Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies - Part 3 | Book V

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Against Heresies: Book V

Preface.

In the four preceding books, my very dear friend, which I put forth to

thee, all the heretics have been exposed, and their doctrines brought

to light, and these men refuted who have devised irreligious opinions.

[I have accomplished this by adducing] something from the doctrine

peculiar to each of these men, which they have left in their writings,

as well as by using arguments of a more general nature, and applicable

to them all. [4449] Then I have pointed out the truth, and shown the

preaching of the Church, which the prophets proclaimed (as I have

already demonstrated), but which Christ brought to perfection, and the

apostles have handed down, from whom the Church, receiving [these

truths], and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their

integrity (bene), has transmitted them to her sons. Then also—having

disposed of all questions which the heretics propose to us, and having

explained the doctrine of the apostles, and clearly set forth many of

those things which were said and done by the Lord in parables—I shall

endeavour, in this the fifth book of the entire work which treats of

the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called, to exhibit

proofs from the rest of the Lord’s doctrine and the apostolical

epistles: [thus] complying with thy demand, as thou didst request of me

(since indeed I have been assigned a place in the ministry of the

word); and, labouring by every means in my power to furnish thee with

large assistance against the contradictions of the heretics, as also to

reclaim the wanderers and convert them to the Church of God, to confirm

at the same time the minds of the neophytes, that they may preserve

stedfast the faith which they have received, guarded by the Church in

its integrity, in order that they be in no way perverted by those who

endeavour to teach them false doctrines, and lead them away from the

truth. It will be incumbent upon thee, however, and all who may happen

to read this writing, to peruse with great attention what I have

already said, that thou mayest obtain a knowledge of the subjects

against which I am contending. For it is thus that thou wilt both

controvert them in a legitimate manner, and wilt be prepared to receive

the proofs brought forward against them, casting away their doctrines

as filth by means of the celestial faith; 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.

[4449] Ex ratione universis ostensionibus procedente. The words are very obscure.

Chapter I.—Christ alone is able to teach divine things, and to redeem us: He,

the same, took flesh of the Virgin Mary, not merely in appearance, but

actually, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to renovate us.

Strictures on the conceits of Valentinus and Ebion.

1. For in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless

our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being

had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His

own proper Word. For what other person “knew the mind of the Lord,” or

who else “has become His counsellor?” [4450] Again, we could have

learned in no other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His

voice with our own ears, that, having become imitators of His works as

well as doers of His words, we may have communion with Him, receiving

increase from the perfect One, and from Him who is prior to all

creation. We—who were but lately created by the only best and good

Being, by Him also who has the gift of immortality, having been formed

after His likeness (predestinated, according to the prescience of the

Father, that we, who had as yet no existence, might come into being),

and made the first-fruits of creation [4451] --have received, in the

times known beforehand, [the blessings of salvation] according to the

ministration of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty

Word, and very man, who, redeeming us by His own blood in a manner

consonant to reason, gave Himself as a redemption for those who had

been led into captivity. And since the apostasy tyrannized over us

unjustly, and, though we were by nature the property of the omnipotent

God, alienated us contrary to nature, rendering us its own disciples,

the Word of God, powerful in all things, and not defective with regard

to His own justice, did righteously turn against that apostasy, and

redeem from it His own property, not by violent means, as the

[apostasy] had obtained dominion over us at the beginning, when it

insatiably snatched away what was not its own, but by means of

persuasion, as became a God of counsel, who does not use violent means

to obtain what He desires; so that neither should justice be infringed

upon, nor the ancient handiwork of God go to destruction. Since the

Lord thus has redeemed us through His own blood, giving His soul for

our souls, and His flesh for our flesh, [4452] and has also poured out

the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man,

imparting indeed God to men by means of the Spirit, and, on the other

hand, attaching man to God by His own incarnation, and bestowing upon

us at His coming immortality durably and truly, by means of communion

with God,--all the doctrines of the heretics fall to ruin.

2. Vain indeed are those who allege that He appeared in mere seeming.

For these things were not done in appearance only, but in actual

reality. But if He did appear as a man, when He was not a man, neither

could the Holy Spirit have rested upon Him,--an occurrence which did

actually take place—as the Spirit is invisible; nor, [in that case],

was there any degree of truth in Him, for He was not that which He

seemed to be. But I have already remarked that Abraham and the other

prophets beheld Him after a prophetical manner, foretelling in vision

what should come to pass. If, then, such a being has now appeared in

outward semblance different from what he was in reality, there has been

a certain prophetical vision made to men; and another advent of His

must be looked forward to, in which He shall be such as He has now been

seen in a prophetic manner. And I have proved already, that it is the

same thing to say that He appeared merely to outward seeming, and [to

affirm] that He received nothing from Mary. For He would not have been

one truly possessing flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless

He had summed up in Himself the ancient formation of Adam. Vain

therefore are the disciples of Valentinus who put forth this opinion,

in order that they may exclude the flesh from salvation, and cast aside

what God has fashioned.

3. 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:

[4453] 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, [4454] 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. [4455] For never at

any time did Adam escape the hands [4456] 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, [4457]His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God.

[4450] Rom. xi. 34.

[4451] “Initium facturae,” which Grabe thinks should be thus translated

with reference to Jas. i. 18.

[4452] [Compare Clement, cap. 49, p. 18, this volume.]

[4453] Luke i. 35.

[4454] In allusion to the mixture of water in the eucharistic cup, as

practised in these primitive times. The Ebionites and others used to consecrate the element of water alone.

[4455] 1 Cor. xv. 22.

[4456] Viz., the Son and the Spirit.

[4457] John i. 13.

Chapter II.—When Christ visited us in His grace, He did not come to what did

not belong to Him: also, by shedding His true blood for us, and exhibiting to

us His true flesh in the Eucharist, He conferred upon our flesh the capacity

of salvation.

1. And vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things

which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another’s property; in

order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by

another, to that God who had neither made nor formed anything, but who

also was deprived from the beginning of His own proper formation of

men. The advent, therefore, of Him whom these men represent as coming

to the things of others, was not righteous; nor did He truly redeem us

by His own blood, if He did not really become man, restoring to His own

handiwork what was said [of it] in the beginning, that man was made

after the image and likeness of God; not snatching away by stratagem

the property of another, but taking possession of His own in a

righteous and gracious manner. As far as concerned the apostasy,

indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as

regards us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we

have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from

us, as if He stood in need of it; but we do stand in need of fellowship

with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously poured Himself

out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father.

2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire

dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat

with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of

incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain salvation, then neither

did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist

the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion

of His body. [4458] For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and

whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God

was actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle

declares, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the

remission of sins.” [4459] And as we are His members, we are also

nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation

to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills

[4460] ). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation)

as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a

part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He

gives increase to our bodies. [4461]

3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives

the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ

is made, [4462] from which things the substance of our flesh is

increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is

incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which

[flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a

member of Him?--even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the

Ephesians, that “we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His

bones.” [4463] He does not speak these words of some spiritual and

invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh; [4464] but [he

refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man,

consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,--that [flesh] which is

nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the

bread which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in

the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into

the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the

Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of

God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God,

becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also

our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and

suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the

Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the

Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this

corruptible incorruption, [4465] because the strength of God is made

perfect in weakness, [4466] in order that we may never become puffed

up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted against God, our

minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we possess

eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not from our

own nature, we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as

He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, but that we may know what God

can effect, and what benefits man receives, and thus never wander from

the true comprehension of things as they are, that is, both with regard

to God and with regard to man. And might it not be the case, perhaps,

as I have already observed, that for this purpose God permitted our

resolution into the common dust of mortality, [4467] that we, being

instructed by every mode, may be accurate in all things for the future,

being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves?

[4458] 1 Cor. x. 16.

[4459] Col. i. 14.

[4460] Matt. v. 45.

[4461] [Again, the carefully asserts that the bread is the body, and

the wine (cup) is the blood. The elements are sanctified, not changed

materially.]

[4462] The Greek text, of which a considerable portion remains here, would give, “and the Eucharist becomes the body of Christ.”

[4463] Eph. v. 30.

[4464] Luke xxiv. 39.

[4465] 1 Cor. xv. 53.

[4466] 2 Cor. xii. 3.

[4467] This is Harvey’s free rendering of the passage, which is in the

Greek (as preserved in the Catena of John of Damascus): kai dia touto

enescheto ho Theos ten eis ten gen hemon analusin. In the Latin:

Propter hoc passus est Deus fieri in nobis resolutionem. See Book iii.

cap. xx. 2.

Chapter III.—The power and glory of God shine forth in the weakness of human

flesh, as He will render our body a participator of the resurrection and of

immortality, although He has formed it from the dust of the earth; He will

also bestow upon it the enjoyment of immortality, just as He grants it this

short life in common with the soul.

1. The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed

out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being

uplifted, he might fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second

[Epistle] to the Corinthians: “And lest I should be lifted up by the

sublimity of the revelations, there was given unto me a thorn in the

flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And upon this I besought

the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. But he said unto

me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in

weakness. Gladly therefore shall I rather glory in infirmities, that

the power of Christ may dwell in me.” [4468] What, therefore? (as some

may exclaim:) did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles should

thus undergo buffeting, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even

so it was; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness,

rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes

acquainted with the power of God. For how could a man have learned that

he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is

immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in

both? For there is nothing evil in learning one’s infirmities by

endurance; yea, rather, it has even the beneficial effect of preventing

him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature (non aberrare in

natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and taking His glory

to one’s self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon

him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that

he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his

Creator. [4469] But the experience of both confers upon him the true

knowledge as to God and man, and increases his love towards God. Now,

where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.

2. Those men, therefore, set aside the power of God, and do not

consider what the word declares, when they dwell upon the infirmity of

the flesh, but do not take into consideration the power of Him who

raises it up from the dead. For if He does not vivify what is mortal,

and does not bring back the corruptible to incorruption, He is not a

God of power. But that He is powerful in all these respects, we ought

to perceive from our origin, inasmuch as God, taking dust from the

earth, formed man. And surely it is much more difficult and incredible,

from non-existent bones, and nerves, and veins, and the rest of man’s

organization, to bring it about that all this should be, and to make

man an animated and rational creature, than to reintegrate again that

which had been created and then afterwards decomposed into earth (for

the reasons already mentioned), having thus passed into those

[elements] from which man, who had no previous existence, was formed.

