sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telesphorus,
who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then after
him, Anicetus. Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now,
in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the
episcopate. In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical
tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come
down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the
same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the
apostles until now, and handed down in truth.

4. But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed
with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia,
appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early
youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old
man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, [3314] departed
this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from
the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are
true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also
those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time,--a man
who was of much greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth,
than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was
who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused many to turn away
from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he
had received this one and sole truth from the apostles,--that, namely,
which is handed down by the Church. [3315] There are also those who
heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at
Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house
without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall
down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." And
Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and
said, "Dost thou know me?" "I do know thee, the first-born of Satan."
Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against
holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as
Paul also says, "A man that is an heretic, after the first and second
admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and
sinneth, being condemned of himself." [3316] There is also a very
powerful [3317] Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from
which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation,
can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth.
Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by Paul, and having John
remaining among them permanently until the times of Trajan, is a true
witness of the tradition of the apostles.
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[3313] The Latin text of this difficult but important clause is, "Ad
hanc enim ecclesiam propter potiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem
convenire ecclesiam." Both the text and meaning have here given rise to
much discussion. It is impossible to say with certainty of what words
in the Greek original "potiorem principalitatem" may be the
translation. We are far from sure that the rendering given above is
correct, but we have been unable to think of anything better. [A most
extraordinary confession. It would be hard to find a worse; but take
the following from a candid Roman Catholic, which is better and more
literal: "For to this Church, on account of more potent principality,
it is necessary that every Church (that is, those who are on every side
faithful) resort; in which Church ever, by those who are on every side,
has been preserved that tradition which is from the apostles."
(Berington and Kirk, vol. i. p. 252.) Here it is obvious that the faith
was kept at Rome, by those who resort there from all quarters. She was
a mirror of the Catholic World, owing here orthodoxy to them; not the
Sun, dispensing her own light to others, but the glass bringing their
rays into a focus. See note at end of book iii.] A discussion of the
subject may be seen in chap. xii. of Dr. Wordsworth's St. Hippolytus
and the Church of Rome.

[3314] Polycarp suffered about the year 167, in the reign of Marcus
Aurelius. His great age of eighty-six years implies that he was
contemporary with St. John for nearly twenty years.

[3315] So the Greek. The Latin reads: "which he also handed down to the
Church."

[3316] Tit. iii. 10.

[3317] ikanotate. Harvey translates this all-sufficient, and thus
paraphrases: But his Epistle is all-sufficient, to teach those that are
desirous to learn.
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Chapter IV.--The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church,
the sole depository of apostolical doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation,
and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.

1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the
truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since
the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged
in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that
every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. [3318]
For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On
this account are we bound to avoid them, but to make choice of the
thing pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay
hold of the tradition of the truth. For how stands the case? Suppose
there arise a dispute relative to some important question [3319] among
us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which
the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is
certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it
be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be
necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which
they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?

2. To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in
Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the
Spirit, without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient
tradition, [3320] believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of
God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation,
condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through
Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising
again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory,
the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are
judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth,
and despise His Father and His advent. Those who, in the absence of
written documents, [3321] have believed this faith, are barbarians, so
far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine, manner, and tenor
of life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed; and they do
please God, ordering their conversation in all righteousness, chastity,
and wisdom. If any one were to preach to these men the inventions of
the heretics, speaking to them in their own language, they would at
once stop their ears, and flee as far off as possible, not enduring
even to listen to the blasphemous address. Thus, by means of that
ancient tradition of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind to
conceive anything of the [doctrines suggested by the] portentous
language of these teachers, among whom neither Church nor doctrine has
ever been established.

3. For, prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no
existence; nor did those from Marcion exist before Marcion; nor, in
short, had any of those malignant-minded people, whom I have above
enumerated, any being previous to the initiators and inventors of their
perversity. For Valentinus came to Rome in the time of Hyginus,
flourished under Pius, and remained until Anicetus. Cerdon, too,
Marcion's predecessor, himself arrived in the time of Hyginus, who was
the ninth bishop. [3322] Coming frequently into the Church, and making
public confession, he thus remained, one time teaching in secret, and
then again making public confession; but at last, having been denounced
for corrupt teaching, he was excommunicated [3323] from the assembly of
the brethren. Marcion, then, succeeding him, flourished under Anicetus,
who held the tenth place of the episcopate. But the rest, who are
called Gnostics, take rise from Menander, Simon's disciple, as I have
shown; and each one of them appeared to be both the father and the high
priest of that doctrine into which he has been initiated. But all these
(the Marcosians) broke out into their apostasy much later, even during
the intermediate period of the Church.
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[3318] Rev. xxii. 17.

[3319] Latin, "modica quæstione."

[3320] [The uneducated barbarians must receive the Gospel on testimony.
Irenæus puts apostolic traditions, genuine and uncorrupt, in this
relation to the primary authority of the written word. 2 Thess. ii. 15,
2 Thess. iii. 6.]

[3321] Literally, "without letters;" equivalent to, "without paper and
ink," a few lines previously.

[3322] The old Latin translation says the eighth bishop; but there is
no discrepancy. Eusebius, who has preserved the Greek of this passage,
probably counted the apostles as the first step in the episcopal
succession. As Irenæus tells us in the preceding chapter, Linus is to
be counted as the first bishop.

[3323] It is thought that this does not mean excommunication properly
so called, but a species of self-excommunication, i.e., anticipating
the sentence of the Church, by quitting it altogether. See Valesius's
note in his edition of Eusebius.
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Chapter V.--Christ and His apostles, without any fraud, deception, or
hypocrisy, preached that one God, the Father, was the founder of all things.
They did not accommodate their doctrine to the prepossessions of their
hearers.

1. Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in
the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural
proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in
which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our
Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, [3324] and that no lie is in Him. As
also David says, prophesying His birth from a virgin, and the
resurrection from the dead, "Truth has sprung out of the earth." [3325]
The apostles, likewise, being disciples of the truth, are above all
falsehood; for a lie has no fellowship with the truth, just as darkness
has none with light, but the presence of the one shuts out that of the
other. Our Lord, therefore, being the truth, did not speak lies; and
whom He knew to have taken origin from a defect, He never would have
acknowledged as God, even the God of all, the Supreme King, too, and
His own Father, an imperfect being as a perfect one, an animal one as a
spiritual, Him who was without the Pleroma as Him who was within it.
Neither did His disciples make mention of any other God, or term any
other Lord, except Him, who was truly the God and Lord of all, as these
most vain sophists affirm that the apostles did with hypocrisy frame
their doctrine according to the capacity of their hearers, and gave
answers after the opinions of their questioners,--fabling blind things
for the blind, according to their blindness; for the dull according to
their dulness; for those in error according to their error. And to
those who imagined that the Demiurge alone was God, they preached him;
but to those who are capable of comprehending the unnameable Father,
they did declare the unspeakable mystery through parables and enigmas:
so that the Lord and the apostles exercised the office of teacher not
to further the cause of truth, but even in hypocrisy, and as each
individual was able to receive it!

2. Such [a line of conduct] belongs not to those who heal, or who give
life: it is rather that of those bringing on diseases, and increasing
ignorance; and much more true than these men shall the law be found,
which pronounces every one accursed who sends the blind man astray in
the way. For the apostles, who were commissioned to find out the
wanderers, and to be for sight to those who saw not, and medicine to
the weak, certainly did not address them in accordance with their
opinion at the time, but according to revealed truth. For no persons of
any kind would act properly, if they should advise blind men, just
about to fall over a precipice, to continue their most dangerous path,
as if it were the right one, and as if they might go on in safety. Or
what medical man, anxious to heal a sick person, would prescribe in
accordance with the patient's whims, and not according to the requisite
medicine? But that the Lord came as the physician of the sick, He does
Himself declare saying, "They that are whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." [3326] How then shall the sick be strengthened, or how
shall sinners come to repentance? Is it by persevering in the very same
courses? or, on the contrary, is it by undergoing a great change and
reversal of their former mode of living, by which they have brought
upon themselves no slight amount of sickness, and many sins? But
ignorance, the mother of all these, is driven out by knowledge.
Wherefore the Lord used to impart knowledge to His disciples, by which
also it was His practice to heal those who were suffering, and to keep
back sinners from sin. He therefore did not address them in accordance
with their pristine notions, nor did He reply to them in harmony with
the opinion of His questioners, but according to the doctrine leading
to salvation, without hypocrisy or respect of person.

3. This is also made clear from the words of the Lord, who did truly
reveal the Son of God to those of the circumcision-- Him who had been
foretold as Christ by the prophets; that is, He set Himself forth, who
had restored liberty to men, and bestowed on them the inheritance of
incorruption. And again, the apostles taught the Gentiles that they
should leave vain stocks and stones, which they imagined to be gods,
and worship the true God, who had created and made all the human
family, and, by means of His creation, did nourish, increase,
strengthen, and preserve them in being; and that they might look for
His Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from apostasy with His own blood,
so that we should also be a sanctified people,--who shall also descend
from heaven in His Father's power, and pass judgment upon all, and who
shall freely give the good things of God to those who shall have kept
His commandments. He, appearing in these last times, the chief
cornerstone, has gathered into one, and united those that were far off
and those that were near; [3327] that is, the circumcision and the
uncircumcision, enlarging Japhet, and placing him in the dwelling of
Shem. [3328]
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[3324] John xiv. 6.

[3325] Ps. lxxxv. 11.

[3326] Luke v. 31, 32.

[3327] Eph. ii. 17.

[3328] Gen. ix. 27.
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Chapter VI--The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made
mention of no other God or Lord, save him who is the true God.

1. Therefore neither would the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the
apostles, have ever named as God, definitely and absolutely, him who
was not God, unless he were truly God; nor would they have named any
one in his own person Lord, except God the Father ruling over all, and
His Son who has received dominion from His Father over all creation, as
this passage has it: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right
hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." [3329] Here the
[Scripture] represents to us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave
Him the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected to Him all His
enemies. Since, therefore, the Father is truly Lord, and the Son truly
Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by the title of Lord.
And again, referring to the destruction of the Sodomites, the Scripture
says, "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and
brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." [3330] For it here points out
that the Son, who had also been talking with Abraham, had received
power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness. And this [text
following] does declare the same truth: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever; the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou hast
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy God, hath
anointed Thee." [3331] For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the
name, of God--both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint,
that is, the Father. And again: "God stood in the congregation of the
gods, He judges among the gods." [3332] He [here] refers to the Father
and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but these are
the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God--that is, the
Son Himself--has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks: "The God
of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth." [3333] Who
is meant by God? He of whom He has said, "God shall come openly, our
God, and shall not keep silence;" [3334] that is, the Son, who came
manifested to men who said, "I have openly appeared to those who seek
Me not." [3335] But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those] to whom He
says, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High." [3336]
To those, no doubt, who have received the grace of the "adoption, by
which we cry, Abba Father." [3337]

2. Wherefore, as I have already stated, no other is named as God, or is
called Lord, except Him who is God and Lord of all, who also said to
Moses, "I am that I am. And thus shalt thou say to the children of
Israel: He who is, hath sent me unto you;" [3338] and His Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, who makes those that believe in His name the sons of
God. And again, when the Son speaks to Moses, He says, "I am come down
to deliver this people." [3339] For it is He who descended and ascended
for the salvation of men. Therefore God has been declared through the
Son, who is in the Father, and has the Father in Himself --He who is,
the Father bearing witness to the Son, and the Son announcing the
Father.--As also Esaias says, "I too am witness," he declares, "saith
the Lord God, and the Son whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and
believe, and understand that I am." [3340]

3. When, however, the Scripture terms them [gods] which are no gods, it
does not, as I have already remarked, declare them as gods in every
sense, but with a certain addition and signification, by which they are
shown to be no gods at all. As with David: "The gods of the heathen are
idols of demons;" [3341] and, "Ye shall not follow other gods." [3342]
For in that he says "the gods of the heathen"--but the heathen are
ignorant of the true God--and calls them "other gods," he bars their
claim [to be looked upon] as gods at all. But as to what they are in
their own person, he speaks concerning them; "for they are," he says,
"the idols of demons." And Esaias: "Let them be confounded, all who
blaspheme God, and carve useless things; [3343] even I am witness,
saith God." [3344] He removes them from [the category of] gods, but he
makes use of the word alone, for this [purpose], that we may know of
whom he speaks. Jeremiah also says the same: "The gods that have not
made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is
under the heaven." [3345] For, from the fact of his having subjoined
their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all. Elias, too, when
all Israel was assembled at Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from
idolatry, says to them, "How long halt ye between two opinions? [3346]
If the Lord be God, [3347] follow Him." [3348] And again, at the
burnt-offering, he thus addresses the idolatrous priests: "Ye shall
call upon the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the
Lord my God; and the Lord that will hearken by fire, [3349] He is God."
Now, from the fact of the prophet having said these words, he proves
that these gods which were reputed so among those men, are no gods at
all. He directed them to that God upon whom he believed, and who was
truly God; whom invoking, he exclaimed, "Lord God of Abraham, God of
Isaac, and God of Jacob, hear me to-day, and let all this people know
that Thou art the God of Israel." [3350]

4. Wherefore I do also call upon thee, Lord God of Abraham, and God of
Isaac, and God of Jacob and Israel, who art the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the God who, through the abundance of Thy mercy, hast had
a favour towards us, that we should know Thee, who hast made heaven and
earth, who rulest over all, who art the only and the true God, above
whom there is none other God; grant, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the
governing power of the Holy Spirit; give to every reader of this book
to know Thee, that Thou art God alone, to be strengthened in Thee, and
to avoid every heretical, and godless, and impious doctrine.

5. And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them
which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God,"
[3351] has made a separation between those that were not [gods] and Him
who is God. And again, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped." [3352] He points out here those who are called gods, by
such as know not God, that is, idols. For the Father of all is called
God, and is so; and Antichrist shall be lifted up, not above Him, but
above those which are indeed called gods, but are not. And Paul himself
says that this is true: "We know that an idol is nothing, and that
there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called
gods, whether in heaven or in earth; yet to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him; and one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." [3353] For he has
made a distinction, and separated those which are indeed called gods,
but which are none, from the one God the Father, from whom are all
things, and, he has confessed in the most decided manner in his own
person, one Lord Jesus Christ. But in this [clause], "whether in heaven
or in earth," he does not speak of the formers of the world, as these
[teachers] expound it; but his meaning is similar to that of Moses,
when it is said, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any image for God, of
whatsoever things are in heaven above, whatsoever in the earth beneath,
and whatsoever in the waters under the earth." [3354] And he does thus
explain what are meant by the things in heaven: "Lest when," he says,
"looking towards heaven, and observing the sun, and the moon, and the
stars, and all the ornament of heaven, falling into error, thou
shouldest adore and serve them." [3355] And Moses himself, being a man
of God, was indeed given as a god before Pharaoh; [3356] but he is not
properly termed Lord, nor is called God by the prophets, but is spoken
of by the Spirit as "Moses, the faithful minister and servant of God,"
[3357] which also he was.
__________________________________________________________________

[3329] Ps. cx. 1.

[3330] Gen. xix. 24.

[3331] Ps. xlv. 6.

[3332] Ps. lxxxii. 1.

[3333] Ps. l. 1.

[3334] Ps. l. 3.

[3335] Isa. lxv. 1.

[3336] Ps. lxxxii. 6.

[3337] Rom. viii. 15.

[3338] Ex. iii. 14.

[3339] Ex. iii. 8.

[3340] Isa. xliii. 10.

[3341] Ps. xcvi. 5.

[3342] Ps. lxxxi. 9.

[3343] These words are an interpolation: it is supposed they have been
carelessly repeated from the preceding quotation of Isaiah.

[3344] Isa. xliv. 9.

[3345] Jer. x. 11.

[3346] Literally, "In both houghs," in ambabus suffraginibus.

[3347] The old Latin translation has, "Si unus est Dominus Deus"--If
the Lord God is one; which is supposed by the critics to have occurred
through carelessness of the translator.

[3348] 1 Kings xviii. 21, etc.

[3349] The Latin version has, "that answereth to-day" (hodie), --an
evident error for igne.

[3350] 1 Kings xviii. 36.

[3351] Gal. iv. 8, 9.

[3352] 2 Thess. ii. 4.

[3353] 1 Cor. viii. 4, etc.

[3354] Deut. v. 8.

[3355] Deut. iv. 19.

[3356] Ex. vii. 1.

[3357] Heb. iii. 5; Num. xii. 7.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter VII.--Reply to an objection founded on the words of St. Paul (2 Cor.
iv. 4). St. Paul occasionally uses words not in their grammatical sequence.

1. As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle]
to the Corinthians, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them that believe not," [3358] and maintaining that there is
indeed one god of this world, but another who is beyond all
principality, and beginning, and power, we are not to blame if they,
who give out that they do themselves know mysteries beyond God, know
not how to read Paul. For if any one read the passage thus--according
to Paul's custom, as I show elsewhere, and by many examples, that he
uses transposition of words--"In whom God," then pointing it off, and
making a slight interval, and at the same time read also the rest [of
the sentence] in one [clause], "hath blinded the minds of them of this
world that believe not," he shall find out the true [sense]; that it is
contained in the expression, "God hath blinded the minds of the
unbelievers of this world." And this is shown by means of the little
interval [between the clause]. For Paul does not say, "the God of this
world," as if recognising any other beyond Him; but he confessed God as
indeed God. And he says, "the unbelievers of this world," because they
shall not inherit the future age of incorruption. I shall show from
Paul himself, how it is that God has blinded the minds of them that
believe not, in the course of this work, that we may not just at
present distract our mind from the matter in hand, [by wandering] at
large.

2. From many other instances also, we may discover that the apostle
frequently uses a transposed order in his sentences, due to the
rapidity of his discourses, and the impetus of the Spirit which is in
him. An example occurs in the [Epistle] to the Galatians, where he
expresses himself as follows: "Wherefore then the law of works? [3359]
It was added, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made;
[and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator." [3360] For
the order of the words runs thus: "Wherefore then the law of works?
Ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator, it was added until the
seed should come to whom the promise was made,"-- man thus asking the
question, and the Spirit making answer. And again, in the Second to the
Thessalonians, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "And then shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ [3361] shall slay with
the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him [3362] with the presence
of his coming; [even him] whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." [3363] Now in these
[sentences] the order of the words is this: "And then shall be revealed
that wicked, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power, and signs, and lying wonders, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay
with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the presence of
His coming." For he does not mean that the coming of the Lord is after
the working of Satan; but the coming of the wicked one, whom we also
call Antichrist. If, then, one does not attend to the [proper] reading
[of the passage], and if he do not exhibit the intervals of breathing
as they occur, there shall be not only incongruities, but also, when
reading, he will utter blasphemy, as if the advent of the Lord could
take place according to the working of Satan. So therefore, in such
passages, the hyperbaton must be exhibited by the reading, and the
apostle's meaning following on, preserved; and thus we do not read in
that passage, "the god of this world," but, "God," whom we do truly
call God; and we hear [it declared of] the unbelieving and the blinded
of this world, that they shall not inherit the world of life which is
to come.
__________________________________________________________________

[3358] 2 Cor. iv. 4.

[3359] This is according to the reading of the old Italic version, for
it is not so read in any of our existing manuscripts of the Greek New
Testament.

[3360] Gal. iii. 19.

[3361] This world is not found in the second quotation of this passage
immediately following.

[3362] This world is not found in the second quotation of this passage
immediately following.

[3363] 2 Thess. ii. 8.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter VIII.--Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt.
vi. 24). God alone is to be really called God and Lord, for He is without
beginning and end.

1. This calumny, then, of these men, having been quashed, it is clearly
proved that neither the prophets nor the apostles did ever name another
God, or call [him] Lord, except the true and only God. Much more [would
this be the case with regard to] the Lord Himself, who did also direct
us to "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the
things that are God's;" [3364] naming indeed Cæsar as Cæsar, but
confessing God as God. In like manner also, that [text] which says, "Ye
cannot serve two masters," [3365] He does Himself interpret, saying,
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon;" acknowledging God indeed as God, but
mentioning mammon, a thing having also an existence. He does not call
mammon Lord when He says, "Ye cannot serve two masters;" but He teaches
His disciples who serve God, not to be subject to mammon, nor to be
ruled by it. For He says, "He that committeth sin is the slave of sin."
[3366] Inasmuch, then, as He terms those "the slaves of sin" who serve
sin, but does not certainly call sin itself God, thus also He terms
those who serve mammon "the slaves of mammon," not calling mammon God.
For mammon is, according to the Jewish language, which the Samaritans
do also use, a covetous man, and one who wishes to have more than he
ought to have. But according to the Hebrew, it is by the addition of a
syllable (adjunctive) called Mamuel, [3367] and signifies gulosum, that
is, one whose gullet is insatiable. Therefore, according to both these
things which are indicated, we cannot serve God and mammon.

2. But also, when He spoke of the devil as strong, not absolutely so,
but as in comparison with us, the Lord showed Himself under every
aspect and truly to be the strong man, saying that one can in no other
way "spoil the goods of a strong man, if he do not first bind the
strong man himself, and then he will spoil his house." [3368] Now we
were the vessels and the house of this [strong man] when we were in a
state of apostasy; for he put us to whatever use he pleased, and the
unclean spirit dwelt within us. For he was not strong, as opposed to
Him who bound him, and spoiled his house; but as against those persons
who were his tools, inasmuch as he caused their thought to wander away
from God: these did the Lord snatch from his grasp. As also Jeremiah
declares, "The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and has snatched him from the
hand of him that was stronger than he." [3369] If, then, he had not
pointed out Him who binds and spoils his goods, but had merely spoken
of him as being strong, the strong man should have been unconquered.
But he also subjoined Him who obtains and retains possession; for he
holds who binds, but he is held who is bound. And this he did without
any comparison, so that, apostate slave as he was, he might not be
compared to the Lord: for not he alone, but not one of created and
subject things, shall ever be compared to the Word of God, by whom all
things were made, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. For that all things, whether Angels, or Archangels, or Thrones, or
Dominions, were both established and created by Him who is God over
all, through His Word, John has thus pointed out. For when he had
spoken of the Word of God as having been in the Father, he added, "All
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made." [3370]
David also, when he had enumerated [His] praises, subjoins by name all
things whatsoever I have mentioned, both the heavens and all the powers
therein: "For He commanded, and they were created; He spake, and they
were made." Whom, therefore, did He command? The Word, no doubt, "by
whom," he says, "the heavens were established, and all their power by
the breath of His mouth." [3371] But that He did Himself make all
things freely, and as He pleased, again David says, "But our God is in
the heavens above, and in the earth; He hath made all things whatsoever
He pleased." [3372] But the things established are distinct from Him
who has established them, and what have been made from Him who has made
them. For He is Himself uncreated, both without beginning and end, and
lacking nothing. He is Himself sufficient for Himself; and still
further, He grants to all others this very thing, existence; but the
things which have been made by Him have received a beginning. But
whatever things had a beginning, and are liable to dissolution, and are
subject to and stand in need of Him who made them, must necessarily in
all respects have a different term [applied to them], even by those who
have but a moderate capacity for discerning such things; so that He
indeed who made all things can alone, together with His Word, properly
be termed God and Lord: but the things which have been made cannot have
this term applied to them, neither should they justly assume that
appellation which belongs to the Creator.
__________________________________________________________________

[3364] Matt. xxii. 21.

