An early Christian Bishop of Lyons [Province of
France] named Irenaeus, in his first book against Gnosticism [in many of its
various sects] explains to his "dear friend", perhaps another bishop,
the formations and contradictions of gnosticism, and the base character of its
adherents. It is very wordy and wearisome to read, and this he points out to
his "dear friend", "I will not, however, weary thee by
recounting their other interpretations," and, "Even to give an
account of them is a tedious affair, as thou seest." Irenaeus says,
"Impious indeed, beyond all impiety, are these men, who assert that the
Maker of heaven and earth, the only God Almighty, besides whom there is no God,
was produced by means of a defect, which itself sprang from another defect, so that,
according to them, He was the product of the third defect."
He further explicates, "We do indeed pray that these men may not remain in the pit which they themselves have dug...and that they, being converted to the Church of God, may be lawfully begotten, and that Christ may be formed in them...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."
One aspect of his books that I appreciate is his patience and charity in writing to expose the errors of what is termed "Gnosticism". Also, [Chapters 3, 4, 5] mention how man is engrafted into the olive tree [Romans 11]; how that flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God [1 Corinthians 15]; when we tread down earthly desires the Holy Spirit is there to aid us with His power [Romans 8]; the doctrine of recapitulation; his recounting of the teachings of Christ as part of the common faith [Sermon on the Mount, parables, prophecies]. These five books are long, so there are about 56 pages of quotes and excerpts from those books:
Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked
deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is
craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make
it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more
true than the truth itself. Irenaeus: book 1, preface
Now what follows from all this? No light tragedy
comes out of it, as the fancy of every man among them pompously explains, one
in one way, and another in another, from what kind of passion and from what
element being derived its origin. They have good reason, as seems to me, why
they should not feel inclined to teach these things to all in public, but only
to such as are able to pay a high price for an acquaintance with such profound
mysteries. For these doctrines are not at all similar to those of which our
Lord said, “Freely ye have received, freely give.” They are, on the contrary,
abstruse, and portentous, and profound mysteries, to be got at only with great
labour by such as are in love with falsehood. irenaeus book 1ch 4
In like manner do these men, the more they seem to
excel others in wisdom, and waste their strength by drawing the bow too
tightly, the greater fools do they show themselves. “Drawing the bow too
tightly” “by aiming at what transcends their ability, they fall into absurdity,
as a bow is broken by bending it too far.” irenaeus book 1 ch 16
"Impious indeed, beyond all impiety, are these
men, who assert that the Maker of heaven and earth, the only God Almighty, besides
whom there is no God, was produced by means of a defect, which itself sprang
from another defect, so that, according to them, He was the product of the
third defect." Irenaeus Book 1 ch 16
"I well know, my dear friend, that when thou
hast read through all this, thou wilt indulge in a hearty laugh over this their
inflated wise folly! But those men are really worthy of being mourned over, who
promulgate such a kind of religion, and who so frigidly and perversely pull to
pieces the greatness of the truly unspeakable power, and the dispensations of
God in themselves so striking, by means of Alpha and Beta, and through the aid
of numbers." Irenaeus Book 1 ch 16
These heretics spoke Hebrew their initiations…they
didn’t believe in water baptism…Others still repeat certain Hebrew words, in
order the more thoroughly to bewilder those who are being initiated. irenaeus
book 1 ch 21
So unbridled is their madness, that they declare
they have in their power all things which are irreligious and impious, and are
at liberty to practise them; for they maintain that things are evil or good,
simply in virtue of human opinion. irenaeus book 1 ch 25
They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess
images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of
material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at
that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up
along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the
images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also
other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles.
irenaeus book 1 ch 25
[This he says, in relation to plurality of Gods]
These, again, and others which are above and below, will have their beginnings
at certain other points, and so on ad infinitum; so that their thoughts
would never rest in one God, but, in consequence of seeking after more than
exists, would wander away to that which has no existence, and depart from the
true God. These remarks are, in like manner, applicable against the followers
of Marcion. For his two gods will also be contained and circumscribed by an
immense interval which separates them from one another. But then there is a
necessity to suppose a multitude of gods separated by an immense distance from
each other on every side, beginning with one another, and ending in one
another. Thus, by that very process of reasoning on which they depend for
teaching that there is a certain Pleroma or God above the Creator of heaven and
earth, any one who chooses to employ it may maintain that there is another
Pleroma above the Pleroma, above that again another, and above Bythus another
ocean of Deity, while in like manner the same successions hold with respect to
the sides; and thus, their doctrine flowing out into immensity, there will
always be a necessity to conceive of other Pleroma, and other Bythi, so as
never at any time to stop, but always to continue seeking for others besides
those already mentioned. Moreover, it will be uncertain whether these which we
conceive of are below, or are, in fact, themselves the things which are above;
and, in like manner, [it will be doubtful] respecting those things which are
said by them to be above, whether they are really above or below; and thus our
opinions will have no fixed conclusion or certainty, but will of necessity
wander forth after worlds without limits, and gods that cannot be numbered.
irenaeus book 2 ch 1
[The case stands] just as regards success in war,
which is ascribed to the king who prepared those things which are the cause of
victory; and, in like manner, the creation of any state, or of any work, is
referred to him who prepared materials for the accomplishment of those results
which were afterwards brought about. Wherefore, we do not say that it was the
axe which cut the wood, or the saw which divided it; but one would very
properly say that the man cut and divided it who formed the axe and the
saw for this purpose, and [who also formed] at a much earlier date all the
tools by which the axe and the saw themselves were formed. irenaeus book
2 ch 2
This manner of speech may perhaps be plausible or
persuasive to those who know not God, and who liken Him to needy human beings,
and to those who cannot immediately and without assistance form anything, but
require many instrumentalities to produce what they intend. But it will not be
regarded as at all probable by those who know that God stands in need of
nothing, and that He created and made all things by His Word, while He neither
required angels to assist Him in the production of those things which are made,
nor of any power greatly inferior to Himself, and ignorant of the Father, nor
of any defect or ignorance, in order that he who should know Him might become
man. But He Himself in Himself, after a fashion which we can neither describe
nor conceive, predestinating all things, formed them as He pleased, bestowing
harmony on all things, and assigning them their own place, and the beginning of
their creation. In this way He conferred on spiritual things a spiritual and
invisible nature, on super-celestial things a celestial, on angels an
angelical, on animals an animal, on beings that swim a nature suited to the
water, and on those that live on the land one fitted for the land—on all, in
short, a nature suitable to the character of the life assigned them—while He
formed all things that were made by His Word that never wearies. irenaeus book
2 ch 2
If, however, any one do not discover the cause of
all those things which become objects of investigation, let him reflect that
man is infinitely inferior to God; that he has received grace only in part, and
is not yet equal or similar to his Maker; and, moreover, that he cannot have
experience or form a conception of all things like God; but in the same
proportion as he who was formed but to-day, and received the beginning of his
creation, is inferior to Him who is uncreated, and who is always the same, in
that proportion is he, as respects knowledge and the faculty of investigating
the causes of all things, inferior to Him who made him. For thou, O man, art
not an uncreated being, nor didst thou always co-exist3199 with God, as did His
own Word; but now, through His pre-eminent goodness, receiving the beginning of
thy creation, thou dost gradually learn from the Word the dispensations of God
who made thee. Irenaeus book 2 ch 25
Men are always eager in such matters to be thought
to have discovered something more extraordinary than their masters?
irenaeus book 2 ch 25
A sound mind, and one which does not expose its
possessor to danger, and is devoted to piety and the love of truth, will
eagerly meditate upon those things which God has placed within the power of
mankind, and has subjected to our knowledge, and will make advancement in
[acquaintance with] them, rendering the knowledge of them easy to him by means
of daily study. These things are such as fall [plainly] under our observation,
and are clearly and unambiguously in express terms set forth in the Sacred
Scriptures. And therefore the parables ought not to be adapted to ambiguous
expressions. For, if this be not done, both he who explains them will do so
without danger, and the parables will receive a like interpretation from all,
and the body of truth remains entire, with a harmonious adaptation of its
members, and without any collision [of its several parts]. But to apply
expressions which are not clear or evident to interpretations of the parables,
such as every one discovers for himself as inclination leads him, [is absurd.]
For in this way no one will possess the rule of truth; but in accordance with
the number of persons who explain the parables will be found the various
systems of truth, in mutual opposition to each other, and setting forth
antagonistic doctrines, like the questions current among the Gentile
philosophers…
According to this course of procedure, therefore,
man would always be inquiring but never finding, because he has rejected the
very method of discovery. And when the Bridegroom comes, he who has his lamp
untrimmed, and not burning with the brightness of a steady light, is classed
among those who obscure the interpretations of the parables, forsaking Him who
by His plain announcements freely imparts gifts to all who come to Him, and is
excluded from His marriage-chamber. Since, therefore, the entire Scriptures,
the prophets, and the Gospels, can be clearly, unambiguously, and harmoniously
understood by all, although all do not believe them…But since parables admit of
many interpretations, what lover of truth will not acknowledge, that for them
to assert God is to be searched out from these, while they desert what is
certain, indubitable, and true, is the part of men who eagerly throw themselves
into danger, and act as if destitute of reason? And is not such a course of
conduct not to build one’s house upon a rock which is firm, strong, and placed
in an open position, but upon the shifting sand? Hence the overthrow of such a
building is a matter of ease. Irenaeus book 2 ch 27
Having therefore the truth itself as our rule and
the testimony concerning God set clearly before us, we ought not, by running
after numerous and diverse answers to questions, to cast away the firm and true
knowledge of God. But it is much more suitable that we, directing our inquiries
after this fashion, should exercise ourselves in the investigation of the
mystery and administration of the living God, and should increase in the love
of Him who has done, and still does, so great things for us; but never should
fall from the belief by which it is most clearly proclaimed that this Being
alone is truly God and Father, who both formed this world, fashioned man, and
bestowed the faculty of increase on His own creation, and called him upwards
from lesser things to those greater ones which are in His own presence, just as
He brings an infant which has been conceived in the womb into the light of the
sun, and lays up wheat in the barn after He has given it full strength on the
stalk. But it is one and the same Creator who both fashioned the womb and
created the sun; and one and the same Lord who both reared the stalk of corn,
increased and multiplied the wheat, and prepared the barn. If, however, we
cannot discover explanations of all those things in Scripture which are made
the subject of investigation, yet let us not on that account seek after any
other God besides Him who really exists. For this is the very greatest impiety.
We should leave things of that nature to God who created us, being most
properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken
by the Word of God and His Spirit; but we, inasmuch as we are inferior to, and
later in existence than, the Word of God and His Spirit, are on that very
account destitute of the knowledge of His mysteries. And there is no cause for
wonder if this is the case with us as respects things spiritual and heavenly,
and such as require to be made known to us by revelation, since many even of
those things which lie at our very feet (I mean such as belong to this world,
which we handle, and see, and are in close contact with) transcend our
knowledge, so that even these we must leave to God…If, therefore, even with
respect to creation, there are some things [the knowledge of] which belongs
only to God, and others which come within the range of our own knowledge, what
ground is there for complaint, if, in regard to those things which we
investigate in the Scriptures (which are throughout spiritual), we are able by
the grace of God to explain some of them, while we must leave others in the
hands of God, and that not only in the present world, but also in that which is
to come, so that God should for ever teach, and man should for ever learn the
things taught him by God? As the apostle has said on this point, that,
when other things have been done away, then these three, “faith, hope, and
charity, shall endure.” For faith, which has respect to our Master, endures
unchangeably, assuring us that there is but one true God, and that we should truly
love Him for ever, seeing that He alone is our Father; while we hope ever to be
receiving more and more from God, and to learn from Him, because He is good,
and possesses boundless riches, a kingdom without end, and instruction that can
never be exhausted. If, therefore, according to the rule which I have stated,
we leave some questions in the hands of God, we shall both preserve our faith
uninjured, and shall continue without danger; and all Scripture, which has been
given to us by God, shall be found by us perfectly consistent; and the parables
shall harmonize with those passages which are perfectly plain; and those
statements the meaning of which is clear, shall serve to explain the parables;
and through the many diversified utterances [of Scripture] there shall be heard
one harmonious melody in us, praising in hymns that God who created all things.
If, for instance, any one asks, “What was God doing before He made the world?”
we reply that the answer to such a question lies with God Himself. For that this
world was formed perfect by God, receiving a beginning in time, the Scriptures
teach us; but no Scripture reveals to us what God was employed about before
this event. The answer therefore to that question remains with God, and it is
not proper for us to aim at bringing forward foolish, rash, and blasphemous
suppositions [in reply to it]; so, as by one’s imagining that he has discovered
the origin of matter, he should in reality set aside God Himself who made all
things…But, beyond reason inflated [with your own wisdom], ye presumptuously
maintain that ye are acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries of God; while
even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the
very day and hour of judgment, when He plainly declares, “But of that day and
that hour knoweth no man, neither the Son, but the Father only.” If, then, the
Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to the Father only,
but declared what was true regarding the matter, neither let us be ashamed to
reserve for God those greater questions which may occur to us. For no man is
superior to his master. If any one, therefore, says to us, “How then was the
Son produced by the Father?” we reply to him, that no man understands that
production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or by whatever name one
may describe His generation, which is in fact altogether indescribable.
irenaeus book 2 ch 28
So, again, with respect to Logos, when one
attributes to him the third place of production from the Father; on which supposition
he is ignorant of His greatness; and thus Logos has been far separated from
God. As for the prophet, he declares respecting Him, “Who shall describe His
generation?” But ye pretend to set forth His generation from the Father, and ye
transfer the production of the word of men which takes place by means of a
tongue to the Word of God, and thus are righteously exposed by your own selves
as knowing neither things human nor divine. But, beyond reason inflated [with
your own wisdom], ye presumptuously maintain that ye are acquainted with the
unspeakable mysteries of God; while even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed
that the Father alone knows the very day and hour of judgment, when He plainly
declares, “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, neither the Son, but
the Father only.” If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of
that day to the Father only, but declared what was true regarding the matter,
neither let us be ashamed to reserve for God those greater questions which may occur
to us. For no man is superior to his master. If any one, therefore, says to us,
“How then was the Son produced by the Father?” we reply to him, that no man
understands that production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or by
whatever name one may describe His generation, which is in fact altogether
indescribable. Neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor Saturninus, nor Basilides,
nor angels, nor archangels, nor principalities, nor powers [possess this
knowledge], but the Father only who begat, and the Son who was begotten. Since
therefore His generation is unspeakable, those who strive to set forth
generations and productions cannot be in their right mind, inasmuch as they
undertake to describe things which are indescribable. But we shall not be
wrong if we affirm the same thing also concerning the substance of matter, that
God produced it. For we have learned from the Scriptures that God holds the
supremacy over all things. But whence or in what way He produced it, neither
has Scripture anywhere declared; nor does it become us to conjecture, so as, in
accordance with our own opinions, to form endless conjectures concerning God,
but we should leave such knowledge in the hands of God Himself. In like manner,
also, we must leave the cause why, while all things were made by God, certain
of His creatures sinned and revolted from a state of submission to God, and
others, indeed the great majority, persevered, and do still persevere, in
[willing] subjection to Him who formed them, and also of what nature those are
who sinned, and of what nature those who persevere,—[we must, I say, leave the
cause of these things] to God and His Word, to whom alone He said, “Sit at my
right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” But as for us, we still
dwell upon the earth, and have not yet sat down upon His throne. For although
the Spirit of the Saviour that is in Him “searcheth all things, even the deep
things of God,” yet as to us “there are diversities of gifts, differences of
administrations, and diversities of operations;” and we, while upon the earth,
as Paul also declares, “know in part, and prophesy in part.” Since, therefore,
we know but in part, we ought to leave all sorts of [difficult] questions in
the hands of Him who in some measure, [and that only,] bestows grace on us.