For He who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was

not, just when He pleased, shall much more reinstate again those who

had a former existence, when it is His will [that they should inherit]

the life granted by Him. And that flesh shall also be found fit for and

capable of receiving the power of God, which at the beginning received

the skilful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for seeing;

another, the ear for hearing; another, the hand for feeling and

working; another, the sinews stretched out everywhere, and holding the

limbs together; another, arteries and veins, passages for the blood and

the air; [4470] another, the various internal organs; another, the

blood, which is the bond of union between soul and body. But why go [on

in this strain]? Numbers would fail to express the multiplicity of parts in the human frame, which was made in no other way than by the great wisdom of God. But those things which partake of the skill and wisdom of God, do also partake of His power.

3. The flesh, therefore, is not destitute [of participation] in the constructive wisdom and power of God. But if the power of Him who is the bestower of life is made perfect in weakness—that is, in the

flesh—let them inform us, when they maintain the incapacity of flesh

to receive the life granted by God, whether they do say these things as

being living men at present, and partakers of life, or acknowledge

that, having no part in life whatever, they are at the present moment

dead men. And if they really are dead men, how is it that they move

about, and speak, and perform those other functions which are not the

actions of the dead, but of the living? But if they are now alive, and

if their whole body partakes of life, how can they venture the

assertion that the flesh is not qualified to be a partaker of life,

when they do confess that they have life at the present moment? It is

just as if anybody were to take up a sponge full of water, or a torch

on fire, and to declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of

the water, or the torch of the fire. In this very manner do those men,

by alleging that they are alive and bear life about in their members,

contradict themselves afterwards, when they represent these members as

not being capable of [receiving] life. But if the present temporal

life, which is of such an inferior nature to eternal life, can

nevertheless effect so much as to quicken our mortal members, why

should not eternal life, being much more powerful than this, vivify the

flesh, which has already held converse with, and been accustomed to

sustain, life? For that the flesh can really partake of life, is shown

from the fact of its being alive; for it lives on, as long as it is

God’s purpose that it should do so. It is manifest, too, that God has

the power to confer life upon it, inasmuch as He grants life to us who

are in existence. And, therefore, since the Lord has power to infuse

life into what He has fashioned, and since the flesh is capable of

being quickened, what remains to prevent its participating in

incorruption, which is a blissful and never-ending life granted by God?

[4468] 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.

[4469] We have adopted here the explanation of Massuet, who considers

the preceding period as merely parenthetical. Both Grabe and Harvey,

however, would make conjectural emendations in the text, which seem to

us to be inadmissible.

[4470] The ancients erroneously supposed that the arteries were

air-vessels, from the fact that these organs, after death, appear quite

empty, from all the blood stagnating in the veins when death supervenes.

Chapter IV.—Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father

besides the Creator of the world; for he must have been feeble and useless, or

else malignant and full of envy, if he be either unable or unwilling to extend

external life to our bodies.

1. Those persons who feign the existence of another Father beyond the

Creator, and who term him the good God, do deceive themselves; for they

introduce him as a feeble, worthless, and negligent being, not to say

malign and full of envy, inasmuch as they affirm that our bodies are

not quickened by him. For when they say of things which it is manifest

to all do remain immortal, such as the spirit and the soul, and such

other things, that they are quickened by the Father, but that another

thing [viz. the body] which is quickened in no different manner than by

God granting [life] to it, is abandoned by life,--[they must either

confess] that this proves their Father to be weak and powerless, or

else envious and malignant. For since the Creator does even here

quicken our mortal bodies, and promises them resurrection by the

prophets, as I have pointed out; who [in that case] is shown to be more

powerful, stronger, or truly good? Whether is it the Creator who

vivifies the whole man, or is it their Father, falsely so called? He

feigns to be the quickener of those things which are immortal by

nature, to which things life is always present by their very nature;

but he does not benevolently quicken those things which required his

assistance, that they might live, but leaves them carelessly to fall

under the power of death. Whether is it the case, then, that their

Father does not bestow life upon them when he has the power of so

doing, or is it that he does not possess the power? If, on the one

hand, it is because he cannot, he is, upon that supposition, not a

powerful being, nor is he more perfect than the Creator; for the

Creator grants, as we must perceive, what He is unable to afford. But

if, on the other hand, [it be that he does not grant this] when he has

the power of so doing, then he is proved to be not a good, but an envious and malignant Father.

2. If, again, they refer to any cause on account of which their Father

does not impart life to bodies, then that cause must necessarily appear

superior to the Father, since it restrains Him from the exercise of His

benevolence; and His benevolence will thus be proved weak, on account

of that cause which they bring forward. Now every one must perceive

that bodies are capable of receiving life. For they live to the extent

that God pleases that they should live; and that being so, the

[heretics] cannot maintain that [these bodies] are utterly incapable of

receiving life. If, therefore, on account of necessity and any other cause, those [bodies] which are capable of participating in life are not vivified, their Father shall be the slave of necessity and that cause, and not therefore a free agent, having His will under His own control.

Chapter V.—The prolonged life of the ancients, the translation of Elijah and

of Enoch in their own bodies, as well as the preservation of Jonah, of

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the midst of extreme peril, are clear

demonstrations that God can raise up our bodies to life eternal.

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.” [4471] 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 [4472] ), and that there shall they who have been

translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude

to immortality.

2. If, however, any one imagine it impossible that men should survive

for such a length of time, and that Elias was not caught up in the

flesh, but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot, let him

consider that Jonah, when he had been cast into the deep, and swallowed

down into the whale’s belly, was by the command of God again thrown out

safe upon the land. [4473] And then, again, when Ananias, Azarias, and

Mishael were cast into the furnace of fire sevenfold heated, they

sustained no harm whatever, neither was the smell of fire perceived

upon them. As, therefore, the hand of God was present with them,

working out marvellous things in their case--[things] impossible [to be

accomplished] by man’s nature—what wonder was it, if also in the case

of those who were translated it performed something wonderful, working

in obedience to the will of God, even the Father? Now this is the Son

of God, as the Scripture represents Nebuchadnezzar the king as having

said, “Did not we cast three men bound into the furnace? and, lo, I do

see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like the

Son of God.” [4474] 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. Wherefore also the Lord

declares, “The things which are impossible with men, are possible with

God.” [4475] As, therefore, it might seem to the men of the present

day, who are ignorant of God’s appointment, to be a thing incredible

and impossible that any man could live for such a number of years, yet

those who were before us did live [to such an age], and those who were

translated do live as an earnest of the future length of days; and [as

it might also appear impossible] that from the whale’s belly and from

the fiery furnace men issued forth unhurt, yet they nevertheless did

so, led forth as it were by the hand of God, for the purpose of

declaring His power: so also now, although some, not knowing the power

and promise of God, may oppose their own salvation, deeming it impossible for God, who raises up the dead; to have power to confer upon them eternal duration, yet the scepticism of men of this stamp shall not render the faithfulness of God of none effect.

[4471] Gen. ii. 8.

[4472] 2 Cor. xii. 4.

[4473] Jon. ii. 11.

[4474] Dan. iii. 19-25.

[4475] Luke xviii. 27.

Chapter VI.—God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man,

consisting of body and soul in close union, since the Word took it upon Him,

and adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of whom our bodies are, and are

termed, the temples.

1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be

conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of

the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not

[merely] a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul

and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the

man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of

the soul receiving the spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that

fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God. For this

reason does the apostle declare, “We speak wisdom among them that are

perfect,” [4476] terming those persons “perfect” who have received the

Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all

languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also

hear [4477] many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts,

and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to

light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the

mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms “spiritual,” they being

spiritual because they partake of the Spirit, and not because their

flesh has been stripped off and taken away, and because they have

become purely spiritual. For if any one take away the substance of

flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is

purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be

the spirit of a man, or the Spirit of God. But when the spirit here

blended with the soul is united to [God’s] handiwork, the man is

rendered spiritual and perfect because of the outpouring of the Spirit,

and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God. But if

the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an

animal nature, and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being,

possessing indeed the image [of God] in his formation (in plasmate),

but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit; and thus is this

being imperfect. Thus also, if any one take away the image and set

aside the handiwork, he cannot then understand this as being a man, but

as either some part of a man, as I have already said, or as something

else than a man. For that flesh which has been moulded is not a perfect

man in itself, but the body of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the

soul itself, considered apart by itself, the man; but it is the soul of

a man, and part of a man. Neither is the spirit a man, for it is called

the spirit, and not a man; but the commingling and union of all these

constitutes the perfect man. And for this cause does the apostle,

explaining himself, make it clear that the saved man is a complete man

as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the first Epistle to the

Thessalonians, “Now the God of peace sanctify you perfect (perfectos);

and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without

complaint to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” [4478] Now what was

his object in praying that these three—that is, soul, body, and

spirit—might be preserved to the coming of the Lord, unless he was

aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and [that

they should be heirs of] one and the same salvation? For this cause

also he declares that those are “the perfect” who present unto the Lord

the three [component parts] without offence. Those, then, are the

perfect who have had the Spirit of God remaining in them, and have

preserved their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith of

God, that is, that faith which is [directed] towards God, and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their neighbours.

2. Whence also he says, that this handiwork is “the temple of God,” thus declaring: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that

the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man, therefore, will defile

the temple of God, him will God destroy: for the temple of God is holy,

which [temple] ye are.” [4479] Here he manifestly declares the body to

be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in

reference to Himself, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will

raise it up. He spake this, however,” it is said, “of the temple of His

body.” [4480] And not only does he (the apostle) acknowledge our bodies

to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ, saying thus to the

Corinthians, “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall

I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an

harlot?” [4481] He speaks these things, not in reference to some other

spiritual man; for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do

with an harlot: but he declares “our body,” that is, the flesh which

continues in sanctity and purity, to be “the members of Christ;” but

that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an

harlot. And for this reason he said, “If any man defile the temple of

God, him will God destroy.” How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to

allege, that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father

dwells, and the members of Christ, do not partake of salvation, but are

reduced to perdition? Also, that our bodies are raised not from their

own substance, but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians,

“Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord

for the body. But God hath both raised up the Lord, and shall raise us

up by His own power.” [4482]

[4476] 1 Cor. ii. 6.

[4477] The old Latin has “audivimus,” have heard.