[3365] Matt. vi. 24.

[3366] John viii. 34.

[3367] A word of which many explanations have been proposed, but none
are quite satisfactory. Harvey seems inclined to suspect the reading to
be corrupt, through the ignorance and carelessness of the copyist.
[Irenæus undoubtedly relied for Hebrew criticisms on some incompetent
retailer of rabbinical refinements.]

[3368] Matt. xii. 29.

[3369] Jer. xxxi. 11.

[3370] John i. 3.

[3371] Ps. xxxiii. 6.

[3372] Ps. cxv. 3.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter IX.--One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom
the prophets foretold, and who was declared by the Gospel. Proof of this, at
the outset, from St. Matthew's Gospel.

1. This, therefore, having been clearly demonstrated here (and it shall
yet be so still more clearly), that neither the prophets, nor the
apostles, nor the Lord Christ in His own person, did acknowledge any
other Lord or God, but the God and Lord supreme: the prophets and the
apostles confessing the Father and the Son; but naming no other as God,
and confessing no other as Lord: and the Lord Himself handing down to
His disciples, that He, the Father, is the only God and Lord, who alone
is God and ruler of all; --it is incumbent on us to follow, if we are
their disciples indeed, their testimonies to this effect. For Matthew
the apostle-- knowing, as one and the same God, Him who had given
promise to Abraham, that He would make his seed as the stars of heaven,
[3373] and Him who, by His Son Christ Jesus, has called us to the
knowledge of Himself, from the worship of stones, so that those who
were not a people were made a people, and she beloved who was not
beloved [3374] --declares that John, when preparing the way for Christ,
said to those who were boasting of their relationship [to Abraham]
according to the flesh, but who had their mind tinged and stuffed with
all manner of evil, preaching that repentance which should call them
back from their evil doings, said, "O generation of vipers, who hath
shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit
meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, We have
Abraham [to our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham." [3375] He preached to them,
therefore, the repentance from wickedness, but he did not declare to
them another God, besides Him who made the promise to Abraham; he, the
forerunner of Christ, of whom Matthew again says, and Luke likewise,
"For this is he that was spoken of from the Lord by the prophet, The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and
every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough into smooth ways; and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God." [3376] There is therefore one and the same God, the
Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He
would send His forerunner; and His salvation--that is, His Word --He
caused to be made visible to all flesh, [the Word] Himself being made
incarnate, that in all things their King might become manifest. For it
is necessary that those [beings] which are judged do see the judge, and
know Him from whom they receive judgment; and it is also proper, that
those which follow on to glory should know Him who bestows upon them
the gift of glory.

2. Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel, says, "The angel of
the Lord appeared to Joseph in sleep." [3377] Of what Lord he does
himself interpret: "That it may be fulfilled which was spoken of the
Lord by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called my son." [3378]
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son, and they
shall call his name Emmanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with
us." [3379] David likewise speaks of Him who, from the virgin, is
Emmanuel: "Turn not away the face of Thine anointed. The Lord hath
sworn a truth to David, and will not turn from him. Of the fruit of thy
body will I set upon thy seat." [3380] And again: "In Judea is God
known; His place has been made in peace, and His dwelling in Zion."
[3381] Therefore there is one and the same God, who was proclaimed by
the prophets and announced by the Gospel; and His Son, who was of the
fruit of David's body, that is, of the virgin of [the house of] David,
and Emmanuel; whose star also Balaam thus prophesied: "There shall come
a star out of Jacob, and a leader shall rise in Israel." [3382] But
Matthew says that the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed "For we
have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him;" [3383]
and that, having been led by the star into the house of Jacob to
Emmanuel, they showed, by these gifts which they offered, who it was
that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who should die and be
buried for the mortal human race; gold, because He was a King, "of
whose kingdom is no end;" [3384] and frankincense, because He was God,
who also "was made known in Judea," [3385] and was "declared to those
who sought Him not." [3386]

3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, "The heavens were
opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and
lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." [3387] For Christ did not at that time descend upon
Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of
God--who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who
is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him
flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father--was made Jesus
Christ, as Esaias also says, "There shall come forth a rod from the
root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root; and the Spirit of
God shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the
spirit of the fear of God, shall fill Him. He shall not judge according
to glory, [3388] nor reprove after the manner of speech; but He shall
dispense judgment to the humble man, and reprove the haughty ones of
the earth." [3389] And again Esaias, pointing out beforehand His
unction, and the reason why he was anointed, does himself say, "The
Spirit of God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me
to preach the Gospel to the lowly, to heal the broken up in heart, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to the blind; to announce
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance; to comfort
all that mourn." [3390] For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from
the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit
of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly.
But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor
reprove after the manner of speech. For "He needed not that any should
testify to Him of man, [3391] for He Himself knew what was in man."
[3392] For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to
those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them
from their chains, of whom Solomon says, "Every one shall be holden
with the cords of his own sins." [3393] Therefore did the Spirit of God
descend upon Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the prophets
that He would anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of
His unction, might be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of Matthew.
__________________________________________________________________

[3373] Gen. xv. 5.

[3374] Rom. ix. 25.

[3375] Matt. iii. 7.

[3376] Matt. iii. 3.

[3377] Matt. i. 20.

[3378] Matt. ii. 15.

[3379] Matt. i. 23.

[3380] Ps. cxxxii. 11.

[3381] Ps. lxxvi. 1.

[3382] Num. xxiv. 17.

[3383] Matt. ii. 2.

[3384] Luke i. 33.

[3385] Ps. lxxvi. 1.

[3386] Isa. lxv. 1. [A beautiful idea for poets and orators, but not to
be pressed dogmatically.]

[3387] Matt. iii. 16.

[3388] This is after the version of the Septuagint, ou kata ten doxan:
but the word doxa may have the meaning opinio as well as gloria. If
this be admitted here, the passage would bear much the same sense as it
does in the authorized version, "He shall not judge after the sight of
His eyes."

[3389] Isa. xi. 1, etc.

[3390] Isa. lxi. 1.

[3391] This is according to the Syriac Peschito version.

[3392] John ii. 25.

[3393] Prov. v. 22.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter X.--Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.

1. Luke also, the follower and disciple of the apostles, referring to
Zacharias and Elisabeth, from whom, according to promise, John was
born, says: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all
the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." [3394] And
again, speaking of Zacharias: "And it came to pass, that while he
executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn
incense;" [3395] and he came to sacrifice, "entering into the temple of
the Lord." [3396] Whose angel Gabriel, also, who stands prominently in
the presence of the Lord, simply, absolutely, and decidedly confessed
in his own person as God and Lord, Him who had chosen Jerusalem, and
had instituted the sacerdotal office. For he knew of none other above
Him; since, if he had been in possession of the knowledge of any other
more perfect God and Lord besides Him, he surely would never--as I have
already shown --have confessed Him, whom he knew to be the fruit of a
defect, as absolutely and altogether God and Lord. And then, speaking
of John, he thus says: "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord,
and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord." [3397] For whom, then, did he
prepare the people, and in the sight of what Lord was he made great?
Truly of Him who said that John had something even "more than a
prophet," [3398] and that "among those born of women none is greater
than John the Baptist;" who did also make the people ready for the
Lord's advent, warning his fellow-servants, and preaching to them
repentance, that they might receive remission from the Lord when He
should be present, having been converted to Him, from whom they had
been alienated because of sins and transgressions. As also David says,
"The alienated are sinners from the womb: they go astray as soon as
they are born." [3399] And it was on account of this that he, turning
them to their Lord, prepared, in the spirit and power of Elias, a
perfect people for the Lord.

2. And again, speaking in reference to the angel, he says: "But at that
time the angel Gabriel was sent from God, who did also say to the
virgin, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God." [3400]
And he says concerning the Lord: "He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the
throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob
for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." [3401] For who
else is there who can reign uninterruptedly over the house of Jacob for
ever, except Jesus Christ our Lord, the Son of the Most High God, who
promised by the law and the prophets that He would make His salvation
visible to all flesh; so that He would become the Son of man for this
purpose, that man also might become the son of God? And Mary, exulting
because of this, cried out, prophesying on behalf of the Church, "My
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Saviour. For He hath taken up His child Israel, in remembrance of His
mercy, as He spake to our fathers, Abraham, and his seed for ever."
[3402] By these and such like [passages] the Gospel points out that it
was God who spake to the fathers; that it was He who, by Moses,
instituted the legal dispensation, by which giving of the law we know
that He spake to the fathers. This same God, after His great goodness,
poured His compassion upon us, through which compassion "the Day-spring
from on high hath looked upon us, and appeared to those who sat in
darkness and the shadow of death, and has guided our feet into the way
of peace;" [3403] as Zacharias also, recovering from the state of
dumbness which he had suffered on account of unbelief, having been
filled with a new spirit, did bless God in a new manner. For all things
had entered upon a new phase, the Word arranging after a new manner the
advent in the flesh, that He might win back [3404] to God that human
nature (hominem) which had departed from God; and therefore men were
taught to worship God after a new fashion, but not another god, because
in truth there is but "one God, who justifieth the circumcision by
faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." [3405] But Zacharias
prophesying, exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath
visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the
mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world begun;
salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to
perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember His holy
covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would
grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him,
all our days." [3406] Then he says to John: "And thou, child, shalt be
called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of
the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation to His
people, for the remission of their sins." [3407] For this is the
knowledge of salvation which was wanting to them, that of the Son of
God, which John made known, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a
man who was made before me; [3408] because He was prior to me: and of
His fulness have all we received." [3409] This, therefore, was the
knowledge of salvation; but [it did not consist in] another God, nor
another Father, nor Bythus, nor the Pleroma of thirty Æons, nor the
Mother of the (lower) Ogdoad: but the knowledge of salvation was the
knowledge of the Son of God, who is both called and actually is,
salvation, and Saviour, and salutary. Salvation, indeed, as follows: "I
have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord." [3410] And then again, Saviour:
"Behold my God, my Saviour, I will put my trust in Him." [3411] But as
bringing salvation, thus: "God hath made known His salvation (salutare)
in the sight of the heathen." [3412] For He is indeed Saviour, as being
the Son and Word of God; but salutary, since [He is] Spirit; for he
says: "The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord." [3413] But
salvation, as being flesh: for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us." [3414] This knowledge of salvation, therefore, John did
impart to those repenting, and believing in the Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sin of the world.

3. And the angel of the Lord, he says, appeared to the shepherds,
proclaiming joy to them: "For [3415] there is born in the house of
David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Then [appeared] a multitude
of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory in the highest to
God, and on earth peace, to men of good will." [3416] The
falsely-called Gnostics say that these angels came from the Ogdoad, and
made manifest the descent of the superior Christ. But they are again in
error, when saying that the Christ and Saviour from above was not born,
but that also, after the baptism of the dispensational Jesus, he, [the
Christ of the Pleroma,] descended upon him as a dove. Therefore,
according to these men, the angels of the Ogdoad lied, when they said,
"For unto you is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in
the city of David." For neither was Christ nor the Saviour born at that
time, by their account; but it was he, the dispensational Jesus, who is
of the framer of the world, the [Demiurge], and upon whom, after his
baptism, that is, after [the lapse of] thirty years, they maintain the
Saviour from above descended. But why did [the angels] add, "in the
city of David," if they did not proclaim the glad tidings of the
fulfilment of God's promise made to David, that from the fruit of his
body there should be an eternal King? For the Framer [Demiurge] of the
entire universe made promise to David, as David himself declares: "My
help is from God, who made heaven and earth;" [3417] and again: "In His
hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are
His. For the sea is His, and He did Himself make it; and His hands
founded the dry land. Come ye, let us worship and fall down before Him,
and weep in the presence of the Lord who made us; for He is the Lord
our God." [3418] The Holy Spirit evidently thus declares by David to
those hearing him, that there shall be those who despise Him who formed
us, and who is God alone. Wherefore he also uttered the foregoing
words, meaning to say: See that ye do not err; besides or above Him
there is no other God, to whom ye should rather stretch out [your
hands], thus rendering us pious and grateful towards Him who made,
established, and [still] nourishes us. What, then, shall happen to
those who have been the authors of so much blasphemy against their
Creator? This identical truth was also what the angels [proclaimed].
For when they exclaim, "Glory to God in the highest, and in earth
peace," they have glorified with these words Him who is the Creator of
the highest, that is, of super-celestial things, and the Founder of
everything on earth: who has sent to His own handiwork, that is, to
men, the blessing of His salvation from heaven. Wherefore he adds: "The
shepherds returned, glorifying God for all which they had heard and
seen, as it was told unto them." [3419] For the Israelitish shepherds
did not glorify another god, but Him who had been announced by the law
and the prophets, the Maker of all things, whom also the angels
glorified. But if the angels who were from the Ogdoad were accustomed
to glorify any other, different from Him whom the shepherds [adored],
these angels from the Ogdoad brought to them error and not truth.

4. And still further does Luke say in reference to the Lord: "When the
days of purification were accomplished, they brought Him up to
Jerusalem, to present Him before the Lord, as it is written in the law
of the Lord, That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to
the Lord; and that they should offer a sacrifice, as it is said in the
law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons:" [3420]
in his own person most clearly calling Him Lord, who appointed the
legal dispensation. But "Simeon," he also says, "blessed God, and said,
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
people; a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of
Thy people Israel." [3421] And "Anna" [3422] also, "the prophetess," he
says, in like manner glorified God when she saw Christ, "and spake of
Him to all them who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem."
[3423] Now by all these one God is shown forth, revealing to men the
new dispensation of liberty, the covenant, through the new advent of
His Son.

5. Wherefore also Mark, the interpreter and follower of Peter, does
thus commence his Gospel narrative: "The beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold,
I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way.
[3424] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make the paths straight before our God." Plainly does the
commencement of the Gospel quote the words of the holy prophets, and
point out Him at once, whom they confessed as God and Lord; Him, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had also made promise to Him, that
He would send His messenger before His face, who was John, crying in
the wilderness, in "the spirit and power of Elias," [3425] "Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make straight paths before our God." For the
prophets did not announce one and another God, but one and the same;
under various aspects, however, and many titles. For varied and rich in
attribute is the Father, as I have already shown in the book preceding
[3426] this; and I shall show [the same truth] from the prophets
themselves in the further course of this work. Also, towards the
conclusion of his Gospel, Mark says: "So then, after the Lord Jesus had
spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the
right hand of God;" [3427] confirming what had been spoken by the
prophet: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I
make Thy foes Thy footstool." [3428] Thus God and the Father are truly
one and the same; He who was announced by the prophets, and handed down
by the true Gospel; whom we Christians worship and love with the whole
heart, as the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things therein.
__________________________________________________________________

[3394] Luke i. 6.

[3395] Literally, "that he should place the incense." The next clause
is most likely an interpolation for the sake of explanation.

[3396] Luke i. 8, etc.

[3397] Luke i. 15, etc.

[3398] Matt. xi. 9, 11.

[3399] Ps. lviii. 3.

[3400] Luke i. 26, etc.

[3401] Luke i. 32, 33.

[3402] Luke i. 46, 47.

[3403] Luke i. 78.

[3404] "Ascriberet Deo"--make the property of God.

[3405] Rom. iii. 30.

[3406] Luke i. 68, etc.

[3407] Luke i. 76.

[3408] Harvey observes that the Syriac, agreeing with the Latin here,
expresses priority in point of time; but our translation, without
reason, makes it the precedence of honour, viz., was preferred before
me. The Greek is, protos mou.

[3409] John i. 29, John i. 15, 16.

[3410] Gen. xlix. 18.

[3411] Isa. xii. 2.

[3412] Ps. xcviii. 2.

[3413] Lam. iv. 20, after LXX.

[3414] John i. 14.

[3415] Luke ii. 11, etc.

[3416] Thus found also in the Vulgate. Harvey supposes that the
original of Irenæus read according to our textus receptus, and that the
Vulgate rendering was adopted in this passage by the transcribers of
the Latin version of our author. [No doubt a just remark.] There can be
no doubt, however, that the reading eudokias is supported by many and
weighty ancient authorities. [But on this point see the facts as given
by Burgon, in his refutation of the rendering adopted by late revisers,
Revision Revised, p. 41. London, Murray, 1883.]

[3417] Ps. cxxiv. 8.

[3418] Ps. xcv. 4.

[3419] Luke ii. 20.

[3420] Luke ii. 22.

[3421] Luke ii. 29, etc.

[3422] Luke ii. 38.

[3423] The text seems to be corrupt in the old Latin translation. The
rendering here follows Harvey's conjectural restoration of the original
Greek of the passage.

[3424] The Greek of this passage in St. Mark i. 2 reads, tas tribous
autou, i.e., His paths, which varies from the Hebrew original, to which
the text of Irenæus seems to revert, unless indeed his copy of the
Gospels contained the reading of the Codex Bezæ. [See book iii. cap.
xii. 3, 14, below; also, xiv. 2 and xxiii. 3. On this Codex, see
Burgon, Revision Revised, p. 12, etc., and references.]

[3425] Luke i. 17.

[3426] See ii. 35, 3.

[3427] Mark xvi. 19.

[3428] Ps. cx. 1.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XI--Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John's Gospel. The
Gospels are four in number, neither more nor less. Mystic reasons for this.

1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by
the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus
had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those
termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so
called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is
but one God, who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege,
that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that
the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above
another, who also continued impassible, descending upon Jesus, the Son
of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that
Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes;
and that this creation to which we belong was not made by the primary
God, but by some power lying far below Him, and shut off from communion
with the things invisible and ineffable. The disciple of the Lord
therefore desiring to put an end to all such doctrines, and to
establish the rule of truth in the Church, that there is one Almighty
God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and invisible;
showing at the same time, that by the Word, through whom God made the
creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the
creation; thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel: "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without
Him was nothing made. [3429] What was made was life in Him, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not." [3430] "All things," he says, "were made
by Him;" therefore in "all things" this creation of ours is [included],
for we cannot concede to these men that [the words] "all things" are
spoken in reference to those within their Pleroma. For if their Pleroma
do indeed contain these, this creation, as being such, is not outside,
as I have demonstrated in the preceding book; [3431] but if they are
outside the Pleroma, which indeed appeared impossible, it follows, in
that case, that their Pleroma cannot be "all things:" therefore this
vast creation is not outside [the Pleroma].

2. John, however, does himself put this matter beyond all controversy
on our part, when he says, "He was in this world, and the world was
made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [things],
and His own [people] received Him not." [3432] But according to
Marcion, and those like him, neither was the world made by Him; nor did
He come to His own things, but to those of another. And, according to
certain of the Gnostics, this world was made by angels, and not by the
Word of God. But according to the followers of Valentinus, the world
was not made by Him, but by the Demiurge. For he (Soter) caused such
similitudes to be made, after the pattern of things above, as they
allege; but the Demiurge accomplished the work of creation. For they
say that he, the Lord and Creator of the plan of creation, by whom they
hold that this world was made, was produced from the Mother; while the
Gospel affirms plainly, that by the Word, which was in the beginning
with God, all things were made, which Word, he says, "was made flesh,
and dwelt among us." [3433]

3. But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor
Christ, nor the Saviour (Soter), who was produced from [the joint
contributions of] all [the Æons]. For they will have it, that the Word
and Christ never came into this world; that the Saviour, too, never
became incarnate, nor suffered, but that He descended like a dove upon
the dispensational Jesus; and that, as soon as He had declared the
unknown Father, He did again ascend into the Pleroma. Some, however,
make the assertion, that this dispensational Jesus did become
incarnate, and suffered, whom they represent as having passed through
Mary just as water through a tube; but others allege him to be the Son
of the Demiurge, upon whom the dispensational Jesus descended; while
others, again, say that Jesus was born from Joseph and Mary, and that
the Christ from above descended upon him, being without flesh, and
impassible. But according to the opinion of no one of the heretics was
the Word of God made flesh. For if anyone carefully examines the
systems of them all, he will find that the Word of God is brought in by
all of them as not having become incarnate (sine carne) and impassible,
as is also the Christ from above. Others consider Him to have been
manifested as a transfigured man; but they maintain Him to have been
neither born nor to have become incarnate; whilst others [hold] that He
did not assume a human form at all, but that, as a dove, He did descend
upon that Jesus who was born from Mary. Therefore the Lord's disciple,
pointing them all out as false witnesses, says, "And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us." [3434]

4. And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made
flesh? he does himself previously teach us, saying, "There was a man
sent from God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness, that he
might bear witness of that Light. He was not that Light, but [came]
that he might testify of the Light." [3435] By what God, then, was
John, the forerunner, who testifies of the Light, sent [into the
world]? Truly it was by Him, of whom Gabriel is the angel, who also
announced the glad tidings of his birth: [that God] who also had
promised by the prophets that He would send His messenger before the
face of His Son, [3436] who should prepare His way, that is, that he
should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and power of Elias.
[3437] But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the prophet?
Of Him who made heaven and earth, [3438] as he does himself confess.
John, therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this
world, how could he testify of that Light, which came down from things
unspeakable and invisible? For all the heretics have decided that the
Demiurge was ignorant of that Power above him, whose witness and herald
John is found to be. Wherefore the Lord said that He deemed him "more
than a prophet." [3439] For all the other prophets preached the advent
of the paternal Light, and desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they
preached; but John did both announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like
manner as did the others, and actually saw Him when He came, and
pointed Him out, and persuaded many to believe on Him, so that he did
himself hold the place of both prophet and apostle. For this is to be
more than a prophet, because, "first apostles, secondarily prophets;"
[3440] but all things from one and the same God Himself.

5. That wine, [3441] which was produced by God in a vineyard, and which
was first consumed, was good. None [3442] of those who drank of it
found fault with it; and the Lord partook of it also. But that wine was
better which the Word made from water, on the moment, and simply for
the use of those who had been called to the marriage. For although the
Lord had the power to supply wine to those feasting, independently of
any created substance, and to fill with food those who were hungry, He
did not adopt this course; but, taking the loaves which the earth had
produced, and giving thanks, [3443] and on the other occasion making
water wine, He satisfied those who were reclining [at table], and gave
drink to those who had been invited to the marriage; showing that the
God who made the earth, and commanded it to bring forth fruit, who
established the waters, and brought forth the fountains, was He who in
these last times bestowed upon mankind, by His Son, the blessing of
food and the favour of drink: the Incomprehensible [acting thus] by
means of the comprehensible, and the Invisible by the visible; since
there is none beyond Him, but He exists in the bosom of the Father.