That eternal fire, [for instance,] is prepared for sinners, both the Lord has
plainly declared, and the rest of the Scriptures demonstrate. And that God
foreknew that this would happen, the Scriptures do in like manner demonstrate,
since He prepared eternal fire from the beginning for those who were
[afterwards] to transgress [His commandments]; but the cause itself of the
nature of such transgressors neither has any Scripture informed us, nor has an
apostle told us, nor has the Lord taught us. It becomes us, therefore, to leave
the knowledge of this matter to God, even as the Lord does of the day and hour
[of judgment], and not to rush to such an extreme of danger, that we will leave
nothing in the hands of God, even though we have received only a measure of
grace [from Him in this world]. For if any one should inquire the reason why
the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by
the Lord alone to know the hour and the day [of judgment], he will find at present
no more suitable, or becoming, or safe reason than this (since, indeed, the
Lord is the only true Master), that we may learn through Him that the Father is
above all things. For “the Father,” says He, “is greater than I.” The Father,
therefore, has been declared by our Lord to excel with respect to knowledge;
for this reason, that we, too, as long as we are connected with the scheme of
things in this world, should leave perfect knowledge, and such questions [as
have been mentioned], to God, and should not by any chance, while we seek to
investigate the sublime nature of the Father, fall into the danger of starting
the question whether there is another God above God. But if any lover of strife
contradict what I have said, and also what the apostle affirms, that “we know
in part, and prophesy in part,” and imagine that he has acquired not a partial,
but a universal, knowledge of all that exists, —being such an one as
Valentinus, or Ptolemæus, or Basilides, or any other of those who maintain that
they have searched out the deep things of God,—let him not (arraying himself in
vainglory) boast that he has acquired greater knowledge than others with
respect to those things which are invisible, or cannot be placed under our
observation; but let him, by making diligent inquiry, and obtaining information
from the Father, tell us the reasons (which we know not) of those things which
are in this world, —as, for instance, the number of hairs on his own head, and
the sparrows which are captured day by day, and such other points with which we
are not previously acquainted,—so that we may credit him also with respect to
more important points. But if those who are perfect do not yet
understand the very things in their hands, and at their feet, and before their
eyes, and on the earth, and especially the rule followed with respect to the
hairs of their head, how can we believe them regarding things spiritual, and
super-celestial, and those which, with a vain confidence, they assert to be
above God? So much, then, I have said concerning numbers, and names, and
syllables, and questions respecting such things as are above our comprehension,
and concerning their improper expositions of the parables. irenaeus book 2 ch
28
For the intellect of man—his mind, thought, mental
intention, and such like—is nothing else than his soul; but the emotions and
operations of the soul itself have no substance apart from the soul. irenaeus
book 2 ch 29
Or, again, if (which is indeed the only true
supposition, as I have shown by numerous arguments of the very clearest nature)
He (the Creator) made all things freely, and by His own power, and arranged and
finished them, and His will is the substance of all things, then He is
discovered to be the one only God who created all things, who alone is Omnipotent,
and who is the only Father rounding and forming all things, visible and
invisible, such as may be perceived by our senses and such as cannot, heavenly
and earthly, “by the word of His power;” and He has fitted and arranged all
things by His wisdom, while He contains all things, but He Himself can be
contained by no one: He is the Former, He the Builder, He the Discoverer, He
the Creator, He the Lord of all; and there is no one besides Him, or above
Him…one only God, the Creator—He who is above every Principality, and Power,
and Dominion, and Virtue: He is Father, He is God, He the Founder, He the
Maker, He the Creator, who made those things by Himself, that is, through His
Word and His Wisdom— heaven and earth, and the seas, and all things that are in
them: He is just; He is good; He it is who formed man, who planted paradise,
who made the world, who gave rise to the flood, who saved Noah; He is the God
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the living:
He it is whom the law proclaims, whom the prophets preach, whom Christ reveals,
whom the apostles make known to us, and in whom the Church believes. He is the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: through His Word, who is His Son, through Him
He is revealed and manifested to all to whom He is revealed; for those [only]
know Him to whom the Son has revealed Him. But the Son, eternally co-existing
with the Father, from of old, yea, from the beginning, always reveals the
Father to Angels, Archangels, Powers, Virtues, and all to whom He wills that
God should be revealed.” Irenaeus Book 2 Chapter 30
But if some had been made by nature bad, and others
good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for such
were they created; nor would the former be reprehensible, for thus they were
made [originally]. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to hold
fast and to do what is good; and, on the other hand, having also the power to
cast it from them and not to do it,—some do justly receive praise even among men
who are under the control of good laws (and much more from God), and obtain
deserved testimony of their choice of good in general, and of persevering
therein; but the others are blamed, and receive a just condemnation, because of
their rejection of what is fair and good. And therefore the prophets used to
exhort men to what was good, to act justly and to work righteousness, as I have
so largely demonstrated, because it is in our power so to do, and because by
excessive negligence we might become forgetful, and thus stand in need of that
good counsel which the good God has given us to know by means of the
prophets. Irenaeus Book III Chapter 2
"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.” Irenaeus Book 3 ch 3
Since, then, this power has been conferred upon us,
both the Lord has taught and the apostle has enjoined us the more to love God,
that we may reach this [prize] for ourselves by striving after it. For
otherwise, no doubt, this our good would be [virtually] irrational, because not
the result of trial. Irenaeus Book III Chapter 7
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. Irenaeus book 3 Chapter 12
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.
Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 12
Taking this into account, that proofs [of the things
which are] contained in the Scriptures cannot be shown except from the
Scriptures themselves. Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 12
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. Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 12
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]. Irenaeus Book 3
Chapter 14
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.” 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 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] whenmthey say the
same things, and hold the same doctrine, we call them heretics? When they have
thus,mby means of questions, overthrown the faith of any, and rendered them
uncontradicting hearers ofmtheir 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. 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], ye, 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. Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 15
Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute
towards the life of God, our Lord compassionating that erring Samaritan
woman—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. Irenaeus Book III Chapter 17:2
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.” [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, 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…
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;” 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 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…
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.” 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.”
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;” 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. [These act] 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…
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;” 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.” 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.
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, 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.
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;”—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”
and subject him to the power of man, who had been conquered 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, 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?” 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…
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.
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. As I have
already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics. 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;” ignorant, however, that “where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound.” Since this, then, has been clearly
shown, let all his disciples be put to shame, and let them wrangle 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. But he did not know
God’s power. 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. irenaeus book 3 ch 23
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…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]…
Wherefore also he 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— this is He who is the only true God) Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 24
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. 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.
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. Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 25
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,
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…
The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His
sun to rise upon all, 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. 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.” 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;” 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. Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter 25
"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. [Irenaeus Book 3 Chapter
25]"
If then it were not in our power to do or not to do
these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the Lord Himself, to
give us counsel to do some things, and to abstain from others? But because man
is possessed of free will from the beginning, and God is possessed of free
will, in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep
fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God. Irenaeus
Book III Chapter 37:4
Those, again, who maintain the opposite to these
[conclusions], do themselves present the Lord as destitute of power, as if,
forsooth, He were unable to accomplish what He willed; or, on the other hand,
as being ignorant that they were by nature “material,” as these men express it,
and such as cannot receive His immortality. “But He should not,” say they,
“have created angels of such a nature that they were capable of transgression,
nor men who immediately proved ungrateful towards Him; for they were made
rational beings, endowed with the power of examining and judging, and were not
[formed] as things irrational or of a [merely] animal nature, which can do
nothing of their own will, but are drawn by necessity and compulsion to what is
good, in which things there is one mind and one usage, working mechanically in
one groove (inflexibiles et sine judicio), who are incapable of being
anything else except just what they had been created.” But upon this
supposition, neither would what is good be grateful to them, nor communion with
God be precious, nor would the good be very much to be sought after, which
would present itself without their own proper endeavour, care, or study, but
would be implanted of its own accord and without their concern. Thus it would
come to pass, that their being good would be of no consequence, because they
were so by nature rather than by will, and are possessors of good
spontaneously, not by choice; and for this reason they would not understand
this fact, that good is a comely thing, nor would they take pleasure in it. For
how can those who are ignorant of good enjoy it? Or what credit is it to those
who have not aimed at it? Irenaeus Book III Chapter 37:6
BY transmitting to thee, my very dear friend, this
fourth book of the work which is [entitled] The Detection and Refutation of
False Knowledge, I shall, as I have promised, add weight, by means of the
words of the Lord, to what I have already advanced; so that thou also, as thou
hast requested, mayest obtain from me the means of confuting all the heretics
everywhere, and not permit them, beaten back at all points, to launch out
further into the deep of error, nor to be drowned in the sea of ignorance; but
that thou, turning them into the haven of the truth, mayest cause them to
attain their salvation…
The man, however, who would undertake their
conversion, must possess an accurate knowledge of their systems or schemes of
doctrine. For it is impossible for any one to heal the sick, if he has no
knowledge of the disease of the patients. This was the reason that my
predecessors—much superior men to myself, too —were unable, notwithstanding, to
refute the Valentinians satisfactorily, because they were ignorant of these
men’s system; which I have with all care delivered to thee in the first book in
which I have also shown that their doctrine is a recapitulation of all the
heretics. For which reason also, in the second, we have had, as in a mirror, a
sight of their entire discomfiture. For they who oppose these men (the
Valentinians) by the right method, do [thereby] oppose all who are of an evil
mind; and they who overthrow them, do in fact overthrow every kind of heresy…
For their system is blasphemous above all [others],
since they represent that the Maker and Framer, who is one God, as I have
shown, was produced from a defect or apostasy. They utter blasphemy, also,
against our Lord, by cutting off and dividing Jesus from Christ, and Christ
from the Saviour, and again the Saviour from the Word, and the Word from the
Only-begotten. And since they allege that the Creator originated from a defect
or apostasy, so have they also taught that Christ and the Holy Spirit were
emitted on account of this defect, and that the Saviour was a product of those
Æons who were produced from a defect; so that there is nothing but blasphemy to
be found among them. In the preceding book, then, the ideas of the apostles as
to all these points have been set forth, [to the effect] that not only did
they, “who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word” of
truth, hold no such opinions, but that they did also preach to us to shun these
doctrines, foreseeing by the Spirit those weak-minded persons who should be led
astray…
For as the serpent beguiled Eve, by promising her
what he had not himself, so also do these men, by pretending [to possess]
superior knowledge, and [to be acquainted with] ineffable mysteries; and, by
promising that admittance which they speak of as taking place within the
Pleroma, plunge those that believe them into death, rendering them apostates
from Him who made them. And at that time, indeed, the apostate angel, having
effected the disobedience of mankind by means of the serpent, imagined that he
escaped the notice of the Lord; wherefore God assigned him the form and name
[of a serpent]. But now, since the last times are [come upon us], evil is
spread abroad among men, which not only renders them apostates, but by many
machinations does [the devil] raise up blasphemers against the Creator, namely,
by means of all the heretics already mentioned. For all these, although they
issue forth from diverse regions, and promulgate different [opinions], do
nevertheless concur in the same blasphemous design, wounding [men] unto death,
by teaching blasphemy against God our Maker and Supporter, and derogating from
the salvation of man. Now man is a mixed organization of soul and flesh, who
was formed after the likeness of God, and moulded by His hands, that is, by the
Son and Holy Spirit, to whom also He said, “Let Us make man.” This, then, is
the aim of him who envies our life, to render men disbelievers in their own
salvation, and blasphemous against God the Creator. For whatsoever all the
heretics may have advanced with the utmost solemnity, they come to this at
last, that they blaspheme the Creator, and disallow the salvation of God’s
workmanship, which the flesh truly is; on behalf of which I have proved, in a
variety of ways, that the Son of God accomplished the whole dispensation [of
mercy], and have shown that there is none other called God by the Scriptures
except the Father of all, and the Son, and those who possess the
adoption. [book 4 preface]
If, then, [this be the case with regard] to Moses,
so also, beyond a doubt, the words of the other prophets are His [words], as I
have pointed out. And again, the Lord Himself exhibits Abraham as having said
to the rich man, with reference to all those who were still alive: “If they do
not obey Moses and the prophets, neither, if any one were to rise from the dead
and go to them, will they believe him.”
Now, He has not merely related to us a story
respecting a poor man and a rich one; but He has taught us, in the first place,
that no one should lead a luxurious life, nor, living in worldly pleasures and
perpetual feastings, should be the slave of his lusts, and forget God. “For
there was,” He says, “a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and
delighted himself with splendid feasts.”
Of such persons, too, the Spirit has spoken by
Esaias: “They drink wine with [the accompaniment of] harps, and tablets, and
psalteries, and flutes; but they regard not the works of God, neither do they
consider the work of His hands.” Lest, therefore, we should incur the same
punishment as these men, the Lord reveals [to us] their end; showing at the
same time, that if they obeyed Moses and the prophets, they would believe in
Him whom these had preached, the Son of God, who rose from the dead, and
bestows life upon us; and He shows that all are from one essence, that is,
Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets, and also the Lord Himself, who rose from
the dead, in whom many believe who are of the circumcision, who do also hear
Moses and the prophets announcing the coming of the Son of God. But those who
scoff [at the truth] assert that these men were from another essence, and they
do not know the first-begotten from the dead; understanding Christ as a
distinct being, who continued as if He were impassible, and Jesus, who
suffered, as being altogether separate [from Him]. Book 4 Ch 2:3-5
For they do not receive from the Father the
knowledge of the Son; neither do they learn who the Father is from the Son, who
teaches clearly and without parables Him who truly is God. He says: “Swear not
at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is
His footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” For
these words are evidently spoken with reference to the Creator, as also Esaias
says: “Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool.” 4 2:6
But why do we speak of Jerusalem, since, indeed, the
fashion of the whole world must also pass away, when the time of its
disappearance has come, in order that the fruit indeed may be gathered into the
garner, but the chaff, left behind, may be consumed by fire? “For the day of
the Lord cometh as a burning furnace, and all sinners shall be stubble, they
who do evil things, and the day shall burn them up.”Now, who this Lord is that
brings such a day about, John the Baptist points out, when he says of Christ,
“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, having His fan in His
hand to cleanse His floor; and He will gather His fruit into the garner, but
the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” For He who makes the chaff
and He who makes the wheat are not different persons, but one and the same, who
judges them, that is, separates them. But the wheat and the chaff, being
inanimate and irrational, have been made such by nature. But man, being endowed
with reason, and in this respect like to God, having been made free in his
will, and with power over himself, is himself the cause to himself, that
sometimes he becomes wheat, and sometimes chaff. Wherefore also he shall be
justly condemned, because, having been created a rational being, he lost the
true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of God,
giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says the
prophet, “Man, being in honour, did not understand: he was assimilated to
senseless beasts, and made like to them.” 4 4:3
God, therefore, is one and the same, who rolls up
the heaven as a book, and renews the face of the earth; who made the things of
time for man, so that coming to maturity in them, he may produce the fruit of
immortality; and who, through His kindness, also bestows [upon him] eternal
things, “that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His
grace;” who was announced by the law and the prophets, whom Christ confessed as
His Father. Now He is the Creator, and He it is who is God over all, as Esaias
says, “I am witness, saith the LORD God, and my servant whom I have chosen,
that ye may know, and believe, and understand that I AM. Before me there was no
other God, neither shall be after me. I am God, and besides me there is no Saviour.
I have proclaimed, and I have saved.” And again: “I myself am the first God,
and I am above things to come.” For neither in an ambiguous, nor arrogant, nor
boastful manner, does He say these things; but since it was impossible, without
God, to come to a knowledge of God, He teaches men, through His Word, to know
God. To those, therefore, who are ignorant of these matters, and on this
account imagine that they have discovered another Father, justly does one say,
“Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” 4 5:1
And teaching this very thing, He said to the Jews:
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see my day; and he saw it, and was
glad.” What is intended? “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness.” In the first place, [he believed] that He was the maker of
heaven and earth, the only God; and in the next place, that He would make his
seed as the stars of heaven. This is what is meant by Paul, [when he says,] “as
lights in the world.” Righteously, therefore, having left his earthly kindred,
he followed the Word of God, walking as a pilgrim with the Word, that he might
[afterwards] have his abode with the Word…
Righteously also the apostles, being of the race of
Abraham, left the ship and their father, and followed the Word. Righteously
also do we, possessing the same faith as Abraham, and taking up the cross as
Isaac did the wood, follow Him. For in Abraham man had learned beforehand, and
had been accustomed to follow the Word of God. For Abraham, according to his
faith, followed the command of the Word of God, and with a ready mind delivered
up, as a sacrifice to God, his only-begotten and beloved son, in order that God
also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed His own beloved and only-begotten
Son, as a sacrifice for our redemption. 4 5:3-4
Since, therefore, Abraham was a prophet and saw in
the Spirit the day of the Lord’s coming, and the dispensation of His suffering,
through whom both he himself and all who, following the example of his faith,
trust in God, should be saved, he rejoiced exceedingly. The Lord, therefore,
was not unknown to Abraham, whose day he desired to see; nor, again, was the
Lord’s Father, for he had learned from the Word of the Lord, and believed Him;
wherefore it was accounted to him by the Lord for righteousness. For faith
towards God justifies a man; and therefore he said, “I will stretch forth my
hand to the most high God, who made the heaven and the earth.” All these
truths, however, do those holding perverse opinions endeavour to overthrow,
because of one passage, hich they certainly do not understand correctly. All
these truths, however, do those holding perverse opinions endeavour to
overthrow, because of one passage, which they certainly do not understand correctly.
4 5:5
And for this purpose did the Father reveal the Son,
that through His instrumentality He might be manifested to all, and might
receive those righteous ones who believe in Him into incorruption and
everlasting enjoyment (now, to believe in Him is to do His will); but He shall
righteously shut out into the darkness which they have chosen for themselves,
those who do not believe, and who do consequently avoid His light. The Father
therefore has revealed Himself to all, by making His Word visible to all; and,
conversely, the Word has declared to all the Father and the Son, since He has
become visible to all. And therefore the righteous judgment of God [shall fall]
upon all who, like others, have seen, but have not, like others, believed.