[4478] 1 Thess. v. 23. [I have before referred the student to the

“Biblical Psychology” of Prof. Delitzsch (translation), T. & T. Clark,

Edinburgh, 1868.]

[4479] 1 Cor. iii. 16.

[4480] John ii. 19-21.

[4481] 1 Cor. iii. 17.

[4482] 1 Cor. vi. 13, 14.

Chapter VII.—Inasmuch as Christ did rise in our flesh, it follows that we

shall be also raised in the same; since the resurrection promised to us should

not be referred to spirits naturally immortal, but to bodies in themselves

mortal.

1. In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance

of flesh, and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and

the opening in His side [4483] (now these are the tokens of that flesh

which rose from the dead), so “shall He also,” it is said, “raise us up

by His own power.” [4484] And again to the Romans he says, “But if the

Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that

raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.”

[4485] What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls

are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies; for God

“breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a

living soul.” Now the breath of life is an incorporeal thing. And

certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal.

Therefore David says, “My soul also shall live to Him,” [4486] just as

if its substance were immortal. Neither, on the other hand, can they

say that the spirit is the mortal body. What therefore is there left to

which we may apply the term “mortal body,” unless it be the thing that

was moulded, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that God will

vivify it? For this it is which dies and is decomposed, but not the

soul or the spirit. For to die is to lose vital power, and to become

henceforth breathless, inanimate, and devoid of motion, and to melt

away into those [component parts] from which also it derived the

commencement of [its] substance. But this event happens neither to the

soul, for it is the breath of life; nor to the spirit, for the spirit

is simple and not composite, so that it cannot be decomposed, and is

itself the life of those who receive it. We must therefore conclude

that it is in reference to the flesh that death is mentioned; which

[flesh], after the soul’s departure, becomes breathless and inanimate,

and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken.

This, then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he also says,

“He shall also quicken your mortal bodies.” And therefore in reference

to it he says, in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians: “So also is

the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it rises in

incorruption.” [4487] For he declares, “That which thou sowest cannot

be quickened, unless first it die.” [4488]

2. But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown in the earth

and decays, unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth, into

which seeds are also cast? And for this reason he said, “It is sown in

dishonour, it rises in glory.” [4489] For what is more ignoble than

dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than the same

when it arises and partakes of incorruption? “It is sown in weakness,

it is raised in power:” [4490] in its own weakness certainly, because

since it is earth it goes to earth; but [it is quickened] by the power

of God, who raises it from the dead. “It is sown an animal body, it

rises a spiritual body.” [4491] He has taught, beyond all doubt, that

such language was not used by him, either with reference to the soul or

to the spirit, but to bodies that have become corpses. For these are

animal bodies, that is, [bodies] which partake of life, which when they

have lost, they succumb to death; then, rising through the Spirit’s

instrumentality, they become spiritual bodies, so that by the Spirit

they possess a perpetual life. “For now,” he says, “we know in part,

and we prophesy in part, but then face to face.” [4492] And this it is

which has been said also by Peter: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in

whom now also, not seeing, ye believe; and believing, ye shall rejoice

with joy unspeakable.” [4493] For our face shall see the face of the Lord [4494] and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable,--that is to say, when it shall behold its own Delight.

[4483] John xx. 20, 25-27.

[4484] 1 Cor. vi. 14.

[4485] Rom. viii. 11.

[4486] Ps. xxii. 31, LXX.

[4487] 1 Cor. xv. 42.

[4488] 1 Cor. xv. 36.

[4489] 1 Cor. xv. 43.

[4490] 1 Cor. xv. 43.

[4491] 1 Cor. xv. 44.

[4492] 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 12.

[4493] 1 Pet. i. 8.

[4494] Grabe, Massuet, and Stieren prefer to read, “the face of the living God;” while Harvey adopts the above, reading merely “Domini,” and not “Dei vivi.”

Chapter VIII.—The gifts of the Holy Spirit which we receive prepare us for

incorruption, render us spiritual, and separate us from carnal men. These two

classes are signified by the clean and unclean animals in the legal dispensation.

1. But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending

towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by

little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms

“an earnest,” that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us

by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “In which ye

also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation,

believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

which is the earnest of our inheritance.” [4495] This earnest,

therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the

mortal is swallowed up by immortality. [4496] “For ye,” he declares,

“are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of

God dwell in you.” [4497] This, however, does not take place by a

casting away of the flesh, but by the impartation of the Spirit. For

those to whom he was writing were not without flesh, but they were

those who had received the Spirit of God, “by which we cry, Abba,

Father.” [4498] If therefore, at the present time, having the earnest,

we do cry, “Abba, Father,” what shall it be when, on rising again, we

behold Him face to face; when all the members shall burst out into a

continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the

dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering

man into itself, does even now cause him to cry, “Abba, Father,” what

shall the complete grace of the Spirit effect, which shall be given to

men by God? It will render us like unto Him, and accomplish the will [4499] of the Father; for it shall make man after the image and likeness of God.

2. Those persons, then, who possess the earnest of the Spirit, and who

are not enslaved by the lusts of the flesh, but are subject to the

Spirit, and who in all things walk according to the light of reason,

does the apostle properly term “spiritual,” because the Spirit of God

dwells in them. Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal spirits;

but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit, receiving

the Spirit of God, makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed

reject the Spirit’s counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and

lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge

headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine

Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men, [I

say], does the apostle very properly term “carnal,” because they have

no thought of anything else except carnal things.

3. For the same reason, too, do the prophets compare them to irrational

animals, on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying,

“They have become as horses raging for the females; each one of them

neighing after his neighbour’s wife.” [4500] And again, “Man, when he

was in honour, was made like unto cattle.” [4501] This denotes that, for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational life. And we also, as the custom is, do designate men of this stamp as cattle and irrational beasts.

4. Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by

the [various] animals: [4502] whatsoever of these, says [the

Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as clean; but

whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties],

it sets aside by themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean? Those

who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son;

for this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof;

and they meditate day and night upon the words of God, [4503] that they

may be adorned with good works: for this is the meaning of the

ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide the

hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in

God, nor do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the

Gentiles. But as to those animals which do indeed chew the cud, but

have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them a

figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God

in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted stedfastness in the

Father and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For

those animals which have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but

those which have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs

succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the

other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double

hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all

heretics, and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, neither

are adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also the Lord says,

“Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you?”[4504] 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,” [4505] --[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.

[4495] Eph. i. 13, etc.

[4496] 2 Cor. v. 4.

[4497] Rom. viii. 9.

[4498] Rom. viii. 15.

[4499] This is adopting Harvey’s emendation of “voluntatem” for “voluntate.”

[4500] Jer. v. 3.

[4501] Ps. xlix. 20.

[4502] Lev. xi. 2; Deut. xiv. 3, etc.

[4503] Ps. i. 2.

[4504] Luke vi. 46.

[4505] 1 Cor. ii. 14, 1 Cor. iii. 1, etc.

Chapter IX.—Showing how that passage of the apostle which the heretics

pervert, should be understood; viz., “Flesh and blood shall not possess the

kingdom of God.”

1. Among the other [truths] proclaimed by the apostle, there is also this one, “That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

[4506] This is [the passage] which is adduced by all the heretics in

support of their folly, with an attempt to annoy us, and to point out

that the handiwork of God is not saved. They do not take this fact into

consideration, that there are three things out of which, as I have

shown, the complete man is composed—flesh, soul, and spirit. One of

these does indeed preserve and fashion [the man]--this is the spirit;

while as to another it is united and formed—that is the flesh; then

[comes] that which is between these two—that is the soul, which

sometimes indeed, when it follows the spirit, is raised up by it, but

sometimes it sympathizes with the flesh, and falls into carnal lusts.

Those then, as many as they be, who have not that which saves and forms

[us] into life [eternal], shall be, and shall be called, [mere] flesh

and blood; for these are they who have not the Spirit of God in themselves. Wherefore men of this stamp are spoken of by the Lord as “dead;” for, says He, “Let the dead bury their dead,” [4507] because they have not the Spirit which quickens man.

2. On the other hand, as many as fear God and trust in His Son’s

advent, and who through faith do establish the Spirit of God in their

hearts,--such men as these shall be properly called both “pure,” and

“spiritual,” and “those living to God,” because they possess the Spirit

of the Father, who purifies man, and raises him up to the life of God.

For as the Lord has testified that “the flesh is weak,” so [does He

also say] that “the spirit is willing.” [4508] For this latter is

capable of working out its own suggestions. If, therefore, any one

admix the ready inclination of the Spirit to be, as it were, a stimulus

to the infirmity of the flesh, it inevitably follows that what is

strong will prevail over the weak, so that the weakness of the flesh

will be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit; and that the man in

whom this takes place cannot in that case be carnal, but spiritual,

because of the fellowship of the Spirit. Thus it is, therefore, that

the martyrs bear their witness, and despise death, not after the

infirmity of the flesh, but because of the readiness of the Spirit. For

when the infirmity of the flesh is absorbed, it exhibits the Spirit as

powerful; and again, when the Spirit absorbs the weakness [of the flesh], it possesses the flesh as an inheritance in itself, and from both of these is formed a living man,--living, indeed, because he partakes of the Spirit, but man, because of the substance of flesh.

3. The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead,

not having life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God: [it is as]

irrational blood, like water poured out upon the ground. And therefore

he says, “As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy.” [4509] But

where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living man; [there is]

the rational blood preserved by God for the avenging [of those that

shed it]; [there is] the flesh possessed by the Spirit, forgetful

indeed of what belongs to it, and adopting the quality of the Spirit,

being made conformable to the Word of God. And on this account he (the

apostle) declares, “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.” [4510]

What, therefore, is the earthly? That which was fashioned. And what is

the heavenly? The Spirit. As therefore he says, when we were destitute

of the celestial Spirit, we walked in former times in the oldness of

the flesh, not obeying God; so now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk

in newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore, as without the

Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us through faith

and chaste conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, lest, having

become non-participators of the Divine Spirit, we lose the kingdom of

heaven; and he exclaims, that flesh in itself, and blood, cannot possess the kingdom of God.