6. For "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time," unless "the
only-begotten Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared [Him]." [3444] For He, the Son who is in His bosom, declares
to all the Father who is invisible. Wherefore they know Him to whom the
Son reveals Him; and again, the Father, by means of the Son, gives
knowledge of His Son to those who love Him. By whom also Nathanael,
being taught, recognised [Him], he to whom also the Lord bare witness,
that he was "an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile." [3445] The
Israelite recognised his King, therefore did he cry out to Him, "Rabbi,
Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel." By whom also
Peter, having been taught, recognised Christ as the Son of the living
God, when [God] said, "Behold My dearly beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased: I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall show judgment to
the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear
His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and
smoking flax shall He not quench, until He send forth judgment into
contention; [3446] and in His name shall the Gentiles trust." [3447]

7. Such, then, are the first principles of the Gospel: that there is
one God, the Maker of this universe; He who was also announced by the
prophets, and who by Moses set forth the dispensation of the
law,--[principles] which proclaim the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and ignore any other God or Father except Him. So firm is the ground
upon which these Gospels rest, that the very heretics themselves bear
witness to them, and, starting from these [documents], each one of them
endeavours to establish his own peculiar doctrine. For the Ebionites,
who use Matthew's Gospel [3448] only, are confuted out of this very
same, making false suppositions with regard to the Lord. But Marcion,
mutilating that according to Luke, is proved to be a blasphemer of the
only existing God, from those [passages] which he still retains. Those,
again, who separate Jesus from Christ, alleging that Christ remained
impassible, but that it was Jesus who suffered, preferring the Gospel
by Mark, if they read it with a love of truth, may have their errors
rectified. Those, moreover, who follow Valentinus, making copious use
of that according to John, to illustrate their conjunctions, shall be
proved to be totally in error by means of this very Gospel, as I have
shown in the first book. Since, then, our opponents do bear testimony
to us, and make use of these [documents], our proof derived from them
is firm and true.

8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in
number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in
which we live, and four principal winds, [3449] while the Church is
scattered throughout all the world, and the "pillar and ground" [3450]
of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that
she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side,
and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word,
the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains
all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under
four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says,
when entreating His manifestation, "Thou that sittest between the
cherubim, shine forth." [3451] For the cherubim, too, were four-faced,
and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For,
[as the Scripture] says, "The first living creature was like a lion,"
[3452] symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal
power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His]
sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but "the third had, as it were, the
face as of a man,"--an evident description of His advent as a human
being; "the fourth was like a flying eagle," pointing out the gift of
the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the
Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is
seated. For that according to John relates His original, effectual, and
glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [3453]
Also, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."
For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such
is His person. [3454] But that according to Luke, taking up [His]
priestly character, commenced with Zacharias the priest offering
sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be
immolated for [3455] the finding again of the younger son. Matthew,
again, relates His generation as a man, saying, "The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;"
[3456] and also, "The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise." This,
then, is the Gospel of His humanity; [3457] for which reason it is,
too, that [the character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through
the whole Gospel. Mark, on the other hand, commences with [a reference
to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying,
"The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in
Esaias the prophet,"--pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and
on this account he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such
is the prophetical character. And the Word of God Himself used to
converse with the ante-Mosaic patriarchs, in accordance with His
divinity and glory; but for those under the law he instituted a
sacerdotal and liturgical service. [3458] Afterwards, being made man
for us, He sent the gift of the celestial Spirit over all the earth,
protecting us with His wings. Such, then, as was the course followed by
the Son of God, so was also the form of the living creatures; and such
as was the form of the living creatures, so was also the character of
the Gospel. [3459] For the living creatures are quadriform, and the
Gospel is quadriform, as is also the course followed by the Lord. For
this reason were four principal (katholikai) covenants given to the
human race: [3460] one, prior to the deluge, under Adam; the second,
that after the deluge, under Noah; the third, the giving of the law,
under Moses; the fourth, that which renovates man, and sums up all
things in itself by means of the Gospel, raising and bearing men upon
its wings into the heavenly kingdom.

9. These things being so, all who destroy the form of the Gospel are
vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those, [I mean,] who represent the
aspects of the Gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid,
or, on the other hand, fewer. The former class [do so], that they may
seem to have discovered more than is of the truth; the latter, that
they may set the dispensations of God aside. For Marcion, rejecting the
entire Gospel, yea rather, cutting himself off from the Gospel, boasts
that he has part in the [blessings of] the Gospel. [3461] Others, again
(the Montanists), that they may set at nought the gift of the Spirit,
which in the latter times has been, by the good pleasure of the Father,
poured out upon the human race, do not admit that aspect [of the
evangelical dispensation] presented by John's Gospel, in which the Lord
promised that He would send the Paraclete; [3462] but set aside at once
both the Gospel and the prophetic Spirit. Wretched men indeed! who wish
to be pseudo-prophets, forsooth, but who set aside the gift of prophecy
from the Church; acting like those (the Encratitæ) [3463] who, on
account of such as come in hypocrisy, hold themselves aloof from the
communion of the brethren. We must conclude, moreover, that these men
(the Montanists) can not admit the Apostle Paul either. For, in his
Epistle to the Corinthians, [3464] he speaks expressly of prophetical
gifts, and recognises men and women prophesying in the Church. Sinning,
therefore, in all these particulars, against the Spirit of God, [3465]
they fall into the irremissible sin. But those who are from Valentinus,
being, on the other hand, altogether reckless, while they put forth
their own compositions, boast that they possess more Gospels than there
really are. Indeed, they have arrived at such a pitch of audacity, as
to entitle their comparatively recent writing "the Gospel of Truth,"
though it agrees in nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that
they have really no Gospel which is not full of blasphemy. For if what
they have published is the Gospel of truth, and yet is totally unlike
those which have been handed down to us from the apostles, any who
please may learn, as is shown from the Scriptures themselves, that that
which has been handed down from the apostles can no longer be reckoned
the Gospel of truth. But that these Gospels alone are true and
reliable, and admit neither an increase nor diminution of the aforesaid
number, I have proved by so many and such [arguments]. For, since God
made all things in due proportion and adaptation, it was fit also that
the outward aspect of the Gospel should be well arranged and
harmonized. The opinion of those men, therefore, who handed the Gospel
down to us, having been investigated, from their very fountainheads,
let us proceed also to the remaining apostles, and inquire into their
doctrine with regard to God; then, in due course we shall listen to the
very words of the Lord.
__________________________________________________________________

[3429] Irenæus frequently quotes this text, and always uses the
punctuation here adopted. Tertullian and many others of the Fathers
follow his example.

[3430] John i. 1, etc.

[3431] See ii. 1, etc.

[3432] John i. 10, 11.

[3433] John i. 14.

[3434] John i. 14.

[3435] John i. 6.

[3436] Mal. iii. 1.

[3437] Luke i. 17.

[3438] This evidently refers to 1 Kings xviii. 36, where Elijah invokes
God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc.

[3439] Matt. xi. 9; Luke vii. 26.

[3440] 1 Cor. xii. 28.

[3441] The transition here is so abrupt, that some critics suspect the
loss of part of the text before these words.

[3442] John ii. 3.

[3443] John vi. 11.

[3444] John i. 18.

[3445] John i. 47.

[3446] The reading neikos having been followed instead of nikos,
victory.

[3447] John i. 49, John vi. 69; Matt. xii. 18.

[3448] Harvey thinks that this is the Hebrew Gospel of which Irenæus
speaks in the opening of this book; but comp. Dr. Robert's Discussions
on the Gospels, part ii. chap. iv.

[3449] Literally, "four catholic spirits;" Greek, tessara katholika
pneumata: Latin, "quatuor principales spiritus."

[3450] 1 Tim. iii. 15.

[3451] Ps. lxxx. 1.

[3452] Rev. iv. 7.

[3453] John i. 1.

[3454] The above is the literal rendering of this very obscure
sentence; it is not at all represented in the Greek here preserved.

[3455] The Greek is huper: the Latin, "pro."

[3456] Matt. i. 1, 18.

[3457] The Greek text of this clause, literally rendered, is, "This
Gospel, then, is anthropomorphic."

[3458] Or, "a sacerdotal and liturgical order," following the fragment
of the Greek text recovered here. Harvey thinks that the old Latin
"actum" indicates the true reading of the original praxin, and that
taxin is an error. The earlier editors, however, are of a contrary
opinion.

[3459] That is, the appearance of the Gospel taken as a whole; it being
presented under a fourfold aspect.

[3460] A portion of the Greek has been preserved here, but it differs
materially from the old Latin version, which seems to represent the
original with greater exactness, and has therefore been followed. The
Greek represents the first covenant as having been given to Noah, at
the deluge, under the sign of the rainbow; the second as that given to
Abraham, under the sign of circumcision; the third, as being the giving
of the law, under Moses; and the fourth, as that of the Gospel, through
our Lord Jesus Christ. [Paradise with the tree of life, Adam with
Shechinah (Gen. iii. 24, Gen. iv. 16), Noah with the rainbow, Abraham
with circumcision, Moses with the ark, Messiah with the sacraments, and
heaven with the river of life, seem the complete system.]

[3461] The old Latin reads, "partem gloriatur se habere Evangelii."
Massuet changed partem into pariter, thinking that partem gave a sense
inconsistent with the Marcionite curtailment of St. Luke. Harvey,
however, observes: "But the Gospel, here means the blessings of the
Gospel, in which Marcion certainly claimed a share."

[3462] John xiv. 16, etc.

[3463] Slighting, as did some later heretics, the Pauline Epistles.

[3464] 1 Cor. xi. 4, 5.

[3465] Matt. xii. 31.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XII.--Doctrine of the rest of the apostles.

1. The Apostle Peter, therefore, after the resurrection of the Lord,
and His assumption into the heavens, being desirous of filling up the
number of the twelve apostles, and in electing into the place of Judas
any substitute who should be chosen by God, thus addressed those who
were present: "Men [and] brethren, this Scripture must needs have been
fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before
concerning Judas, which was made guide to them that took Jesus. For he
was numbered with us: [3466] ... Let his habitation be desolate, and
let no man dwell therein; [3467] and, His bishoprick let another take;"
[3468] --thus leading to the completion of the apostles, according to
the words spoken by David. Again, when the Holy Ghost had descended
upon the disciples, that they all might prophesy and speak with
tongues, and some mocked them, as if drunken with new wine, Peter said
that they were not drunken, for it was the third hour of the day; but
that this was what had been spoken by the prophet: "It shall come to
pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh, and they shall prophesy." [3469] The God, therefore, who did
promise by the prophet, that He would send His Spirit upon the whole
human race, was He who did send; and God Himself is announced by Peter
as having fulfilled His own promise.

2. For Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, hear my words; Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved by God among you by powers, and wonders, and signs,
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God, by the hands of wicked men ye have slain, affixing [to the cross]:
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it
was not possible that he should be holden of them. For David speaketh
concerning Him, [3470] I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for He
is on my right hand, lest I should be moved: therefore did my heart
rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also, my flesh shall rest in
hope: because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou
give Thy Holy One to see corruption." [3471] Then he proceeds to speak
confidently to them concerning the patriarch David, that he was dead
and buried, and that his sepulchre is with them to this day. He said,
"But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his body one should sit in his throne;
foreseeing this, he spake of the resurrection of Christ, that He was
not left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus," he
said, "hath God raised up, of which we all are witnesses: who, being
exalted by the right hand of God, receiving from the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this gift [3472] which ye now see
and hear. For David has not ascended into the heavens; but he saith
himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I
make Thy foes Thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Christ." [3473] And when the multitudes exclaimed, "What
shall we do then?" Peter says to them, "Repent, and be baptized
everyone of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." [3474] Thus the apostles did
not preach another God, or another Fulness; nor, that the Christ who
suffered and rose again was one, while he who flew off on high was
another, and remained impassible; but that there was one and the same
God the Father, and Christ Jesus who rose from the dead; and they
preached faith in Him, to those who did not believe on the Son of God,
and exhorted them out of the prophets, that the Christ whom God
promised to send, He sent in Jesus, whom they crucified and God raised
up.

3. Again, when Peter, accompanied by John, had looked upon the man lame
from his birth, before that gate of the temple which is called
Beautiful, sitting and seeking alms, he said to him, "Silver and gold I
have none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And immediately his legs and his feet
received strength; and he walked, and entered with them into the
temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." [3475] Then, when a
multitude had gathered around them from all quarters because of this
unexpected deed, Peter addressed them: "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye
at this; or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power
we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son, whom
ye delivered up for judgment, [3476] and denied in the presence of
Pilate, when he wished to let Him go. But ye were bitterly set against
[3477] the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you; but ye killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from
the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And in the faith of His name, him,
whom ye see and know, hath His name made strong; yea, the faith which
is by Him, hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you
all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did this
wickedness. [3478] ... But those things which God before had showed by
the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He hath
so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may
be blotted out, and that [3479] the times of refreshing may come to you
from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, prepared
for you beforehand, [3480] whom the heaven must indeed receive until
the times of the arrangement [3481] of all things, of which God hath
spoken by His holy prophets. For Moses truly said unto our fathers,
Your Lord God shall raise up to you a Prophet from your brethren, like
unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto
you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, whosoever will not
hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. And all
[the prophets] from Samuel, and henceforth, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the
prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be
blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son, sent Him
blessing you, that each may turn himself from his iniquities." [3482]
Peter, together with John, preached to them this plain message of glad
tidings, that the promise which God made to the fathers had been
fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly proclaiming another god, but the Son
of God, who also was made man, and suffered; thus leading Israel into
knowledge, and through Jesus preaching the resurrection of the dead,
[3483] and showing, that whatever the prophets had proclaimed as to the
suffering of Christ, these had God fulfilled.

4. For this reason, too, when the chief priests were assembled, Peter,
full of boldness, said to them, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, if we this day be examined by you of the good deed done to the
impotent man, by what means he has been made whole; be it known to you
all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which
was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head-stone of
the corner. [Neither is there salvation in any other: for] there is
none other name under heaven, which is given to men, whereby we must be
saved:" [3484] Thus the apostles did not change God, but preached to
the people that Christ was Jesus the crucified One, whom the same God
that had sent the prophets, being God Himself, raised up, and gave in
Him salvation to men.

5. They were confounded, therefore, both by this instance of healing
("for the man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing
took place" [3485] ), and by the doctrine of the apostles, and by the
exposition of the prophets, when the chief priests had sent away Peter
and John. [These latter] returned to the rest of their fellow-apostles
and disciples of the Lord, that is, to the Church, and related what had
occurred, and how courageously they had acted in the name of Jesus. The
whole Church, it is then said, "when they had heard that, lifted up the
voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who,
through the Holy Ghost, [3486] by the mouth of our father David, Thy
servant, hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine
vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a
truth, in this city, [3487] against Thy holy Son Jesus, whom Thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the
people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy hand and
Thy counsel determined before to be done." [3488] These [are the]
voices of the Church from which every Church had its origin; these are
the voices of the metropolis of the citizens of the new covenant; these
are the voices of the apostles; these are voices of the disciples of
the Lord, the truly perfect, who, after the assumption of the Lord,
were perfected by the Spirit, and called upon the God who made heaven,
and earth, and the sea,--who was announced by the prophets,-- and Jesus
Christ His Son, whom God anointed, and who knew no other [God]. For at
that time and place there was neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor the
rest of these subverters [of the truth], and their adherents. Wherefore
God, the Maker of all things, heard them. For it is said, "The place
was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness"
[3489] to every one that was willing to believe. [3490] "And with great
power," it is added, "gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus," [3491] saying to them, "The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam of wood:
Him hath God raised up by His right hand [3492] to be a Prince and
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we
are in this witnesses of these words; as also is the Holy Ghost, whom
God hath given to them that believe in Him." [3493] "And daily," it is
said, "in the temple, and from house to house, they ceased not to teach
and preach Christ Jesus," [3494] the Son of God. For this was the
knowledge of salvation, which renders those who acknowledge His Son's
advent perfect towards God.

6. But as some of these men impudently assert that the apostles, when
preaching among the Jews, could not declare to them another god besides
Him in whom they (their hearers [3495] ) believed, we say to them, that
if the apostles used to speak to people in accordance with the opinion
instilled into them of old, no one learned the truth from them, nor, at
a much earlier date, from the Lord; for they say that He did Himself
speak after the same fashion. Wherefore neither do these men themselves
know the truth; but since such was their opinion regarding God, they
had just received doctrine as they were able to hear it. According to
this manner of speaking, therefore, the rule of truth can be with
nobody; but all learners will ascribe this practice to all [teachers],
that just as every person thought, and as far as his capability
extended, so was also the language addressed to him. But the advent of
the Lord will appear superfluous and useless, if He did indeed come
intending to tolerate and to preserve each man's idea regarding God
rooted in him from of old. Besides this, also, it was a much heavier
task, that He whom the Jews had seen as a man, and had fastened to the
cross, should be preached as Christ the Son of God, their eternal King.
Since this, however, was so, they certainly did not speak to them in
accordance with their old belief. For they, who told them to their face
that they were the slayers of the Lord, would themselves also much more
boldly preach that Father who is above the Demiurge, and not what each
individual bid himself believe [respecting God]; and the sin was much
less, if indeed they had not fastened to the cross the superior Saviour
(to whom it behoved them to ascend), since He was impassible. For, as
they did not speak to the Gentiles in compliance with their notions,
but told them with boldness that their gods were no gods, but the idols
of demons; so would they in like manner have preached to the Jews, if
they had known another greater or more perfect Father, not nourishing
nor strengthening the untrue opinion of these men regarding God.
Moreover, while destroying the error of the Gentiles, and bearing them
away from their gods, they did not certainly induce another error upon
them; but, removing those which were no gods, they pointed out Him who
alone was God and the true Father.

7. From the words of Peter, therefore, which he addressed in Cæsarea to
Cornelius the centurion, and those Gentiles with him, to whom the word
of God was first preached, we can understand what the apostles used to
preach, the nature of their preaching, and their idea with regard to
God. For this Cornelius was, it is said, "a devout man, and one who
feared God with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and
praying to God always. He saw therefore, about the ninth hour of the
day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying, Thine alms are come
up for a memorial before God. Wherefore send to Simon, who is called
Peter." [3496] But when Peter saw the vision, in which the voice from
heaven said to him, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common," [3497] this happened [to teach him] that the God who had,
through the law, distinguished between clean and unclean, was He who
had purified the Gentiles through the blood of His Son--He whom also
Cornelius worshipped; to whom Peter, coming in, said, "Of a truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he
that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him."
[3498] He thus clearly indicates, that He whom Cornelius had previously
feared as God, of whom he had heard through the law and the prophets,
for whose sake also he used to give alms, is, in truth, God. The
knowledge of the Son was, however, wanting to him; therefore did
[Peter] add, "The word, ye know, which was published throughout all
Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached,
Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with
power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all those
things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom
they slew, hanging Him on a beam of wood: Him God raised up the third
day, and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto us,
witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and drink with Him after
the resurrection from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be
the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets witness,
that, through His name, every one that believeth in Him does receive
remission of sins." [3499] The apostles, therefore, did preach the Son
of God, of whom men were ignorant; and His advent, to those who had
been already instructed as to God; but they did not bring in another
god. For if Peter had known any such thing, he would have preached
freely to the Gentiles, that the God of the Jews was indeed one, but
the God of the Christians another; and all of them, doubtless, being
awe-struck because of the vision of the angel, would have believed
whatever he told them. But it is evident from Peter's words that he did
indeed still retain the God who was already known to them; but he also
bare witness to them that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Judge of
quick and dead, into whom he did also command them to be baptized for
the remission of sins; and not this alone, but he witnessed that Jesus
was Himself the Son of God, who also, having been anointed with the
Holy Spirit, is called Jesus Christ. And He is the same being that was
born of Mary, as the testimony of Peter implies. Can it really be, that
Peter was not at that time as yet in possession of the perfect
knowledge which these men discovered afterwards? According to them,
therefore, Peter was imperfect, and the rest of the apostles were
imperfect; and so it would be fitting that they, coming to life again,
should become disciples of these men, in order that they too might be
made perfect. But this is truly ridiculous. These men, in fact, are
proved to be not disciples of the apostles, but of their own wicked
notions. To this cause also are due the various opinions which exist
among them, inasmuch as each one adopted error just as he was capable
[3500] [of embracing it]. But the Church throughout all the world,
having its origin firm from the apostles, perseveres in one and the
same opinion with regard to God and His Son.

8. But again: Whom did Philip preach to the eunuch of the queen of the
Ethiopians, returning from Jerusalem, and reading Esaias the prophet,
when he and this man were alone together? Was it not He of whom the
prophet spoke: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb
dumb before the shearer, so He opened not the mouth?" "But who shall
declare His nativity? for His life shall be taken away from the earth."
[3501] [Philip declared] that this was Jesus, and that the Scripture
was fulfilled in Him; as did also the believing eunuch himself: and,
immediately requesting to be baptized, he said, "I believe Jesus Christ
to be the Son of God." [3502] This man was also sent into the regions
of Ethiopia, to preach what he had himself believed, that there was one
God preached by the prophets, but that the Son of this [God] had
already made [His] appearance in human nature (secundum hominem), and
had been led as a sheep to the slaughter; and all the other statements
which the prophets made regarding Him.

9. Paul himself also--after that the Lord spoke to him out of heaven,
and showed him that, in persecuting His disciples, he persecuted his
own Lord, and sent Ananias to him that he might recover his sight, and
be baptized--"preached," it is said, "Jesus in the synagogues at
Damascus, with all freedom of speech, that this is the Son of God, the
Christ." [3503] This is the mystery which he says was made known to him
by revelation, that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate, the same is
Lord of all, and King, and God, and Judge, receiving power from Him who
is the God of all, because He became "obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross." [3504] And inasmuch as this is true, when
preaching to the Athenians on the Areopagus--where, no Jews being
present, he had it in his power to preach God with freedom of
speech--he said to them: "God, who made the world, and all things
therein, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands; neither is He touched [3505] by men's hands, as though
He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things; who hath made from one blood the whole race of men to dwell
upon the face of the whole earth, [3506] predetermining the times
according to the boundary of their habitation, to seek the Deity, if by
any means they might be able to track Him out, or find Him, although He
be not far from each of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our
being, as certain men of your own have said, For we are also His
offspring. Inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not
to think that the Deity is like unto gold or silver, or stone graven by
art or man's device. Therefore God, winking at the times of ignorance,
does now command all men everywhere to turn to Him with repentance;
because He hath appointed a day, on which the world shall be judged in
righteousness by the man Jesus; whereof He hath given assurance by
raising Him from the dead." [3507] Now in this passage he does not only
declare to them God as the Creator of the world, no Jews being present,
but that He did also make one race of men to dwell upon all the earth;
as also Moses declared: "When the Most High divided the nations, as He
scattered the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations after the
number of the angels of God;" [3508] but that people which believes in
God is not now under the power of angels, but under the Lord's [rule].
"For His people Jacob was made the portion of the Lord, Israel the cord
of His inheritance." [3509] And again, at Lystra of Lycia (Lycaonia),
when Paul was with Barnabas, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
had made a man to walk who had been lame from his birth, and when the
crowd wished to honour them as gods because of the astonishing deed, he
said to them: "We are men like unto you, preaching to you God, that ye
may be turned away from these vain idols to [serve] the living God, who
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein;
who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways,
although He left not Himself without witness, performing acts of
goodness, giving you rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling
your hearts with food and gladness." [3510] But that all his Epistles
are consonant to these declarations, I shall, when expounding the
apostle, show from the Epistles themselves, in the right place. But
while I bring out by these proofs the truths of Scripture, and set
forth briefly and compendiously things which are stated in various
ways, do thou also attend to them with patience, and not deem them
prolix; taking this into account, that proofs [of the things which are]
contained in the Scriptures cannot be shown except from the Scriptures
themselves.