4 5:5
For there is one salvation and one God; but the
precepts which form the man are numerous, and the steps which lead man to God
are not a few. 4 9:3
For the tradition of the elders themselves, which
they pretended to observe from the law, was contrary to the law given by Moses.
Wherefore also Esaias declares: “Thy dealers mix the wine with water,” showing
that the elders were in the habit of mingling a watered tradition with the
simple command of God; that is, they set up a spurious law, and one contrary to
the [true] law; as also the Lord made plain, when He said to them, “Why do ye
transgress the commandment of God, for the sake of your tradition?” For not
only by actual transgression did they set the law of God at nought, mingling
the wine with water; but they also set up their own law in opposition to it,
which is termed, even to the present day, the pharisaical. In this [law] they
suppress certain things, add others, and interpret others, again, as they think
proper, which their teachers use, each one in particular; and desiring to
uphold these traditions, they were unwilling to be subject to the law of God,
which prepares them for the coming of Christ. But they did even blame the Lord
for healing on the Sabbath-days, which, as I have already observed, the law did
not prohibit. For they did themselves, in one sense, perform acts of healing
upon the Sabbath-day, when they circumcised a man [on that day]; but they did
not blame themselves for transgressing the command of God through tradition and
the aforesaid pharisaical law, and for not keeping the commandment of the law,
which is the love of God.
But that this is the first and greatest commandment,
and that the next [has respect to love] towards our neighbour, the Lord has
taught, when He says that the entire law and the prophets hang upon these two
commandments. Moreover, He did not Himself bring down [from heaven] any other
commandment greater than this one, but renewed this very same one to His
disciples, when He enjoined them to love God with all their heart, and others
as themselves. But if He had descended from another Father, He never would have
made use of the first and greatest commandment of the law; but He would
undoubtedly have endeavoured by all means to bring down a greater one than this
from the perfect Father, so as not to make use of that which had been given by
the God of the law. And Paul in like manner declares, “Love is the fulfilling
of the law:” and [he declares] that when all other things have been destroyed,
there shall remain “faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of all is love;”
and that apart from the love of God, neither knowledge avails anything, nor the
understanding of mysteries, nor faith, nor prophecy, but that without love all
are hollow and vain; moreover, that love makes man perfect; and that he who
loves God is perfect, both in this world and in that which is to come. For we
do never cease from loving God; but in proportion as we continue to contemplate
Him, so much the more do we love Him. 4 12:1-2
As in the law, therefore, and in the Gospel
[likewise], the first and greatest commandment is, to love the Lord God with
the whole heart, and then there follows a commandment like to it, to love one’s
neighbour as one’s self; the author of the law and the Gospel is shown to be
one and the same. For the precepts of an absolutely perfect life, since they
are the same in each Testament, have pointed out [to us] the same God, who
certainly has promulgated particular laws adapted for each; but the more
prominent and the greatest [commandments], without which salvation cannot [be
attained], He has exhorted [us to observe] the same in both. 4 12:3
Now, that the law did beforehand teach mankind the
necessity of following Christ, He does Himself make manifest, when He replied
as follows to him who asked Him what he should do that he might inherit eternal
life: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” But upon the other
asking “Which?” again the Lord replies: “Do not commit adultery, do not kill,
do not steal, do not bear false witness, honour father and mother, and thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,”—setting as an ascending series (velut
gradus) before those who wished to follow Him, the precepts of the law, as
the entrance into life; and what He then said to one He said to all. But when
the former said, “All these have I done” (and most likely he had not kept them,
for in that case the Lord would not have said to him, “Keep the commandments”),
the Lord, exposing his covetousness, said to him, “If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor; and come, follow me;”
promising to those who would act thus, the portion belonging to the apostles (apostolorum
partem). 4 12:5
But He taught that they should obey the commandments
which God enjoined from the beginning, and do away with their former
covetousness by good works, and follow after Christ. But that possessions
distributed to the poor do annul former covetousness, Zaccheus made evident,
when he said, “Behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have
defrauded any one, I restore fourfold.” 4 12:5
In the first place, [we must] believe not only in
the Father, but also in His Son now revealed; for He it is who leads man into
fellowship and unity with God. 4 13:1
For the law, since it was laid down for those in
bondage, used to instruct the soul by means of those corporeal objects which
were of an external nature, drawing it, as by a bond, to obey its commandments,
that man might learn to serve God. But the Word set free the soul, and taught
that through it the body should be willingly purified. Which having been
accomplished, it followed as of course, that the bonds of slavery should be
removed, to which man had now become accustomed, and that he should follow God
without fetters: moreover, that the laws of liberty should be extended, and
subjection to the king increased, so that no one who is converted should appear
unworthy to Him who set him free, but that the piety and obedience due to the
Master of the household should be equally rendered both by servants and
children; while the children possess greater confidence [than the servants],
inasmuch as the working of liberty is greater and more glorious than that
obedience which is rendered in [a state of] slavery.
And for this reason did the Lord, instead of that
[commandment], “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” forbid even concupiscence; and
instead of that which runs thus, “Thou shalt not kill,” He prohibited anger;
and instead of the law enjoining the giving of tithes, [He told us] to share
all our possessions with the poor; and not to love our neighbours only, but
even our enemies; and not merely to be liberal givers and bestowers, but even
that we should present a gratuitous gift to those who take away our goods. For
“to him that taketh away thy coat,” He says, “give to him thy cloak also; and
from him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again; and as ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye unto them:” so that we may not grieve as those
who are unwilling to be defrauded, but may rejoice as those who have given
willingly, and as rather conferring a favour upon our neighbours than yielding
to necessity. “And if any one,” He says, “shall compel thee [to go] a mile, go
with him twain;” so that thou mayest not follow him as a slave, but may as a
free man go before him, showing thyself in all things kindly disposed and
useful to thy neighbour, not regarding their evil intentions, but performing
thy kind offices, assimilating thyself to the Father, “who maketh His sun to
rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and unjust.”
Now all these [precepts], as I have already observed, were not [the
injunctions] of one doing away with the law, but of one fulfilling, extending,
and widening it among us; just as if one should say, that the more extensive
operation of liberty implies that a more complete subjection and affection
towards our Liberator had been implanted within us. For He did not set us free
for this purpose, that we should depart from Him (no one, indeed, while placed
out of reach of the Lord’s benefits, has power to procure for himself the means
of salvation), but that the more we receive His grace, the more we should love
Him. Now the more we have loved Him, the more glory shall we receive from Him,
when we are continually in the presence of the Father.
Inasmuch, then, as all natural precepts are common
to us and to them (the Jews), they had in them indeed the beginning and origin;
but in us they have received growth and completion. For to yield assent to God,
and to follow His Word, and to love Him above all, and one’s neighbour as one’s
self (now man is neighbour to man), and to abstain from every evil deed, and
all other things of a like nature which are common to both [covenants], do
reveal one and the same God. But this is our Lord, the Word of God, who in the
first instance certainly drew slaves to God, but afterwards He set those free
who were subject to Him, as He does Himself declare to His disciples: “I will
not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but
I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard from My Father I
have made known.” For in that which He says, “I will not now call you
servants,” He indicates in the most marked manner that it was Himself who did
originally appoint for men that bondage with respect to God through the law,
and then afterwards conferred upon them freedom. And in that He says, “For the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth,” He points out, by means of His own
advent, the ignorance of a people in a servile condition. But when He terms His
disciples “the friends of God,” He plainly declares Himself to be the Word of
God, whom Abraham also followed voluntarily and under no compulsion (sine
vinculis), because of the noble nature of his faith, and so became “the
friend of God.” But the Word of God did not accept of the friendship of
Abraham, as though He stood in need of it, for He was perfect from the
beginning (“Before Abraham was,” He says, “I am”), but that He in His goodness
might bestow eternal life upon Abraham himself, inasmuch as the friendship of
God imparts immortality to those who embrace it. 4 13:4
In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not
as if He stood in need of man, but that He might have [some one] upon whom to
confer His benefits. For not alone antecedently to Adam, but also before all
creation, the Word glorified His Father, remaining in Him; and was Himself
glorified by the Father, as He did Himself declare, “Father, glorify Thou Me
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” Nor did He stand in
need of our service when He ordered us to follow Him; but He thus bestowed
salvation upon ourselves. For to follow the Saviour is to be a partaker of
salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. But those who are in light
do not themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it:
they do certainly contribute nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they
are illumined by the light. Thus, also, service [rendered] to God does indeed
profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He grants to those
who follow and serve Him life and incorruption and eternal glory, bestowing
benefit upon those who serve [Him], because they do serve Him, and on His
followers, because they do follow Him; but does not receive any benefit from
them: for He is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. But for this reason does
God demand service from men, in order that, since He is good and merciful, He
may benefit those who continue in His service. For, as much as God is in want
of nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is
the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God’s service.
Wherefore also did the Lord say to His disciples, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I
have chosen you;” indicating that they did not glorify Him when they followed
Him; but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by Him. And again,
“I will, that where I am, there they also may be, that they may behold My
glory;” not vainly boasting because of this, but desiring that His disciples
should share in His glory: of whom Esaias also says, “I will bring thy
seed from the east, and will gather thee from the west; and I will say to the
north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My
daughters from the ends of the earth; all, as many as have been called in My
name: for in My glory I have prepared, and formed, and made him.” Inasmuch as
then, “wheresoever the carcase is, there shall also the eagles be gathered
together,” we do participate in the glory of the Lord, who has both formed us,
and prepared us for this, that, when we are with Him, we may partake of His
glory. 4 14:1
They (the Jews) had therefore a law, a course of
discipline, and a prophecy of future things. For God at the first, indeed,
warning them by means of natural precepts, which from the beginning He had
implanted in mankind, that is, by means of the Decalogue (which, if any one
does not observe, he has no salvation), did then demand nothing more of
them. 4 15:1
They (the Jews) had therefore a law, a course of
discipline, and a prophecy of future things. For God at the first, indeed,
warning them by means of natural precepts, which from the beginning He had
implanted in mankind, that is, by means of the Decalogue (which, if any one
does not observe, he has no salvation), did then demand nothing more of them.
As Moses says in Deuteronomy, “These are all the words which the Lord spake to
the whole assembly of the sons of Israel on the mount, and He added no more;
and He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me.” For this reason
[He did so], that they who are willing to follow Him might keep these
commandments. But when they turned themselves to make a calf, and had gone back
in their minds to Egypt, desiring to be slaves instead of free-men, they were
placed for the future in a state of servitude suited to their wish,—[a slavery]
which did not indeed cut them off from God, but subjected them to the yoke of
bondage; as Ezekiel the prophet, when stating the reasons for the giving of
such a law, declares: “And their eyes were after the desire of their heart; and
I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments in which they shall not
live.” Luke also has recorded that Stephen, who was the first elected into the
diaconate by the apostles, and who was the first slain for the testimony of
Christ, spoke regarding Moses as follows: “This man did indeed receive the
commandments of the living God to give to us, whom your fathers would not obey,
but thrust [Him from them], and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for we do not know what has
happened to [this] Moses, who led us from the land of Egypt. And they made a
calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in
the works of their own hands. But God turned, and gave them up to worship the
hosts of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets: O ye house of
Israel, have ye offered to Me sacrifices and oblations for forty years in the
wilderness? And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of the god
Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them;” pointing out plainly, that the
law being such, was not given to them by another God, but that, adapted to
their condition of servitude, [it originated] from the very same [God as we
worship]. Wherefore also He says to Moses in Exodus: “I will send forth My
angel before thee; for I will not go up with thee, because thou art a
stiff-necked people.” 4 15 :1
And not only so, but the Lord also showed that
certain precepts were enacted for them by Moses, on account of their hardness
[of heart], and because of their unwillingness to be obedient, when, on their
saying to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement,
and to send away a wife?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your
hearts he permitted these things to you; but from the beginning it was not so;”
thus exculpating Moses as a faithful servant, but acknowledging one God, who
from the beginning made male and female, and reproving them as hard-hearted and
disobedient. And therefore it was that they received from Moses this law of
divorcement, adapted to their hard nature. But why say I these things
concerning the Old Testament? For in the New also are the apostles found doing
this very thing, on the ground which has been mentioned, Paul plainly
declaring, “But these things I say, not the Lord.” And again: “But this I speak
by permission, not by commandment.” And again: “Now, as concerning virgins, I
have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give my judgment, as one that hath
obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.” But further, in another place he
says: “That Satan tempt you not for your incontinence.” If, therefore, even in
the New Testament, the apostles are found granting certain precepts in
consideration of human infirmity, because of the incontinence of some, lest
such persons, having grown obdurate, and despairing altogether of their
salvation, should become apostates from God,—it ought not to be wondered at, if
also in the Old Testament the same God permitted similar indulgences for the
benefit of His people, drawing them on by means of the ordinances already
mentioned, so that they might obtain the gift of salvation through them, while
they obeyed the Decalogue, and being restrained by Him, should not revert to
idolatry, nor apostatize from God, but learn to love Him with the whole heart.
And if certain persons, because of the disobedient and ruined Israelites, do
assert that the giver (doctor) of the law was limited in power, they
will find in our dispensation, that “many are called, but few chosen;” and that
there are those who inwardly are wolves, yet wear sheep’s clothing in the eyes
of the world (foris); and that God has always preserved freedom, and the
power of self-government in man, while at the same time He issued His own
exhortations, in order that those who do not obey Him should be righteously
judged (condemned) because they have not obeyed Him; and that those who have
obeyed and believed on Him should be honoured with immortality. 4
15:2
And since Adam was moulded from this earth to which
we belong, the Scripture tells us that God said to him, “In the sweat of thy
face shall thou eat thy bread, until thou turnest again to the dust from whence
thou wert taken.” If then, after death, our bodies return to any other
substance, it follows that from it also they have their substance. But if it be
into this very [earth], it is manifest that it was also from it that man’s
frame was created; as also the Lord clearly showed, when from this very
substance He formed eyes for the man [to whom He gave sight]. And thus was the
hand of God plainly shown forth, by which Adam was fashioned, and we too have
been formed; and since there is one and the same Father, whose voice from the
beginning even to the end is present with His handiwork, and the substance from
which we were formed is plainly declared through the Gospel, we should
therefore not seek after another Father besides Him, nor [look for] another
substance from which we have been formed, besides what was mentioned
beforehand, and shown forth by the Lord; nor another hand of God besides that
which, from the beginning even to the end, forms us and prepares us for life,
and is present with His handiwork, and perfects it after the image and likeness
of God…
And then, again, this Word was manifested when the
Word of God was made man, assimilating Himself to man, and man to Himself, so
that by means of his resemblance to the Son, man might become precious to the
Father. For in times long past, it was said that man was created after
the image of God, but it was not [actually] shown; for the Word was as
yet invisible, after whose image man was created, Wherefore also he did easily
lose the similitude. When, however, the Word of God became flesh, He confirmed
both these: for He both showed forth the image truly, since He became Himself
what was His image; and He re-established the similitude after a sure manner,
by assimilating man to the invisible Father through means of the visible Word…
And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord
manifested Himself, but [He has done this] also by means of His passion. For
doing away with [the effects of] that disobedience of man which had taken place
at the beginning by the occasion of a tree, “He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross;” rectifying that disobedience which had occurred
by reason of a tree, through that obedience which was [wrought out] upon the
tree [of the cross]. Now He would not have come to do away, by means of that
same [image], the disobedience which had been incurred towards our Maker if He
proclaimed another Father. But inasmuch as it was by these things that we
disobeyed God, and did not give credit to His word, so was it also by these
same that He brought in obedience and consent as respects His Word; by which
things He clearly shows forth God Himself, whom indeed we had offended in the
first Adam, when he did not perform His commandment. In the second Adam,
however, we are reconciled, being made obedient even unto death. For we were
debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the
beginning. Book 4 ch 16
And when He had repudiated holocausts, and
sacrifices, and oblations, as likewise the new moons, and the sabbaths, and the
festivals, and all the rest of the services accompanying these, He continues,
exhorting them to what pertained to salvation: “Wash you, make you clean, take
away wickedness from your hearts from before mine eyes: cease from your evil
ways, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, saith the
LORD.”