4. If, however, we must speak strictly, [we would say that] the flesh

does not inherit, but is inherited; as also the Lord declares, “Blessed

are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance;” [4511]

as if in the [future] kingdom, the earth, from whence exists the

substance of our flesh, is to be possessed by inheritance. This is the

reason for His wishing the temple (i.e., the flesh) to be clean, that

the Spirit of God may take delight therein, as a bridegroom with a

bride. As, therefore, the bride cannot [be said] to wed, but to be

wedded, when the bridegroom comes and takes her, so also the flesh

cannot by itself possess the kingdom of God by inheritance; but it can

be taken for an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living

person inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to

inherit, another to be inherited. The former rules, and exercises power

over, and orders the things inherited at his will; but the latter

things are in a state of subjection, are under order, and are ruled

over by him who has obtained the inheritance. What, therefore, is it

that lives? The Spirit of God, doubtless. What, again, are the

possessions of the deceased? The various parts of the man, surely,

which rot in the earth. But these are inherited by the Spirit when they

are translated into the kingdom of heaven. For this cause, too, did

Christ die, that the Gospel covenant being manifested and known to the

whole world, might in the first place set free His slaves; and then

afterwards, as I have already shown, might constitute them heirs of His

property, when the Spirit possesses them by inheritance. For he who lives inherits, but the flesh is inherited. In order that we may not lose life by losing that Spirit which possesses us, the apostle, exhorting us to the communion of the Spirit, has said, according to reason, in those words already quoted, “That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Just as if he were to say, “Do not err;

for unless the Word of God dwell with, and the Spirit of the Father be

in you, and if ye shall live frivolously and carelessly as if ye were

this only, viz., mere flesh and blood, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of

God.”

[4506] 1 Cor. xv. 50.

[4507] Luke x. 60.

[4508] Matt. xxvi. 41.

[4509] 1 Cor. xv. 48.

[4510] 1 Cor. xv. 49.

[4511] Matt. v. 5.

Chapter X.—By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree, whose quality but

not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more important things; he

points out also that man without the Spirit is not capable of bringing forth

fruit, or of inheriting the kingdom of God.

1. 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.” [4512] 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;” [4513] 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;” [4514] 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; [4515] and for this cause did the Lord command His disciples to

be on the watch. [4516] 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, [4517] arrive at the pristine nature of man—that which

was created after the image and likeness of God.

2. 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, [4518] 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;”

[4519] and, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God:” [4520] not

repudiating [by these words] the substance of flesh, but showing that

into it the Spirit must be infused. [4521] And for this reason, he

says, “This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must

put on incorruption.” [4522] 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.” [4523] 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.”

[4524] And again he says, in the Epistle to the Romans, “For if ye live

after the flesh, ye shall die.” [4525] [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.”

[4512] Rom. xi. 17.

[4513] Matt. vii. 19.

[4514] 1 Cor. xv. 50.

[4515] Matt. xiii. 25.

[4516] Matt. xxiv. 42, Matt. xxv. 13; Mark xiii. 33.

[4517] Jas. i. 21.

[4518] Rev. ii. 17.

[4519] 1 Cor. xv. 50.

[4520] Rom. viii. 8.

[4521] The Latin has, “sed infusionem Spiritus attrahens.”

[4522] 1 Cor. xv. 53.

[4523] Rom. viii. 9.

[4524] Rom. viii. 10, etc.

[4525] Rom. viii. 13.

Chapter XI.—Treats upon the actions of carnal and of spiritual persons; also,

that the spiritual cleansing is not to be referred to the substance of our

bodies, but to the manner of our former life.

1. [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,

[4526] 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.” [4527] 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.” [4528] 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.” [4529] 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.

2. 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.” [4530] 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.

[4526] Or, “poisonings.”

[4527] Gal. v. 19, etc.

[4528] Gal. v. 22.

[4529] 1 Cor. vi. 9-11.

[4530] 1 Cor. xv. 49, etc.

Chapter XII.—Of the difference between life and death; of the breath of life

and the vivifying Spirit: also how it is that the substance of flesh revives

which once was dead.

1. 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.” [4531] 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.

2. 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;” [4532] 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.” [4533]

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,” [4534] 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.” [4535] 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.

3. 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.” [4536] 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.” [4537] 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.

4. 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;” [4538] thus expressing himself. Now the final result of the work

of the Spirit is the salvation of the flesh. [4539] 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;” [4540] 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.

5. 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,” [4541] 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, [4542] 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.

6. 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.

[4531] Isa. xxv. 8, LXX.

[4532] Isa. xlii. 5.

[4533] Isa. lvii. 16.

[4534] 1 Cor. xv. 46.

[4535] 1 Cor. xv. 45.

[4536] Col. iii. 5.

[4537] Col. iii. 9.

[4538] Phil. i. 22.

[4539] Following Harvey’s explanation of a somewhat obscure passage.

[4540] Col. iii. 10.

[4541] Gal. i. 15, 16.

[4542] Vol. i. pp. 306, 321.

Chapter XIII.—In the dead who were raised by Christ we possess the highest

proof of the resurrection; and our hearts are shown to be capable of life

eternal, because they can now receive the Spirit of God.

1. Let our opponents—that is, they who speak against their own

salvation—inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the

high priest; [4543] the widow’s dead son, who was being carried out [to

burial] near the gate [of the city]; [4544] and Lazarus, who had lain

four days in the tomb, [4545] --in what bodies did they rise again? In

those same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not

in the very same, then certainly those same individuals who had died

did not rise again. For [the Scripture] says, “The Lord took the hand

of the dead man, and said to him, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be

given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother.” [4546] Again, He

called Lazarus “with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and he

that was dead came forth bound with bandages, feet and hands.” This was

symbolical of that man who had been bound in sins. And therefore the

Lord said, “Loose him, and let him depart.” As, therefore, those who

were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past

been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs

and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the

Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is

He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His

handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also

be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice “by the

last trumpet,” [4547] the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares:

“The hour shall come, in which all the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” [4548]

2. 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 (peri autas), overturning as far as in them lies the entire dispensation of God.

3. For thus they will allege that this passage refers to the flesh

strictly so called, and not to fleshly works, as I have pointed out, so

representing the apostle as contradicting himself. For immediately

following, in the same Epistle, he says conclusively, speaking thus in

reference to the flesh: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption,

and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this mortal shall

have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which

is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy

sting? O death, where is thy victory?” [4549] Now these words shall be

appropriately said at the time when this mortal and corruptible flesh,

which is subject to death, which also is pressed down by a certain

dominion of death, rising up into life, shall put on incorruption and

immortality. For then, indeed, shall death be truly vanquished, when

that flesh which is held down by it shall go forth from under its

dominion. And again, to the Philippians he says: “But our conversation

is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus,

who shall transfigure the body of our humiliation conformable to the

body of His glory, even as He is able (ita ut possit) according to the

working of His own power.” [4550] What, then, is this “body of

humiliation” which the Lord shall transfigure, [so as to be] conformed

to “the body of His glory?” Plainly it is this body composed of flesh,

which is indeed humbled when it falls into the earth. Now its

transformation [takes place thus], that while it is mortal and

corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible, not after its own

proper substance, but after the mighty working of the Lord, who is able

to invest the mortal with immortality, and the corruptible with

incorruption. And therefore he says, [4551] “that mortality may be

swallowed up of life. He who has perfected us for this very thing is

God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” [4552] He

uses these words most manifestly in reference to the flesh; for the

soul is not mortal, neither is the spirit. Now, what is mortal shall be

swallowed up of life, when the flesh is dead no longer, but remains

living and incorruptible, hymning the praises of God, who has perfected

us for this very thing. In order, therefore, that we may be perfected

for this, aptly does he say to the Corinthians, “Glorify God in your body.” [4553] Now God is He who gives rise to immortality.

4. 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, [4554] 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.” [4555] 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.” [4556] 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.” [4557] 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 [4558] 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. [4559] 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.” [4560]

5. 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;” [4561] and, “That the life of Jesus may be made

manifest in our mortal flesh;” [4562] 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.

[4543] Mark v. 22. Irenaeus confounds the ruler of the synagogue with

the high priest. [Let not those who possess printed Bibles and

concordances and commentaries, and all manner of helps to memory, blame

the Fathers for such mistakes, until they at least equal them in their

marvellous and minute familiarity with the inspired writers.]

[4544] Luke vii. 12.

[4545] John ix. 30.

[4546] The two miracles of raising the widow’s son and the rabbi’s daughter are here amalgamated.

[4547] 1 Cor. xv. 52.

[4548] John v. 28.

[4549] 1 Cor. xv. 53.

[4550] Phil. iii. 29, etc.

[4551] The original Greek text is preserved here, as above; the Latin

translator inserts, “in secunda ad Corinthios.” Harvey observes: “The

interpretation of the Scriptural reference by the translator suggests

the suspicion that the greater number of such references have come in

from the margin.”

[4552] 2 Cor. v. 4.

[4553] 1 Cor. vi. 20.

[4554] Agreeing with the Syriac version in omitting “the Lord” before

the word “Jesus,” and in reading aei as ei, which Harvey considers the

true text.

[4555] 2 Cor. iv. 10, etc.

[4556] 2 Cor. iii. 3.

[4557] Phil. iii. 11.

[4558] The Syriac translation seems to take a literal meaning out of this passage: “If, as one of the men, I have been cast forth to the wild beasts at Ephesus.”

[4559] This is in accordance with the Syriac, which omits the clause,

eiper ara nekroi ouk egeirontai.

[4560] 1 Cor. xv. 13, etc.

[4561] 1 Cor. xv. 53.

[4562] 2 Cor. iv. 11.

Chapter XIV.—Unless the flesh were to be saved, the Word would not have taken

upon Him flesh of the same substance as ours: from this it would follow that

neither should we have been reconciled by Him.

1. And inasmuch as the apostle has not pronounced against the very substance of flesh and blood, that it cannot inherit the kingdom of

God, the same apostle has everywhere adopted the term “flesh and blood”

with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, partly indeed to establish His

human nature (for He did Himself speak of Himself as the Son of man),

and partly that He might confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the

flesh were not in a position to be saved, the Word of God would in no

wise have become flesh. And if the blood of the righteous were not to

be inquired after, the Lord would certainly not have had blood [in His

composition]. But inasmuch as blood cries out (vocalis est) from the

beginning [of the world], God said to Cain, when he had slain his

brother, “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me.” [4563] And as

their blood will be inquired after, He said to those with Noah, “For

your blood of your souls will I require, [even] from the hand of all

beasts;” [4564] and again, “Whosoever will shed man’s blood, [4565] it

shall be shed for his blood.” In like manner, too, did the Lord say to

those who should afterwards shed His blood, “All righteous blood shall

be required which is shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous

Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew

between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these

things shall come upon this generation.” [4566] He thus points out the

recapitulation that should take place in his own person of the effusion

of blood from the beginning, of all the righteous men and of the

prophets, and that by means of Himself there should be a requisition of

their blood. Now this [blood] could not be required unless it also had

the capability of being saved; nor would the Lord have summed up these

things in Himself, unless He had Himself been made flesh and blood after the way of the original formation [of man], saving in his own person at the end that which had in the beginning perished in Adam.