10. And still further, Stephen, who was chosen the first deacon by the
apostles, and who, of all men, was the first to follow the footsteps of
the martyrdom of the Lord, being the first that was slain for
confessing Christ, speaking boldly among the people, and teaching them,
says: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, ... and said to
him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into
the land which I shall show thee; ... and He removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell. And He gave him none inheritance in it, no,
not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give
it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him. ... And God
spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and
should be brought into bondage, and should be evil-entreated four
hundred years; and the nation whom they shall serve will I judge, says
the Lord. And after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this
place. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so [Abraham]
begat Isaac." [3511] And the rest of his words announce the same God,
who was with Joseph and with the patriarchs, and who spake with Moses.

11. And that the whole range of the doctrine of the apostles proclaimed
one and the same God, who removed Abraham, who made to him the promise
of inheritance, who in due season gave to him the covenant of
circumcision, who called his descendants out of Egypt, preserved
outwardly by circumcision--for he gave it as a sign, that they might
not be like the Egyptians--that He was the Maker of all things, that He
was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He was the God of
glory,--they who wish may learn from the very words and acts of the
apostles, and may contemplate the fact that this God is one, above whom
is no other. But even if there were another god above Him, we should
say, upon [instituting] a comparison of the quantity [of the work done
by each], that the latter is superior to the former. For by deeds the
better man appears, as I have already remarked; [3512] and, inasmuch as
these men have no works of their father to adduce, the latter is shown
to be God alone. But if any one, "doting about questions," [3513] do
imagine that what the apostles have declared about God should be
allegorized, let him consider my previous statements, in which I set
forth one God as the Founder and Maker of all things, and destroyed and
laid bare their allegations; and he shall find them agreeable to the
doctrine of the apostles, and so to maintain what they used to teach,
and were persuaded of, that there is one God, the Maker of all things.
And when he shall have divested his mind of such error, and of that
blasphemy against God which it implies, he will of himself find reason
to acknowledge that both the Mosaic law and the grace of the new
covenant, as both fitted for the times [at which they were given], were
bestowed by one and the same God for the benefit of the human race.

12. For all those who are of a perverse mind, having been set against
the Mosaic legislation, judging it to be dissimilar and contrary to the
doctrine of the Gospel, have not applied themselves to investigate the
causes of the difference of each covenant. Since, therefore, they have
been deserted by the paternal love, and puffed up by Satan, being
brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have apostatized in
their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have
themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another
god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still
somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they
themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the
apostles. Wherefore also Marcion and his followers have betaken
themselves to mutilating the Scriptures, not acknowledging some books
at all; and, curtailing the Gospel according to Luke and the Epistles
of Paul, they assert that these are alone authentic, which they have
themselves thus shortened. In another work, [3514] however, I shall,
God granting [me strength], refute them out of these which they still
retain. But all the rest, inflated with the false name of "knowledge,"
do certainly recognise the Scriptures; but they pervert the
interpretations, as I have shown in the first book. And, indeed, the
followers of Marcion do directly blaspheme the Creator, alleging him to
be the creator of evils, [but] holding a more tolerable [3515] theory
as to his origin, [and] maintaining that there are two beings, gods by
nature, differing from each other,--the one being good, but the other
evil. Those from Valentinus, however, while they employ names of a more
honourable kind, and set forth that He who is Creator is both Father,
and Lord, and God, do [nevertheless] render their theory or sect more
blasphemous, by maintaining that He was not produced from any one of
those Æons within the Pleroma, but from that defect which had been
expelled beyond the Pleroma. Ignorance of the Scriptures and of the
dispensation of God has brought all these things upon them. And in the
course of this work I shall touch upon the cause of the difference of
the covenants on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of their unity
and harmony.

13. But that both the apostles and their disciples thus taught as the
Church preaches, and thus teaching were perfected, wherefore also they
were called away to that which is perfect-- Stephen, teaching these
truths, when he was yet on earth, saw the glory of God, and Jesus on
His right hand, and exclaimed, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." [3516] These words
he said, and was stoned; and thus did he fulfil the perfect doctrine,
copying in every respect the Leader of martyrdom, and praying for those
who were slaying him, in these words: "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." Thus were they perfected who knew one and the same God, who
from beginning to end was present with mankind in the various
dispensations; as the prophet Hosea declares: "I have filled up
visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets." [3517]
Those, therefore, who delivered up their souls to death for Christ's
Gospel--how could they have spoken to men in accordance with
old-established opinion? If this had been the course adopted by them,
they should not have suffered; but inasmuch as they did preach things
contrary to those persons who did not assent to the truth, for that
reason they suffered. It is evident, therefore, that they did not
relinquish the truth, but with all boldness preached to the Jews and
Greeks. To the Jews, indeed, [they proclaimed] that the Jesus who was
crucified by them was the Son of God, the Judge of quick and dead, and
that He has received from His Father an eternal kingdom in Israel, as I
have pointed out; but to the Greeks they preached one God, who made all
things, and Jesus Christ His Son.

14. This is shown in a still clearer light from the letter of the
apostles, which they forwarded neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks,
but to those who from the Gentiles believed in Christ, confirming their
faith. For when certain men had come down from Judea to Antioch--where
also, first of all, the Lord's disciples were called Christians,
because of their faith in Christ--and sought to persuade those who had
believed on the Lord to be circumcised, and to perform other things
after the observance of the law; and when Paul and Barnabas had gone up
to Jerusalem to the apostles on account of this question, and the whole
Church had convened together, Peter thus addressed them: "Men,
brethren, ye know how that from the days of old God made choice among
you, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel,
and believe. And God, the Searcher of the heart, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as to us; and put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why
tempt ye God, to impose a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that,
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be saved, even as
they." [3518] After him James spoke as follows: "Men, brethren, Simon
hath declared how God did purpose to take from among the Gentiles a
people for His name. And thus [3519] do the words of the prophets
agree, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again
the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build the
ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men may seek
after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, among whom my name has been
invoked, saith the Lord, doing these things. [3520] Known from eternity
is His work to God. Wherefore I for my part give judgment, that we
trouble not them who from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but
that it be enjoined them, that they do abstain from the vanities of
idols, and from fornication, and from blood; and whatsoever [3521] they
wish not to be done to themselves, let them not do to others." [3522]
And when these things had been said, and all had given their consent,
they wrote to them after this manner: "The apostles, and the
presbyters, [and] the brethren, unto those brethren from among the
Gentiles who are in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, greeting:
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain persons going out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be
circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: it
seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen
men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul; men who have delivered
up their soul for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent
therefore Judas and Silas, that they may declare our opinion by word of
mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you
no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from
meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from fornication; and
whatsoever ye do not wish to be done to you, do not ye to others: from
which preserving yourselves, ye shall do well, walking [3523] in the
Holy Spirit." From all these passages, then, it is evident that they
did not teach the existence of another Father, but gave the new
covenant of liberty to those who had lately believed in God by the Holy
Spirit. But they clearly indicated, from the nature of the point
debated by them, as to whether or not it were still necessary to
circumcise the disciples, that they had no idea of another god.

15. Neither [in that case] would they have had such a tenor with regard
to the first covenant, as not even to have been willing to eat with the
Gentiles. For even Peter, although he had been sent to instruct them,
and had been constrained by a vision to that effect, spake nevertheless
with not a little hesitation, saying to them: "Ye know how it is an
unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company with, or to come
unto, one of another nation; but God hath shown me that I should not
call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I without gainsaying;"
[3524] indicating by these words, that he would not have come to them
unless he had been commanded. Neither, for a like reason, would he have
given them baptism so readily, had he not heard them prophesying when
the Holy Ghost rested upon them. And therefore did he exclaim, "Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received
the Holy Ghost as well as we?" [3525] He persuaded, at the same time,
those that were with him, and pointed out that, unless the Holy Ghost
had rested upon them, there might have been some one who would have
raised objections to their baptism. And the apostles who were with
James allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding us up to the Spirit
of God. But they themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in
the ancient observances; so that even Peter, fearing also lest he might
incur their reproof, although formerly eating with the Gentiles,
because of the vision, and of the Spirit who had rested upon them, yet,
when certain persons came from James, withdrew himself, and did not eat
with them. And Paul said that Barnabas likewise did the same thing.
[3526] Thus did the apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses of every
action and of every doctrine--for upon all occasions do we find Peter,
and James, and John present with Him--scrupulously act according to the
dispensation of the Mosaic law, showing that it was from one and the
same God; which they certainly never would have done, as I have already
said, if they had learned from the Lord [that there existed] another
Father besides Him who appointed the dispensation of the law.
__________________________________________________________________

[3466] Acts i. 16, etc.

[3467] Ps. lxix. 25.

[3468] Ps. cix. 8.

[3469] Joel ii. 28.

[3470] Ps. xv. 8.

[3471] Acts ii. 22-27.

[3472] The word doron or dorema is supposed by some to have existed in
the earliest Greek texts, although not found in any extant now. It is
thus quoted by others besides Irenæus.

[3473] Acts ii. 30-37.

[3474] Acts ii. 37, 38.

[3475] Acts iii. 6, etc.

[3476] These interpolations are also found in the Codex Bezæ.

[3477] These interpolations are also found in the Codex Bezæ.

[3478] These interpolations are also found in the Codex Bezæ.

[3479] "Et veniant" in Latin text: hopos an elthosin in Greek. The
translation of these Greek words by "when ... come," is one of the most
glaring errors in the authorized English version.

[3480] Irenæus, like the majority of the early authorities, manifestly
read prokecheirismenon instead of prokekerugmenon, as in textus
receptus.

[3481] Dispositionis.

[3482] Acts iii. 12, etc.

[3483] Acts iv. 2.

[3484] Acts iv. 8, etc.

[3485] Acts iv. 22.

[3486] These words, though not in textus receptus, are found in some
ancient mss. and versions; but not the words "our father," which
follow.

[3487] "In hac civitate" are words not represented in the textus
receptus, but have a place in all modern critical editions of the New
Testament.

[3488] Acts iv. 24, etc.

[3489] Acts iv. 31.

[3490] The Latin is, "ut convertat se unusquisque."

[3491] Acts iv. 33.

[3492] This is following Grabe's emendation of the text. The old Latin
reads "gloria sua," the translator having evidently mistaken dexia for
doxe.

[3493] Acts v. 30.

[3494] Acts v. 42.

[3495] These words have apparently been omitted through inadvertence.

[3496] Acts x. 1-5.

[3497] Acts x. 15.

[3498] Acts x. 34, 35.

[3499] Acts x. 37-44.

[3500] Quemadmodum capiebat; perhaps, "just as it presented itself to
him."

[3501] Acts viii. 32; Isa. liii. 7, 8.

[3502] Acts viii. 37.

[3503] Acts ix. 20.

[3504] Phil. ii. 8.

[3505] Latin translation, tractatur; which Harvey thinks affords a
conclusive proof that Irenæus occasionally quotes Scripture by
re-translating from the Syriac.

[3506] It will be observed that Scripture is here very loosely quoted.

[3507] Acts xvii. 24, etc.

[3508] Deut. xxxii. 8 [LXX.].

[3509] Deut. xxxii. 9.

[3510] Acts xiv. 15-17.

[3511] Acts vii. 2-8.

[3512] Book ii. ch. xxx. 2.

[3513] 1 Tim. vi. 4.

[3514] No reference is made to this promised work in the writings of
his successors. Probably it never was undertaken.

[3515] Most of the mss. read "intolerabiliorem," but one reads as
above, and is followed by all the editors.

[3516] Acts vii. 56.

[3517] Hos. xii. 10.

[3518] Acts xv. 15, etc.

[3519] Irenæus manifestly read houtos for touto, and in this he agrees
with Codex Bezæ. We may remark, once for all, that in the variations
from the received text of the New Testament which occur in our author,
his quotations are very often in accordance with the readings of the
Cambridge ms.

[3520] Amos ix. 11, 12.

[3521] This addition is also found in Codex Bezæ, and in Cyprian and
others.

[3522] Acts xv. 14, etc.

[3523] Another addition, also found in the Codex Bezæ, and in
Tertullian.

[3524] Acts x. 28, 29.

[3525] Acts x. 47.

[3526] Gal. ii. 12, 13.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XIII--Refutation of the opinion, that Paul was the only apostle who
had knowledge of the truth.

1. With regard to those (the Marcionites) who allege that Paul alone
knew the truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by
revelation, let Paul himself convict them, when he says, that one and
the same God wrought in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision,
and in himself for the Gentiles. [3527] Peter, therefore, was an
apostle of that very God whose was also Paul; and Him whom Peter
preached as God among those of the circumcision, and likewise the Son
of God, did Paul [declare] also among the Gentiles. For our Lord never
came to save Paul alone, nor is God so limited in means, that He should
have but one apostle who knew the dispensation of His Son. And again,
when Paul says, "How beautiful are the feet of those bringing glad
tidings of good things, and preaching the Gospel of peace," [3528] he
shows clearly that it was not merely one, but there were many who used
to preach the truth. And again, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when
he had recounted all those who had seen God [3529] after the
resurrection, he says in continuation, "But whether it were I or they,
so we preach, and so ye believed," [3530] acknowledging as one and the
same, the preaching of all those who saw God [3531] after the
resurrection from the dead.

2. And again, the Lord replied to Philip, who wished to behold the
Father, "Have I been so long a time with you, and yet thou hast not
known Me, Philip? He that sees Me, sees also the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Show us the Father? For I am in the Father, and the Father
in Me; and henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." [3532] To these
men, therefore, did the Lord bear witness, that in Himself they had
both known and seen the Father (and the Father is truth). To allege,
then, that these men did not know the truth, is to act the part of
false witnesses, and of those who have been alienated from the doctrine
of Christ. For why did the Lord send the twelve apostles to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, [3533] if these men did not know the
truth? How also did the seventy preach, unless they had themselves
previously known the truth of what was preached? Or how could Peter
have been in ignorance, to whom the Lord gave testimony, that flesh and
blood had not revealed to him, but the Father, who is in heaven? [3534]
Just, then, as "Paul [was] an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ, and God the Father," [3535] [so with the rest;] [3536]
the Son indeed leading them to the Father, but the Father revealing to
them the Son.

3. But that Paul acceded to [the request of] those who summoned him to
the apostles, on account of the question [which had been raised], and
went up to them, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, not without reason, but
that the liberty of the Gentiles might be confirmed by them, he does
himself say, in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Then, fourteen years
after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also Titus.
But I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that Gospel which
I preached among the Gentiles." [3537] And again he says, "For an hour
we did give place to subjection, [3538] that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you." If, then, any one shall, from the Acts of the
Apostles, carefully scrutinize the time concerning which it is written
that he went up to Jerusalem on account of the forementioned question,
he will find those years mentioned by Paul coinciding with it. Thus the
statement of Paul harmonizes with, and is, as it were, identical with,
the testimony of Luke regarding the apostles.
__________________________________________________________________

[3527] Gal. ii. 8.

[3528] Rom. x. 15; Isa. lii. 7.

[3529] All the previous editors accept the reading Deum without remark,
but Harvey argues that it must be regarded as a mistake for Dominum. He
scarcely seems, however, to give sufficient weight to the quotation
which immediately follows.

[3530] 1 Cor. xv. 11.

[3531] See note 9, p. 436.

[3532] John xiv. 7, 9, 10.

[3533] Matt. x. 6.

[3534] Matt. xvi. 17.

[3535] Gal. i. 1.

[3536] Some such supplement seems necessary, as Grabe suggests, though
Harvey contends that no apodosis is requisite.

[3537] Gal. ii. 1, 2.

[3538] Latin, "Ad horam cessimus subjectioni" (Gal. ii. 5). Irenæus
gives it an altogether different meaning from that which it has in the
received text. Jerome says that there was as much variation in the
copies of Scripture in his day with regard to the passage,--some
retaining, others rejecting the negative (Adv. Marc. v. 3).
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XIV.--If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other
apostles, Luke, his constant companion and fellow-traveller, could not have
been ignorant of them; neither could the truth have possibly lain hid from
him, through whom alone we learn many and most important particulars of the
Gospel history.

1. But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his
fellow-labourer in the Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a
matter of boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself. For he
says that when Barnabas, and John who was called Mark, had parted
company from Paul, and sailed to Cyprus, "we came to Troas;" [3539] and
when Paul had beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, "Come into
Macedonia, Paul, and help us," "immediately," he says, "we endeavoured
to go into Macedonia, understanding that the Lord had called us to
preach the Gospel unto them. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we directed
our ship's course towards Samothracia." And then he carefully indicates
all the rest of their journey as far as Philippi, and how they
delivered their first address: "for, sitting down," he says, "we spake
unto the women who had assembled;" [3540] and certain believed, even a
great many. And again does he say, "But we sailed from Philippi after
the days of unleavened bread, and came to Troas, where we abode seven
days." [3541] And all the remaining [details] of his course with Paul
he recounts, indicating with all diligence both places, and cities, and
number of days, until they went up to Jerusalem; and what befell Paul
there, [3542] how he was sent to Rome in bonds; the name of the
centurion who took him in charge; [3543] and the signs of the ships,
and how they made shipwreck; [3544] and the island upon which they
escaped, and how they received kindness there, Paul healing the chief
man of that island; and how they sailed from thence to Puteoli, and
from that arrived at Rome; and for what period they sojourned at Rome.
As Luke was present at all these occurrences, he carefully noted them
down in writing, so that he cannot be convicted of falsehood or
boastfulness, because all these [particulars] proved both that he was
senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and that he was not
ignorant of the truth. That he was not merely a follower, but also a
fellow-labourer of the apostles, but especially of Paul, Paul has
himself declared also in the Epistles, saying: "Demas hath forsaken me,
... and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to
Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me." [3545] From this he shows that he was
always attached to and inseparable from him. And again he says, in the
Epistle to the Colossians: "Luke, the beloved physician, greets you."
[3546] But surely if Luke, who always preached in company with Paul,
and is called by him "the beloved," and with him performed the work of
an evangelist, and was entrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, learned
nothing different from him (Paul), as has been pointed out from his
words, how can these men, who were never attached to Paul, boast that
they have learned hidden and unspeakable mysteries?

2. But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew, not only to those
who were [employed] with him, but to those that heard him, he does
himself make manifest. For when the bishops and presbyters who came
from Ephesus and the other cities adjoining had assembled in Miletus,
since he was himself hastening to Jerusalem to observe Pentecost, after
testifying many things to them, and declaring what must happen to him
at Jerusalem, he added: "I know that ye shall see my face no more.
Therefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood
of all. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of
God. Take heed, therefore, both to yourselves, and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church
of the Lord, [3547] which He has acquired for Himself through His own
blood." [3548] Then, referring to the evil teachers who should arise,
he said: "I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves come to
you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." "I have
not shunned," he says, "to declare unto you all the counsel of God."
Thus did the apostles simply, and without respect of persons, deliver
to all what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also does
Luke, without respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned
from them, as he has himself testified, saying, "Even as they delivered
them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers
of the Word." [3549]

3. Now if any man set Luke aside, as one who did not know the truth, he
will, [by so acting,] manifestly reject that Gospel of which he claims
to be a disciple. For through him we have become acquainted with very
many and important parts of the Gospel; for instance, the generation of
John, the history of Zacharias, the coming of the angel to Mary, the
exclamation of Elisabeth, the descent of the angels to the shepherds,
the words spoken by them, the testimony of Anna and of Simeon with
regard to Christ, and that twelve years of age He was left behind at
Jerusalem; also the baptism of John, the number of the Lord's years
when He was baptized, and that this occurred in the fifteenth year of
Tiberius Cæsar. And in His office of teacher this is what He has said
to the rich: "Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your
consolation;" [3550] and "Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall
hunger; and ye who laugh now, for ye shall weep;" and, "Woe unto you
when all men shall speak well of you: for so did your fathers to the
false prophets." All things of the following kind we have known through
Luke alone (and numerous actions of the Lord we have learned through
him, which also all [the Evangelists] notice): the multitude of fishes
which Peter's companions enclosed, when at the Lord's command they cast
the nets; [3551] the woman who had suffered for eighteen years, and was
healed on the Sabbath-day; [3552] the man who had the dropsy, whom the
Lord made whole on the Sabbath, and how He did defend Himself for
having performed an act of healing on that day; how He taught His
disciples not to aspire to the uppermost rooms; how we should invite
the poor and feeble, who cannot recompense us; the man who knocked
during the night to obtain loaves, and did obtain them, because of the
urgency of his importunity; [3553] how, when [our Lord] was sitting at
meat with a Pharisee, a woman that was a sinner kissed His feet, and
anointed them with ointment, with what the Lord said to Simon on her
behalf concerning the two debtors; [3554] also about the parable of
that rich man who stored up the goods which had accrued to him, to whom
it was also said, "In this night they shall demand thy soul from thee;
whose then shall those things be which thou hast prepared?" [3555] and
similar to this, that of the rich man, who was clothed in purple and
who fared sumptuously, and the indigent Lazarus; [3556] also the answer
which He gave to His disciples when they said, "Increase our faith;"
[3557] also His conversation with Zaccheus the publican; [3558] also
about the Pharisee and the publican, who were praying in the temple at
the same time; [3559] also the ten lepers, whom He cleansed in the way
simultaneously; [3560] also how He ordered the lame and the blind to be
gathered to the wedding from the lanes and streets; [3561] also the
parable of the judge who feared not God, whom the widow's importunity
led to avenge her cause; [3562] and about the fig-tree in the vineyard
which produced no fruit. There are also many other particulars to be
found mentioned by Luke alone, which are made use of by both Marcion
and Valentinus. And besides all these, [he records] what [Christ] said
to His disciples in the way, after the resurrection, and how they
recognised Him in the breaking of bread. [3563]

4. It follows then, as of course, that these men must either receive
the rest of his narrative, or else reject these parts also. For no
persons of common sense can permit them to receive some things
recounted by Luke as being true, and to set others aside, as if he had
not known the truth. And if indeed Marcion's followers reject these,
they will then possess no Gospel; for, curtailing that according to
Luke, as I have said already, they boast in having the Gospel [in what
remains]. But the followers of Valentinus must give up their utterly
vain talk; for they have taken from that [Gospel] many occasions for
their own speculations, to put an evil interpretation upon what he has
well said. If, on the other hand, they feel compelled to receive the
remaining portions also, then, by studying the perfect Gospel, and the
doctrine of the apostles, they will find it necessary to repent, that
they may be saved from the danger [to which they are exposed].
__________________________________________________________________

[3539] Acts xvi. 8, etc.