And again, when He points out that it was not for
this that He led them out of Egypt, that they might offer sacrifice to Him, but
that, forgetting the idolatry of the Egyptians, they should be able to hear the
voice of the Lord, which was to them salvation and glory, He declares by this
same Jeremiah: “Thus saith the LORD; Collect together your burnt-offerings with
your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded
them in the day that I brought them out of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or
sacrifices: but this word I commanded them, saying, Hear My voice, and I will
be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk in all My ways whatsoever have
commanded you, that it may be well with you. But they obeyed not, nor
hearkened; but walked in the imaginations of their own evil heart, and went
backwards, and not forwards.” And again, when He declares by the same man, “But
let him that glorieth, glory in this, to understand and know that I am the
LORD, who doth exercise loving-kindness, and righteousness, and judgment in the
earth;” He adds, “For in these things I delight, says the LORD,” but not in
sacrifices, nor in holocausts, nor in oblations. For the people did not receive
these precepts as of primary importance (principaliter), but as
secondary, and for the reason already alleged, as Isaiah again says: “Thou hast
not [brought to] Me the sheep of thy holocaust, nor in thy sacrifices hast thou
glorified Me: thou hast not served Me in sacrifices, nor in [the matter of]
frankincense hast thou done anything laboriously; neither hast thou bought for
Me incense with money, nor have I desired the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou
hast stood before Me in thy sins and in thine iniquities.” He says, therefore,
“Upon this man will I look, even upon him that is humble, and meek, and who
trembles at My words. Irenaeus book 4 Chapter 17
From all these it is evident that God did not seek
sacrifices and holocausts from them, but faith, and obedience, and
righteousness, because of their salvation. As God, when teaching them His will
in Hosea the prophet, said, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the
knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.” Besides, our Lord also exhorted
them to the same effect, when He said, “But if ye had known what [this]
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the
guiltless.” Thus does He bear witness to the prophets, that they preached the
truth; but accuses these men (His hearers) of being foolish through their own
fault. Book 4 chapter 17
And the class of oblations in general has not been
set aside; for there were both oblations there [among the Jews], and there are
oblations here [among the Christians]. Sacrifices there were among the people;
sacrifices there are, too, in the Church: but the species alone has been
changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen.
For the Lord is [ever] one and the same; but the character of a servile
oblation is peculiar [to itself], as is also that of freemen, in order that, by
the very oblations, the indication of liberty may be set forth. For with Him
there is nothing purposeless, nor without signification, nor without design.
And for this reason they (the Jews) had indeed the tithes of their goods
consecrated to Him, but those who have received liberty set aside all their
possessions for the Lord’s purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less
valuable portions of their property, since they have the hope of better things
[hereafter]; as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury
of God. 4 18:2
Thus did He in like manner speak to Pilate: “Thou
shouldest have no power at all against Me, unless it were given thee from
above;” God always giving up the righteous one [in this life to suffering],
that he, having been tested by what he suffered and endured, may [at last] be
accepted; but that the evildoer, being judged by the actions he has performed,
may be rejected. Sacrifices, therefore, do not sanctify a man, for God stands
in no need of sacrifice; but it is the conscience of the offerer that
sanctifies the sacrifice when it is pure, and thus moves God to accept [the
offering] as from a friend. “But the sinner,” says He, “who kills a calf [in
sacrifice] to Me, is as if he slew a dog.” 4 18:3
But those who have indeed been called to God’s
supper, yet have not received the Holy Spirit, because of their wicked conduct
“shall be,” He declares, “cast into outer darkness.” He thus clearly shows that
the very same King who gathered from all quarters the faithful to the marriage
of His Son, and who grants them the incorruptible banquet, [also] orders that
man to be cast into outer darkness who has not on a wedding garment, that is,
one who despises it. For as in the former covenant, “with many of them was He
not well pleased;” so also is it the case here, that “many are called, but few
chosen.” It is not, then, one God who judges, and another Father who calls us
together to salvation; nor one, forsooth, who confers eternal light, but
another who orders those who have not on the wedding garment to be sent into
outer darkness. But it is one and the same God, the Father of our Lord, from
whom also the prophets had their mission, who does indeed, through His infinite
kindness, call the unworthy; but He examines those who are called, [to
ascertain] if they have on the garment fit and proper for the marriage of His
Son, because nothing unbecoming or evil pleases Him. This is in accordance with
what the Lord said to the man who had been healed: “Behold, thou art made
whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” For he who is good, and
righteous, and pure, and spotless, will endure nothing evil, nor unjust, nor
detestable in His wedding chamber. This is the Father of our Lord, by whose
providence all things consist, and all are administered by His command; and He
confers His free gifts upon those who should [receive them]; but the most
righteous Retributor metes out [punishment] according to their deserts, most
deservedly, to the ungrateful and to those that are insensible of His kindness;
and therefore does He say, “He sent His armies, and destroyed those murderers,
and burned up their city.” Irenaeus Book 4 Chapter 36
This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that
we may not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. “But
thou, being a wild olive-tree,” he says, “hast been grafted into the good
olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree.” As,
therefore, when the wild olive has been engrafted, if it remain in its former
condition, viz., a wild olive, it is “cut off, and cast into the fire;” but if
it takes kindly to the graft, and is changed into the good olive-tree, it
becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as it were, in a king’s park (paradiso):
so likewise men, if they do truly progress by faith towards better things, and
receive the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruit thereof, shall be
spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of God. But if they cast out the
Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh
rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of
this stamp, “That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God;” just
as if any one were to say that the wild olive is not received into the paradise
of God. Admirably therefore does the apostle exhibit our nature, and God’s
universal appointment, in his discourse about flesh and blood and the wild
olive. For as the good olive, if neglected for a certain time, if left to grow
wild and to run to wood, does itself become a wild olive; or again, if the wild
olive be carefully tended and grafted, it naturally reverts to its former
fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless, and bring
forth for fruit the lusts of the flesh like woody produce, are rendered, by
their own fault, unfruitful in righteousness. For when men sleep, the enemy
sows the material of tares; and for this cause did the Lord command His
disciples to be on the watch. And again, those persons who are not bringing
forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as it were, covered over and lost
among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the word of God as a graft,
arrive at the pristine nature of man—that which was created after the image and
likeness of God. But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the
substance of its wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives
another name, being now not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is
called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of
God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality
of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works, and receives another name,
showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh
and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such. Then, again, as the wild
olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of its
woody quality, and is cut down as a tree bearing no fruit, and cast into the
fire; so also man, if he does not receive through faith the engrafting of the
Spirit, remains in his old condition, and being [mere] flesh and blood, he
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rightly therefore does the apostle declare,
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” and, “Those who are in the
flesh cannot please God:” not repudiating [by these words] the substance of
flesh, but showing that into it the Spirit must be infused. And for this
reason, he says, “This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible
must put on incorruption.” And again he declares, “But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” He sets this
forth still more plainly, where he says, “The body indeed is dead, because of
sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him
who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit dwelling
in you.” And again he says, in the Epistle to the Romans, “For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die.” [Now by these words] he does not prohibit them from
living their lives in the flesh, for he was himself in the flesh when he wrote
to them; but he cuts away the lusts of the flesh, those which bring death upon
a man. And for this reason he says in continuation, “But if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the works of the flesh, ye shall live. For whosoever are led
by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” [The apostle], foreseeing the
wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms
carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who
do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the
Galatians: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries,
fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts, hatreds,
contentions jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches,
dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of
which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.” Thus does he point out to his hearers in a
more explicit manner what it is [he means when he declares], “Flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” For they who do these things, since they
do indeed walk after the flesh, have not the power of living unto God. And
then, again, he proceeds to tell us the spiritual actions which vivify a man,
that is, the engrafting of the Spirit; thus saying, “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, faith,
meekness, continence, chastity: against these there is no law.” As, therefore,
he who has gone forward to the better things, and has brought forth the fruit
of the Spirit, is saved altogether because of the communion of the Spirit; so
also he who has continued in the aforesaid works of the flesh, being truly
reckoned as carnal, because he did not receive the Spirit of God, shall not
have power to inherit the kingdom of heaven. As, again, the same apostle
testifies, saying to the Corinthians, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err,” he says: “neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, shall
inherit the kingdom of God. And these ye indeed have been; but ye have been
washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” He shows in the clearest
manner through what things it is that man goes to destruction, if he has continued
to live after the flesh; and then, on the other hand, [he points out] through
what things he is saved. Now he says that the things which save are the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God. Since, therefore, in that
passage he recounts those works of the flesh which are without the Spirit,
which bring death [upon their doers], he exclaimed at the end of his Epistle,
in accordance with what he had already declared, “And as we have borne the
image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is
from heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God.” Now this which he says, “as we have borne the image of him who
is of the earth,” is analogous to what has been declared, “And such indeed ye
were; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been
justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”
When, therefore, did we bear the image of him who is of the earth? Doubtless it
was when those actions spoken of as “works of the flesh” used to be wrought in
us. And then, again, when [do we bear] the image of the heavenly? Doubtless
when he says, “Ye have been washed,” believing in the name of the Lord, and
receiving His Spirit. Now we have washed away, not the substance of our body,
nor the image of our [primary] formation, but the former vain conversation. In
these members, therefore, in which we were going to destruction by working the
works of corruption, in these very members are we made alive by working the
works of the Spirit. Irenaeus Book 5 10:1-2; 11:1-2
For as the flesh is capable of corruption, so is it
also of incorruption; and as it is of death, so is it also of life. These two
do mutually give way to each other; and both cannot remain in the same place,
but one is driven out by the other, and the presence of the one destroys that
of the other. If, then, when death takes possession of a man, it drives life
away from him, and proves him to be dead, much more does life, when it has
obtained power over the man, drive out death, and restore him as living unto
God. For if death brings mortality, why should not life, when it comes, vivify
man? Just as Esaias the prophet says, “Death devoured when it had prevailed.”
And again, “God has wiped away every tear from every face.” Thus that former
life is expelled, because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.
For the breath of life, which also rendered man an animated being, is one
thing, and the vivifying Spirit another, which also caused him to become
spiritual. And for this reason Isaiah said, “Thus saith the LORD, who made
heaven and established it, who founded the earth and the things therein, and
gave breath to the people upon it, and Spirit to those walking upon it;” thus
telling us that breath is indeed given in common to all people upon earth, but
that the Spirit is theirs alone who tread down earthly desires. And therefore
Isaiah himself, distinguishing the things already mentioned, again exclaims,
“For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have made every breath.” Thus
does he attribute the Spirit as peculiar to God which in the last times He
pours forth upon the human race by the adoption of sons; but [he shows] that
breath was common throughout the creation, and points it out as something
created. Now what has been made is a different thing from him who makes
it. The breath, then, is temporal, but the Spirit eternal. The breath, too,
increases [in strength] for a short period, and continues for a certain time;
after that it takes its departure, leaving its former abode destitute of
breath. But when the Spirit pervades the man within and without, inasmuch as it
continues there, it never leaves him. “But that is not first which is
spiritual,” says the apostle, speaking this as if with reference to us human
beings; “but that is first which is animal, afterwards that which is
spiritual,” in accordance with reason. For there had been a necessity that, in
the first place, a human being should be fashioned, and that what was fashioned
should receive the soul; afterwards that it should thus receive the communion
of the Spirit. Wherefore also “the first Adam was made” by the Lord “a living
soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit.” As, then, he who was made a living
soul forfeited life when he turned aside to what was evil, so, on the other
hand, the same individual, when he reverts to what is good, and receives the
quickening Spirit, shall find life. For it is not one thing which dies and
another which is quickened, as neither is it one thing which is lost and
another which is found, but the Lord came seeking for that same sheep which had
been lost. What was it, then, which was dead? Undoubtedly it was the substance
of the flesh; the same, too, which had lost the breath of life, and had become
breathless and dead. This same, therefore, was what the Lord came to quicken,
that as in Adam we do all die, as being of an animal nature, in Christ we may
all live, as being spiritual, not laying aside God’s handiwork, but the lusts
of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle
to the Colossians: “Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.”
And what these are he himself explains: “Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence; and covetousness, which is idolatry.” The laying
aside of these is what the apostle preaches; and he declares that those who do
such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of
heaven. For their soul, tending towards what is worse, and descending to
earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to
these [lusts, viz., “earthly”], which, when the apostle commands us to lay
aside, he says in the same Epistle, “Cast ye off the old man with his deeds.”
But when he said this, he does not remove away the ancient formation [of man];
for in that case it would be incumbent on us to rid ourselves of its company by
committing suicide. But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed
in a womb, and had issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to
the Philippians that “to live in the flesh was the fruit of [his] work;” thus
expressing himself. Now the final result of the work of the Spirit is the
salvation of the flesh. For what other visible fruit is there of the invisible
Spirit, than the rendering of the flesh mature and capable of incorruption? If
then [he says], “To live in the flesh, this is the result of labour to me,” he
did not surely contemn the substance of flesh in that passage where he said,
“Put ye off the old man with his works;” but he points out that we should lay
aside our former conversation, that which waxes old and becomes corrupt; and
for this reason he goes on to say, “And put ye on the new man, that which is
renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him.” In this,
therefore, that he says, “which is renewed in knowledge,” he demonstrates that
he, the selfsame man who was in ignorance in times past, that is, in ignorance
of God, is renewed by that knowledge which has respect to Him. For the
knowledge of God renews man. And when he says, “after the image of the
Creator,” he sets forth the recapitulation of the same man, who was at the
beginning made after the likeness of God. And that he, the apostle, was the
very same person who had been born from the womb, that is, of the ancient
substance of flesh, he does himself declare in the Epistle to the Galatians:
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me
by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles,” it was not, as I have already observed, one person who had been born
from the womb, and another who preached the Gospel of the Son of God; but that
same individual who formerly was ignorant, and used to persecute the Church,
when the revelation was made to him from heaven, and the Lord conferred with
him, as I have pointed out in the third book, preached the Gospel of Jesus
Christ the Son of God, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, his former
ignorance being driven out by his subsequent knowledge: just as the blind men
whom the Lord healed did certainly lose their blindness, but received the
substance of their eyes perfect, and obtained the power of vision in the very
same eyes with which they formerly did not see; the darkness being merely
driven away by the power of vision, while the substance of the eyes was
retained, in order that, by means of those eyes through which they had not
seen, exercising again the visual power, they might give thanks to Him who had
restored them again to sight. And thus, also, he whose withered hand was
healed, and all who were healed generally, did not change those parts of their
bodies which had at their birth come forth from the womb, but simply obtained
these anew in a healthy condition. For the Maker of all things, the Word of
God, who did also from the beginning form man, when He found His handiwork
impaired by wickedness, performed upon it all kinds of healing. At one time [He
did so], as regards each separate member, as it is found in His own handiwork;
and at another time He did once for all restore man sound and whole in all
points, preparing him perfect for Himself unto the resurrection. For what was
His object in healing [different] portions of the flesh, and restoring them to
their original condition, if those parts which had been healed by Him were not
in a position to obtain salvation? For if it was [merely] a temporary benefit
which He conferred, He granted nothing of importance to those who were the
subjects of His healing. Or how can they maintain that the flesh is incapable
of receiving the life which flows from Him, when it received healing from Him?
For life is brought about through healing, and incorruption through life. He,
therefore, who confers healing, the same does also confer life; and He [who
gives] life, also surrounds His own handiwork with incorruption. 5
12:1-6; That he uses these words with respect to the body of flesh, and to none
other, he declares to the Corinthians manifestly, indubitably, and free from
all ambiguity: “Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that also
the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body. For if we who live
are delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also
be manifested in our mortal flesh.” And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh,
he says in the same Epistle, “That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by
us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables
of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.” If, therefore, in the
present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what is there
astonishing if, in the resurrection, they receive that life which is granted by
the Spirit? Of which resurrection the apostle speaks in the Epistle to the
Philippians: “Having been made conformable to His death, if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection which is from the dead.” In what other
mortal flesh, therefore, can life be understood as being manifested, unless in
that substance which is also put to death on account of that confession which
is made of God? —as he has himself declared, “If, as a man, I have fought with
beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise not? For if the dead
rise not, neither has Christ risen. Now, if Christ has not risen, our preaching
is vain, and your faith is vain. In that case, too, we are found false
witnesses for God, since we have testified that He raised up Christ, whom [upon
that supposition] He did not raise up. For if the dead rise not, neither has
Christ risen. But if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, since ye are yet
in your sins. Therefore those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than all
men. But now Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those that
sleep; for as by man [came] death, by man also [came] the resurrection of the
dead.”13:4
Thus, then, in the day that they did eat, in the
same did they die, and became death’s debtors, since it was one day of the
creation. For it is said, “There was made in the evening, and there was made in
the morning, one day.” Now in this same day that they did eat, in that also did
they die. But according to the cycle and progress of the days, after which one
is termed first, another second, and another third, if anybody seeks diligently
to learn upon what day out of the seven it was that Adam died, he will find it
by examining the dispensation of the Lord. For by summing up in Himself the
whole human race from the beginning to the end, He has also summed up its
death. From this it is clear that the Lord suffered death, in obedience to His
Father, upon that day on which Adam died while he disobeyed God. Now he died on
the same day in which he did eat. For God said, “In that day on which ye shall
eat of it, ye shall die by death.” The Lord, therefore, recapitulating in
Himself this day, underwent His sufferings upon the day preceding the Sabbath,
that is, the sixth day of the creation, on which day man was created; thus
granting him a second creation by means of His passion, which is that
[creation] out of death. And there are some, again, who relegate the death of
Adam to the thousandth year; for since “a day of the Lord is as a thousand
years,” he did not overstep the thousand years, but died within them, thus
bearing out the sentence of his sin. Whether, therefore, with respect to
disobedience, which is death; whether [we consider] that, on account of that,
they were delivered over to death, and made debtors to it; whether with respect
to [the fact that on] one and the same day on which they ate they also died
(for it is one day of the creation); whether [we regard this point], that, with
respect to this cycle of days, they died on the day in which they did also eat,
that is, the day of the preparation, which is termed “the pure supper,” that
is, the sixth day of the feast, which the Lord also exhibited when He suffered
on that day; or whether [we reflect] that he (Adam) did not overstep the
thousand years, but died within their limit,—it follows that, in regard to all
these significations, God is indeed true. For they died who tasted of the tree;
and the serpent is proved a liar and a murderer, as the Lord said of him: “For
he is a murderer from the beginning, and the truth is not in him.”