2. But if the Lord became incarnate for any other order of things, and

took flesh of any other substance, He has not then summed up human

nature in His own person, nor in that case can He be termed flesh. For

flesh has been truly made [to consist in] a transmission of that thing

moulded originally from the dust. But if it had been necessary for Him

to draw the material [of His body] from another substance, the Father

would at the beginning have moulded the material [of flesh] from a

different substance [than from what He actually did]. But now the case

stands thus, that the Word has saved that which really was [created,

viz.,] humanity which had perished, effecting by means of Himself that

communion which should be held with it, and seeking out its salvation.

But the thing which had perished possessed flesh and blood. For the

Lord, taking dust from the earth, moulded man; and it was upon his

behalf that all the dispensation of the Lord’s advent took place. He

had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not

a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father, seeking out

that thing which had perished. And for this cause the apostle, in the

Epistle to the Colossians, says, “And though ye were formerly

alienated, and enemies to His knowledge by evil works, yet now ye have

been reconciled in the body of His flesh, through His death, to present

yourselves holy and chaste, and without fault in His sight.” [4567] He

says, “Ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh,” because the

righteous flesh has reconciled that flesh which was being kept under bondage in sin, and brought it into friendship with God.

3. If, then, any one allege that in this respect the flesh of the Lord

was different from ours, because it indeed did not commit sin, neither

was deceit found in His soul, while we, on the other hand, are sinners,

he says what is the fact. But if he pretends that the Lord possessed

another substance of flesh, the sayings respecting reconciliation will

not agree with that man. For that thing is reconciled which had

formerly been in enmity. Now, if the Lord had taken flesh from another

substance, He would not, by so doing, have reconciled that one to God

which had become inimical through transgression. But now, by means of

communion with Himself, the Lord has reconciled man to God the Father,

in reconciling us to Himself by the body of His own flesh, and

redeeming us by His own blood, as the apostle says to the Ephesians,

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins;”

[4568] and again to the same he says, “Ye who formerly were far off

have been brought near in the blood of Christ;” [4569] and again,

“Abolishing in His flesh the enmities, [even] the law of commandments

[contained] in ordinances.” [4570] And in every Epistle the apostle

plainly testifies, that through the flesh of our Lord, and through His

blood, we have been saved.

4. If, therefore, flesh and blood are the things which procure for us

life, it has not been declared of flesh and blood, in the literal

meaning (proprie) of the terms, that they cannot inherit the kingdom of

God; but [these words apply] to those carnal deeds already mentioned,

which, perverting man to sin, deprive him of life. And for this reason

he says, in the Epistle to the Romans: “Let not sin, therefore, reign

in your mortal body, to be under its control: neither yield ye your

members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves

to God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments

of righteousness unto God.” [4571] In these same members, therefore, in

which we used to serve sin, and bring forth fruit unto death, does He

wish us to [be obedient] unto righteousness, that we may bring forth

fruit unto life. Remember, therefore, my beloved friend, that thou hast

been redeemed by the flesh of our Lord, re-established [4572] by His

blood; and “holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church,

having been fitted together, takes increase” [4573] --that is, acknowledging the advent in the flesh of the Son of God, and [His]

divinity (deum), and looking forward with constancy to His human nature

[4574] (hominem), availing thyself also of these proofs drawn from

Scripture—thou dost easily overthrow, as I have pointed out, all those

notions of the heretics which were concocted afterwards.

[4563] Gen. iv. 10.

[4564] Gen. ix. 5, 6, LXX.

[4565] One of the mss. reads here: Sanguis pro sanguine ejus effundetur.

[4566] Matt. xxiii. 35, etc.; Luke xi. 50.

[4567] Col. i. 21, etc.

[4568] Eph. i. 7.

[4569] Eph. ii. 13.

[4570] Eph. ii. 15.

[4571] Rom. vi. 12, 13, etc.

[4572] “Et sanguine ejus redhibitus,” corresponding to the Greek term

apokatastatheis. “Redhibere” is properly a forensic term, meaning to cause any article to be restored to the vendor.

[4573] Col. ii. 19.

[4574] Harvey restores the Greek thus, kai ton autou anthropon bebaios

ekdechomenos, which he thinks has a reference to the patient waiting

for “Christ’s second advent to judge the world.” The phrase might also

be translated, and “receiving stedfastly His human nature.”

Chapter XV.—Proofs of the resurrection from Isaiah and Ezekiel; the same God

who created us will also raise us up.

1. Now, that He who at the beginning created man, did promise him a second birth after his dissolution into earth, Esaias thus declares:

“The dead shall rise again, and they who are in the tombs shall arise,

and they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from

Thee is health to them.” [4575] And again: “I will comfort you, and ye

shall be comforted in Jerusalem: and ye shall see, and your heart shall

rejoice, and your bones shall flourish as the grass; and the hand of

the Lord shall be known to those who worship Him.” [4576] And Ezekiel

speaks as follows: “And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord

led me forth in the Spirit, and set me down in the midst of the plain,

and this place was full of bones. And He caused me to pass by them

round about: and, behold, there were many upon the surface of the plain

very dry. And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I

said, Lord, Thou who hast made them dost know. And He said unto me,

Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt say to them, Ye dry bones,

hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord to these bones, Behold,

I will cause the spirit of life to come upon you, and I will lay sinews

upon you, and bring up flesh again upon you, and I will stretch skin

upon you, and will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye

shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as the Lord had

commanded me. And it came to pass, when I was prophesying, that,

behold, an earthquake, and the bones were drawn together, each one to

its own articulation: and I beheld, and, lo, the sinews and flesh were

produced upon them, and the skins rose upon them round about, but there

was no breath in them. And He said unto me, Prophesy to the breath, son

of man, and say to the breath, These things saith the Lord, Come from

the four winds (spiritibus), and breathe upon these dead, that they may

live. So I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me, and the breath

entered into them; and they did live, and stood upon their feet, an

exceeding great gathering.” [4577] And again he says, “Thus saith the

Lord, Behold, I will set your graves open, and cause you to come out of

your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; and ye shall know

that I am the Lord, when I shall open your sepulchres, that I may bring

my people again out of the sepulchres: and I will put my Spirit into

you, and ye shall live; and I will place you in your land, and ye shall

know that I am the Lord. I have said, and I will do, saith the Lord.”

[4578] As we at once perceive that the Creator (Demiurgo) is in this

passage represented as vivifying our dead bodies, and promising

resurrection to them, and resuscitation from their sepulchres and

tombs, conferring upon them immortality also (He says, “For as the tree

of life, so shall their days be” [4579] ), He is shown to be the only

God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life upon those who have not life from themselves.

2. And for this reason did the Lord most plainly manifest Himself and

the Father to His disciples, lest, forsooth, they might seek after

another God besides Him who formed man, and who gave him the breath of

life; and that men might not rise to such a pitch of madness as to

feign another Father above the Creator. And thus also He healed by a

word all the others who were in a weakly condition because of sin; to

whom also He said, “Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a

worse thing come upon thee:” [4580] pointing out by this, that, because

of the sin of disobedience, infirmities have come upon men. To that

man, however, who had been blind from his birth, He gave sight, not by

means of a word, but by an outward action; doing this not without a

purpose, or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the

hand of God, that which at the beginning had moulded man. And

therefore, when His disciples asked Him for what cause the man had been

born blind, whether for his own or his parents’ fault, He replied,

“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of

God should be made manifest in him.” [4581] Now the work of God is the

fashioning of man. For, as the Scripture says, He made [man] by a kind

of process: “And the Lord took clay from the earth, and formed man.”

[4582] Wherefore also the Lord spat on the ground and made clay, and

smeared it upon the eyes, pointing out the original fashioning [of

man], how it was effected, and manifesting the hand of God to those who

can understand by what [hand] man was formed out of the dust. For that

which the artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, [viz.,

the blind man’s eyes], He then supplied in public, that the works of

God might be manifested in him, in order that we might not be seeking

out another hand by which man was fashioned, nor another Father;

knowing that this hand of God which formed us at the beginning, and

which does form us in the womb, has in the last times sought us out who

were lost, winning back His own, and taking up the lost sheep upon His

shoulders, and with joy restoring it to the fold of life.

3. Now, that the Word of God forms us in the womb, He says to Jeremiah,

“Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou wentest

forth from the belly, I sanctified thee, and appointed thee a prophet

among the nations.” [4583] And Paul, too, says in like manner, “But

when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, that I

might declare Him among the nations.” [4584] As, therefore, we are by

the Word formed in the womb, this very same Word formed the visual

power in him who had been blind from his birth; showing openly who it

is that fashions us in secret, since the Word Himself had been made

manifest to men: and declaring the original formation of Adam, and the

manner in which he was created, and by what hand he was fashioned,

indicating the whole from a part. For the Lord who formed the visual

powers is He who made the whole man, carrying out the will of the

Father. And inasmuch as man, with respect to that formation which, was

after Adam, having fallen into transgression, needed the laver of

regeneration, [the Lord] said to him [upon whom He had conferred

sight], after He had smeared his eyes with the clay, “Go to Siloam, and

wash;” [4585] thus restoring to him both [his perfect] confirmation,

and that regeneration which takes place by means of the laver. And for

this reason when he was washed he came seeing, that he might both know

Him who had fashioned him, and that man might learn [to know] Him who

has conferred upon him life.