[3540] Acts xvi. 13.

[3541] Acts xx. 5, 6.

[3542] Acts xxi.

[3543] Acts xxvii.

[3544] Acts xxviii. 11.

[3545] 2 Tim. iv. 10, 11.

[3546] Col. iv. 14.

[3547] In this very important passage of Scripture, Irenæus manifestly
read Kuriou instead of Theou, which is found in text. rec. The Codex
Bezæ has the same reading; but all the other most ancient mss. agree
with the received text.

[3548] Acts xx. 25, etc.

[3549] Luke i. 2.

[3550] Luke vi. 24, etc.

[3551] Luke v.

[3552] Luke xiii.

[3553] Luke xi.

[3554] Luke vii.

[3555] Luke xii. 20.

[3556] Luke xvi.

[3557] Luke xvii. 5.

[3558] Luke xix.

[3559] Luke xviii.

[3560] Luke xvii.

[3561] Luke xviii.

[3562] Luke xiii.

[3563] Luke xxiv.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XV.--Refutation of the Ebionites, who disparaged the authority of St.
Paul, from the writings of St. Luke, which must be received as a whole.
Exposure of the hypocrisy, deceit, and pride of the Gnostics. The apostles and
their disciples knew and preached one God, the Creator of the world.

1. But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise
Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of
the Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make
use of them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must
necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke)
tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven: "Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutest;"
[3564] and then to Ananias, saying regarding him: "Go thy way; for he
is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name among the Gentiles, and
kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him, from this time,
how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." [3565] Those,
therefore, who do not accept of him [as a teacher], who was chosen by
God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as being sent
to the forementioned nations, do despise the election of God, and
separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can
they contend that Paul was no apostle, when he was chosen for this
purpose; nor can they prove Luke guilty of falsehood, when he proclaims
the truth to us with all diligence. It may be, indeed, that it was with
this view that God set forth very many Gospel truths, through Luke's
instrumentality, which all should esteem it necessary to use, in order
that all persons, following his subsequent testimony, which treats upon
the acts and the doctrine of the apostles, and holding the
unadulterated rule of truth, may be saved. His testimony, therefore, is
true, and the doctrine of the apostles is open and stedfast, holding
nothing in reserve; nor did they teach one set of doctrines in private,
and another in public.

2. For this is the subterfuge of false persons, evil seducers, and
hypocrites, as they act who are from Valentinus. These men discourse to
the multitude about those who belong to the Church, whom they do
themselves term "vulgar," and "ecclesiastic." [3566] By these words
they entrap the more simple, and entice them, imitating our
phraseology, that these [dupes] may listen to them the oftener; and
then these are asked [3567] regarding us, how it is, that when they
hold doctrines similar to ours, we, without cause, keep ourselves aloof
from their company; and [how it is, that] when they say the same
things, and hold the same doctrine, we call them heretics? When they
have thus, by means of questions, overthrown the faith of any, and
rendered them uncontradicting hearers of their own, they describe to
them in private the unspeakable mystery of their Pleroma. But they are
altogether deceived, who imagine that they may learn from the
Scriptural texts adduced by heretics, that [doctrine] which their words
plausibly teach. [3568] For error is plausible, and bears a resemblance
to the truth, but requires to be disguised; while truth is without
disguise, and therefore has been entrusted to children. And if any one
of their auditors do indeed demand explanations, or start objections to
them, they affirm that he is one not capable of receiving the truth,
and not having from above the seed [derived] from their Mother; and
thus really give him no reply, but simply declare that he is of the
intermediate regions, that is, belongs to animal natures. But if any
one do yield himself up to them like a little sheep, and follows out
their practice, and their "redemption," such an one is puffed up to
such an extent, that he thinks he is neither in heaven nor on earth,
but that he has passed within the Pleroma; and having already embraced
his angel, he walks with a strutting gait and a supercilious
countenance, possessing all the pompous air of a cock. There are those
among them who assert that that man who comes from above ought to
follow a good course of conduct; wherefore they do also pretend a
gravity [of demeanour] with a certain superciliousness. The majority,
however, having become scoffers also, as if already perfect, and living
without regard [to appearances], yea, in contempt [of that which is
good], call themselves "the spiritual," and allege that they have
already become acquainted with that place of refreshing which is within
their Pleroma.

3. But let us revert to the same line of argument [hitherto pursued].
For when it has been manifestly declared, that they who were the
preachers of the truth and the apostles of liberty termed no one else
God, or named him Lord, except the only true God the Father, and His
Word, who has the pre-eminence in all things; it shall then be clearly
proved, that they (the apostles) confessed as the Lord God Him who was
the Creator of heaven and earth, who also spoke with Moses, gave to him
the dispensation of the law, and who called the fathers; and that they
knew no other. The opinion of the apostles, therefore, and of those
(Mark and Luke) who learned from their words, concerning God, has been
made manifest.
__________________________________________________________________

[3564] Acts xxii. 8, Acts xxvi. 15.

[3565] Acts ix. 15, 16.

[3566] Latin, "communes et ecclesiasticos:" katholikous is translated
here "communes," as for some time after the word catholicus had not
been added to the Latin language in its ecclesiastical sense. [The
Roman Creed was remarkable for its omission of the word Catholic. See
Bingham, Antiquities, book x. cap. iv. sect 11.]

[3567] We here follow the text of Harvey, who prints, without remark,
quæruntur, instead of queruntur, as in Migne's edition.

[3568] Such is the sense educed by Harvey from the old Latin version,
which thus runs: "Decipiuntur autem omnes, qui quod est in verbis
verisimile, se putant posse discere a veritate." For "omnes" he would
read "omnino," and he discards the emendation proposed by the former
editors, viz., "discernere" for "discere."
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVI.--Proofs from the apostolic writings, that Jesus Christ was one
and the same, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man.

1. But [3569] there are some who say that Jesus was merely a receptacle
of Christ, upon whom the Christ, as a dove, descended from above, and
that when He had declared the unnameable Father He entered into the
Pleroma in an incomprehensible and invisible manner: for that He was
not comprehended, not only by men, but not even by those powers and
virtues which are in heaven, and that Jesus was the Son, but that
[3570] Christ was the Father, and the Father of Christ, God; while
others say that He merely suffered in outward appearance, being
naturally impassible. The Valentinians, again, maintain that the
dispensational Jesus was the same who passed through Mary, upon whom
that Saviour from the more exalted [region] descended, who was also
termed Pan, [3571] because He possessed the names (vocabula) of all
those who had produced Him; but that [this latter] shared with Him, the
dispensational one, His power and His name; so that by His means death
was abolished, but the Father was made known by that Saviour who had
descended from above, whom they do also allege to be Himself the
receptacle of Christ and of the entire Pleroma; confessing, indeed, in
tongue one Christ Jesus, but being divided in [actual] opinion: for, as
I have already observed, it is the practice of these men to say that
there was one Christ, who was produced by Monogenes, for the
confirmation of the Pleroma; but that another, the Saviour, was sent
[forth] for the glorification of the Father; and yet another, the
dispensational one, and whom they represent as having suffered, who
also bore [in himself] Christ, that Saviour who returned into the
Pleroma. I judge it necessary therefore to take into account the entire
mind of the apostles regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that
not only did they never hold any such opinions regarding Him; but,
still further, that they announced through the Holy Spirit, that those
who should teach such doctrines were agents of Satan, sent forth for
the purpose of overturning the faith of some, and drawing them away
from life.

2. That John knew the one and the same Word of God, and that He was the
only begotten, and that He became incarnate for our salvation, Jesus
Christ our Lord, I have sufficiently proved from the word of John
himself. And Matthew, too, recognising one and the same Jesus Christ,
exhibiting his generation as a man from the Virgin, [3572] even as God
did promise David that He would raise up from the fruit of his body an
eternal King, having made the same promise to Abraham a long time
previously, says: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham." [3573] Then, that he might free our mind
from suspicion regarding Joseph, he says: "But the birth of Christ
[3574] was on this wise. When His mother was espoused to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Then,
when Joseph had it in contemplation to put Mary away, since she proved
with child, [Matthew tells us of] the angel of God standing by him, and
saying: "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from
their sins. Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken of the Lord by the prophet: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, God
with us;" clearly signifying that both the promise made to the fathers
had been accomplished, that the Son of God was born of a virgin, and
that He Himself was Christ the Saviour whom the prophets had foretold;
not, as these men assert, that Jesus was He who was born of Mary, but
that Christ was He who descended from above. Matthew might certainly
have said, "Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise;" but the Holy
Ghost, foreseeing the corrupters [of the truth], and guarding by
anticipation against their deceit, says by Matthew, "But the birth of
Christ was on this wise;" and that He is Emmanuel, lest perchance we
might consider Him as a mere man: for "not by the will of the flesh nor
by the will of man, but by the will of God was the Word made flesh;"
[3575] and that we should not imagine that Jesus was one, and Christ
another, but should know them to be one and the same.

3. Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point:
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestinated unto the Gospel of
God, which He had promised by His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according
to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through
the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord
Jesus Christ." [3576] And again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he
says: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the
flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever." [3577] And again, in his
Epistle to the Galatians, he says: "But when the fulness of time had
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption;" [3578] plainly indicating one God, who did by the prophets
make promise of the Son, and one Jesus Christ our Lord, who was of the
seed of David according to His birth from Mary; and that Jesus Christ
was appointed the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, as being the first
begotten in all the creation; [3579] the Son of God being made the Son
of man, that through Him we may receive the adoption,--humanity [3580]
sustaining, and receiving, and embracing the Son of God. Wherefore Mark
also says: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God; as it is written in the prophets." [3581] Knowing one and the same
Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was announced by the prophets, who from
the fruit of David's body was Emmanuel, "the messenger of great counsel
of the Father;" [3582] through whom God caused the day-spring and the
Just One to arise to the house of David, and raised up for him an horn
of salvation, "and established a testimony in Jacob;" [3583] as David
says when discoursing on the causes of His birth: "And He appointed a
law in Israel, that another generation might know [Him,] the children
which should he born from these, and they arising shall themselves
declare to their children, so that they might set their hope in God,
and seek after His commandments." [3584] And again, the angel said,
when bringing good tidings to Mary: "He shall he great, and shall be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto Him the
throne of His father David;" [3585] acknowledging that He who is the
Son of the Highest, the same is Himself also the Son of David. And
David, knowing by the Spirit the dispensation of the advent of this
Person, by which He is supreme over all the living and dead, confessed
Him as Lord, sitting on the right hand of the Most High Father. [3586]

4. But Simeon also --he who had received an intimation from the Holy
Ghost that he should not see death, until first he had beheld Christ
Jesus-- taking Him, the first-begotten of the Virgin, into his hands,
blessed God, and said, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace, according to Thy word: because mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel;"
[3587] confessing thus, that the infant whom he was holding in his
hands, Jesus, born of Mary, was Christ Himself, the Son of God, the
light of all, the glory of Israel itself, and the peace and refreshing
of those who had fallen asleep. For He was already despoiling men, by
removing their ignorance, conferring upon them His own knowledge, and
scattering abroad those who recognised Him, as Esaias says: "Call His
name, Quickly spoil, Rapidly divide." [3588] Now these are the works of
Christ. He therefore was Himself Christ, whom Simeon carrying [in his
arms] blessed the Most High; on beholding whom the shepherds glorified
God; whom John, while yet in his mother's womb, and He (Christ) in that
of Mary, recognising as the Lord, saluted with leaping; whom the Magi,
when they had seen, adored, and offered their gifts [to Him], as I have
already stated, and prostrated themselves to the eternal King, departed
by another way, not now returning by the way of the Assyrians. "For
before the child shall have knowledge to cry, Father or mother, He
shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, against
the king of the Assyrians;" [3589] declaring, in a mysterious manner
indeed, but emphatically, that the Lord did fight with a hidden hand
against Amalek. [3590] For this cause, too, He suddenly removed those
children belonging to the house of David, whose happy lot it was to
have been born at that time, that He might send them on before into His
kingdom; He, since He was Himself an infant, so arranging it that human
infants should be martyrs, slain, according to the Scriptures, for the
sake of Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the city of
David. [3591]

5. Therefore did the Lord also say to His disciples after the
resurrection, "O thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into His glory?" [3592] And again does He say to
them: "These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then
opened He their understanding, that they should understand the
Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that repentance
for the remission of sins be preached in His name among all nations."
[3593] Now this is He who was born of Mary; for He says: "The Son of
man must suffer many things, and be rejected, and crucified, and on the
third day rise again." [3594] The Gospel, therefore, knew no other son
of man but Him who was of Mary, who also suffered; and no Christ who
flew away from Jesus before the passion; but Him who was born it knew
as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same suffered and rose
again, as John, the disciple of the Lord, verifies, saying: "But these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing ye might have eternal life in His name," [3595]
--foreseeing these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord, as far as
lies in their power, saying that He was formed of two different
substances. For this reason also he has thus testified to us in his
Epistle: "Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard
that Antichrist doth come, now have many antichrists appeared; whereby
we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were
not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with
us: but [they departed], that they might be made manifest that they are
not of us. Know ye therefore, that every lie is from without, and is
not of the truth. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the
Christ? This is Antichrist." [3596]

6. But inasmuch as all those before mentioned, although they certainly
do with their tongue confess one Jesus Christ, make fools of
themselves, thinking one thing and saying another; [3597] for their
hypotheses vary, as I have already shown, alleging, [as they do,] that
one Being suffered and was born, and that this was Jesus; but that
there was another who descended upon Him, and that this was Christ, who
also ascended again; and they argue, that he who proceeded from the
Demiurge, or he who was dispensational, or he who sprang from Joseph,
was the Being subject to suffering; but upon the latter there descended
from the invisible and ineffable [places] the former, whom they assert
to be incomprehensible, invisible, and impassible: they thus wander
from the truth, because their doctrine departs from Him who is truly
God, being ignorant that His only-begotten Word, who is always present
with the human race, united to and mingled with His own creation,
according to the Father's pleasure, and who became flesh, is Himself
Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us, and rose again on
our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of His Father, to
raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and to
apply the rule of just judgment to all who were made by Him. There is
therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ
Jesus, who came by means of the whole dispensational arrangements
[connected with Him], and gathered together all things in Himself.
[3598] But in every respect, too, He is man, the formation of God; and
thus He took up man into Himself, the invisible becoming visible, the
incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming
capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all
things in Himself: so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and
invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so also in things visible
and corporeal He might possess the supremacy, and, taking to Himself
the pre-eminence, as well as constituting Himself Head of the Church,
He might draw all things to Himself at the proper time.

7. With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with
the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were
foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time
in perfect order and sequence. This was the reason why, when Mary was
urging [Him] on to [perform] the wonderful miracle of the wine, and was
desirous before the time to partake [3599] of the cup of emblematic
significance, the Lord, checking her untimely haste, said, "Woman, what
have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come" [3600] -- waiting
for that hour which was foreknown by the Father. This is also the
reason why, when men were often desirous to take Him, it is said, "No
man laid hands upon Him, for the hour of His being taken was not yet
come;" [3601] nor the time of His passion, which had been foreknown by
the Father; as also says the prophet Habakkuk, "By this Thou shalt be
known when the years have drawn nigh; Thou shalt be set forth when the
time comes; because my soul is disturbed by anger, Thou shalt remember
Thy mercy." [3602] Paul also says: "But when the fulness of time came,
God sent forth His Son." [3603] By which is made manifest, that all
things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish
in their order, season, and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed
one and the same, but rich and great. For He fulfils the bountiful and
comprehensive will of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself the Saviour
of those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under authority,
and the God of all those things which have been formed, the
only-begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of
God, who became incarnate when the fulness of time had come, at which
the Son of God had to become the Son of man.

8. All, therefore, are outside of the [Christian] dispensation, who,
under pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ
another, and the Only-begotten another, from whom again is the Word,
and that the Saviour is another, whom these disciples of error allege
to be a production of those who were made Æons in a state of
degeneracy. Such men are to outward appearance sheep; for they appear
to be like us, by what they say in public, repeating the same words as
we do; but inwardly they are wolves. Their doctrine is homicidal,
conjuring up, as it does, a number of gods, and simulating many
Fathers, but lowering and dividing the Son of God in many ways. These
are they against whom the Lord has cautioned us beforehand; and His
disciple, in his Epistle already mentioned, commands us to avoid them,
when he says: "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who
confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Take heed to them, that ye lose not what ye have
wrought." [3604] And again does he say in the Epistle: "Many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God; and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God,
but is of antichrist." [3605] These words agree with what was said in
the Gospel, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
Wherefore he again exclaims in his Epistle, "Every one that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God;" [3606] knowing Jesus
Christ to be one and the same, to whom the gates of heaven were opened,
because of His taking upon Him flesh: who shall also come in the same
flesh in which He suffered, revealing the glory of the Father.

9. Concurring with these statements, Paul, speaking to the Romans,
declares: "Much more they who receive abundance of grace and
righteousness for [eternal] life, shall reign by one, Christ Jesus."
[3607] It follows from this, that he knew nothing of that Christ who
flew away from Jesus; nor did he of the Saviour above, whom they hold
to be impassible. For if, in truth, the one suffered, and the other
remained incapable of suffering, and the one was born, but the other
descended upon him who was born, and left him again, it is not one, but
two, that are shown forth. But that the apostle did know Him as one,
both who was born and who suffered, namely Christ Jesus, he again says
in the same Epistle: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
in Christ Jesus were baptized in His death? that like as Christ rose
from the dead, so should we also walk in newness of life." [3608] But
again, showing that Christ did suffer, and was Himself the Son of God,
who died for us, and redeemed us with His blood at the time appointed
beforehand, he says: "For how is it, that Christ, when we were yet
without strength, in due time died for the ungodly? But God commendeth
His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son; much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life." [3609] He declares in the plainest
manner, that the same Being who was laid hold of, and underwent
suffering, and shed His blood for us, was both Christ and the Son of
God, who did also rise again, and was taken up into heaven, as he
himself [Paul] says: "But at the same time, [it, is] Christ [that]
died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God." [3610] And again, "Knowing that Christ, rising from the dead,
dieth no more:" [3611] for, as himself foreseeing, through the Spirit,
the subdivisions of evil teachers [with regard to the Lord's person],
and being desirous of cutting away from them all occasion of cavil, he
says what has been already stated, [and also declares:] "But if the
Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies."
[3612] This he does not utter to those alone who wish to hear: Do not
err, [he says to all:] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is one and the
same, who did by suffering reconcile us to God, and rose from the dead;
who is at the right hand of the Father, and perfect in all things;
"who, when He was buffeted, struck not in return; who, when He
suffered, threatened not;" [3613] and when He underwent tyranny, He
prayed His Father that He would forgive those who had crucified Him.
For He did Himself truly bring in salvation: since He is Himself the
Word of God, Himself the Only-begotten of the Father, Christ Jesus our
Lord.
__________________________________________________________________

[3569] We here omit since, and insert therefore afterwards, to avoid
the extreme length of the sentence as it stands in the Latin version.
The apodosis does not occur till the words, "I judge it necessary," are
reached.

[3570] See book i. 12, 4.

[3571] The Latin text has "Christum." which is supposed to be an
erroneous reading. See also book ii. c. xii. s. 6.

[3572] Ps. cxxxii. 11.

[3573] Matt. i. 1.

[3574] Matt. i. 18. It is to be observed that Irenæus here reads Christ
instead of Jesus Christ, as in text. rec., thus agreeing with the
reading of the Vulgate in the passage.

[3575] John i. 13, 14. From this, and also a quotation of the same
passage in chap. xix. of this book, it appears that Irenæus must have
read hos ... egennethe here, and not ohi ... egennethesan. Tertullian
quotes the verse to the same effect (Lib. de Carne Christi, cap. 19 and
24).

[3576] Rom. i. 1-4.

[3577] Rom. ix. 5.

[3578] Gal. iv. 4, 5.

[3579] Col. i. 14, 15.

[3580] "Homine."

[3581] Mark i. 1.

[3582] Isa. ix. 6 (LXX.).

[3583] Luke i. 69.

[3584] Ps. lxxviii. 5.

[3585] Luke i. 32.

[3586] Ps. cx. 1.

[3587] Luke ii. 29.

[3588] Isa. viii. 3.

[3589] Isa. viii. 4.

[3590] Ex. xvii. 16 (LXX.).

[3591] Matt. ii. 16.

[3592] Luke xxiv. 25.

[3593] Luke xxiv. 44, etc.

[3594] Mark viii. 31 and Luke ix. 22.

[3595] John xx. 31.

[3596] 1 John ii. 18, etc., loosely quoted.

[3597] The text here followed is that of two Syriac mss., which prove
the loss of several consecutive words in the old Latin version, and
clear up the meaning of a confused sentence, showing that the word
"autem" is here, as it probably is elsewhere, merely a contraction for
"aut eum."

[3598] Eph. i. 10.

[3599] "Participare compendii poculo," i.e., the cup which
recapitulates the suffering of Christ, and which, as Harvey thinks,
refers to the symbolical character of the cup of the Eucharist, as
setting forth the passion of Christ.

[3600] John ii. 4.

[3601] John vii. 30.

[3602] Hab. iii. 2.

[3603] Gal. iv. 4.

[3604] 2 John 7, 8. Irenæus seems to have read autous instead of
heautous, as in the received text.

[3605] 1 John iv. 1, 2. This is a material difference from the received
text of the passage: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh." The Vulgate translation and Origen agree
with Irenæus, and Tertullian seems to recognise both readings (Adv.
Marc., v. 16). Socrates tells us (vii. 32, p. 381) that the passage had
been corrupted by those who wished to separate the humanity of Christ
from His divinity, and that the old copies read, pan pneuma ho luei ton
'Iesoun apo tou Theou ouk esti, which exactly agrees with Origen's
quotation, and very nearly with that of Irenæus, now before us.
Polycarp (Ep., c. vii.) seems to allude to the passage as we have it
now, and so does Ignatius (Ep. Smyr., c. v.). See the question
discussed by Burton, in his Ante-Nicene Testimonies [to the Div. of
Christ. Another work of Burton has a similar name. See British Critic,
vol. ii. (of 1827), p. 265].

[3606] 1 John v. 1.

[3607] Rom. v. 17.

[3608] Rom. vi. 3, 4.