5 23:1-2
This expression [of our Lord], “How often would I
have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldest not,” set forth the
ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free [agent] from the
beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey the
behests (ad utendum sententia) of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion
of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will [towards us] is
present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all.
And in man, as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels
are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly
possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves. On the
other hand, they who have not obeyed shall, with justice, be not found in
possession of the good, and shall receive condign punishment: for God did
kindly bestow on them what was good; but they themselves did not diligently
keep it, nor deem it something precious, but poured contempt upon His
super-eminent goodness. Rejecting therefore the good, and as it were spuing it
out, they shall all deservedly incur the just judgment of God, which also the Apostle
Paul testifies in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says, “But dost thou
despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, being
gnorant that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But according to
thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the
day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” “But glory
and honour,” he says, “to every one that doeth good.” God therefore has given
that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this Epistle, and they who work
it shall receive glory and honour, because they have done that which is good
when they had it in their power not to do it; but those who do it not shall
receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good when they had
it in their power so to do. But if some had been made by nature bad, and
others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for
such were they created; nor would the former be reprehensible, for thus they
were made [originally]. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to
hold fast and to do what is good; and, on the other hand, having also the power
to cast it from them and not to do it,—some do justly receive praise even among
men who are under the control of good laws (and much more from God), and obtain
deserved testimony of their choice of good in general, and of persevering
therein; but the others are blamed, and receive a just condemnation, because of
their rejection of what is fair and good. And therefore the prophets used to
exhort men to what was good, to act justly and to work righteousness, as I have
so largely demonstrated, because it is in our power so to do, and because by
excessive negligence we might become forgetful, and thus stand in need of that
good counsel which the good God has given us to know by means of the prophets…
For this reason the Lord also said, “Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father
who is in heaven.” And, “Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.” And, “Let
your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that
wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and
knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He
cometh, shall find so doing.” And again, “The servant who knows his Lord’s
will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” And, “Why call ye
me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” And again, “But if the
servant say in his heart, The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his
fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come
in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and
appoint his portion with the hypocrites.” All such passages demonstrate the
independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to
him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us
away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way
coercing us…
No doubt, if any one is unwilling to follow the
Gospel itself, it is in his power [to reject it], but it is not expedient. For
it is in man’s power to disobey God, and to forfeit what is good; but [such
conduct] brings no small amount of injury and mischief. And on this account
Paul says, “All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient;”
referring both to the liberty of man, in which respect “all things are lawful,”
God exercising no compulsion in regard to him; and [by the expression] “not
expedient” pointing out that we “should not use our liberty as a cloak of
maliciousness,” for this is not expedient. And again he says, “Speak ye every
man truth with his neighbour.” And, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out
of your mouth, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which
are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.” And, “For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk honestly as children of the
light, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
anger and jealousy. And such were some of you; but ye have been washed, but ye
have been sanctified in the name of our Lord.” If then it were not in our power
to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the
Lord Himself, to give us counsel to do some things, and to abstain from others?
But because man is possessed of free will from the beginning, and God is
possessed of free will, in whose likeness man was created, advice is always
given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience
to God…
And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God
preserved the will of man free and under his own control, saying, “According to
thy faith be it unto thee;” thus showing that there is a faith specially
belonging to man, since he has an opinion specially his own. And again, “All
things are possible to him that believeth;” and, “Go thy way; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee.” Now all such expressions demonstrate that
man is in his own power with respect to faith. And for this reason, “he that
believeth in Him has eternal life while he who believeth not the Son hath
not eternal life, but the wrath of God shall remain upon him.” In the same
manner therefore the Lord, both showing His own goodness, and indicating that
man is in his own free will and his own power, said to Jerusalem, “How often
have I wished to gather thy children together, as a hen [gathereth] her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Wherefore your house shall be left
unto you desolate.”…
Those, again, who maintain the opposite to these
[conclusions], do themselves present the Lord as destitute of power, as if,
forsooth, He were unable to accomplish what He willed; or, on the other hand,
as being ignorant that they were by nature “material,” as these men express it,
and such as cannot receive His immortality. “But He should not,” say they,
“have created angels of such a nature that they were capable of transgression,
nor men who immediately proved ungrateful towards Him; for they were made
rational beings, endowed with the power of examining and judging, and were not
[formed] as things irrational or of a [merely] animal nature, which can do
nothing of their own will, but are drawn by necessity and compulsion to what is
good, in which things there is one mind and one usage, working mechanically in
one groove (inflexibiles et sine judicio), who are incapable of being
anything else except just what they had been created.” But upon this
supposition, neither would what is good be grateful to them, nor communion with
God be precious, nor would the good be very much to be sought after, which
would present itself without their own proper endeavour, care, or study, but
would be implanted of its own accord and without their concern. Thus it would
come to pass, that their being good would be of no consequence, because they
were so by nature rather than by will, and are possessors of good
spontaneously, not by choice; and for this reason they would not understand
this fact, that good is a comely thing, nor would they take pleasure in it. For
how can those who are ignorant of good enjoy it? Or what credit is it to those
who have not aimed at it? And what crown is it to those who have not followed
in pursuit of it, like those victorious in the contest?...
On this account, too, did the Lord assert that the
kingdom of heaven was the portion of “the violent;” and He says, “The violent
take it by force;” that is, those who by strength and earnest striving are on
the watch to snatch it away on the moment. On this account also Paul the
Apostle says to the Corinthians, “Know ye not, that they who run in a
racecourse, do all indeed run, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may
obtain. Every one also who engages in the contest is temperate in all things:
now these men [do it] that they may obtain a corruptible crown, but we an
incorruptible. But I so run, not as uncertainty; I fight, not as one beating
the air; but I make my body livid, and bring it into subjection, lest by any
means, when preaching to others, I may myself be rendered a castaway.” This
able wrestler, therefore, exhorts us to the struggle for immortality, that we may
be crowned, and may deem the crown precious, namely, that which is acquired by
our struggle, but which does not encircle us of its own accord (sed non
ultro coalitam). And the harder we strive, so much is it the more valuable;
while so much the more valuable it is, so much the more should we esteem it.
And indeed those things are not esteemed so highly which come spontaneously, as
those which are reached by much anxious care. Since, then, this power has been
conferred upon us, both the Lord has taught and the apostle has enjoined us the
more to love God, that we may reach this [prize] for ourselves by striving
after it. For otherwise, no doubt, this our good would be [virtually]
irrational, because not the result of trial. Moreover, the faculty of seeing would
not appear to be so desirable, unless we had known what a loss it were to be
devoid of sight; and health, too, is rendered all the more estimable by an
acquaintance with disease; light, also, by contrasting it with darkness; and
life with death. Just in the same way is the heavenly kingdom honourable to
those who have known the earthly one. But in proportion as it is more
honourable, so much the more do we prize it; and if we have prized it more, we
shall be the more glorious in the presence of God. The Lord has therefore
endured all these things on our behalf, in order that we, having been
instructed by means of them all, may be in all respects circumspect for the
time to come, and that, having been rationally taught to love God, we may
continue in His perfect love: for God has displayed long-suffering in the case
of man’s apostasy; while man has been instructed by means of it, as also the
prophet says, “Thine own apostasy shall heal thee;” God thus determining all
things beforehand for the bringing of man to perfection, for his edification,
and for the revelation of His dispensations, that goodness may both be made
apparent, and righteousness perfected, and that the Church may be fashioned
after the image of His Son, and that man may finally be brought to maturity at
some future time, becoming ripe through such privileges to see and comprehend
God. Book 4 ch 37
Irrational, therefore, in every respect, are they
who await not the time of increase, but ascribe to God the infirmity of their
nature. Such persons know neither God nor themselves, being insatiable and
ungrateful. 4 38:4
Why hast thou made me like this? For we cast
blame upon Him, because we have not been made gods from the beginning, but at
first merely men, then at length gods; although God has adopted this course out
of His pure benevolence, that no one may impute to Him invidiousness or
grudgingness. He declares, “I have said, Ye are gods; and ye are all sons of
the Highest.” But since we could not sustain the power of divinity, He adds,
“But ye shall die like men,” setting forth both truths—the kindness of His free
gift, and our weakness, and also that we were possessed of power over
ourselves. For after His great kindness He graciously conferred good [upon us],
and made men like to Himself, [that is] in their own power; while at the same
time by His prescience He knew the infirmity of human beings, and the
consequences which would flow from it; but through [His] love and [His] power,
He shall overcome the substance of created nature. For it was necessary, at
first, that nature should be exhibited; then, after that, that what was mortal
should be conquered and swallowed up by immortality, and the corruptible by
incorruptibility, and that man should be made after the image and likeness of
God, having received the knowledge of good and evil. 4 38:4
Man has received the knowledge of good and evil. It
is good to obey God, and to believe in Him, and to keep His commandment, and
this is the life of man; as not to obey God is evil, and this is his death.
Since God, therefore, gave [to man] such mental power (magnanimitatem)
man knew both the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience, that the eye
of the mind, receiving experience of both, may with judgment make choice of the
better things; and that he may never become indolent or neglectful of God’s
command; and learning by experience that it is an evil thing which deprives him
of life, that is, disobedience to God, may never attempt it at all, but that,
knowing that what preserves his life, namely, obedience to God, is good, he may
diligently keep it with all earnestness. Wherefore he has also had a twofold
experience, possessing knowledge of both kinds, that with discipline he may
make choice of the better things. But how, if he had no knowledge of the
contrary, could he have had instruction in that which is good? For there is
thus a surer and an undoubted comprehension of matters submitted to us than the
mere surmise arising from an opinion regarding them. For just as the tongue
receives experience of sweet and bitter by means of tasting, and the eye
discriminates between black and white by means of vision, and the ear
recognises the distinctions of sounds by hearing; so also does the mind,
receiving through the experience of both the knowledge of what is good, become
more tenacious of its preservation, by acting in obedience to God: in the first
place, casting away, by means of repentance, disobedience, as being something
disagreeable and nauseous; and afterwards coming to understand what it really
is, that it is contrary to goodness and sweetness, so that the mind may never
even attempt to taste disobedience to God. But if any one do shun the knowledge
of both these kinds of things, and the twofold perception of knowledge, he
unawares divests himself of the character of a human being. 4 39:1
Inasmuch as the words of the Lord are numerous,
while they all proclaim one and the same Father, the Creator of this world, it
was incumbent also upon me, for their own sake, to refute by many [arguments]
those who are involved in many errors, if by any means, when they are confuted
by many [proofs], they may be converted to the truth and saved. But it is
necessary to subjoin to this composition, in what follows, also the doctrine of
Paul after the words of the Lord, to examine the opinion of this man, and
expound the apostle, and to explain whatsoever [passages] have received other
interpretations from the heretics, who have altogether misunderstood what Paul
has spoken, and to point out the folly of their mad opinions; and to
demonstrate from that same Paul, from whose [writings] they press questions
upon us, that they are indeed utterers of falsehood, but that the apostle was a
preacher of the truth, and that he taught all things agreeable to the preaching
of the truth; [to the effect that] it was one God the Father who spake with
Abraham, who gave the law, who sent the prophets beforehand, who in the last
times sent His Son, and conferred salvation upon His own handiwork —that is,
the substance of flesh. Arranging, then, in another book, the rest of the words
of the Lord, which He taught concerning the Father not by parables, but by
expressions taken in their obvious meaning (sed simpliciter ipsis
dictionibus), and the exposition of the Epistles of the blessed apostle, I
shall, with God’s aid, furnish thee with the complete work of the exposure and
refutation of knowledge, falsely so called; thus practising myself and thee in
[these] five books for presenting opposition to all heretics. 4
41:4
But following the only true and stedfast Teacher,
the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love,
become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself. Book
5 preface
Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by
faith into their soul the union of God and man, but who remain in the old
leaven of [the natural] birth, and who do not choose to understand that the
Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High did overshadow her:
wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing, and the Son of the Most High
God the Father of all, who effected the incarnation of this being, and showed
forth a new [kind of] generation; that as by the former generation we inherited
death, so by this new generation we might inherit life. Therefore do these men
reject the commixture of the heavenly wine, and wish it to be water of the
world only, not receiving God so as to have union with Him, but they remain in
that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: not
considering that as, at the beginning of our formation in Adam, that breath of
life which proceeded from God, having been united to what had been fashioned,
animated the man, and manifested him as a being endowed with reason; so also,
in [the times of] the end, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having
become united with the ancient substance of Adam’s formation, rendered man
living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the
natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive.
For never at any time did Adam escape the hands of God, to whom
the Father speaking, said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our
likeness.” And for this reason in the last times (fine), not by the will
of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father,
His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again]
after the image and likeness of God. 5 1:1
[In order to learn] that bodies did continue in
existence for a lengthened period, as long as it was God’s good pleasure that
they should flourish, let [these heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will
find that our predecessors advanced beyond seven hundred, eight hundred, and
nine hundred years of age; and that their bodies kept pace with the protracted
length of their days, and participated in life as long as God willed that they
should live. But why do I refer to these men? For Enoch, when he pleased God,
was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out
by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when
he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy
the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of
their body being translated and caught up. For by means of the very same hands
through which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this
translation and assumption. For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed
to set in order, to rule, and to sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it
and place it where they pleased. Where, then, was the first man placed? In
paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares “And God planted a garden [paradisum]
eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed.” And then
afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast out thence into this
world. Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us
that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has
been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also
Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as
regards us in our present condition), and that there shall they who have been
translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to
immortality. 5 5:1
Neither the nature of any created thing, therefore,
nor the weakness of the flesh, can prevail against the will of God. For God is
not subject to created things, but created things to God; and all things yield
obedience to His will. 5 5:2
For men of this stamp do indeed say that they
believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should upon
the things of God, neither are they adorned with works of righteousness; but,
as I have already observed, they have adopted the lives of swine and of dogs,
giving themselves over to filthiness, to gluttony, and recklessness of all
sorts. Justly, therefore, did the apostle call all such “carnal” and
“animal,”—[all those, namely], who through their own unbelief and luxury do not
receive the Divine Spirit, and in their various phases cast out from themselves
the life-giving Word, and walk stupidly after their own lusts: the prophets,
too, spake of them as beasts of burden and wild beasts; custom likewise has
viewed them in the light of cattle and irrational creatures; and the law has
pronounced them unclean. 5 8:3
This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that
we may not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. “But
thou, being a wild olive-tree,” he says, “hast been grafted into the good
olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree.” As,
therefore, when the wild olive has been engrafted, if it remain in its former
condition, viz., a wild olive, it is “cut off, and cast into the fire;” but if
it takes kindly to the graft, and is changed into the good olive-tree, it
becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as it were, in a king’s park (paradiso):
so likewise men, if they do truly progress by faith towards better things, and
receive the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruit thereof, shall be
spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of God. But if they cast out the
Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh
rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of
this stamp, “That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God;” just
as if any one were to say that the wild olive is not received into the paradise
of God. Admirably therefore does the apostle exhibit our nature, and God’s
universal appointment, in his discourse about flesh and blood and the wild
olive. For as the good olive, if neglected for a certain time, if left to grow
wild and to run to wood, does itself become a wild olive; or again, if the wild
olive be carefully tended and grafted, it naturally reverts to its former
fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless, and bring
forth for fruit the lusts of the flesh like woody produce, are rendered, by
their own fault, unfruitful in righteousness. For when men sleep, the enemy
sows the material of tares; and for this cause did the Lord command His
disciples to be on the watch. And again, those persons who are not bringing
forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as it were, covered over and lost
among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the word of God as a graft,
arrive at the pristine nature of man—that which was created after the image and
likeness of God. But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the
substance of its wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives
another name, being now not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is
called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of
God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality
of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works, and receives another name,
showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh
and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such. Then, again, as the wild
olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of its
woody quality, and is cut down as a tree bearing no fruit, and cast into the
fire; so also man, if he does not receive through faith the engrafting of the
Spirit, remains in his old condition, and being [mere] flesh and blood, he
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rightly therefore does the apostle declare,
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” and, “Those who are in the
flesh cannot please God:” not repudiating [by these words] the substance of
flesh, but showing that into it the Spirit must be infused. And for this
reason, he says, “This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible
must put on incorruption.” And again he declares, “But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” He sets this
forth still more plainly, where he says, “The body indeed is dead, because of
sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him
who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit dwelling
in you.” And again he says, in the Epistle to the Romans, “For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die.” [Now by these words] he does not prohibit them from
living their lives in the flesh, for he was himself in the flesh when he wrote
to them; but he cuts away the lusts of the flesh, those which bring death upon
a man. And for this reason he says in continuation, “But if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the works of the flesh, ye shall live. For whosoever are led
by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” [The apostle], foreseeing the
wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms
carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who
do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the
Galatians: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries,
fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts, hatreds,
contentions jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches,
dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of
which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.” Thus does he point out to his hearers in a
more explicit manner what it is [he means when he declares], “Flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” For they who do these things, since they
do indeed walk after the flesh, have not the power of living unto God. And
then, again, he proceeds to tell us the spiritual actions which vivify a man,
that is, the engrafting of the Spirit; thus saying, “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, faith,
meekness, continence, chastity: against these there is no law.” As, therefore,
he who has gone forward to the better things, and has brought forth the fruit
of the Spirit, is saved altogether because of the communion of the Spirit; so
also he who has continued in the aforesaid works of the flesh, being truly
reckoned as carnal, because he did not receive the Spirit of God, shall not
have power to inherit the kingdom of heaven. As, again, the same apostle
testifies, saying to the Corinthians, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err,” he says: “neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, shall
inherit the kingdom of God. And these ye indeed have been; but ye have been
washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” He shows in the clearest
manner through what things it is that man goes to destruction, if he has
continued to live after the flesh; and then, on the other hand, [he points out]
through what things he is saved. Now he says that the things which save are the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God. Since, therefore, in
that passage he recounts those works of the flesh which are without the Spirit,
which bring death [upon their doers], he exclaimed at the end of his Epistle,
in accordance with what he had already declared, “And as we have borne the
image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is
from heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God.” Now this which he says, “as we have borne the image of him who
is of the earth,” is analogous to what has been declared, “And such indeed ye were;
but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been
justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”
When, therefore, did we bear the image of him who is of the earth? Doubtless it
was when those actions spoken of as “works of the flesh” used to be wrought in
us. And then, again, when [do we bear] the image of the heavenly? Doubtless
when he says, “Ye have been washed,” believing in the name of the Lord, and
receiving His Spirit. Now we have washed away, not the substance of our body,
nor the image of our [primary] formation, but the former vain conversation. In
these members, therefore, in which we were going to destruction by working the
works of corruption, in these very members are we made alive by working the
works of the Spirit. Irenaeus Book 5 [10:1-2; 11:1-2]
For as the flesh is capable of corruption, so is it
also of incorruption; and as it is of death, so is it also of life. These two
do mutually give way to each other; and both cannot remain in the same place,
but one is driven out by the other, and the presence of the one destroys that
of the other. If, then, when death takes possession of a man, it drives life
away from him, and proves him to be dead, much more does life, when it has
obtained power over the man, drive out death, and restore him as living unto
God. For if death brings mortality, why should not life, when it comes, vivify
man? Just as Esaias the prophet says, “Death devoured when it had prevailed.”