4. All the followers of Valentinus, therefore, lose their case, when

they say that man was not fashioned out of this earth, but from a fluid

and diffused substance. For, from the earth out of which the Lord

formed eyes for that man, from the same earth it is evident that man

was also fashioned at the beginning. For it were incompatible that the

eyes should indeed be formed from one source and the rest of the body

from another; as neither would it be compatible that one [being]

fashioned the body, and another the eyes. But He, the very same who

formed Adam at the beginning, with whom also the Father spake,

[saying], “Let Us make man after Our image and likeness,” [4586]

revealing Himself in these last times to men, formed visual organs

(visionem) for him who had been blind [in that body which he had

derived] from Adam. Wherefore also the Scripture, pointing out what

should come to pass, says, that when Adam had hid himself because of

his disobedience, the Lord came to him at eventide, called him forth,

and said, “Where art thou?” [4587] That means that in the last times

the very same Word of God came to call man, reminding him of his

doings, living in which he had been hidden from the Lord. For just as

at that time God spake to Adam at eventide, searching him out; so in the last times, by means of the same voice, searching out his posterity, He has visited them.

[4575] Isa. xxvi. 19.

[4576] Isa. lxvi. 13.

[4577] Ezek. xxxvii. 1, etc.

[4578] Ezek. xxxvii. 12, etc.

[4579] Isa. lxv. 22.

[4580] John v. 14.

[4581] John ix. 3.

[4582] Gen. ii. 7.

[4583] Jer. i. 5.

[4584] Gal. i. 15.

[4585] John ix. 7.

[4586] Gen. i. 25.

[4587] Gen. iii. 9.

Chapter XVI.—Since our bodies return to the earth, it follows that they have

their substance from it; also, by the advent of the Word, the image of God in

us appeared in a clearer light.

1. 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.” [4588] 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.

2. 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.

3. 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;” [4589] 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.

[4588] Gen. iii. 19.

[4589] Phil. ii. 8.

Chapter XVII.—There is but one Lord and one God, the Father and Creator of

all things, who has loved us in Christ, given us commandments, and remitted

our sins; whose Son and Word Christ proved Himself to be, when He forgave our

sins.

1. 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;” [4590] 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;” [4591] 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.” [4592] Rightly then does His Word say to man, “Thy sins are

forgiven thee;” [4593] 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;” [4594] 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” [4595] through His Son?

2. And therefore, when He had healed the man sick of the palsy, [the evangelist] says, “The people upon seeing it glorified God, who gave such power unto men.” [4596] What God, then, did the bystanders glorify? Was it indeed that unknown Father invented by the heretics?

And how could they glorify him who was altogether unknown to them? It

is evident, therefore, that the Israelites glorified Him who has been

proclaimed as God by the law and the prophets, who is also the Father

of our Lord; and therefore He taught men, by the evidence of their

senses through those signs which He accomplished, to give glory to God.

If, however, He Himself had come from another Father, and men glorified

a different Father when they beheld His miracles, He [in that case]

rendered them ungrateful to that Father who had sent the gift of

healing. But as the only-begotten Son had come for man’s salvation from

Him who is God, He did both stir up the incredulous by the miracles

which He was in the habit of working, to give glory to the Father; and

to the Pharisees, who did not admit the advent of His Son, and who

consequently did not believe in the remission [of sins] which was

conferred by Him, He said, “That ye may know that the Son of man hath

power to forgive sins.” [4597] And when He had said this, He commanded

the paralytic man to take up the pallet upon which he was lying, and go

into his house. By this work of His He confounded the unbelievers, and

showed that He is Himself the voice of God, by which man received commandments, which he broke, and became a sinner; for the paralysis followed as a consequence of sins.

3. 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;”

[4598] 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;” [4599] 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.

4. This fact has been strikingly set forth by many others, and especially through means of Elisha the prophet. For when his

fellow-prophets were hewing wood for the construction of a tabernacle,

and when the iron [head], shaken loose from the axe, had fallen into

the Jordan and could not be found by them, upon Elisha’s coming to the

place, and learning what had happened, he threw some wood into the

water. Then, when he had done this, the iron part of the axe floated

up, and they took up from the surface of the water what they had

previously lost. [4600] By this action the prophet pointed out that the

sure word of God, which we had negligently lost by means of a tree, and

were not in the way of finding again, we should receive anew by the

dispensation of a tree, [viz., the cross of Christ]. For that the word

of God is likened to an axe, John the Baptist declares [when he says]

in reference to it, “But now also is the axe laid to the root of the

trees.” [4601] Jeremiah also says to the same purport: “The word of God

cleaveth the rock as an axe.” [4602] This word, then, what was hidden

from us, did the dispensation of the tree make manifest, as I have

already remarked. For as we lost it by means of a tree, by means of a

tree again was it made manifest to all, showing the height, the length,

the breadth, the depth in itself; and, as a certain man among our

predecessors observed, “Through the extension of the hands of a divine

person, [4603] gathering together the two peoples to one God.” For

these were two hands, because there were two peoples scattered to the

ends of the earth; but there was one head in the middle, as there is but one God, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

[4590] 1 Tim. ii. 5.

[4591] Matt. vi. 12.

[4592] Gen. iii. 8.

[4593] Matt. ix. 2; Luke v. 20.

[4594] Matt. ix. 2; Luke v. 20.

[4595] Luke i. 78.

[4596] Matt. ix. 8.

[4597] Matt. ix. 6.

[4598] Ps. xxxii. 1, 2.

[4599] Col. ii. 14.

[4600] 2 Kings vi. 6.

[4601] Matt. iii. 10.

[4602] Jer. xxiii. 29.

[4603] The Greek is preserved here, and reads, dia tes theias ektaseos

ton cheiron—literally, “through the divine extension of hands.” The

old Latin merely reads, “per extensionem manuum.”

Chapter XVIII.—God the Father and His Word have formed all created things

(which They use) by Their own power and wisdom, not out of defect or

ignorance. The Son of God, who received all power from the Father, would

otherwise never have taken flesh upon Him.

1. And such or so important a dispensation He did not bring about by means of the creations of others, but by His own; neither by those things which were created out of ignorance and defect, but by those

which had their substance from the wisdom and power of His Father. For

He was neither unrighteous, so that He should covet the property of

another; nor needy, that He could not by His own means impart life to

His own, and make use of His own creation for the salvation of man. For

indeed the creation could not have sustained Him [on the cross], if He

had sent forth [simply by commission] what was the fruit of ignorance

and defect. Now we have repeatedly shown that the incarnate Word of God

was suspended upon a tree, and even the very heretics do acknowledge

that He was crucified. How, then, could the fruit of ignorance and

defect sustain Him who contains the knowledge of all things, and is

true and perfect? Or how could that creation which was concealed from

the Father, and far removed from Him, have sustained His Word? And if

this world were made by the angels (it matters not whether we suppose

their ignorance or their cognizance of the Supreme God), when the Lord

declared, “For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,” [4604] how

could this workmanship of the angels have borne to be burdened at once

with the Father and the Son? How, again, could that creation which is

beyond the Pleroma have contained Him who contains the entire Pleroma?Inasmuch, then, as all these things are impossible and incapable of proof, that preaching of the Church is alone true [which proclaims]

that His own creation bare Him, which subsists by the power, the skill,

and the wisdom of God; which is sustained, indeed, after an invisible

manner by the Father, but, on the contrary, after a visible manner it

bore His Word: and this is the true [Word].

2. For the Father bears the creation and His own Word simultaneously,

and the Word borne by the Father grants the Spirit to all as the Father

wills. [4605] To some He gives after the manner of creation what is

made; [4606] but to others [He gives] after the manner of adoption,

that is, what is from God, namely generation. And thus one God the

Father is declared, who is above all, and through all, and in all. 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, [4607] 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.” [4608] And to these things does John also, the disciple of the

Lord, bear witness, when he speaks thus in the Gospel: “In the

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,

and without Him was nothing made.” [4609] And then he said of the Word

Himself: “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the

world knew Him not. To His own things He came, and His own people

received Him not. However, as many as did receive Him, to these gave He

power to become the sons of God, to those that believe in His name.”

[4610] And again, showing the dispensation with regard to His human

nature, John said: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”

[4611] And in continuation he says, “And we beheld His glory, the glory

as of the Only-begotten by the Father, full of grace and truth.” He

thus plainly points out to those willing to hear, that is, to those

having ears, that there is one God, the Father over all, and one Word

of God, who is through all, by whom all things have been made; and that

this world belongs to Him, and was made by Him, according to the

Father’s will, and not by angels; nor by apostasy, defect, and

ignorance; nor by any power of Prunicus, whom certain of them also call

“the Mother;” nor by any other maker of the world ignorant of the Father.

3. 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

[4612] manner, and was made flesh, and hung upon the tree, that He

might sum up all things in Himself. “And His own peculiar people did

not receive Him,” as Moses declared this very thing among the people:

“And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not

believe thy life.” [4613] Those therefore who did not receive Him did

not receive life. “But to as many as received Him, to them gave He

power to become the sons of God.” [4614] For it is He who has power

from the Father over all things, since He is the Word of God, and very

man, communicating with invisible beings after the manner of the

intellect, and appointing a law observable to the outward senses, that

all things should continue each in its own order; and He reigns

manifestly over things visible and pertaining to men; and brings in

just judgment and worthy upon all; as David also, clearly pointing to

this, says, “Our God shall openly come, and will not keep silence.”

[4615] Then he shows also the judgment which is brought in by Him,

saying, “A fire shall burn in His sight, and a strong tempest shall

rage round about Him. He shall call upon the heaven from above, and the

earth, to judge His people.”

[4604] John xiv. 11.

[4605] From this passage Harvey infers that Irenaeus held the

procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son,--a doctrine

denied by the Oriental Church in after times. [Here is nothing about

the “procession:” only the “mission” of the Spirit is here concerned.

And the Easterns object to the double procession itself only in so far

as any one means thereby to deny “quod solus Pater est divinarum personarum, Principium et Fons,”—riza kai pege. See Procopowicz, De Processione, Gothae, 1772].

[4606] Grabe and Harvey insert the words, “quod est conditionis,” but

on slender authority.

[4607] John vii. 39.

[4608] Eph. iv. 6.

[4609] John i. 1, etc.

[4610] John i. 10, etc.

[4611] John i. 14.

[4612] The text reads “invisiblilter,” which seems clearly an error.

[4613] Deut. xxviii. 66.

[4614] John i. 12.

[4615] Ps. l. 3, 4.

Chapter XIX.—A comparison is instituted between the disobedient and sinning

Eve and the Virgin Mary, her patroness. Various and discordant heresies are

mentioned.