[3609] Rom. v. 6-10. Irenæus appears to have read, as does the Vulgate,
eis ti gar, for eti gar in text. rec.

[3610] Rom. viii. 34.

[3611] Rom. vi. 9.

[3612] Rom. viii. 11.

[3613] 1 Pet. ii. 23.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVII.--The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Saviour,
but the Holy Spirit, who did descend upon Jesus. The reason for this descent.

1. It certainly was in the power of the apostles to declare that Christ
descended upon Jesus, or that the so-called superior Saviour [came
down] upon the dispensational one, or he who is from the invisible
places upon him from the Demiurge; but they neither knew nor said
anything of the kind: for, had they known it, they would have also
certainly stated it. But what really was the case, that did they
record, [namely,] that the Spirit of God as a dove descended upon Him;
this Spirit, of whom it was declared by Isaiah, "And the Spirit of God
shall rest upon Him," [3614] as I have already said. And again: "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me." [3615]
That is the Spirit of whom the Lord declares, "For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." [3616] And
again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into God,
[3617] He said to them, "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." [3618]
For [God] promised, that in the last times He would pour Him [the
Spirit] upon [His] servants and handmaids, that they might prophesy;
wherefore He did also descend upon the Son of God, made the Son of man,
becoming accustomed in fellowship with Him to dwell in the human race,
to rest with human beings, and to dwell in the workmanship of God,
working the will of the Father in them, and renewing them from their
old habits into the newness of Christ.

2. This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, "And stablish
me with Thine all-governing Spirit;" [3619] who also, as Luke says,
descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord's
ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life,
and to the opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one
accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit
bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to the Father the
first-fruits of all nations. Wherefore also the Lord promised to send
the Comforter, [3620] who should join us to God. For as a compacted
lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor
can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being
many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as
dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like
manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought
forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our
bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that laver
which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit.
Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of
God, our Lord compassionating that erring Samaritan woman [3621] --who
did not remain with one husband, but committed fornication by
[contracting] many marriages--by pointing out, and promising to her
living water, so that she should thirst no more, nor occupy herself in
acquiring the refreshing water obtained by labour, having in herself
water springing up to eternal life. The Lord, receiving this as a gift
from His Father, does Himself also confer it upon those who are
partakers of Himself, sending the Holy Spirit upon all the earth.

3. Gideon, [3622] that Israelite whom God chose, that he might save the
people of Israel from the power of foreigners, foreseeing this gracious
gift, changed his request, and prophesied that there would be dryness
upon the fleece of wool (a type of the people), on which alone at first
there had been dew; thus indicating that they should no longer have the
Holy Spirit from God, as saith Esaias, "I will also command the clouds,
that they rain no rain upon it," [3623] but that the dew, which is the
Spirit of God, who descended upon the Lord, should be diffused
throughout all the earth, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the
spirit of the fear of God." [3624] This Spirit, again, He did confer
upon the Church, sending throughout all the world the Comforter from
heaven, from whence also the Lord tells us that the devil, like
lightning, was cast down. [3625] Wherefore we have need of the dew of
God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and
that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate,
[3626] the Lord commending to the Holy Spirit His own man, [3627] who
had fallen among thieves, [3628] whom He Himself compassionated, and
bound up his wounds, giving two royal denaria; so that we, receiving by
the Spirit the image and superscription of the Father and the Son,
might cause the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out
the increase [thereof] to the Lord. [3629]

4. The Spirit, therefore, descending under the predestined
dispensation, and the Son of God, the Only-begotten, who is also the
Word of the Father, coming in the fulness of time, having become
incarnate in man for the sake of man, and fulfilling all the conditions
of human nature, our Lord Jesus Christ being one and the same, as He
Himself the Lord doth testify, as the apostles confess, and as the
prophets announce,--all the doctrines of these men who have invented
putative Ogdoads and Tetrads, and imagined subdivisions [of the Lord's
person], have been proved falsehoods. These [3630] men do, in fact, set
the Spirit aside altogether; they understand that Christ was one and
Jesus another; and they teach that there was not one Christ, but many.
And if they speak of them as united, they do again separate them: for
they show that one did indeed undergo sufferings, but that the other
remained impassible; that the one truly did ascend to the Pleroma, but
the other remained in the intermediate place; that the one does truly
feast and revel in places invisible and above all name, but that the
other is seated with the Demiurge, emptying him of power. It will
therefore be incumbent upon thee, and all others who give their
attention to this writing, and are anxious about their own salvation,
not readily to express acquiescence when they hear abroad the speeches
of these men: for, speaking things resembling the [doctrine of the]
faithful, as I have already observed, not only do they hold opinions
which are different, but absolutely contrary, and in all points full of
blasphemies, by which they destroy those persons who, by reason of the
resemblance of the words, imbibe a poison which disagrees with their
constitution, just as if one, giving lime mixed with water for milk,
should mislead by the similitude of the colour; as a man [3631]
superior to me has said, concerning all that in any way corrupt the
things of God and adulterate the truth, "Lime is wickedly mixed with
the milk of God."
__________________________________________________________________

[3614] Isa. xi. 2.

[3615] Isa. lxi. 1.

[3616] Matt. x. 20.

[3617] Harvey remarks on this: "The sacrament of baptism is therefore
he dumanis tes anagenneseos eis Theon." [Comp. book i. cap. xxi.]

[3618] Matt. xxviii. 19.

[3619] Ps. li. 12.

[3620] John xvi. 7.

[3621] Irenæus refers to this woman as a type of the heathen world:
for, among the Jews, Samaritan and Idolater were convertible terms.

[3622] Judg. vi. 37, etc.

[3623] Isa. v. 6.

[3624] Isa. xi. 2.

[3625] Luke x. 18.

[3626] 1 John ii. 1.

[3627] "Suum hominem," i.e., the human race.

[3628] Luke x. 35.

[3629] Matt. xxv. 14.

[3630] The following period is translated from a Syriac fragment (see
Harvey's Irenæus, vol. ii. p. 439), as it supplies some words
inconveniently omitted in the old Latin version.

[3631] Comp. book. i. pref. note 4.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVIII.--Continuation of the foregoing argument. Proofs from the
writings of St. Paul, and from the words of Our Lord, that Christ and Jesus
cannot be considered as distinct beings; neither can it be alleged that the
Son of God became man merely in appearance, but that He did so truly and
actually.

1. [3632] As it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who
existed in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who
was also always present with mankind, was in these last days, according
to the time appointed by the Father, united to His own workmanship,
inasmuch as He became a man liable to suffering, [it follows] that
every objection is set aside of those who say, "If our Lord was born at
that time, Christ had therefore no previous existence." For I have
shown that the Son of God did not then begin to exist, being with the
Father from the beginning; but when He became incarnate, and was made
man, He commenced afresh [3633] the long line of human beings, and
furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that
what we had lost in Adam--namely, to be according to the image and
likeness of God--that we might recover in Christ Jesus.

2. For as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been
conquered, and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could
reform himself, and obtain the prize of victory; and as it was also
impossible that he could attain to salvation who had fallen under the
power of sin,--the Son effected both these things, being the Word of
God, descending from the Father, becoming incarnate, stooping low, even
to death, and consummating the arranged plan of our salvation, upon
whom [Paul], exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says, "Who
shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring down Christ; or who shall
descend into the deep? that is, to liberate Christ again from the
dead." [3634] Then he continues, "If thou shall confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shall be saved." [3635] And he renders the
reason why the Son of God did these things, saying, "For to this end
Christ both lived, and died, and revived, that He might rule over the
living and the dead." [3636] And again, writing to the Corinthians, he
declares, "But we preach Christ Jesus crucified;" [3637] and adds, "The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ?" [3638]

3. But who is it that has had fellowship with us in the matter of food?
Whether is it he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who
extended himself through Horos, and imparted a form to their mother; or
is it He who is from the Virgin, Emmanuel, who did eat butter and
honey, [3639] of whom the prophet declared, "He is also a man, and who
shall know him?" [3640] He was likewise preached by Paul: "For I
delivered," he says, "unto you first of all, that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and rose
again the third day, according to the Scriptures." [3641] It is plain,
then, that Paul knew no other Christ besides Him alone, who both
suffered, and was buried, and rose gain, who was also born, and whom he
speaks of as man. For after remarking, "But if Christ be preached, that
He rose from the dead," [3642] he continues, rendering the reason of
His incarnation, "For since by man came death, by man [came] also the
resurrection of the dead." And everywhere, when [referring to] the
passion of our Lord, and to His human nature, and His subjection to
death, he employs the name of Christ, as in that passage: "Destroy not
him with thy meat for whom Christ died." [3643] And again: "But now, in
Christ, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ." [3644] And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that hangeth upon a tree." [3645] And again: "And through thy
knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died;" [3646]
indicating that the impassible Christ did not descend upon Jesus, but
that He Himself, because He was Jesus Christ, suffered for us; He, who
lay in the tomb, and rose again, who descended and ascended,--the Son
of God having been made the Son of man, as the very name itself doth
declare. For in the name of Christ is implied, He that anoints, He that
is anointed, and the unction itself with which He is anointed. And it
is the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit,
who is the unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah, "The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me," [3647] --pointing out
both the anointing Father, the anointed Son, and the unction, which is
the Spirit.

4. The Lord Himself, too, makes it evident who it was that suffered;
for when He asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of
man, am?" [3648] and when Peter had replied, "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God;" and when he had been commended by Him [in these
words], "That flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the
Father who is in heaven," He made it clear that He, the Son of man, is
Christ the Son of the living God. "For from that time forth," it is
said, "He began to show to His disciples, how that He must go unto
Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the priests, and be rejected, and
crucified, and rise again the third day." [3649] He who was
acknowledged by Peter as Christ, who pronounced him blessed because the
Father had revealed the Son of the living God to him, said that He must
Himself suffer many things, and be crucified; and then He rebuked
Peter, who imagined that He was the Christ as the generality of men
supposed [3650] [that the Christ should be], and was averse to the idea
of His suffering, [and] said to the disciples, "If any man will come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will
lose it for My sake shall save it." [3651] For these things Christ
spoke openly, He being Himself the Saviour of those who should be
delivered over to death for their confession of Him, and lose their
lives.

5. If, however, He was Himself not to suffer, but should fly away from
Jesus, why did He exhort His disciples to take up the cross and follow
Him,--that cross which these men represent Him as not having taken up,
but [speak of Him] as having relinquished the dispensation of
suffering? For that He did not say this with reference to the
acknowledging of the Stauros (cross) above, as some among them venture
to expound, but with respect to the suffering which He should Himself
undergo, and that His disciples should endure, He implies when He says,
"For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will
lose, shall find it." And that His disciples must suffer for His sake,
He [implied when He] said to the Jews, "Behold, I send you prophets,
and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify."
[3652] And to the disciples He was wont to say, "And ye shall stand
before governors and kings for My sake; and they shall scourge some of
you, and slay you, and persecute you from city to city." [3653] He
knew, therefore, both those who should suffer persecution, and He knew
those who should have to be scourged and slain because of Him; and He
did not speak of any other cross, but of the suffering which He should
Himself undergo first, and His disciples afterwards. For this purpose
did He give them this exhortation: "Fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to
send both soul and body into hell;" [3654] [thus exhorting them] to
hold fast those professions of faith which they had made in reference
to Him. For He promised to confess before His Father those who should
confess His name before men; but declared that He would deny those who
should deny Him, and would be ashamed of those who should be ashamed to
confess Him. And although these things are so, some of these men have
proceeded to such a degree of temerity, that they even pour contempt
upon the martyrs, and vituperate those who are slain on account of the
confession of the Lord, and who suffer all things predicted by the
Lord, and who in this respect strive to follow the footprints of the
Lord's passion, having become martyrs of the suffering One; these we do
also enrol with the martyrs themselves. For, when inquisition shall be
made for their blood, [3655] and they shall attain to glory, then all
shall be confounded by Christ, who have cast a slur upon their
martyrdom. And from this fact, that He exclaimed upon the cross,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," [3656] the
long-suffering, patience, compassion, and goodness of Christ are
exhibited, since He both suffered, and did Himself exculpate those who
had maltreated Him. For the Word of God, who said to us, "Love your
enemies, and pray for those that hate you," [3657] Himself did this
very thing upon the cross; loving the human race to such a degree, that
He even prayed for those putting Him to death. If, however, any one,
going upon the supposition that there are two [Christs], forms a
judgment in regard to them, that [Christ] shall be found much the
better one, and more patient, and the truly good one, who, in the midst
of His own wounds and stripes, and the other [cruelties] inflicted upon
Him, was beneficent, and unmindful of the wrongs perpetrated upon Him,
than he who flew away, and sustained neither injury nor insult.

6. This also does likewise meet [the case] of those who maintain that
He suffered only in appearance. For if He did not truly suffer, no
thanks to Him, since there was no suffering at all; and when we shall
actually begin to suffer, He will seem as leading us astray, exhorting
us to endure buffering, and to turn the other [3658] cheek, if He did
not Himself before us in reality suffer the same; and as He misled them
by seeming to them what He was not, so does He also mislead us, by
exhorting us to endure what He did not endure Himself. [In that case]
we shall be even above the Master, because we suffer and sustain what
our Master never bore or endured. But as our Lord is alone truly
Master, so the Son of God is truly good and patient, the Word of God
the Father having been made the Son of man. For He fought and
conquered; for He was man contending for the fathers, [3659] and
through obedience doing away with disobedience completely: for He bound
the strong man, [3660] and set free the weak, and endowed His own
handiwork with salvation, by destroying sin. For He is a most holy and
merciful Lord, and loves the human race.

7. Therefore, as I have already said, He caused man (human nature) to
cleave to and to become, one with God. For unless man had overcome the
enemy of man, the enemy would not have been legitimately vanquished.
And again: unless it had been God who had freely given salvation, we
could never have possessed it securely. And unless man had been joined
to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility. For
it was incumbent upon the Mediator between God and men, by His
relationship to both, to bring both to friendship and concord, and
present man to God, while He revealed God to man. [3661] For, in what
way could we be partaken of the adoption of sons, unless we had
received from Him through the Son that fellowship which refers to
Himself, unless His Word, having been made flesh, had entered into
communion with us? Wherefore also He passed through every stage of
life, restoring to all communion with God. Those, therefore, who assert
that He appeared putatively, and was neither born in the flesh nor
truly made man, are as yet under the old condemnation, holding out
patronage to sin; for, by their showing, death has not been vanquished,
which "reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression." [3662] But the law
coming, which was given by Moses, and testifying of sin that it is a
sinner, did truly take away his (death's) kingdom, showing that he was
no king, but a robber; and it revealed him as a murderer. It laid,
however, a weighty burden upon man, who had sin in himself, showing
that he was liable to death. For as the law was spiritual, it merely
made sin to stand out in relief, but did not destroy it. For sin had no
dominion over the spirit, but over man. For it behoved Him who was to
destroy sin, and redeem man under the power of death, that He should
Himself be made that very same thing which he was, that is, man; who
had been drawn by sin into bondage, but was held by death, so that sin
should be destroyed by man, and man should go forth from death. For as
by the disobedience of the one man who was originally moulded from
virgin soil, the many were made sinners, [3663] and forfeited life; so
was it necessary that, by the obedience of one man, who was originally
born from a virgin, many should be justified and receive salvation.
Thus, then, was the Word of God made man, as also Moses says: "God,
true are His works." [3664] But if, not having been made flesh, He did
appear as if flesh, His work was not a true one. But what He did
appear, that He also was: God recapitulated in Himself the ancient
formation of man, that He might kill sin, deprive death of its power,
and vivify man; and therefore His works are true.
__________________________________________________________________

[3632] Again a Syriac fragment supplies some important words. See
Harvey, vol. ii. p. 440.

[3633] So the Syriac. The Latin has, "in seipso recapitulavit," He
summed up in Himself. [As the Second Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 47.]

[3634] Rom. x. 6, 7.

[3635] Rom. x. 9.

[3636] Rom. xiv. 9.

[3637] 1 Cor. i. 23.

[3638] 1 Cor. x. 16.

[3639] Isa. viii. 14.

[3640] Jer. xvii. 9.

[3641] 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.

[3642] 1 Cor. xv. 12.

[3643] Rom. xiv. 15.

[3644] Eph. ii. 13.

[3645] Gal. iii. 13; Deut. xxi. 23.

[3646] 1 Cor. viii. 11.

[3647] Isa. lxi. 1.

[3648] Matt. xvi. 13.

[3649] Matt. xvi. 21.

[3650] Literally, "supposing Him to be Christ according to the idea of
men."

[3651] Matt. xvi. 24, 25.

[3652] Matt. xxiii. 24.

[3653] Matt. x. 17, 18.

[3654] Matt. x. 28.

[3655] Ps. ix. 12.

[3656] Luke xxiii. 34.

[3657] Matt. v. 44.

[3658] Matt. v. 39.

[3659] "Pro patribus, anti ton patron. The reader will here observe the
clear statement of the doctrine of atonement, whereby alone sin is done
away."--Harvey.

[3660] Matt. xii. 29.

[3661] The Latin text, "et facere, ut et Deus assumeret hominem, et
homo se dederet Deo," here differs widely from the Greek preserved by
Theodoret. We have followed the latter, which is preferred by all the
editors.

[3662] Rom. v. 14.

[3663] Rom. v. 19.

[3664] Deut. xxxii. 4.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XIX.--Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the
ordinary course of nature, but was very God, begotten of the Father most high,
and very man, born of the Virgin.

1. But again, those who assert that He was simply a mere man, begotten
by Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience, are in a
state of death having been not as yet joined to the Word of God the
Father, nor receiving liberty through the Son, as He does Himself
declare: "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
[3665] But, being ignorant of Him who from the Virgin is Emmanuel, they
are deprived of His gift, which is eternal life; [3666] and not
receiving the incorruptible Word, they remain in mortal flesh, and are
debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of life. To whom the Word
says, mentioning His own gift of grace: "I said, Ye are all the sons of
the Highest, and gods; but ye shall die like men." [3667] He speaks
undoubtedly these words to those who have not received the gift of
adoption, but who despise the incarnation of the pure generation of the
Word of God, [3668] defraud human nature of promotion into God, and
prove themselves ungrateful to the Word of God, who became flesh for
them. For it was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He
who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been
taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son
of God. For by no other means could we have attained to
incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to
incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to
incorruptibility and immortality, unless, first, incorruptibility and
immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible
might be swallowed up by incorruptibility, and the mortal by
immortality, that we might receive the adoption of sons?

2. For this reason [it is, said], "Who shall declare His generation?"
[3669] since "He is a man, and who shall recognise Him?" [3670] But he
to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him, [3671] knows
Him, so that he understands that He who "was not born either by the
will of the flesh, or by the will of man," [3672] is the Son of man,
this is Christ, the Son of the living God. For I have shown from the
Scriptures, [3673] that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything,
and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in
His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King
Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the
apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have
attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures
would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others, He had
been a mere man. But that He had, beyond all others, in Himself that
pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also
experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin,
[3674] the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also,
that He was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering; [3675]
that He sat upon the foal of an ass; [3676] that He received for drink,
vinegar and gall; [3677] that He was despised among the people, and
humbled Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the
Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty
God, [3678] coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men; [3679] --all
these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.

3. For as He became man in order to undergo temptation, so also was He
the Word that He might be glorified; the Word remaining quiescent, that
He might be capable of being tempted, dishonoured, crucified, and of
suffering death, but the human nature being swallowed up in it (the
divine), when it conquered, and endured [without yielding], and
performed acts of kindness, and rose again, and was received up [into
heaven]. He therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, being the Word of the
Father, and the Son of man, since He had a generation as to His human
nature from Mary--who was descended from mankind, and who was herself a
human being--was made the Son of man. [3680] Wherefore also the Lord
Himself gave us a sign, in the depth below, and in the height above,
which man did not ask for, because he never expected that a virgin
could conceive, or that it was possible that one remaining a virgin
could bring forth a son, and that what was thus born should be "God
with us," and descend to those things which are of the earth beneath,
seeking the sheep which had perished, which was indeed His own peculiar
handiwork, and ascend to the height above, offering and commending to
His Father that human nature (hominem) which had been found, making in
His own person the first-fruits of the resurrection of man; that, as
the Head rose from the dead, so also the remaining part of the
body--[namely, the body] of everyman who is found in life--when the
time is fulfilled of that condemnation which existed by reason of
disobedience, may arise, blended together and strengthened through
means of joints and bands [3681] by the increase of God, each of the
members having its own proper and fit position in the body. For there
are many mansions in the Father's house, [3682] inasmuch as there are
also many members in the body.
__________________________________________________________________

[3665] John viii. 36.

[3666] Rom. vi. 23.

[3667] Ps. lxxxii. 6, 7.

[3668] The original Greek is preserved here by Theodoret, differing in
some respects from the old Latin version: kai aposterountas ton
anthropon tes eis Theon anodou kai acharistountas to huper auton
sarkothenti logo tou Theou. Eis touto gar ho logos anthropos ... hina
ho anthropos ton logon choresas, kai ten huiothesian labon, huios
genetai Theou. The old Latin runs thus: "fraudantes hominem ab ea
ascensione quæ est ad Dominum, et ingrate exsistentes Verbo Dei, qui
incarnatus est propter ipsos. Propter hoc enim Verbum Dei homo, et qui
Filius Dei est, Filius Hominis factus est ... commixtus Verbo Dei, et
adoptionem percipiens fiat filius Dei." [A specimen of the liberties
taken by the Latin translators with the original of Irenæus. Others are
much less innocent.]

[3669] Isa. liii. 8.

[3670] Jer. xvii. 9.

[3671] Matt. xvi. 16.

[3672] John i. 13.

[3673] See above, iii. 6.

[3674] Isa. vii. 14.

[3675] Isa. liii. 2.

[3676] Zech. ix. 9.

[3677] Ps. lxix. 21.

[3678] Isa. ix. 6.

[3679] Dan. vii. 13.

[3680] Isa. vii. 13.

[3681] Eph. iv. 16.

[3682] John xiv. 2.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XX.--God showed himself, by the fall of man, as patient, benign,
merciful, mighty to save. Man is therefore most ungrateful, if, unmindful of
his own lot, and of the benefits held out to him, he do not acknowledge divine
grace.