And again, “God has wiped away every tear from every face.” Thus that former
life is expelled, because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.
For the breath of life, which also rendered man an animated being, is one
thing, and the vivifying Spirit another, which also caused him to become
spiritual. And for this reason Isaiah said, “Thus saith the LORD, who made
heaven and established it, who founded the earth and the things therein, and
gave breath to the people upon it, and Spirit to those walking upon it;” thus
telling us that breath is indeed given in common to all people upon earth, but
that the Spirit is theirs alone who tread down earthly desires. And therefore
Isaiah himself, distinguishing the things already mentioned, again exclaims,
“For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have made every breath.” Thus
does he attribute the Spirit as peculiar to God which in the last times He
pours forth upon the human race by the adoption of sons; but [he shows] that
breath was common throughout the creation, and points it out as something
created. Now what has been made is a different thing from him who makes it. The
breath, then, is temporal, but the Spirit eternal. The breath, too, increases
[in strength] for a short period, and continues for a certain time; after that
it takes its departure, leaving its former abode destitute of breath. But when
the Spirit pervades the man within and without, inasmuch as it continues there,
it never leaves him. “But that is not first which is spiritual,” says the
apostle, speaking this as if with reference to us human beings; “but that is
first which is animal, afterwards that which is spiritual,” in accordance with
reason. For there had been a necessity that, in the first place, a human being
should be fashioned, and that what was fashioned should receive the soul;
afterwards that it should thus receive the communion of the Spirit. Wherefore
also “the first Adam was made” by the Lord “a living soul, the second Adam a
quickening spirit.” As, then, he who was made a living soul forfeited life when
he turned aside to what was evil, so, on the other hand, the same individual,
when he reverts to what is good, and receives the quickening Spirit, shall find
life. For it is not one thing which dies and another which is quickened, as
neither is it one thing which is lost and another which is found, but the Lord
came seeking for that same sheep which had been lost. What was it, then, which
was dead? Undoubtedly it was the substance of the flesh; the same, too, which
had lost the breath of life, and had become breathless and dead. This same,
therefore, was what the Lord came to quicken, that as in Adam we do all die, as
being of an animal nature, in Christ we may all live, as being spiritual, not
laying aside God’s handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the
Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: “Mortify,
therefore, your members which are upon the earth.” And what these are he
himself explains: “Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence; and covetousness, which is idolatry.” The laying aside of these
is what the apostle preaches; and he declares that those who do such things, as
being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. For their
soul, tending towards what is worse, and descending to earthly lusts, has
become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to these [lusts, viz.,
“earthly”], which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the
same Epistle, “Cast ye off the old man with his deeds.” But when he said this,
he does not remove away the ancient formation [of man]; for in that case it
would be incumbent on us to rid ourselves of its company by committing suicide.
But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed in a womb, and had
issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to the Philippians
that “to live in the flesh was the fruit of [his] work;” thus expressing
himself. Now the final result of the work of the Spirit is the salvation of the
flesh. For what other visible fruit is there of the invisible Spirit, than the
rendering of the flesh mature and capable of incorruption? If then [he says],
“To live in the flesh, this is the result of labour to me,” he did not surely
contemn the substance of flesh in that passage where he said, “Put ye off the
old man with his works;” but he points out that we should lay aside our former
conversation, that which waxes old and becomes corrupt; and for this reason he
goes on to say, “And put ye on the new man, that which is renewed in knowledge,
after the image of Him who created him.” In this, therefore, that he says,
“which is renewed in knowledge,” he demonstrates that he, the selfsame man who
was in ignorance in times past, that is, in ignorance of God, is renewed by
that knowledge which has respect to Him. For the knowledge of God renews man.
And when he says, “after the image of the Creator,” he sets forth the
recapitulation of the same man, who was at the beginning made after the
likeness of God. And that he, the apostle, was the very same person who had
been born from the womb, that is, of the ancient substance of flesh, he does
himself declare in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son
in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,” it was not, as I have
already observed, one person who had been born from the womb, and another who
preached the Gospel of the Son of God; but that same individual who formerly
was ignorant, and used to persecute the Church, when the revelation was made to
him from heaven, and the Lord conferred with him, as I have pointed out in the
third book, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was
crucified under Pontius Pilate, his former ignorance being driven out by his
subsequent knowledge: just as the blind men whom the Lord healed did certainly
lose their blindness, but received the substance of their eyes perfect, and
obtained the power of vision in the very same eyes with which they formerly did
not see; the darkness being merely driven away by the power of vision, while
the substance of the eyes was retained, in order that, by means of those eyes
through which they had not seen, exercising again the visual power, they might
give thanks to Him who had restored them again to sight. And thus, also, he
whose withered hand was healed, and all who were healed generally, did not
change those parts of their bodies which had at their birth come forth from the
womb, but simply obtained these anew in a healthy condition. For the Maker of
all things, the Word of God, who did also from the beginning form man, when He
found His handiwork impaired by wickedness, performed upon it all kinds of
healing. At one time [He did so], as regards each separate member, as it is
found in His own handiwork; and at another time He did once for all restore man
sound and whole in all points, preparing him perfect for Himself unto the
resurrection. For what was His object in healing [different] portions of the
flesh, and restoring them to their original condition, if those parts which had
been healed by Him were not in a position to obtain salvation? For if it was
[merely] a temporary benefit which He conferred, He granted nothing of
importance to those who were the subjects of His healing. Or how can they
maintain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life which flows from
Him, when it received healing from Him? For life is brought about through
healing, and incorruption through life. He, therefore, who confers healing, the
same does also confer life; and He [who gives] life, also surrounds His own
handiwork with incorruption. 5 12:1-6; That he uses these words with
respect to the body of flesh, and to none other, he declares to the Corinthians
manifestly, indubitably, and free from all ambiguity: “Always bearing about in
our body the dying of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus Christ might be
manifested in our body. For if we who live are delivered unto death for Jesus’
sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, “That
ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but
with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly
tables of the heart.” If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are
made partakers of the Spirit, what is there astonishing if, in the
resurrection, they receive that life which is granted by the Spirit? Of which
resurrection the apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Philippians: “Having been
made conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain to the
resurrection which is from the dead.” In what other mortal flesh, therefore,
can life be understood as being manifested, unless in that substance which is
also put to death on account of that confession which is made of God? —as he
has himself declared, “If, as a man, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me if the dead rise not? For if the dead rise not, neither has
Christ risen. Now, if Christ has not risen, our preaching is vain, and your
faith is vain. In that case, too, we are found false witnesses for God, since
we have testified that He raised up Christ, whom [upon that supposition] He did
not raise up. For if the dead rise not, neither has Christ risen. But if Christ
be not risen, your faith is vain, since ye are yet in your sins. Therefore
those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than all men. But now Christ has
risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those that sleep; for as by man [came]
death, by man also [came] the resurrection of the dead.”13:4
Vain, therefore, and truly miserable, are those who
do not choose to see what is so manifest and clear, but shun the light of
truth, blinding themselves like the tragic OEdipus. And as those who are not
practised in wrestling, when they contend with others, laying hold with a
determined grasp of some part of [their opponent’s] body, really fall by means
of that which they grasp, yet when they fall, imagine that they are gaining the
victory, because they have obstinately kept their hold upon that part which
they seized at the outset, and besides falling, become subjects of ridicule; so
is it with respect to that [favourite] expression of the heretics: “Flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” while taking two expressions of
Paul’s, without having perceived the apostle’s meaning, or examined critically
the force of the terms, but keeping fast hold of the mere expressions by
themselves, they die in consequence of their influence (περὶ αὐτάς),
overturning as far as in them lies the entire dispensation of God. In all these
passages, therefore, as I have already said, these men must either allege that
the apostle expresses opinions contradicting himself, with respect to that
statement, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” or, on the
other hand, they will be forced to make perverse and crooked interpretations of
all the passages, so as to overturn and alter the sense of the words. For what
sensible thing can they say, if they endeavour to interpret otherwise this
which he writes: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal put on immortality;” and, “That the life of Jesus may be made manifest
in our mortal flesh;” and all the other passages in which the apostle does
manifestly and clearly declare the resurrection and incorruption of the flesh?
And thus shall they be compelled to put a false interpretation upon passages
such as these, they who do not choose to understand one correctly. 5
13:2, 6
And then, again, this Word was manifested when the
Word of God was made man, assimilating Himself to man, and man to Himself, so
that by means of his resemblance to the Son, man might become precious to the
Father. For in times long past, it was said that man was created after
the image of God, but it was not [actually] shown; for the Word was as
yet invisible, after whose image man was created, Wherefore also he did easily
lose the similitude. When, however, the Word of God became flesh, He confirmed
both these: for He both showed forth the image truly, since He became Himself
what was His image; and He re-established the similitude after a sure manner,
by assimilating man to the invisible Father through means of the visible
Word.
And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord
manifested Himself, but [He has done this] also by means of His passion. For
doing away with [the effects of] that disobedience of man which had taken place
at the beginning by the occasion of a tree, “He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross;” rectifying that disobedience which had occurred
by reason of a tree, through that obedience which was [wrought out] upon the
tree [of the cross]. Now He would not have come to do away, by means of that
same [image], the disobedience which had been incurred towards our Maker if He
proclaimed another Father. But inasmuch as it was by these things that we
disobeyed God, and did not give credit to His word, so was it also by these
same that He brought in obedience and consent as respects His Word; by which
things He clearly shows forth God Himself, whom indeed we had offended in the
first Adam, when he did not perform His commandment. In the second Adam,
however, we are reconciled, being made obedient even unto death. For we were
debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the
beginning. 5 16:2-3
Now this being is the Creator (Demiurgus),
who is, in respect of His love, the Father; but in respect of His power, He is
Lord; and in respect of His wisdom, our Maker and Fashioner; by transgressing
whose commandment we became His enemies. And therefore in the last times the
Lord has restored us into friendship through His incarnation, having become
“the Mediator between God and men;” propitiating indeed for us the Father
against whom we had sinned, and cancelling (consolatus) our disobedience
by His own obedience; conferring also upon us the gift of communion with, and
subjection to, our Maker. For this reason also He has taught us to say in
prayer, “And forgive us our debts;” since indeed He is our Father, whose
debtors we were, having transgressed His commandments. But who is this Being?
Is He some unknown one, and a Father who gives no commandment to any one? Or is
He the God who is proclaimed in the Scriptures, to whom we were debtors, having
transgressed His commandment? Now the commandment was given to man by the Word.
For Adam, it is said, “heard the voice of the LORD God.” Rightly then does His
Word say to man, “Thy sins are forgiven thee;” He, the same against whom we had
sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end. But if indeed
we had disobeyed the command of any other, while it was a different being who
said, “Thy sins are forgiven thee;” such an one is neither good, nor true, nor
just. For how can he be good, who does not give from what belongs to himself?
Or how can he be just, who snatches away the goods of another? And in what way
can sins be truly remitted, unless that He against whom we have sinned has
Himself granted remission “through the bowels of mercy of our God,” in which
“He has visited us” through His Son? 5 17:1
Therefore, by remitting sins, He did indeed heal man,
while He also manifested Himself who He was. For if no one can forgive sins but
God alone, while the Lord remitted them and healed men, it is plain that He was
Himself the Word of God made the Son of man, receiving from the Father the
power of remission of sins; since He was man, and since He was God, in order
that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He might have compassion on us,
and forgive us our debts, in which we were made debtors to God our Creator. And
therefore David said beforehand, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD has
not imputed sin;” pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon
His advent, by which “He has destroyed the handwriting” of our debt, and
“fastened it to the cross;” so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors
to God, [so also] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our
debt. 5 17:3
The Father is indeed above all, and He is the Head
of Christ; but the Word is through all things, and is Himself the Head of the
Church; while the Spirit is in us all, and He is the living water, which the
Lord grants to those who rightly believe in Him, and love Him, and who know
that “there is one Father, who is above all, and through all, and in us
all.” 5 17:2
For the Creator of the world is truly the Word of
God: and this is our Lord, who in the last times was made man, existing in this
world, and who in an invisible manner contains all things created, and is
inherent in the entire creation, since the Word of God governs and arranges all
things; and therefore He came to His own in a visible manner, and was made
flesh, and hung upon the tree, that He might sum up all things in
Himself. 5 18:3
That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own
things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by
Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had
occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited
by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects] also of that deception
being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already espoused to a
man, was unhappily misled,—was happily announced, through means of the truth
[spoken] by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was [also espoused] to a man. For
just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled
from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic
communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret)
God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the
latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might
become the patroness (advocata) of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the
human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by
a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by
virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti)
receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of
the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being
unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death. 5 19:1
Now, such are all the heretics, and those who
imagine that they have hit upon something more beyond the truth, so that by
following those things already mentioned, proceeding on their way variously,
inharmoniously, and foolishly, not keeping always to the same opinions with
regard to the same things, as blind men are led by the blind, they shall
deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance lying in their path, ver seeking
and never finding out the truth. It behoves us, therefore, to avoid their
doctrines, and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to
flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with the
Lord’s Scriptures. 5 20:2
He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation,
summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who
had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head,
as thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, “And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall
be on the watch for (observabit4627) thy head, and thou on the watch for
His heel.” For from that time, He who should be born of a woman, [namely] from
the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, was preached as keeping watch for the
head of the serpent. This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Epistle
to the Galatians, “that the law of works was established until the seed should
come to whom the promise was made.” This fact is exhibited in a still clearer
light in the same Epistle, where he thus speaks: “But when the fulness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman.” For indeed the enemy would
not have been fairly vanquished, unless it had been a man [born] of a woman who
conquered him. For it was by means of a woman that he got the advantage over
man at first, setting himself up as man’s opponent. And therefore does the Lord
profess Himself to be the Son of man, comprising in Himself that original man
out of whom the woman was fashioned (ex quo ea quæ secundum mulierem est
plasmatio facta est), in order that, as our species went down to death
through a vanquished man, so we may ascend to life again through a victorious
one; and as through a man death received the palm [of victory] against us, so
again by a man we may receive the palm against death…
Now the Lord would not have recapitulated in Himself
that ancient and primary enmity against the serpent, fulfilling the promise of
the Creator (Demiurgi), and performing His command, if He had come from
another Father. But as He is one and the same, who formed us at the beginning,
and sent His Son at the end, the Lord did perform His command, being made of a
woman, by both destroying our adversary, and perfecting man after the image and
likeness of God. And for this reason He did not draw the means of confounding
him from any other source than from the words of the law, and made use of the
Father’s commandment as a help towards the destruction and confusion of the
apostate angel. Fasting forty days, like Moses and Elias, He afterwards
hungered, first, in order that we may perceive that He was a real and
substantial man—for it belongs to a man to suffer hunger when fasting; and
secondly, that His opponent might have an opportunity of attacking Him. For as
at the beginning it was by means of food that [the enemy] persuaded man,
although not suffering hunger, to transgress God’s commandments, so in the end
he did not succeed in persuading Him that was an hungered to take that food
which proceeded from God. For, when tempting Him, he said, “If thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread.” But the Lord repulsed him by
the commandment of the law, saying, “It is written, Man doth not live by bread
alone.” As to those words [of His enemy,] “If thou be the Son of God,” [the
Lord] made no remark; but by thus acknowledging His human nature He baffled His
adversary, and exhausted the force of his first attack by means of His Father’s
word. The corruption of man, therefore, which occurred in paradise by both [of
our first parents] eating, was done away with by [the Lord’s] want of food in
this world. But he, being thus vanquished by the law, endeavoured again to make
an assault by himself quoting a commandment of the law. For, bringing Him to
the highest pinnacle of the temple, he said to Him, “If thou art the Son of God,
cast thyself down. For it is written, That God shall give His angels charge
concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perchance
thou dash thy foot against a stone;” thus concealing a falsehood under the
guise of Scripture, as is done by all the heretics. For that was indeed
written, [namely], “That He hath given His angels charge concerning Him;” but
“cast thyself down from hence” no Scripture said in reference to Him: this kind
of persuasion the devil produced from himself. The Lord therefore confuted him
out of the law, when He said, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the
LORD thy God;” pointing out by the word contained in the law that which is the
duty of man that he should not tempt God; and in regard to Himself, since He
appeared in human form, [declaring] that He would not tempt the LORD his God.