1. 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. [4616] 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 [4617] (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.

2. The heretics being all unlearned and ignorant of God’s arrangements,

and not acquainted with that dispensation by which He took upon Him

human nature (inscii ejus quae est secundum hominem dispensationis),

inasmuch as they blind themselves with regard to the truth, do in fact

speak against their own salvation. Some of them introduce another

Father besides the Creator; some, again, say that the world and its

substance was made by certain angels; certain others [maintain] that it

was widely separated by Horos [4618] from him whom they represent as

being the Father—that it sprang forth (floruisse) of itself, and from

itself was born. Then, again, others [of them assert] that it obtained

substance in those things which are contained by the Father, from

defect and ignorance; others still, despise the advent of the Lord

manifest [to the senses], for they do not admit His incarnation; while

others, ignoring the arrangement [that He should be born] of a virgin,

maintain that He was begotten by Joseph. And still further, some affirm

that neither their soul nor their body can receive eternal life, but

merely the inner man. Moreover, they will have it that this [inner man]

is that which is the understanding (sensum) in them, and which they

decree as being the only thing to ascend to “the perfect.” Others

[maintain], as I have said in the first book, that while the soul is

saved, their body does not participate in the salvation which comes

from God; in which [book] I have also set forward the hypotheses of all

these men, and in the second have pointed out their weakness and inconsistency.

[4616] The text is here most uncertain and obscure.

[4617] [This word patroness is ambiguous. The Latin may stand for Gr.

antilepsis, --a person called in to help, or to take hold of the other

end of a burden. The argument implies that Mary was thus the counterpart or balance of Eve.]

[4618] The text reads “porro,” which makes no sense; so that Harvey looks upon it as a corruption of the reading “per Horum.”

Chapter XX.—Those pastors are to be heard to whom the apostles committed the

Churches, possessing one and the same doctrine of salvation; the heretics, on

the other hand, are to be avoided. We must think soberly with regard to the

mysteries of the faith.

1. Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to

whom the apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the

third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a

matter of course, that these heretics aforementioned, since they are

blind to the truth, and deviate from the [right] way, will walk in

various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are

scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path

of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as

possessing the sure tradition from the apostles, and gives unto us to

see that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive one

and the same God the Father, and believe in the same dispensation

regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the

same gift of the Spirit, and are conversant with the same commandments,

and preserve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution, [4619] and

expect the same advent of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the

complete man, that is, of the soul and body. And undoubtedly the

preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, [4620] in which one and

the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to

her is entrusted the light of God; and therefore the “wisdom” of God,

by means of which she saves all men, “is declared in [its] going forth;

it uttereth [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached on the

tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city.” [4621] For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick which bears the light of Christ.

2. Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the knowledge of the holy presbyters, not taking into

consideration of how much greater consequence is a religious man, even

in a private station, than a blasphemous and impudent sophist. [4622]

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,

ever seeking and never finding out the truth. [4623] 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. For the

Church has been planted as a garden (paradisus) in this world;

therefore says the Spirit of God, “Thou mayest freely eat from every

tree of the garden,” [4624] that is, Eat ye from every Scripture of the

Lord; but ye shall not eat with an uplifted mind, nor touch any

heretical discord. For these men do profess that they have themselves

the knowledge of good and evil; and they set their own impious minds

above the God who made them. They therefore form opinions on what is

beyond the limits of the understanding. For this cause also the apostle

says, “Be not wise beyond what it is fitting to be wise, but be wise

prudently,” [4625] that we be not cast forth by eating of the

“knowledge” of these men (that knowledge which knows more than it

should do) from the paradise of life. Into this paradise the Lord has

introduced those who obey His call, “summing up in Himself all things

which are in heaven, and which are on earth;” [4626] but the things in

heaven are spiritual, while those on earth constitute the dispensation

in human nature (secundum hominem est dispositio). These things,

therefore, He recapitulated in Himself: by uniting man to the Spirit,

and causing the Spirit to dwell in man, He is Himself made the head of

the Spirit, and gives the Spirit to be the head of man: for through Him

(the Spirit) we see, and hear, and speak.

[4619] “Et eandem figuram ejus quae est erga ecclesiam ordinationis

custodientibus.” Grabe supposes this refers to the ordained ministry of

the Church, but Harvey thinks it refers more probably to its general constitution.

[4620] [He thus outlines the creed, and epitomizes “the faith once delivered to the saints,” as all that is requisite to salvation.]

[4621] Prov. i. 20, 21.

[4622] That is, the private Christian as contrasted with the sophist of

the schools.

[4623] 2 Tim. iii. 7.

[4624] Gen. ii. 16.

[4625] Rom. xii. 3.

[4626] Eph. i. 10.

Chapter XXI.—Christ is the head of all things already mentioned. It was

fitting that He should be sent by the Father, the Creator of all things, to

assume human nature, and should be tempted by Satan, that He might fulfil the

promises, and carry off a glorious and perfect victory.

1. 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 (observabit [4627] ) thy head,

and thou on the watch for His heel.” [4628] 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.” [4629] 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.” [4630] 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 quae

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.

2. 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.” [4631] But the Lord repulsed him by the

commandment of the law, saying, “It is written, Man doth not live by

bread alone.” [4632] 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.

[4633] 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;”

[4634] 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;” [4635] 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. [4636] 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,” [4637] 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.” [4638] 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.

3. 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.” [4639]

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.

[4627] teresei and teresei have probably been confounded.

[4628] Gen. iii. 15.

[4629] Gal. iii. 19.

[4630] Gal. iv. 4.

[4631] Matt. iv. 3.

[4632] Deut. viii. 3.

[4633] The Latin of this obscure sentence is: Quae ergo fuit in

Paradiso repletio hominis per duplicem gustationem, dissoluta est per

eam, quae fuit in hoc mundo, indigentiam. Harvey thinks that repletio

is an error of the translation reading anaplerosis for anaperosis. This

conjecture is adopted above.

[4634] Ps. lxxxix. 11.

[4635] Deut. vi. 16.

[4636] This sentence is one of great obscurity.

[4637] Luke iv. 6, 7.

[4638] Matt. iv. 10.

[4639] Matt. xii. 29 and Mark iii. 27.

Chapter XXII.—The true Lord and the one God is declared by the law, and

manifested by Christ His Son in the Gospel; whom alone we should adore, and

from Him we must look for all good things, not from Satan.

1. Thus then does the Lord plainly show that it was the true Lord and

the one God who had been set forth by the law; for Him whom the law

proclaimed as God, the same did Christ point out as the Father, whom

also it behoves the disciples of Christ alone to serve. By means of the

statements of the law, He put our adversary to utter confusion; and the

law directs us to praise God the Creator (Demiurgum), and to serve Him

alone. Since this is the case, we must not seek for another Father

besides Him, or above Him, since there is one God who justifies the

circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. [4640] For

if there were any other perfect Father above Him, He (Christ) would by

no means have overthrown Satan by means of His words and commandments.

For one ignorance cannot be done away with by means of another

ignorance, any more than one defect by another defect. If, therefore,

the law is due to ignorance and defect, how could the statements

contained therein bring to nought the ignorance of the devil, and

conquer the strong man? For a strong man can be conquered neither by an

inferior nor by an equal, but by one possessed of greater power. But

the Word of God is the superior above all, He who is loudly proclaimed

in the law: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God;” and, “Thou

shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;” and, “Him shall thou

adore, and Him alone shall thou serve.” [4641] Then in the Gospel,

casting down the apostasy by means of these expressions, He did both

overcome the strong man by His Father’s voice, and He acknowledges the

commandment of the law to express His own sentiments, when He says,

“Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.” [4642] For He did not confound

the adversary by the saying of any other, but by that belonging to His

own Father, and thus overcame the strong man.

2. He taught by His commandment that we who have been set free should,

when hungry, take that food which is given by God; and that, when

placed in the exalted position of every grace [that can be received],

we should not, either by trusting to works of righteousness, or when

adorned with super-eminent [gifts of] ministration, by any means be

lifted up with pride, nor should we tempt God, but should feel humility

in all things, and have ready to hand [this saying], “Thou shall not

tempt the Lord thy God.” [4643] As also the apostle taught, saying,

“Minding not high things, but consenting to things of low estate;”

[4644] that we should neither be ensnared with riches, nor mundane

glory, nor present fancy, but should know that we must “worship the

Lord thy God, and serve Him alone,” and give no heed to him who falsely

promised things not his own, when he said, “All these will I give thee,

if, falling down, thou wilt worship me.” For he himself confesses that

to adore him, and to do his will, is to fall from the glory of God. And

in what thing either pleasant or good can that man who has fallen

participate? Or what else can such a person hope for or expect, except

death? For death is next neighbour to him who has fallen. Hence also it

follows that he will not give what he has promised. For how can he make

grants to him who has fallen? Moreover, since God rules over men and

him too, and without the will of our Father in heaven not even a

sparrow falls to the ground, [4645] it follows that his declaration,

“All these things are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I

give them,” proceeds from him when puffed up with pride. For the

creation is not subjected to his power, since indeed he is himself but

one among created things. Nor shall he give away the rule over men to

men; but both all other things, and all human affairs, are arranged

according to God the Father’s disposal. Besides, the Lord declares that

“the devil is a liar from the beginning, and the truth is not in him.”

[4646] If then he be a liar and the truth be not in him, he certainly

did not speak truth, but a lie, when he said, “For all these things are

delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will I give them.” [4647]

[4640] Rom. iii. 30.

[4641] Deut. vi. 4, 5, 13.

[4642] Matt. iv. 7.

[4643] Deut. vi. 16.

[4644] Rom. xii. 16.

[4645] Matt. x. 29.

[4646] John viii. 44.

[4647] Luke iv. 6.

Chapter XXIII.—The devil is well practised in falsehood, by which Adam having

been led astray, sinned on the sixth day of the creation, in which day also he

has been renewed by Christ.