1. Long-suffering therefore was God, when man became a defaulter, as
foreseeing that victory which should be granted to him through the
Word. For, when strength was made perfect in weakness, [3683] it showed
the kindness and transcendent power of God. For as He patiently
suffered Jonah to be swallowed by the whale, not that he should be
swallowed up and perish altogether, but that, having been cast out
again, he might be the more subject to God, and might glorify Him the
more who had conferred upon him such an unhoped-for deliverance, and
might bring the Ninevites to a lasting repentance, so that they should
be converted to the Lord, who would deliver them from death, having
been struck with awe by that portent which had been wrought in Jonah's
case, as the Scripture says of them, "And they returned each from his
evil way, and the unrighteousness which was in their hands, saying, Who
knoweth if God will repent, and turn away His anger from us, and we
shall not perish?" [3684] --so also, from the beginning, did God permit
man to be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of
transgression, not that he should perish altogether when so engulphed;
but, arranging and preparing the plan of salvation, which was
accomplished by the Word, through the sign of Jonah, for those who held
the same opinion as Jonah regarding the Lord, and who confessed, and
said, "I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of
heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land." [3685] [This was done]
that man, receiving an unhoped-for salvation from God, might rise from
the dead, and glorify God, and repeat that word which was uttered in
prophecy by Jonah: "I cried by reason of mine affliction to the Lord my
God, and He heard me out of the belly of hell;" [3686] and that he
might always continue glorifying God, and giving thanks without
ceasing, for that salvation which he has derived from Him, "that no
flesh should glory in the Lord's presence;" [3687] and that man should
never adopt an opposite opinion with regard to God, supposing that the
incorruptibility which belongs to him is his own naturally, and by thus
not holding the truth, should boast with empty superciliousness, as if
he were naturally like to God. For he (Satan) thus rendered him (man)
more ungrateful towards his Creator, obscured the love which God had
towards man, and blinded his mind not to perceive what is worthy of
God, comparing himself with, and judging himself equal to, God.

2. This, therefore, was the [object of the] long-suffering of God, that
man, passing through all things, and acquiring the knowledge of moral
discipline, then attaining to the resurrection from the dead, and
learning by experience what is the source of his deliverance, may
always live in a state of gratitude to the Lord, having obtained from
Him the gift of incorruptibility, that he might love Him the more; for
"he to whom more is forgiven, loveth more:" [3688] and that he may know
himself, how mortal and weak he is; while he also understands
respecting God, that He is immortal and powerful to such a degree as to
confer immortality upon what is mortal, and eternity upon what is
temporal; and may understand also the other attributes of God displayed
towards himself, by means of which being instructed he may think of God
in accordance with the divine greatness. For the glory of man [is] God,
but [His] works [are the glory] of God; and the receptacle of all His
wisdom and power [is] man. Just as the physician is proved by his
patients, so is God also revealed through men. And therefore Paul
declares, "For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may have
mercy upon all;" [3689] not saying this in reference to spiritual Æons,
but to man, who had been disobedient to God, and being cast off from
immortality, then obtained mercy, receiving through the Son of God that
adoption which is [accomplished] by Himself. For he who holds, without
pride and boasting, the true glory (opinion) regarding created things
and the Creator, who is the Almighty God of all, and who has granted
existence to all; [such an one,] continuing in His love [3690] and
subjection, and giving of thanks, shall also receive from Him the
greater glory of promotion, [3691] looking forward to the time when he
shall become like Him who died for him, for He, too, "was made in the
likeness of sinful flesh," [3692] to condemn sin, and to cast it, as
now a condemned thing, away beyond the flesh, but that He might call
man forth into His own likeness, assigning him as [His own] imitator to
God, and imposing on him His Father's law, in order that he may see
God, and granting him power to receive the Father; [being] [3693] the
Word of God who dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He might
accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man, according to the
good pleasure of the Father.

3. On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, [3694] who is Emmanuel
from the Virgin, [3695] is the sign of our salvation, since it was the
Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their
own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human
infirmity, he says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good
thing," [3696] showing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not
from us, but from God. And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" [3697] Then he introduces the
Deliverer, [saying,] "The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord." And Isaiah
declares this also, [when he says:] "Be ye strengthened, ye hands that
hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be
comforted, fear not: behold, our God has given judgment with
retribution, and shall recompense: He will come Himself, and will save
us." [3698] Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by the help of God,
we must be saved.

4. Again, that it should not be a mere man who should save us, nor
[one] without flesh--for the angels are without flesh--[the same
prophet] announced, saying: "Neither an elder, [3699] nor angel, but
the Lord Himself will save them because He loves them, and will spare
them: He will Himself set them free." [3700] And that He should Himself
become very man, visible, when He should be the Word giving salvation,
Isaiah again says: "Behold, city of Zion: thine eyes shall see our
salvation." [3701] And that it was not a mere man who died for us,
Isaiah says: "And the holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who had
slept in the land of sepulture; and He came down to preach His
salvation to them, that He might save them." [3702] And Amos (Micah)
the prophet declares the same: "He will turn again, and will have
compassion upon us: He will destroy our iniquities, and will cast our
sins into the depths of the sea." [3703] And again, specifying the
place of His advent, he says: "The Lord hath spoken from Zion, and He
has uttered His voice from Jerusalem." [3704] And that it is from that
region which is towards the south of the inheritance of Judah that the
Son of God shall come, who is God, and who was from Bethlehem, where
the Lord was born [and] will send out His praise through all the earth,
thus [3705] says the prophet Habakkuk: "God shall come from the south,
and the Holy One from Mount Effrem. His power covered the heavens over,
and the earth is full of His praise. Before His face shall go forth the
Word, and His feet shall advance in the plains." [3706] Thus he
indicates in clear terms that He is God, and that His advent was [to
take place] in Bethlehem, and from Mount Effrem which is towards the
south of the inheritance, and that [He is] man. For he says, "His feet
shall advance in the plains:" and this is an indication proper to man.
[3707]
__________________________________________________________________

[3683] 2 Cor. xii. 9.

[3684] Jon. iii. 8, 9.

[3685] Jon. i. 9.

[3686] Jon. ii. 2.

[3687] 1 Cor. i. 29.

[3688] Luke vii. 43.

[3689] Rom. xi. 32.

[3690] John xv. 9.

[3691] "Provectus." This word has not a little perplexed the editors.
Grabe regards it as being the participle, Massuet the accusative plural
of the noun, and Harvey the genitive singular. We have doubtfully
followed the latter.

[3692] Rom. viii. 3.

[3693] The punctuation and exact meaning are very uncertain.

[3694] The construction and sense of this passage are disputed. Grabe,
Massuet, and Harvey take different views of it. We have followed the
rendering by Massuet.

[3695] Isa. vii. 4.

[3696] Rom. vii. 18.

[3697] Rom. vii. 24.

[3698] Isa. xxv. 3.

[3699] Grabe remarks that the word presbus, here translated "senior,"
seems rather to denote a mediator or messenger.

[3700] Isa. lxiii. 9.

[3701] Isa. xxxiii. 20.

[3702] Irenæus quotes this as from Isaiah on the present occasion; but
in book iv. 22, 1, we find him referring the same passage to Jeremiah.
It is somewhat remarkable that it is to be found in neither prophet,
although Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, [chap. lxxii. and
notes, Dial. with Trypho, in this volume,] brings it forward as an
argument against him, and directly accuses the Jews of having
fraudulently removed it from the sacred text. It is, however, to be
found in no ancient version of Jewish Targum, which fact may be
regarded as a decisive proof of its spuriousness.

[3703] Mic. vii. 9.

[3704] Joel iii. 16; Amos i. 2.

[3705] As Massuet observes, we must either expunge "sciut" altogether,
or read "sic" as above.

[3706] Hab. iii. 3, 5.

[3707] This quotation from Habakkuk, here commented on by Irenæus,
differs both from the Hebrew and the LXX., and comes nearest to the old
Italic version of the passage.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXI.--A vindication of the prophecy in Isa. vii. 14 against the
misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews.
Authority of the Septuagint version. Arguments in proof that Christ was born
of a virgin.

1. God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us
the token of the Virgin. But not as some allege, among those now
presuming to expound the Scripture, [thus:] "Behold, a young woman
shall conceive, and bring forth a son," [3708] as Theodotion the
Ephesian has interpreted, and Aquila of Pontus, [3709] both Jewish
proselytes. The Ebionites, following these, assert that He was begotten
by Joseph; thus destroying, as far as in them lies, such a marvellous
dispensation of God, and setting aside the testimony of the prophets
which proceeded from God. For truly this prediction was uttered before
the removal of the people to Babylon; that is, anterior to the
supremacy acquired by the Medes and Persians. But it was interpreted
into Greek by the Jews themselves, much before the period of our Lord's
advent, that there might remain no suspicion that perchance the Jews,
complying with our humour, did put this interpretation upon these
words. They indeed, had they been cognizant of our future existence,
and that we should use these proofs from the Scriptures, would
themselves never have hesitated to burn their own Scriptures, which do
declare that all other nations partake of [eternal] life, and show that
they who boast themselves as being the house of Jacob and the people of
Israel, are disinherited from the grace of God.

2. For before the Romans possessed their kingdom, [3710] while as yet
the Macedonians held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being anxious to
adorn the library which he had founded in Alexandria, with a collection
of the writings of all men, which were [works] of merit, made request
to the people of Jerusalem, that they should have their Scriptures
translated into the Greek language. And they--for at that time they
were still subject to the Macedonians--sent to Ptolemy seventy of their
elders, who were thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the
languages, to carry out what he had desired. [3711] But he, wishing to
test them individually, and fearing lest they might perchance, by
taking counsel together, conceal the truth in the Scriptures, by their
interpretation, separated them from each other, and commanded them all
to write the same translation. He did this with respect to all the
books. But when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy,
and each of them compared his own interpretation with that of every
other, God was indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were acknowledged
as truly divine. For all of them read out the common translation [which
they had prepared] in the very same words and the very same names, from
beginning to end, so that even the Gentiles present perceived that the
Scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of God. [3712] And
there was nothing astonishing in God having done this,--He who, when,
during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the Scriptures
had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years, the Jews had
returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of
the Persians, inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to
recast [3713] all the words of the former prophets, and to re-establish
with the people the Mosaic legislation.

3. Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such
fidelity, and by the grace of God, and since from these God has
prepared and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has preserved
to us the unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt, where the house of Jacob
flourished, fleeing from the famine in Canaan; where also our Lord was
preserved when He fled from the persecution set on foot by Herod; and
[since] this interpretation of these Scriptures was made prior to our
Lord's descent [to earth], and came into being before the Christians
appeared --for our Lord was born about the forty-first year of the
reign of Augustus; but Ptolemy was much earlier, under whom the
Scriptures were interpreted;--[since these things are so, I say,] truly
these men are proved to be impudent and presumptuous, who would now
show a desire to make different translations, when we refute them out
of these Scriptures, and shut them up to a belief in the advent of the
Son of God. But our faith is stedfast, unfeigned, and the only true
one, having clear proof from these Scriptures, which were interpreted
in the way I have related; and the preaching of the Church is without
interpolation. For the apostles, since they are of more ancient date
than all these [heretics], agree with this aforesaid translation; and
the translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles. For
Peter, and John, and Matthew, and Paul, and the rest successively, as
well as their followers, did set forth all prophetical [announcements],
just as [3714] the interpretation of the elders contains them.

4. For the one and the same Spirit of God, who proclaimed by the
prophets what and of what sort the advent of the Lord should be, did by
these elders give a just interpretation of what had been truly
prophesied; and He did Himself, by the apostles, announce that the
fulness of the times of the adoption had arrived, that the kingdom of
heaven had drawn nigh, and that He was dwelling within those that
believe on Him who was born Emmanuel of the Virgin. To this effect they
testify, [saying,] that before Joseph had come together with Mary,
while she therefore remained in virginity, "she was found with child of
the Holy Ghost;" [3715] and that the angel Gabriel said unto her, "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God;" [3716] and that the angel said to
Joseph in a dream, "Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, Behold, a virgin shall be with
child." [3717] But the elders have thus interpreted what Esaias said:
"And the Lord, moreover, said unto Ahaz, Ask for thyself a sign from
the Lord thy God out of the depth below, or from the height above. And
Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said,
It is not a small thing [3718] for you to weary men; and how does the
Lord weary them? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; and ye shall call His
name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat: before He knows or
chooses out things that are evil, He shall exchange them for what is
good; for before the child knows good or evil, He shall not consent to
evil, that He may choose that which is good." [3719] Carefully, then,
has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a
virgin, and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel
indicates this). And He shows that He is a man, when He says, "Butter
and honey shall He eat;" and in that He terms Him a child also, [in
saying,] "before He knows good and evil;" for these are all the tokens
of a human infant. But that He "will not consent to evil, that He may
choose that which is good,"--this is proper to God; that by the fact,
that He shall eat butter and honey, we should not understand that He is
a mere man only, nor, on the other hand, from the name Emmanuel, should
suspect Him to be God without flesh.

5. And when He says, "Hear, O house of David," [3720] He performed the
part of one indicating that He whom God promised David that He would
raise up from the fruit of his belly (ventris) an eternal King, is the
same who was born of the Virgin, herself of the lineage of David. For
on this account also, He promised that the King should be "of the fruit
of his belly," which was the appropriate [term to use with respect] to
a virgin conceiving, and not "of the fruit of his loins," nor "of the
fruit of his reins," which expression is appropriate to a generating
man, and a woman conceiving by a man. In this promise, therefore, the
Scripture excluded all virile influence; yet it certainly is not
mentioned that He who was born was not from the will of man. But it has
fixed and established "the fruit of the belly," that it might declare
the generation of Him who should be [born] from the Virgin, as
Elisabeth testified when filled with the Holy Ghost, saying to Mary,
"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy belly;"
[3721] the Holy Ghost pointing out to those willing to hear, that the
promise which God had made, of raising up a King from the fruit of
[David's] belly, was fulfilled in the birth from the Virgin, that is,
from Mary. Let those, therefore, who alter the passage of Isaiah thus,
"Behold, a young woman shall conceive," and who will have Him to be
Joseph's son, also alter the form of the promise which was given to
David, when God promised him to raise up, from the fruit of his belly,
the horn of Christ the King. But they did not understand, otherwise
they would have presumed to alter even this passage also.

6. But what Isaiah said, "From the height above, or from the depth
beneath," [3722] was meant to indicate, that "He who descended was the
same also who ascended." [3723] But in this that he said, "The Lord
Himself shall give you a sign," he declared an unlooked-for thing with
regard to His generation, which could have been accomplished in no
other way than by God the Lord of all, God Himself giving a sign in the
house of David. For what great thing or what sign should have been in
this, that a young woman conceiving by a man should bring forth,--a
thing which happens to all women that produce offspring? But since an
unlooked-for salvation was to be provided for men through the help of
God, so also was the unlooked-for birth from a virgin accomplished; God
giving this sign, but man not working it out.

7. On this account also, Daniel, [3724] foreseeing His advent, said
that a stone, cut out without hands, came into this world. For this is
what "without hands" means, that His coming into this world was not by
the operation of human hands, that is, of those men who are accustomed
to stone-cutting; that is, Joseph taking no part with regard to it, but
Mary alone co-operating with the pre-arranged plan. For this stone from
the earth derives existence from both the power and the wisdom of God.
Wherefore also Isaiah says: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I deposit in
the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, the chief, the
corner-one, to be had in honour." [3725] So, then, we understand that
His advent in human nature was not by the will of a man, but by the
will of God.

8. Wherefore also Moses giving a type, cast his rod upon the earth,
[3726] in order that it, by becoming flesh, might expose and swallow up
all the opposition of the Egyptians, which was lifting itself up
against the pre-arranged plan of God; [3727] that the Egyptians
themselves might testify that it is the finger of God which works
salvation for the people, and not the son of Joseph. For if He were the
son of Joseph, how could He be greater than Solomon, or greater than
Jonah, [3728] or greater than David, [3729] when He was generated from
the same seed, and was a descendant of these men? And how was it that
He also pronounced Peter blessed, because he acknowledged Him to be the
Son of the living God? [3730]

9. But besides, if indeed He had been the son of Joseph, He could not,
according to Jeremiah, be either king or heir. For Joseph is shown to
be the son of Joachim and Jechoniah, as also Matthew sets forth in his
pedigree. [3731] But Jechoniah, and all his posterity, were
disinherited from the kingdom; Jeremiah thus declaring, "As I live,
saith the Lord, if Jechoniah the son of Joachim king of Judah had been
made the signet of my right hand, I would pluck him thence, and deliver
him into the hand of those seeking thy life." [3732] And again:
"Jechoniah is dishonoured as a useless vessel, for he has been cast
into a land which he knew not. Earth, hear the word of the Lord: Write
this man a disinherited person; for none of his seed, sitting on the
throne of David, shall prosper, or be a prince in Judah." [3733] And
again, God speaks of Joachim his father: "Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning Joachim his father, king of Judea, There shall be from him
none sitting upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast
out in the heat of day, and in the frost of night. And I will look upon
him, and upon his sons, and will bring upon them, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, upon the land of Judah, all the evils that I
have pronounced against them." [3734] Those, therefore, who say that He
was begotten of Joseph, and that they have hope in Him, do cause
themselves to be disinherited from the kingdom, failing under the curse
and rebuke directed against Jechoniah and his seed. Because for this
reason have these things been spoken concerning Jechoniah, the [Holy]
Spirit foreknowing the doctrines of the evil teachers; that they may
learn that from his seed--that is, from Joseph--He was not to be born
but that, according to the promise of God, from David's belly the King
eternal is raised up, who sums up all things in Himself, and has
gathered into Himself the ancient formation [of man]. [3735]

10. For as by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death obtained [a
place] through sin; so also by the obedience of one man, righteousness
having been introduced, shall cause life to fructify in those persons
who in times past were dead. [3736] And as the protoplast himself Adam,
had his substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil ("for God had
not yet sent rain, and man had not tilled the ground" [3737] ), and was
formed by the hand of God, that is, by the Word of God, for "all things
were made by Him," [3738] and the Lord took dust from the earth and
formed man; so did He who is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself,
rightly receive a birth, enabling Him to gather up Adam [into Himself],
from Mary, who was as yet a virgin. If, then, the first Adam had a man
for his father, and was born of human seed, it were reasonable to say
that the second Adam was begotten of Joseph. But if the former was
taken from the dust, and God was his Maker, it was incumbent that the
latter also, making a recapitulation in Himself, should be formed as
man by God, to have an analogy with the former as respects His origin.
Why, then, did not God again take dust, but wrought so that the
formation should be made of Mary? It was that there might not be
another formation called into being, nor any other which should
[require to] be saved, but that the very same formation should be
summed up [in Christ as had existed in Adam], the analogy having been
preserved.
__________________________________________________________________

[3708] Isa. vii. 14.

[3709] Epiphanius, in his De Mensuris, gives an account of these two
men. The former published his version of the Old Testament in the year
181. The latter put forth his translation half a century earlier, about
129 a.d. This reference to the version of Theodotion furnishes a note
of date as to the time when Irenæus published his work: it must have
been subsequently to a.d. 181.

[3710] The Greek text here is, kratunai ten archen auton, translated
into Latin by "possiderent regnum suum,"--words which are somewhat
ambiguous in both languages. Massuet remarks, that "regnum eorum" would
have been a better rendering, referring the words to the Jews.

[3711] The Greek text of this narrative has been preserved by Eusebius
(Hist. Eccl., v. 8). Grabe considers it to be faulty in this passage;
so the Latin translation has been adopted here. Eusebius has poiesantos
tou Theou oper ebouleto-- God having accomplished what He intended.

[3712] [See Justin Martyr, To the Greeks, cap. xiii. The testimony of
Justin naturalized this Jewish legend among Christians.]

[3713] The Greek term is anataxasthai, which the Latin renders "re
memorare," but Massuet prefers "digerere."

[3714] This is a very interesting passage, as bearing on the question,
From what source are the quotations made by the writers of the New
Testament derived? Massuet, indeed, argues that it is of little or no
weight in the controversy; but the passage speaks for itself. Comp. Dr.
Robert's Discussions on the Gospels, part i. ch. iv. and vii.

[3715] Matt. i. 18.

[3716] Luke i. 35.

[3717] Matt. i. 23.

[3718] We here read "non pusillum" for "num pusillum," as in some
texts. Cyprian and Tertullian confirm the former reading.

[3719] Isa. vii. 10-17.

[3720] Isa. vii. 13.

[3721] Luke i. 42.

[3722] Isa. vii. 11.

[3723] Eph. iv. 10.

[3724] Dan. ii. 34.

[3725] Isa. xxviii. 16.

[3726] Ex. vii. 9.

[3727] Ex. viii. 19.

[3728] Matt. xii. 41, 42.

[3729] Matt. xxii. 43.

[3730] Matt. xvi. 17.

[3731] Matt. i. 12-16.

[3732] Jer. xxii. 24, 25.

[3733] Jer. xxii. 28, etc.

[3734] Jer. xxxvi. 30, 31.

[3735] Harvey prefixes this last clause to the following section.

[3736] Rom. v. 19.

[3737] Gen. ii. 5.

[3738] John i. 3.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXII.--Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin.

1. Those, therefore, who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin do
greatly err, [since,] in order that they may cast away the inheritance
of the flesh, they also reject the analogy [between Him and Adam]. For
if the one [who sprang] from the earth had indeed formation and
substance from both the hand and workmanship of God, but the other not
from the hand and workmanship of God, then He who was made after the
image and likeness of the former did not, in that case, preserve the
analogy of man, and He must seem an inconsistent piece of work, not
having wherewith He may show His wisdom. But this is to say, that He
also appeared putatively as man when He was not man, and that He was
made man while taking nothing from man. For if He did not receive the
substance of flesh from a human being, He neither was made man nor the
Son of man; and if He was not made what we were, He did no great thing
in what He suffered and endured. But every one will allow that we are
[composed of] a body taken from the earth, and a soul receiving spirit
from God. This, therefore, the Word of God was made, recapitulating in
Himself His own handiwork; and on this account does He confess Himself
the Son of man, and blesses "the meek, because they shall inherit the
earth." [3739] The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the
Galatians, declares plainly, "God sent His Son, made of a woman."
[3740] And again, in that to the Romans, he says, "Concerning His Son,
who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was
predestinated as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord."
[3741]

2. [3742] Superfluous, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for
why did He come down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Still
further, if He had taken nothing of Mary, He would never have availed
Himself of those kinds of food which are derived from the earth, by
which that body which has been taken from the earth is nourished; nor
would He have hungered, fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias,
unless His body was craving after its own proper nourishment; nor,
again, would John His disciple have said, when writing of Him, "But
Jesus, being wearied with the journey, was sitting [to rest];" [3743]
nor would David have proclaimed of Him beforehand, "They have added to
the grief of my wounds;" [3744] nor would He have wept over Lazarus,
nor have sweated great drops of blood; nor have declared, "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful;" [3745] nor, when His side was pierced, would
there have come forth blood and water. For all these are tokens of the
flesh which had been derived from the earth, which He had recapitulated
in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.

3. Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the
generation of our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations,
connecting the end with the beginning, and implying that it is He who
has summed up in Himself all nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and
all languages and generations of men, together with Adam himself. Hence
also was Adam himself termed by Paul "the figure of Him that was to
come," [3746] because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed
beforehand for Himself the future dispensation of the human race,
connected with the Son of God; God having predestined that the first
man should be of an animal nature, with this view, that he might be
saved by the spiritual One. For inasmuch as He had a pre-existence as a
saving Being, it was necessary that what might be saved should also be
called into existence, in order that the Being who saves should not
exist in vain.