The pride of reason, therefore, which was in the serpent, was put to nought by
the humility found in the man [Christ], and now twice was the devil conquered
from Scripture, when he was detected as advising things contrary to God’s
commandment, and was shown to be the enemy of God by [the expression of] his
thoughts. He then, having been thus signally defeated, and then, as it were,
concentrating his forces, drawing up in order all his available power for
falsehood, in the third place “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and
the glory of them,” saying, as Luke relates, “All these will I give thee,—for
they are delivered to me; and to whom I will, I give them,—if thou wilt fall
down and worship me.” The Lord then, exposing him in his true character, says,
“Depart, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him
only shalt thou serve.” He both revealed him by this name, and showed [at the
same time] who He Himself was. For the Hebrew word “Satan” signifies an
apostate. And thus, vanquishing him for the third time, He spurned him from Him
finally as being conquered out of the law; and there was done away with that
infringement of God’s commandment which had occurred in Adam, by means of the
precept of the law, which the Son of man observed, who did not transgress the
commandment of God…
Who, then, is this Lord God to whom Christ bears
witness, whom no man shall tempt, whom all should worship, and serve Him alone?
It is, beyond all manner of doubt, that God who also gave the law. For these
things had been predicted in the law, and by the words (sententiam) of
the law the Lord showed that the law does indeed declare the Word of God from
the Father; and the apostate angel of God is destroyed by its voice, being
exposed in his true colours, and vanquished by the Son of man keeping the
commandment of God. For as in the beginning he enticed man to transgress his
Maker’s law, and thereby got him into his power; yet his power consists in
transgression and apostasy, and with these he bound man [to himself]; so again,
on the other hand, it was necessary that through man himself he should, when
conquered, be bound with the same chains with which he had bound man, in order
that man, being set free, might return to his Lord, leaving to him (Satan)
those bonds by which he himself had been fettered, that is, sin. For when Satan
is bound, man is set free; since “none can enter a strong man’s house and spoil
his goods, unless he first bind the strong man himself.” The Lord therefore
exposes him as speaking contrary to the word of that God who made all things,
and subdues him by means of the commandment. Now the law is the commandment of
God. The Man proves him to be a fugitive from and a transgressor of the law, an
apostate also from God. After [the Man had done this], the Word bound him
securely as a fugitive from Himself, and made spoil of his goods,— namely,
those men whom he held in bondage, and whom he unjustly used for his own
purposes. And justly indeed is he led captive, who had led men unjustly
into bondage; while man, who had been led captive in times past, was rescued
from the grasp of his possessor, according to the tender mercy of God the
Father, who had compassion on His own handiwork, and gave to it salvation,
restoring it by means of the Word—that is, by Christ—in order that man might
learn by actual proof that he receives incorruptibility not of himself, but by
the free gift of God. 5 21
The Lord, therefore, recapitulating in Himself this
day, underwent His sufferings upon the day preceding the Sabbath, that is, the
sixth day of the creation, on which day man was created; thus granting him a
second creation by means of His passion, which is that [creation] out of death.
And there are some, again, who relegate the death of Adam to the thousandth
year; for since “a day of the Lord is as a thousand years,” he did not overstep
the thousand years, but died within them, thus bearing out the sentence of his
sin. Whether, therefore, with respect to disobedience, which is death; whether
[we consider] that, on account of that, they were delivered over to death, and
made debtors to it; whether with respect to [the fact that on] one and the same
day on which they ate they also died (for it is one day of the creation);
whether [we regard this point], that, with respect to this cycle of days, they
died on the day in which they did also eat, that is, the day of the
preparation, which is termed “the pure supper,” that is, the sixth day of the
feast, which the Lord also exhibited when He suffered on that day; or whether
[we reflect] that he (Adam) did not overstep the thousand years, but died
within their limit,—it follows that, in regard to all these significations, God
is indeed true. For they died who tasted of the tree; and the serpent is proved
a liar and a murderer, as the Lord said of him: “For he is a murderer from the
beginning, and the truth is not in him.” 5 23:2
For those things which have been predicted by the
Creator alike through all the prophets has Christ fulfilled in the end,
ministering to His Father’s will, and completing His dispensations with regard
to the human race. Let those persons, therefore, who blaspheme the Creator,
either by openly expressed words, such as the disciples of Marcion, or by a
perversion of the sense [of Scripture], as those of Valentinus and all the
Gnostics falsely so called, be recognised as agents of Satan by all those who
worship God; through whose agency Satan now, and not before, has been seen to
speak against God, even Him who has prepared eternal fire for every kind of
apostasy. For he did not venture to blaspheme his Lord openly of himself; as
also in the beginning he led man astray through the instrumentality of the
serpent, concealing himself as it were from God. Truly has Justin remarked:
That before the Lord’s appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch
as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables
and allegories; but that after the Lord’s appearance, when he had clearly
ascertained from the words of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire has
been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his own free-will, and
likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes,
by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already
condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker, not to his own
voluntary disposition. Just as it is with those who break the laws, when
punishment overtakes them: they throw the blame upon those who frame the laws,
but not upon themselves. In like manner do those men, filled with a satanic
spirit, bring innumerable accusations against our Creator, who has both given
to us the spirit of life, and established a law adapted for all; and they will
not admit that the judgment of God is just. Wherefore also they set about
imagining some other Father who neither cares about nor exercises a providence
over our affairs, nay, one who even approves of all sins. 5 26:2
If the Father, then, does not exercise judgment, [it
follows] that judgment does not belong to Him, or that He consents to all those
actions which take place; and if He does not judge, all persons will be equal,
and accounted in the same condition. The advent of Christ will therefore be
without an object, yea, absurd, inasmuch as [in that case] He exercises no
judicial power. For “He came to divide a man against his father, and the
daughter against the mother, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law;”
and when two are in one bed, to take the one, and to leave the other; and of
two women grinding at the mill, to take one and leave the other: [also] at the
time of the end, to order the reapers to collect first the tares together, and
bind them in bundles, and burn them with unquenchable fire, but to gather up
the wheat into the barn; and to call the lambs into the kingdom prepared for
them, but to send the goats into everlasting fire, which has been prepared by
His Father for the devil and his angels. And why is this? Has the Word come for
the ruin and for the resurrection of many? For the ruin, certainly, of those
who do not believe Him, to whom also He has threatened a greater damnation in
the judgment-day than that of Sodom and Gomorrah; but for the resurrection of
believers, and those who do the will of His Father in heaven. If then the
advent of the Son comes indeed alike to all, but is for the purpose of judging,
and separating the believing from the unbelieving, since, as those who believe
do His will agreeably to their own choice, and as, [also] agreeably to their
own choice, the disobedient do not consent to His doctrine; it is manifest that
His Father has made all in a like condition, each person having a choice of his
own, and a free understanding; and that He has regard to all things, and
exercises a providence over all, “making His sun to rise upon the evil and on
the good, and sending rain upon the just and unjust”…
And to as many as continue in their love towards
God, does He grant communion with Him. But communion with God is life and
light, and the enjoyment of all the benefits which He has in store. But on as
many as, according to their own choice, depart from God, He inflicts that
separation from Himself which they have chosen of their own accord. But
separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness; and
separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits which He has in
store. Those, therefore, who cast away by apostasy these forementioned things,
being in fact destitute of all good, do experience every kind of punishment.
God, however, does not punish them immediately of Himself, but that punishment
falls upon them because they are destitute of all that is good. Now, good
things are eternal and without end with God, and therefore the loss of these is
also eternal and never-ending. It is in this matter just as occurs in the case
of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by
others, are for ever deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not, [however],
that the light has inflicted upon them the penalty of blindness, but it is that
the blindness itself has brought calamity upon them: and therefore the Lord
declared, “He that believeth in Me is not condemned,” that is, is not separated
from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand, He says,
“He that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only-begotten Son of God;” that is, he separated himself from God
of his own accord. “For this is the condemnation, that light is come into this
world, and men have loved darkness rather than light. For every one who doeth
evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest, that he has wrought them in God.” 5 27
Inasmuch, then, as in this world (αἰῶνι) some
persons betake themselves to the light, and by faith unite themselves with God,
but others shun the light, and separate themselves from God, the Word of God
comes preparing a fit habitation for both. For those indeed who are in the
light, that they may derive enjoyment from it, and from the good things
contained in it; but for those in darkness, that they may partake in its
calamities. And on this account He says, that those upon the right hand are
called into the kingdom of heaven, but that those on the left He will send into
eternal fire for they have deprived themselves of all good.
And for this reason the apostle says: “Because they
received not the love of God, that they might be saved, therefore God shall
also send them the operation of error, that they may believe a lie, that they
all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but consented to unrighteousness.”
For when he (Antichrist) is come, and of his own accord concentrates in his own
person the apostasy, and accomplishes whatever he shall do according to his own
will and choice, sitting also in the temple of God, so that his dupes may adore
him as the Christ; wherefore also shall he deservedly “be cast into the lake of
fire:” [this will happen according to divine appointment], God by His
prescience foreseeing all this, and at the proper time sending such a man,
“that they may believe a lie, that they all may be judged who did not believe
the truth, but consented to unrighteousness;” whose coming John has thus
described in the Apocalypse: “And the beast which I had seen was like unto a
leopard, and his feet as of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and
the dragon conferred his own power upon him, and his throne, and great might.
And one of his heads was as it were slain unto death; and his deadly wound was
healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the
dragon because he gave power to the beast; and they worshipped the beast,
saying, Who is like unto this beast, and who is able to make war with him? And
there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemy and power
was given to him during forty and two months. And he opened his mouth for
blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and those who
dwell in heaven. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and
tongue, and nation. And all who dwell upon the earth worshipped him, [every
one] whose name was not written in the book of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. If any one have ears, let him hear. If any one shall
lead into captivity, he shall go into captivity. If any shall slay with the
sword, he must be slain with the sword. Here is the endurance and the faith of
the saints.” After this he likewise describes his armour-bearer, whom he also
terms a false prophet: “He spake as a dragon, and exercised all the power of
the first beast in his sight, and caused the earth, and those that dwell
therein, to adore the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he shall
perform great wonders, so that he can even cause fire to descend from heaven
upon the earth in the sight of men, and he shall lead the inhabitants of the
earth astray.” Let no one imagine that he performs these wonders by divine
power, but by the working of magic. And we must not be surprised if, since the
demons and apostate spirits are at his service, he through their means performs
wonders, by which he leads the inhabitants of the earth astray. John says
further: “And he shall order an image of the beast to be made, and he shall
give breath to the image, so that the image shall speak; and he shall cause
those to be slain who will not adore it.” He says also: “And he will cause a
mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able
to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the
number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,” that is, six
times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up
of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years.
For in as many days as this world was made, in so
many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture
says: “Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment.
And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made;
and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.” This is an account of
the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For
the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were
completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth
thousand year.
And therefore throughout all time, man, having been
moulded at the beginning by the hands of God, that is, of the Son and of the
Spirit, is made after the image and likeness of God: the chaff, indeed, which
is the apostasy, being cast away; but the wheat, that is, those who bring forth
fruit to God in faith, being gathered into the barn. And for this cause
tribulation is necessary for those who are saved, that having been after a
manner broken up, and rendered fine, and sprinkled over by the patience of the
Word of God, and set on fire [for purification], they may be fitted for the
royal banquet. As a certain man of ours said, when he was condemned to the wild
beasts because of his testimony with respect to God: “I am the wheat of Christ,
and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure
bread of God.” 5 28
Such, then, being the state of the case, and this
number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the
Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony
[to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of
the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the
[value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty
and six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds,
and the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which
[expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the recapitulations
of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which occurred at the beginning,
during the intermediate periods, and which shall take place at the end),—I do
not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech,
and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty
from it, so that instead of six decads they will have it that there is but one.
[I am inclined to think that this occurred through the fault of the copyists,
as is wont to happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters; so that the
Greek letter which expresses the number sixty was easily expanded into the
letter Iota of the Greeks.] Others then received this reading without
examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility,
making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their
inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the
erroneous and spurious number. Now, as regards those who have done this in
simplicity, and without evil intent, we are at liberty to assume that pardon
will be granted them by God. 5 30
Such, then, being the state of the case, and this
number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the
Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony
[to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of
the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the
[value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and
six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and
the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which
[expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the
recapitulations of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which occurred at
the beginning, during the intermediate periods, and which shall take place at
the end),—I do not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary
mode of speech, and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the
amount of fifty from it, so that instead of six decads they will have it that
there is but one. [I am inclined to think that this occurred through the fault
of the copyists, as is wont to happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters;
so that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty was easily expanded
into the letter Iota of the Greeks.] Others then received this reading without
examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility,
making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their
inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the
erroneous and spurious number. Now, as regards those who have done this in
simplicity, and without evil intent, we are at liberty to assume that pardon
will be granted them by God. But as for those who, for the sake of vainglory,
lay it down for certain that names containing the spurious number are to be
accepted, and affirm that this name, hit upon by themselves, is that of him who
is to come; such persons shall not come forth without loss, because they have
led into error both themselves and those who confided in them. Now, in the
first place, it is loss to wander from the truth, and to imagine that as being
the case which is not; then again, as there shall be no light punishment
[inflicted] upon him who either adds or subtracts anything from the Scripture,
under that such a person must necessarily fall. Moreover, another danger, by no
means trifling, shall overtake those who falsely presume that they know the
name of Antichrist. For if these men assume one [number], when this
[Antichrist] shall come having another, they will be easily led away by him, as
supposing him not to be the expected one, who must be guarded against.
These men, therefore, ought to learn [what really is
the state of the case], and go back to the true number of the name, that they
be not reckoned among false prophets. But, knowing the sure number declared by
Scripture, that is, six hundred sixty and six, let them await, in the first
place, the division of the kingdom into ten; then, in the next place, when
these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their affairs in order, and
advance their kingdom, [let them learn] to acknowledge that he who shall come
claiming the kingdom for himself, and shall terrify those men of whom we have
been speaking, having a name containing the aforesaid number, is truly the
abomination of desolation. This, too, the apostle affirms: “When they shall
say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them.” And
Jeremiah does not merely point out his sudden coming, but he even indicates the
tribe from which he shall come, where he says, “We shall hear the voice of his
swift horses from Dan; the whole earth shall be moved by the voice of the
neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come and devour the earth, and
the fulness thereof, the city also, and they that dwell therein.” This, too, is
the reason that this tribe is not reckoned in the Apocalypse along with those which
are saved.
It is therefore more certain, and less hazardous, to
await the fulfilment of the prophecy, than to be making surmises, and casting
about for any names that may present themselves, inasmuch as many names can be
found possessing the number mentioned; and the same question will, after all,
remain unsolved. For if there are many names found possessing this number, it
will be asked which among them shall the coming man bear. It is not through a
want of names containing the number of that name that I say this, but on
account of the fear of God, and zeal for the truth: for the name Evanthas (ΕΥΑΝΘΑΣ)
contains the required number, but I make no allegation regarding it. Then also Lateinos
(ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ) has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very
probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen
by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear rule: I will not,
however, make any boast over this [coincidence]. Teitan too, (ΤΕΙΤΑΝ,
the first syllable being written with the two Greek vowels ε and ι, among all
the names which are found among us, is rather worthy of credit. For it has in
itself the predicted number, and is composed of six letters, each syllable
containing three letters; and [the word itself] is ancient, and removed from
ordinary use; for among our kings we find none bearing this name Titan, nor
have any of the idols which are worshipped in public among the Greeks and
barbarians this appellation. Among many persons, too, this name is accounted divine,
so that even the sun is termed “Titan” by those who do now possess [the rule].
This word, too, contains a certain outward appearance of vengeance, and of one
inflicting merited punishment because he (Antichrist) pretends that he
vindicates the oppressed. And besides this, it is an ancient name, one worthy
of credit, of royal dignity, and still further, a name belonging to a tyrant.
Inasmuch, then, as this name “Titan” has so much to recommend it, there is a
strong degree of probability, that from among the many [names suggested], we
infer, that perchance he who is to come shall be called “Titan.” We will not,
however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist;
for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this
present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic
vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day,
towards the end of Domitian’s reign.
But he indicates the number of the name now, that
when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is: the name, however,
is suppressed, because it is not worthy of being proclaimed by the Holy Spirit.
For if it had been declared by Him, he (Antichrist) might perhaps continue for
a long period. But now as “he was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the
abyss, and goes into perdition,” as one who has no existence; so neither has
his name been declared, for the name of that which does not exist is not
proclaimed. But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this
world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the templeat
Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory
of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire;
but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest,
the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in
which kingdom the Lord declared, that “many coming from the east and from the
west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 5 30
For this reason, when about to undergo His
sufferings, that He might declare to Abraham and those with him the glad
tidings of the inheritance being thrown open, [Christ], after He had given
thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it, and given it to the
disciples, said to them: “Drink ye all of it: this is My blood of the new
covenant, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say
unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine, until that day
when I will drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Thus, then, He will
Himself renew the inheritance of the earth, and will re-organize the mystery of
the glory of [His] sons; as David says, “He who hath renewed the face of the
earth.” He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples, thus
indicating both these points: the inheritance of the earth in which the new
fruit of the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of His disciples in the flesh.
For the new flesh which rises again is the same which also received the new
cup. And He cannot by any means be understood as drinking of the fruit of the
vine when settled down with his [disciples] above in a super-celestial place;
nor, again, are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which
flows from the vine pertains to flesh, and not spirit.
And for this reason the Lord declared, “When thou
makest a dinner or a supper, do not call thy friends, nor thy neighbours, nor
thy kinsfolk, lest they ask thee in return, and so repay thee. But call the
lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou shall be blessed, since they cannot
recompense thee, but a recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the
just.” And again He says, “Whosoever shall have left lands, or houses, or
parents, or brethren, or children because of Me, he shall receive in this world
an hundred-fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life.” For what
are the hundred-fold [rewards] in this word, the entertainments given to the
poor, and the suppers for which a return is made? These are [to take place] in
the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been
sanctified, in which God rested from all the works which He created, which is the
true Sabbath of the righteous, which they shall not be engaged in any earthly
occupation; but shall have a table at hand prepared for them by God, supplying
them with all sorts of dishes.
Now, that the promises were not announced to the
prophets and the fathers alone, but to the Churches united to these from the
nations, whom also the Spirit terms “the islands” (both because they are
established in the midst of turbulence, suffer the storm of blasphemies, exist
as a harbor of safety to those in peril, and are the refuge of those who love
the height [of heaven], and strive to avoid Bythus, that is, the depth of
error), Jeremiah thus declares: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye nations, and
declare it to the isles afar off; say ye, that the LORD will scatter Israel, He
will gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his flock of sheep. For the Lord
hath redeemed Jacob, and rescued him from the hand of one stronger than he. And
they shall come and rejoice in Mount Zion, and shall come to what is good, and
into a land of wheat, and wine, and fruits, of animals and of sheep; and their
soul shall be as a tree bearing fruit, and they shall hunger no more. At that
time also shall the virgins rejoice in the company of the young men: the old
men, too, shall be glad, and I will turn their sorrow into joy; and I will make
them exult, and will magnify them, and satiate the souls of the priests the
sons of Levi; and my people shall be satiated with my goodness”.
[Jeremiah 31:10] Now, in the preceding book I have shown that all the
disciples of the Lord are Levites and priests, they who used in the temple to
profane the Sabbath, but are blameless. Promises of such a nature, therefore,
do indicate in the clearest manner the feasting of that creation in the kingdom
of the righteous, which God promises that He will Himself serve. 5
34
As long as any one has the means of doing good to
his neighbours, and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love
of the Lord. Fragments 4
The will and the energy of God is the effective and
foreseeing cause of every time and place and age, and of every nature. The will
is the reason (λόγος) of the intellectual soul, which [reason] is within us,
inasmuch as it is the faculty belonging to it which is endowed with freedom of
action. The will is the mind desiring [some object], and an appetite possessed
of intelligence, yearning after that thing which is desired. Fragments 5
This [custom], of not bending the knee upon Sunday,
is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the
grace of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death under
Him. Now this custom took its rise from apostolic times, as the blessed
Irenæus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his treatise On Easter,
in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon which [feast] we do not bend
the knee, because it is of equal significance with the Lord’s day, for the
reason already alleged concerning it. 7
Ever, indeed, speaking well of the deserving, but
never ill of the undeserving, we also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of
God. 9
The business of the Christian is nothing else than
to be ever preparing for death. 11
How is it possible to say that the serpent, created
by God dumb and irrational, was endowed with reason and speech? For if it had
the power of itself to speak, to discern, to understand, and to reply to what
was spoken by the woman, there would have been nothing to prevent every serpent
from doing this also. If, however, they say again that it was according to the
divine will and dispensation that this [serpent] spake with a human voice to
Eve, they render God the author of sin. Neither was it possible for the evil
demon to impart speech to a speechless nature, and thus from that which is not
to produce that which is; for if that were the case, he never would have ceased
(with the view of leading men astray) from conferring with and deceiving them
by means of serpents, and beasts, and birds. From what quarter, too, did it,
being a beast, obtain information regarding the injunction of God to the man
given to him alone, and in secret, not even the woman herself being aware of
it? Why also did it not prefer to make its attack upon the man instead of the
woman? And if thou sayest that it attacked her as being the weaker of the two,
[I reply that], on the contrary, she was the stronger, since she appears to
have been the helper of the man in the transgression of the commandment. For
she did by herself alone resist the serpent, and it was after holding out for a
while and making opposition that she ate of the tree, being circumvented by
craft; whereas Adam, making no fight whatever, nor refusal, partook of the
fruit handed to him by the woman, which is an indication of the utmost
imbecility and effeminacy of mind. And the woman indeed, having been vanquished
in the contest by a demon, is deserving of pardon; but Adam shall deserve none,
for he was worsted by a woman,—he who, in his own person, had received the
command from God. But the woman, having heard of the command from Adam, treated
it with contempt, either because she deemed it unworthy of God to speak by
means of it, or because she had her doubts, perhaps even held the opinion that
the command was given to her by Adam of his own accord. The serpent found her
working alone, so that he was enabled to confer with her apart. Observing her
then either eating or not eating from the trees, he put before her the fruit of
the [forbidden] tree. And if he saw her eating, it is manifest that she was
partaker of a body subject to corruption. “For everything going in at the
mouth, is cast out into the draught.” If then corruptible, it is obvious that
she was also mortal. But if mortal, then there was certainly no curse; nor was
that a [condemnatory] sentence, when the voice of God spake to the man, “For
earth thou art, and unto earth shall thou return,” as the true course of things
proceeds [now and always]. Then again, if the serpent observed the woman not
eating, how did he induce her to eat who never had eaten? And who pointed out
to this accursed man-slaying serpent that the sentence of death pronounced
against them by God would not take [immediate] effect, when He said, “For in
the day that ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die?” And not this merely, but
that along with the impunity [attending their sin] the eyes of those should be
opened who had not seen until then? But with the opening [of their eyes]
referred to, they made entrance upon the path of death. Fragments 14
By these Christ was typified, and acknowledged, and
brought into the world; for He was prefigured in Joseph: then from Levi and
Judah He was descended according to the flesh, as King and Priest; and He was
acknowledged by Simeon in the temple: through Zebulon He was believed in among
the Gentiles, as says the prophet, “the land of Zabulon;” and through Benjamin
[that is, Paul] He was glorified, by being preached throughout all the
world. Frag 17
Know thou that every man is either empty or full.
For if he has not the Holy Spirit, he has no knowledge of the Creator; he has
not received Jesus Christ the Life; he knows not the Father who is in heaven;
if he does not live after the dictates of reason, after the heavenly law, he is
not a sober-minded person, nor does he act uprightly: such an one is empty. If,
on the other hand, he receives God, who says, “I will dwell with them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God,” such an one is not empty, but full.
Frag 26
The Gospel according to Matthew was written to the
Jews. For they laid particular stress upon the fact that Christ [should be] of
the seed of David. Matthew also, who had a still greater desire [to establish
this point], took particular pains to afford them convincing proof that Christ
is of the seed of David; and therefore he commences with [an account of] His
genealogy. Frag 29
Inasmuch as certain men, impelled by what
considerations I know not, remove from God the half of His creative power, by
asserting that He is merely the cause of quality resident in matter, and by
maintaining that matter itself is uncreated, come now let us put the question,
What is at any time … is immutable. Matter, then, is immutable. But if matter
be immutable, and the immutable suffers no change in regard to quality, it does
not form the substance of the world. For which reason it seems to them
superfluous, that God has annexed qualities to matter, since indeed matter
admits of no possible alteration, it being in itself an uncreated thing. But
further, if matter be uncreated, it has been made altogether according to a
certain quality, and this immutable, so that it cannot be receptive of more
qualities, nor can it be the thing of which the world is made. But if the world
be not made from it, [this theory] entirely excludes God from exercising power
on the creation [of the world]. Frag 33
True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding
of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which “the
natural man receiveth not,” the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man
“taste,” he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and
puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For
the truth is unsophisticated (ἀσχημάτιστος); and “the word is nigh thee, in thy
mouth and in thy heart,” as the same apostle declares, being easy of
comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if
we experience “the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings.” For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most
holy “faith delivered unto us,” which the unlearned receive, and those of
slender knowledge have taught, not “giving heed to endless genealogies,” but
studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having
been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of
heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one’s self and to follow Christ;
and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all
their Teacher’s will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs
of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be
forsaken. Frag 36
Those who have become acquainted with the secondary
(i.e., under Christ) constitutions of the apostles, are aware that the Lord
instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration
of] Malachi the prophet. For, “from the rising of the sun even to the setting
my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is
offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;” as John also declares in the
Apocalypse: “The incense is the prayers of the saints.” Then again, Paul
exhorts us “to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.” And again, “Let us offer the sacrifice
of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips.” Now those oblations are not
according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the
midst by cancelling it; but they are according to the Spirit, for we must
worship God “in spirit and in truth.” And therefore the oblation of the
Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure.
For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him
thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our
nourishment. And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy
Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ,
and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes
may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform
these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views,
but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons
of wisdom. Frag 37
The apostles ordained, that “we should not judge any
one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons,
or the sabbaths.” Whence then these contentions? Whence these schisms? We keep
the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the
Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast
away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic
words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord. Frag 38
Christ, who was called the Son of God before the
ages, was manifested in the fulness of time, in order that He might cleanse us
through His blood, who were under the power of sin, presenting us as pure sons
to His Father, if we yield ourselves obediently to the chastisement of the
Spirit. And in the end of time He shall come to do away with all evil, and to
reconcile all things, in order that there may be an end of all
impurities. Frag 39
Speaking always well of the worthy, but never ill of
the unworthy, we also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of God. frag
42
In these things there was signified by prophecy that
the people, having become transgressors, shall be bound by the chains of their
own sins. But the breaking of the bonds of their own accord indicates that,
upon repentance, they shall be again loosed from the shackles of sin.
Frag 43
It is not an easy thing for a soul, under the
influence of error, to be persuaded of the contrary opinion. Frag 44
For then there shall in truth be a common joy
consummated to all those who believe unto life, and in each individual shall be
confirmed the mystery of the Resurrection, and the hope of incorruption, and
the commencement of the eternal kingdom, when God shall have destroyed death
and the devil. For that human nature and flesh which has risen again from the
dead shall die no more; but after it had been changed to incorruption, and made
like to spirit, when the heaven was opened, [our Lord] full of glory offered it
(the flesh) to the Father. Frag 50
The sacred books acknowledge with regard to Christ,
that as He is the Son of man, so is the same Being not a [mere] man; and as He
is flesh, so is He also spirit, and the Word of God, and God. And as He was born
of Mary in the last times, so did He also proceed from God as the
First-begotten of every creature; and as He hungered, so did He satisfy
[others]; and as He thirsted, so did He of old cause the Jews to drink, for the
“Rock was Christ” Himself: thus does Jesus now give to His believing people
power to drink spiritual waters, which spring up to life eternal. And as He was
the son of David, so was He also the Lord of David. And as He was from Abraham,
so did He also exist before Abraham. And as He was the servant of God, so is He
the Son of God, and Lord of the universe. And as He was spit upon
ignominiously, so also did He breathe the Holy Spirit into His disciples. And
as He was saddened, so also did He give joy to His people. And as He was
capable of being handled and touched, so again did He, in a non-apprehensible
form, pass through the midst of those who sought to injure Him, and entered
without impediment through closed doors. And as He slept, so did He also rule
the sea, the winds, and the storms. And as He suffered, so also is He alive,
and life-giving, and healing all our infirmity. And as He died, so is He also
the Resurrection of the dead. He suffered shame on earth, while He is higher
than all glory and praise in heaven; who, “though He was crucified through
weakness, yet He liveth by divine power;” who “descended into the lower parts
of the earth,” and who “ascended up above the heavens;” for whom a manger
sufficed, yet who filled all things; who was dead, yet who liveth for ever and
ever. Amen. Frag 52
With regard to Christ, the law and the prophets and
the evangelists have proclaimed that He was born of a virgin, that He suffered
upon a beam of wood, and that He appeared from the dead; that He also ascended
to the heavens, and was glorified by the Father, and is the Eternal King; that
He is the perfect Intelligence, the Word of God, who was begotten before the
light; that He was the Founder of the universe, along with it (light), and the
Maker of man; that He is All in all: Patriarch among the patriarchs; Law in the
laws; Chief Priest among priests; Ruler among kings; the Prophet among
prophets; the Angel among angels; the Man among men; Son in the Father; God in
God; King to all eternity. For it is He who sailed [in the ark] along with Noah,
and who guided Abraham; who was bound along with Isaac, and was a Wanderer with
Jacob; the Shepherd of those who are saved, and the Bridegroom of the Church;
the Chief also of the cherubim, the Prince of the angelic powers; God of God;
Son of the Father; Jesus Christ; King for ever and ever. Amen. Frag
53
He was sold with Joseph, and He guided Abraham; was
bound along with Isaac, and wandered with Jacob; with Moses He was Leader, and,
respecting the people, Legislator. He preached in the prophets; was incarnate
of a virgin; born in Bethlehem; received by John, and baptized in Jordan; was
tempted in the desert, and proved to be the Lord. He gathered the apostles
together, and preached the kingdom of heaven; gave light to the blind, and
raised the dead; was seen in the temple, but was not held by the people as
worthy of credit; was arrested by the priests, conducted before Herod, and
condemned in the presence of Pilate; He manifested Himself in the body, was
suspended upon a beam of wood, and raised from the dead; shown to the apostles,
and, having been carried up to heaven, sitteth on the right hand of the Father,
and has been glorified by Him as the Resurrection of the dead. Moreover, He is
the Salvation of the lost, the Light to those dwelling in darkness, and
Redemption to those who have been born; the Shepherd of the saved, and the
Bridegroom of the Church; the Charioteer of the cherubim, the Leader of the
angelic host; God of God; Jesus Christ our Saviour. Frag 54
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“Reason dictates that persons who are truly noble and who love wisdom will honor and love only what is true. They will refuse to follow traditional viewpoints if those viewpoints are worthless...Instead, a person who genuinely loves truth must choose to do and speak what is true, even if he is threatened with death...I have not come to flatter you by this written petition, nor to impress you by my words. I have come to simply beg that you do not pass judgment until you have made an accurate and thorough investigation. Your investigation must be free of prejudice, hearsay, and any desire to please the superstitious crowds. As for us, we are convinced that you can inflict no lasting evil on us. We can only do it to ourselves by proving to be wicked people. You can kill us—but you cannot harm us.” From Justin Martyr's first apology 150 A.D. Martyred A.D. 160