4. In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient,
saying, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to
thy word." [3747] But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as
yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam,
but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise "they were both
naked, and were not ashamed," [3748] inasmuch as they, having been
created a short time previously, had no understanding of the
procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first
come to adult age, [3749] and then multiply from that time onward),
having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself
and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed
[to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience,
become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human
race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man,
the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a
virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because
what is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by
inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen;
[3750] so that the former ties be cancelled by the latter, that the
latter may set the former again at liberty. And it has, in fact,
happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that
the second tie takes the position of the first which has been
cancelled. [3751] For this reason did the Lord declare that the first
should in truth be last, and the last first. [3752] And the prophet,
too, indicates the same, saying, "instead of fathers, children have
been born unto thee." [3753] For the Lord, having been born "the
First-begotten of the dead," [3754] and receiving into His bosom the
ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having
been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the
beginning of those who die. [3755] Wherefore also Luke, commencing the
genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it
was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him.
And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by
the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through
unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.
__________________________________________________________________

[3739] Matt. v. 5.

[3740] Gal. iv. 4.

[3741] Rom. i. 3, 4.

[3742] In addition to the Greek text preserved by Theodoret in this
place, we have for some way a Syriac translation, differing slightly
from both Greek and Latin. It seems, however, to run smoother than
either, and has therefore been followed by us.

[3743] John iv. 6.

[3744] Ps. lxix. 27.

[3745] Matt. xxvi. 38.

[3746] Rom. v. 14.

[3747] Luke i. 38.

[3748] Gen. ii. 25.

[3749] This seems quite a peculiar opinion of Irenæus, that our first
parents, when created, were not of the age of maturity.

[3750] Literally, "unless these bonds of union be turned backwards."

[3751] It is very difficult to follow the reasoning of Irenæus in this
passage. Massuet has a long note upon it, in which he sets forth the
various points of comparison and contrast here indicated between Eve
and Mary; but he ends with the remark, "hæc certe et quæ sequuntur,
paulo subtiliora."

[3752] Matt. xix. 30, Matt. xx. 16.

[3753] Ps. xlv. 17.

[3754] Rev. i. 5.

[3755] Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 20-22.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXIII.--Arguments in opposition to Tatian, showing that it was
consonant to divine justice and mercy that the first Adam should first partake
in that salvation offered to all by Christ.

1. It was necessary, therefore, that the Lord, coming to the lost
sheep, and making recapitulation of so comprehensive a dispensation,
and seeking after His own handiwork, should save that very man who had
been created after His image and likeness, that is, Adam, filling up
the times of His condemnation, which had been incurred through
disobedience,--[times] "which the Father had placed in His own power."
[3756] [This was necessary,] too, inasmuch as the whole economy of
salvation regarding man came to pass according to the good pleasure of
the Father, in order that God might not be conquered, nor His wisdom
lessened, [in the estimation of His creatures.] For if man, who had
been created by God that he might live, after losing life, through
being injured by the serpent that had corrupted him, should not any
more return to life, but should be utterly [and for ever] abandoned to
death, God would [in that case] have been conquered, and the wickedness
of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God. But inasmuch
as God is invincible and long-suffering, He did indeed show Himself to
be long-suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the
probation of all, as I have already observed; and by means of the
second man did He bind the strong man, and spoiled his goods, [3757]
and abolished death, vivifying that man who had been in a state of
death. For as the first Adam became a vessel in his (Satan's)
possession, whom he did also hold under his power, that is, by bringing
sin on him iniquitously, and under colour of immortality entailing
death upon him. For, while promising that they should be as gods, which
was in no way possible for him to be, he wrought death in them:
wherefore he who had led man captive, was justly captured in his turn
by God; but man, who had been led captive, was loosed from the bonds of
condemnation.

2. But this is Adam, if the truth should be told, the first formed man,
of whom the Scripture says that the Lord spake, "Let Us make man after
Our own image and likeness;" [3758] and we are all from him: and as we
are from him, therefore have we all inherited his title. But inasmuch
as man is saved, it is fitting that he who was created the original man
should be saved. For it is too absurd to maintain, that he who was so
deeply injured by the enemy, and was the first to suffer captivity, was
not rescued by Him who conquered the enemy, but that his children were,
--those whom he had begotten in the same captivity. Neither would the
enemy appear to be as yet conquered, if the old spoils remained with
him. To give an illustration: If a hostile force had overcome certain
[enemies], had bound them, and led them away captive, and held them for
a long time in servitude, so that they begat children among them; and
somebody, compassionating those who had been made slaves, should
overcome this same hostile force; he certainly would not act equitably,
were he to liberate the children of those who had been led captive,
from the sway of those who had enslaved their fathers, but should leave
these latter, who had suffered the act of capture, subject to their
enemies,--those, too, on whose very account he had proceeded to this
retaliation,-- the children succeeding to liberty through the avenging
of their fathers' cause, but not [3759] so that their fathers, who
suffered the act of capture itself, should be left [in bondage]. For
God is neither devoid of power nor of justice, who has afforded help to
man, and restored him to His own liberty.

3. It was for this reason, too, that immediately after Adam had
transgressed, as the Scripture relates, He pronounced no curse against
Adam personally, but against the ground, in reference to his works, as
a certain person among the ancients has observed: "God did indeed
transfer the curse to the earth, that it might not remain in man."
[3760] But man received, as the punishment of his transgression, the
toilsome task of tilling the earth, and to eat bread in the sweat of
his face, and to return to the dust from whence he was taken. Similarly
also did the woman [receive] toil, and labour, and groans, and the
pangs of parturition, and a state of subjection, that is, that she
should serve her husband; so that they should neither perish altogether
when cursed by God, nor, by remaining unreprimanded, should be led to
despise God. But the curse in all its fulness fell upon the serpent,
which had beguiled them. "And God," it is declared, "said to the
serpent: Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle,
and above all the beasts of the earth." [3761] And this same thing does
the Lord also say in the Gospel, to those who are found upon the left
hand: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my
Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels;" [3762] indicating
that eternal fire was not originally prepared for man, but for him who
beguiled man, and caused him to offend--for him, I say, who is chief of
the apostasy, and for those angels who became apostates along with him;
which [fire], indeed, they too shall justly feel, who, like him,
persevere in works of wickedness, without repentance, and without
retracing their steps.

4. [These act] [3763] as Cain [did, who], when he was counselled by God
to keep quiet, because he had not made an equitable division of that
share to which his brother was entitled, but with envy and malice
thought that he could domineer over him, not only did not acquiesce,
but even added sin to sin, indicating his state of mind by his action.
For what he had planned, that did he also put in practice: he
tyrannized over and slew him; God subjecting the just to the unjust,
that the former might be proved as the just one by the things which he
suffered, and the latter detected as the unjust by those which he
perpetrated. And he was not softened even by this, nor did he stop
short with that evil deed; but being asked where his brother was, he
said, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" extending and aggravating
[his] wickedness by his answer. For if it is wicked to slay a brother,
much worse is it thus insolently and irreverently to reply to the
omniscient God as if he could battle Him. And for this he did himself
bear a curse about with him, because he gratuitously brought an
offering of sin, having had no reverence for God, nor being put to
confusion by the act of fratricide. [3764]

5. The case of Adam, however, had no analogy with this, but was
altogether different. For, having been beguiled by another under the
pretext of immortality, he is immediately seized with terror, and hides
himself; not as if he were able to escape from God; but, in a state of
confusion at having transgressed His command, he feels unworthy to
appear before and to hold converse with God. Now, "the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom;" [3765] the sense of sin leads to
repentance, and God bestows His compassion upon those who are penitent.
For [Adam] showed his repentance by his conduct, through means of the
girdle [which he used], covering himself with fig-leaves, while there
were many other leaves, which would have irritated his body in a less
degree. He, however, adopted a dress conformable to his disobedience,
being awed by the fear of God; and resisting the erring, the lustful
propensity of his flesh (since he had lost his natural disposition and
child-like mind, and had come to the knowledge of evil things), he
girded a bridle of continence upon himself and his wife, fearing God,
and waiting for His coming, and indicating, as it were, some such thing
[as follows]: Inasmuch as, he says, I have by disobedience lost that
robe of sanctity which I had from the Spirit, I do now also acknowledge
that I am deserving of a covering of this nature, which affords no
gratification, but which gnaws and frets the body. And he would no
doubt have retained this clothing for ever, thus humbling himself, if
God, who is merciful, had not clothed them with tunics of skins instead
of fig-leaves. For this purpose, too, He interrogates them, that the
blame might light upon the woman; and again, He interrogates her, that
she might convey the blame to the serpent. For she related what had
occurred. "The serpent," says she, "beguiled me, and I did eat." [3766]
But He put no question to the serpent; for He knew that he had been the
prime mover in the guilty deed; but He pronounced the curse upon him in
the first instance, that it might fall upon man with a mitigated
rebuke. For God detested him who had led man astray, but by degrees,
and little by little, He showed compassion to him who had been
beguiled.

6. Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise, and removed him far
from the tree of life, not because He envied him the tree of life, as
some venture to assert, but because He pitied him, [and did not desire]
that he should continue a sinner for ever, nor that the sin which
surrounded him should be immortal, and evil interminable and
irremediable. But He set a bound to his [state of] sin, by interposing
death, and thus causing sin to cease, [3767] putting an end to it by
the dissolution of the flesh, which should take place in the earth, so
that man, ceasing at length to live to sin, and dying to it, might
begin to live to God.

7. For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and
her seed, they keeping it up mutually: He, the sole of whose foot
should be bitten, having power also to tread upon the enemy's head; but
the other biting, killing, and impeding the steps of man, until the
seed did come appointed to tread down his head,--which was born of
Mary, of whom the prophet speaks: "Thou shalt tread upon the asp and
the basilisk; thou shalt trample down the lion and the dragon;" [3768]
--indicating that sin, which was set up and spread out against man, and
which rendered him subject to death, should be deprived of its power,
along with death, which rules [over men]; and that the lion, that is,
antichrist, rampant against mankind in the latter days, should be
trampled down by Him; and that He should bind "the dragon, that old
serpent" [3769] and subject him to the power of man, who had been
conquered [3770] so that all his might should be trodden down. Now Adam
had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him:
wherefore, when the foe was conquered in his turn, Adam received new
life; and the last enemy, death, is destroyed, [3771] which at the
first had taken possession of man. Therefore, when man has been
liberated, "what is written shall come to pass, Death is swallowed up
in victory. O death, where is thy sting?" [3772] This could not be said
with justice, if that man, over whom death did first obtain dominion,
were not set free. For his salvation is death's destruction. When
therefore the Lord vivifies man, that is, Adam, death is at the same
time destroyed.

8. All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam's) salvation,
shutting themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe
that the sheep which had perished has been found. [3773] For if it has
not been found, the whole human race is still held in a state of
perdition. False, therefore, is that man who first started this idea,
or rather, this ignorance and blindness--Tatian. [3774] As I have
already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics.
[3775] This dogma, however, has been invented by himself, in order
that, by introducing something new, independently of the rest, and by
speaking vanity, he might acquire for himself hearers void of faith,
affecting to be esteemed a teacher, and endeavouring from time to time
to employ sayings of this kind often [made use of] by Paul: "In Adam we
all die;" [3776] ignorant, however, that "where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." [3777] Since this, then, has been clearly shown, let
all his disciples be put to shame, and let them wrangle [3778] about
Adam, as if some great gain were to accrue to them if he be not saved;
when they profit nothing more [by that], even as the serpent also did
not profit when persuading man [to sin], except to this effect, that he
proved him a transgressor, obtaining man as the first-fruits of his own
apostasy. [3779] But he did not know God's power. [3780] Thus also do
those who disallow Adam's salvation gain nothing, except this, that
they render themselves heretics and apostates from the truth, and show
themselves patrons of the serpent and of death.
__________________________________________________________________

[3756] Acts i. 7.

[3757] Matt. xii. 29.

[3758] Gen. i. 26.

[3759] The old Latin translation is: "Sed non relictis ipsis patribus."
Grabe would cancel non, while Massuet pleads for retaining it. Harvey
conjectures that the translator perhaps mistook ouk aneilemmenon for
ouk analeleimenon. We have followed Massuet, though we should prefer
deleting non, were it not found in all the mss.

[3760] Gen. iii. 16, etc.

[3761] Gen. iii. 14.

[3762] Matt. xxv. 41. This reading of Irenæus agrees with that of the
Codex Bezæ, at Cambridge.

[3763] Gen. iv. 7, after LXX. version.

[3764] The old Latin reads "parricidio." The crime of parricide was
alone known to the Roman law; but it was a generic term, including the
murder of all near relations. All the editors have supposed that the
original word was adelphoktonia, which has here been adopted.

[3765] Prov. i. 7, Prov. ix. 10.

[3766] Gen. iii. 13.

[3767] Rom. vi. 7.

[3768] Ps. xci. 13.

[3769] Rev. xx. 2.

[3770] Luke x. 19.

[3771] 1 Cor. xv. 26.

[3772] 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55.

[3773] Luke xv. 4.

[3774] An account of Tatian will be given in a future volume with his
only extant work.

[3775] His heresy being just a mixture of the opinions of the various
Gnostic sects.

[3776] 1 Cor. xv. 22.

[3777] Rom. v. 20.

[3778] Though unnoticed by the editors, there seems a difficulty in the
different moods of the two verbs, erubescant and concertant.

[3779] "Initium et materiam apostasiæ suæ habens hominem:" the meaning
is very obscure, and the editors throw no light upon it.

[3780] Literally, "but he did not see God." The translator is supposed
to have read oiden, knew, for eiden, saw.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXIV.--Recapitulation of the various arguments adduced against Gnostic
impiety under all its aspects. The heretics, tossed about by every blast of
doctrine, are opposed by the uniform teaching of the Church, which remains so
always, and is consistent with itself.

1. Thus, then, have all these men been exposed, who bring in impious
doctrines regarding our Maker and Framer, who also formed this world,
and above whom there is no other God; and those have been overthrown by
their own arguments who teach falsehoods regarding the substance of our
Lord, and the dispensation which He fulfilled for the sake of His own
creature man. But [it has, on the other hand, been shown], that the
preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an
even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles,
and all the disciples--as I have proved-- through [those in] the
beginning, the middle, and the end, [3781] and through the entire
dispensation of God, and that well-grounded system which tends [3782]
to man's salvation, namely, our faith; which, having been received from
the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God,
renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent
vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its youth also.
For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to
the first created man, [3783] for this purpose, that all the members
receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ
has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the
earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the
ladder of ascent to God. "For in the Church," it is said, "God hath set
apostles, prophets, teachers," [3784] and all the other means through
which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not
join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through
their perverse opinions and infamous behaviour. For where the Church
is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there
is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those,
therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life
from the mother's breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain
which issues from the body of Christ; but they dig for themselves
broken cisterns [3785] out of earthly trenches, and drink putrid water
out of the mire, fleeing from the faith of the Church lest they be
convicted; and rejecting the Spirit, that they may not be instructed.

2. Alienated thus from the truth, they do deservedly wallow in all
error, tossed to and fro by it, thinking differently in regard to the
same things at different times, and never attaining to a well-grounded
knowledge, being more anxious to be sophists of words than disciples of
the truth. For they have not been founded upon the one rock, but upon
the sand, which has in itself a multitude of stones. Wherefore they
also imagine many gods, and they always have the excuse of searching
[after truth] (for they are blind), but never succeed in finding it.
For they blaspheme the Creator, Him who is truly God, who also
furnishes power to find [the truth]; imagining that they have
discovered another god beyond God, or another Pleroma, or another
dispensation. Wherefore also the light which is from God does not
illumine them, because they have dishonoured and despised God, holding
Him of small account, because, through His love and infinite benignity,
He has come within reach of human knowledge (knowledge, however, not
with regard to His greatness, or with regard to His essence--for that
has no man measured or handled--but after this sort: that we should
know that He who made, and formed, and breathed in them the breath of
life, and nourishes us by means of the creation, establishing all
things by His Word, and binding them together by His Wisdom [3786] --
this is He who is the only true God); but they dream of a non-existent
being above Him, that they may be regarded as having found out the
great God, whom nobody, [they hold,] can recognise holding
communication with the human race, or as directing mundane matters:
that is to say, they find out the god of Epicurus, who does nothing
either for himself or others; that is, he exercises no providence at
all.
__________________________________________________________________

[3781] Literally, "through the beginnings, the means, and the end."
These three terms refer to the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Church
Catholic.

[3782] The Latin is "solidam operationem," which we know not how to
translate, in accordance with the context, except as above.

[3783] This seems to be the meaning conveyed by the old Latin,
"quemadmodum aspiratio plasmationi."

[3784] 1 Cor. xii. 28.

[3785] Jer. ii. 13.

[3786] i.e., the Spirit.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXV.--This world is ruled by the providence of one God, who is both
endowed with infinite justice to punish the wicked, and with infinite goodness
to bless the pious, and impart to them salvation.

1. God does, however, exercise a providence over all things, and
therefore He also gives counsel; and when giving counsel, He is present
with those who attend to moral discipline. [3787] It follows then of
course, that the things which are watched over and governed should be
acquainted with their ruler; which things are not irrational or vain,
but they have understanding derived from the providence of God. And,
for this reason certain of the Gentiles, who were less addicted to
[sensual] allurements and voluptuousness, and were not led away to such
a degree of superstition with regard to idols, being moved, though but
slightly, by His providence, were nevertheless convinced that they
should call the Maker of this universe the Father, who exercises a
providence over all things, and arranges the affairs of our world.

2. Again, that they might remove the rebuking and judicial power from
the Father, reckoning that as unworthy of God, and thinking that they
had found out a God both without anger and [merely] good, they have
alleged that one [God] judges, but that another saves, unconsciously
taking away the intelligence and justice of both deities. For if the
judicial one is not also good, to bestow favours upon the deserving,
and to direct reproofs against those requiring them, he will appear
neither a just nor a wise judge. On the other hand, the good God, if he
is merely good, and not one who tests those upon whom he shall send his
goodness, will be out of the range of justice and goodness; and his
goodness will seem imperfect, as not saving all; [for it should do so,]
if it be not accompanied with judgment.

3. Marcion, therefore, himself, by dividing God into two, maintaining
one to be good and the other judicial, does in fact, on both sides, put
an end to deity. For he that is the judicial one, if he be not good, is
not God, because he from whom goodness is absent is no God at all; and
again, he who is good, if he has no judicial power, suffers the same
[loss] as the former, by being deprived of his character of deity. And
how can they call the Father of all wise, if they do not assign to Him
a judicial faculty? For if He is wise, He is also one who tests
[others]; but the judicial power belongs to him who tests, and justice
follows the judicial faculty, that it may reach a just conclusion;
justice calls forth judgment, and judgment, when it is executed with
justice, will pass on to wisdom. Therefore the Father will excel in
wisdom all human and angelic wisdom, because He is Lord, and Judge, and
the Just One, and Ruler over all. For He is good, and merciful, and
patient, and saves whom He ought: nor does goodness desert Him in the
exercise of justice, [3788] nor is His wisdom lessened; for He saves
those whom He should save, and judges those worthy of judgment. Neither
does He show Himself unmercifully just; for His goodness, no doubt,
goes on before, and takes precedency.

4. The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His sun to rise upon
all, [3789] and sends rain upon the just and unjust, shall judge those
who, enjoying His equally distributed kindness, have led lives not
corresponding to the dignity of His bounty; but who have spent their
days in wantonness and luxury, in opposition to His benevolence, and
have, moreover, even blasphemed Him who has conferred so great benefits
upon them.

5. Plato is proved to be more religious than these men, for he allowed
that the same God was both just and good, having power over all things,
and Himself executing judgment, expressing himself thus, "And God
indeed, as He is also the ancient Word, possessing the beginning, the
end, and the mean of all existing things, does everything rightly,
moving round about them according to their nature; but retributive
justice always follows Him against those who depart from the divine
law." [3790] Then, again, he points out that the Maker and Framer of
the universe is good. "And to the good," he says, "no envy ever springs
up with regard to anything;" [3791] thus establishing the goodness of
God, as the beginning and the cause of the creation of the world, but
not ignorance, nor an erring Æon, nor the consequence of a defect, nor
the Mother weeping and lamenting, nor another God or Father.

6. Well may their Mother bewail them, as capable of conceiving and
inventing such things for they have worthily uttered this falsehood
against themselves, that their Mother is beyond the Pleroma, that is
beyond the knowledge of God, and that their entire multitude became
[3792] a shapeless and crude abortion: for it apprehends nothing of the
truth; it falls into void and darkness: for their wisdom (Sophia) was
void, and wrapped up in darkness; and Horos did not permit her to enter
the Pleroma: for the Spirit (Achamoth) did not receive them into the
place of refreshment. For their father, by begetting ignorance, wrought
in them the sufferings of death. We do not misrepresent [their opinions
on] these points; but they do themselves confirm, they do themselves
teach, they do glory in them, they imagine a lofty [mystery] about
their Mother, whom they represent as having been begotten without a
father, that is, without God, a female from a female, [3793] that is,
corruption from error.

7. We do indeed pray that these men may not remain in the pit which
they themselves have dug, but separate themselves from a Mother of this
nature, and depart from Bythus, and stand away from the void, and
relinquish the shadow; and that they, being converted to the Church of
God, may be lawfully begotten, and that Christ may be formed in them,
and that they may know the Framer and Maker of this universe, the only
true God and Lord of all. We pray for these things on their behalf,
loving them better than they seem to love themselves. For our love,
inasmuch as it is true, is salutary to them, if they will but receive
it. It may be compared to a severe remedy, extirpating the proud and
sloughing flesh of a wound; for it puts an end to their pride and
haughtiness. Wherefore it shall not weary us, to endeavour with all our
might to stretch out the hand unto them. Over and above what has been
already stated, I have deferred to the following book, to adduce the
words of the Lord; if, by convincing some among them, through means of
the very instruction of Christ, I may succeed in persuading them to
abandon such error, and to cease from blaspheming their Creator, who is
both God alone, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

[3787] Literally, "who have a foresight of morals" --qui morum
providentiam habent. The meaning is very obscure. [Prov. xxii. 3, Prov.
xxvii. 12.]

[3788] The text is here very uncertain, but the above seems the
probable meaning.

[3789] Matt. v. 45.

[3790] Plato, de Leg., iv. and p. 715, 16.

[3791] In Timæo, vi. p. 29.

[3792] The Latin is "collectio eorum;" but what collectio here means,
it is not easy to determine. Grabe, with much probability, deems it the
representative of sustasis. Harvey prefers enthumema: but it is
difficult to perceive the relevancy of his references to the rhetorical
syllogism.

[3793] See book i. cap. xvi. note.
__________________________________________________________________