1. He had indeed been already accustomed to lie against God, for the

purpose of leading men astray. For at the beginning, when God had given

to man a variety of things for food, while He commanded him not to eat

of one tree only, as the Scripture tells us that God said to Adam:

“From every tree which is in the garden thou shalt eat food; but from

the tree of knowledge of good and evil, from this ye shall not eat: for

in the day that ye shall eat of it, ye shall die by death;” [4648] he

then, lying against the Lord, tempted man, as the Scripture says that

the serpent said to the woman: “Has God indeed said this, Ye shall not

eat from every tree of the garden?” [4649] And when she had exposed the

falsehood, and simply related the command, as He had said, “From every

tree of the garden we shall eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is

in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die:” [4650] when he had [thus]

learned from the woman the command of God, having brought his cunning

into play, he finally deceived her by a falsehood, saying, “Ye shall

not die by death; for God knew that in the day ye shall eat of it your

eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

[4651] In the first place, then, in the garden of God he disputed about

God, as if God was not there, for he was ignorant of the greatness of

God; and then, in the next place, after he had learned from the woman

that God had said that they should die if they tasted the aforesaid

tree, opening his mouth, he uttered the third falsehood, “Ye shall not

die by death.” But that God was true, and the serpent a liar, was

proved by the result, death having passed upon them who had eaten. For

along with the fruit they did also fall under the power of death,

because they did eat in disobedience; and disobedience to God entails

death. Wherefore, as they became forfeit to death, from that [moment]

they were handed over to it.

2. 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,” [4652] 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.” [4653]

[4648] Gen. ii. 16, 17.

[4649] Gen. iii. 1.

[4650] Gen. iii. 2, 3.

[4651] Gen. iii. 4.

[4652] 2 Pet. iii. 8.

[4653] John viii. 44.

Chapter XXIV.—Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and

governments of the world, which we ought to obey, inasmuch as they are

appointed of God, not of the devil.

1. As therefore the devil lied at the beginning, so did he also in the

end, when he said, “All these are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever

I will I give them.” [4654] For it is not he who has appointed the

kingdoms of this world, but God; for “the heart of the king is in the

hand of God.” [4655] And the Word also says by Solomon, “By me kings do

reign, and princes administer justice. By me chiefs are raised up, and

by me kings rule the earth.” [4656] Paul the apostle also says upon

this same subject: “Be ye subject to all the higher powers; for there

is no power but of God: now those which are have been ordained of God.”

[4657] And again, in reference to them he says, “For he beareth not the

sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, the avenger for wrath to

him who does evil.” [4658] Now, that he spake these words, not in

regard to angelical powers, nor of invisible rulers—as some venture

to expound the passage—but of those of actual human authorities, [he

shows when] he says, “For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are

God’s ministers, doing service for this very thing.” [4659] This also

the Lord confirmed, when He did not do what He was tempted to by the devil; but He gave directions that tribute should be paid to the tax-gatherers for Himself and Peter; [4660] because “they are the ministers of God, serving for this very thing.”

2. For since man, by departing from God, reached such a pitch of fury

as even to look upon his brother as his enemy, and engaged without fear

in every kind of restless conduct, and murder, and avarice; God imposed

upon mankind the fear of man, as they did not acknowledge the fear of

God, in order that, being subjected to the authority of men, and kept

under restraint by their laws, they might attain to some degree of

justice, and exercise mutual forbearance through dread of the sword

suspended full in their view, as the apostle says: “For he beareth not

the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, the avenger for wrath

upon him who does evil.” And for this reason too, magistrates

themselves, having laws as a clothing of righteousness whenever they

act in a just and legitimate manner, shall not be called in question

for their conduct, nor be liable to punishment. But whatsoever they do

to the subversion of justice, iniquitously, and impiously, and illegally, and tyrannically, in these things shall they also perish;

for the just judgment of God comes equally upon all, and in no case is

defective. Earthly rule, therefore, has been appointed by God for the

benefit of nations, [4661] and not by the devil, who is never at rest

at all, nay, who does not love to see even nations conducting

themselves after a quiet manner, so that under the fear of human rule,

men may not eat each other up like fishes; but that, by means of the

establishment of laws, they may keep down an excess of wickedness among

the nations. And considered from this point of view, those who exact

tribute from us are “God’s ministers, serving for this very purpose.”

3. As, then, “the powers that be are ordained of God,” it is clear that

the devil lied when he said, “These are delivered unto me; and to

whomsoever I will, I give them.” For by the law of the same Being as

calls men into existence are kings also appointed, adapted for those

men who are at the time placed under their government. Some of these

[rulers] are given for the correction and the benefit of their

subjects, and for the preservation of justice; but others, for the

purposes of fear and punishment and rebuke: others, as [the subjects]

deserve it, are for deception, disgrace, and pride; while the just

judgment of God, as I have observed already, passes equally upon all.

The devil, however, as he is the apostate angel, can only go to this

length, as he did at the beginning, [namely] to deceive and lead astray

the mind of man into disobeying the commandments of God, and gradually

to darken the hearts of those who would endeavour to serve him, to the

forgetting of the true God, but to the adoration of himself as God.

4. Just as if any one, being an apostate, and seizing in a hostile

manner another man’s territory, should harass the inhabitants of it, in

order that he might claim for himself the glory of a king among those

ignorant of his apostasy and robbery; so likewise also the devil, being

one among those angels who are placed over the spirit of the air, as

the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians, [4662]

becoming envious of man, was rendered an apostate from the divine law:

for envy is a thing foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed by

man, and man became the [means of] searching out his thoughts (et

examinatio sententiae ejus, homo factus est), he has set himself to

this with greater and greater determination, in opposition to man,

envying his life, and wishing to involve him in his own apostate power.

The Word of God, however, the Maker of all things, conquering him by

means of human nature, and showing him to be an apostate, has, on the

contrary, put him under the power of man. For He says, “Behold, I

confer upon you the power of treading upon serpents and scorpions, and

upon all the power of the enemy,” [4663] in order that, as he obtained

dominion over man by apostasy, so again his apostasy might be deprived

of power by means of man turning back again to God.

[4654] Matt. iv. 9; Luke iv. 6.

[4655] Prov. xxi. 1.

[4656] Prov. viii. 15.

[4657] Rom. xiii. 1.

[4658] Rom. xiii. 4.

[4659] Rom. xiii. 6.

[4660] Matt. xvii. 27.

[4661] [Well says Benjamin Franklin: “He who shall introduce into

public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the

face of the world.” See Bancroft, Hist. U.S., vol. ix. p. 492.]

[4662] Eph. ii. 2.

[4663] Luke x. 19.

Chapter XXV.—The fraud, pride, and tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist, as

described by Daniel and Paul.

1. And not only by the particulars already mentioned, but also by means

of the events which shall occur in the time of Antichrist is it shown

that he, being an apostate and a robber, is anxious to be adored as

God; and that, although a mere slave, he wishes himself to be

proclaimed as a king. For he (Antichrist) being endued with all the

power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, nor as a

legitimate king, [i.e., one] in subjection to God, but an impious,

unjust, and lawless one; as an apostate, iniquitous and murderous; as a

robber, concentrating in himself [all] satanic apostasy, and setting

aside idols to persuade [men] that he himself is God, raising up

himself as the only idol, having in himself the multifarious errors of

the other idols. This he does, in order that they who do [now] worship

the devil by means of many abominations, may serve himself by this one

idol, of whom the apostle thus speaks in the second Epistle to the

Thessalonians: “Unless there shall come a failing away first, and the

man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and

exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;

so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were

God.” The apostle therefore clearly points out his apostasy, and that

he is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is

worshipped—that is, above every idol—for these are indeed so called

by men, but are not [really] gods; and that he will endeavour in a tyrannical manner to set himself forth as God.

2. Moreover, he (the apostle) has also pointed out this which I have shown in many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the

direction of the true God. For the apostle himself, speaking in his own

person, distinctly called it the temple of God. Now I have shown in the

third book, that no one is termed God by the apostles when speaking for

themselves, except Him who truly is God, the Father of our Lord, by

whose directions the temple which is at Jerusalem was constructed for

those purposes which I have already mentioned; in which [temple] the

enemy shall sit, endeavouring to show himself as Christ, as the Lord

also declares: “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation,

which has been spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy

place (let him that readeth understand), then let those who are in

Judea flee into the mountains; and he who is upon the house-top, let

him not come down to take anything out of his house: for there shall

then be great hardship, such as has not been from the beginning of the

world until now, nor ever shall be.” [4664]

3. Daniel too, looking forward to the end of the last kingdom, i.e., the ten last kings, amongst whom the kingdom of those men shall be partitioned, and upon whom the son of perdition shall come, declares that ten horns shall spring from the beast, and that another little horn shall arise in the midst of them, and that three of the former

shall be rooted up before his face. He says: “And, behold, eyes were in

this horn as the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, and

his look was more stout than his fellows. I was looking, and this horn

made war against the saints, and prevailed against them, until the

Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most high

God, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom.” [4665]

Then, further on, in the interpretation of the vision, there was said

to him: “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which

shall excel all other kingdoms, and devour the whole earth, and tread

it down, and cut it in pieces. And its ten horns are ten kings which

shall arise; and after them shall arise another, who shall surpass in

evil deeds all that were before him, and shall overthrow three kings;

and he shall speak words against the most high God, and wear out the

saints of the most high God, and shall purpose to change times and

laws; and [everything] shall be given into his hand until a time of

times and a half time,” [4666] that is, for three years and six months,

during which time, when he comes, he shall reign over the earth. Of

whom also the Apostle Paul again, speaking in the second [Epistle] to

the Thessalonians, and at the same time proclaiming the cause of his

advent, thus says: “And then shall the wicked one be revealed, whom the

Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy by the

presence of His coming; whose coming [i.e., the wicked one’s] is after

the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and portents of lies,

and with all deceivableness of wickedness for those who perish; because

they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And therefore God will send them the working of error, that they may believe a lie; that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but gave consent to iniquity,” [4667]

4. The Lord also spoke as follows to those who did not believe in Him:

“I have come in my Father’s name, and ye have not received Me: when another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive,” [4668] calling Antichrist “the other,” because he is alienated from the Lord.

This is also the unjust judge, whom the Lord mentioned as one “who

feared not God, neither regarded man,” [4669] to whom the widow fled in

her forgetfulness of God,--that is, the earthly Jerusalem,--to be

avenged of her adversary. Which also he shall do in the time of his

kingdom: he shall remove his kingdom into that [city], and shall sit in

the temple of God, leading astray those who worship him, as if he were

Christ. To this purpose Daniel says again: “And he shall desolate the

holy place; and sin has been given for a sacrifice, [4670] and

righteousness been cast away in the earth, and he has been active

(fecit), and gone on prosperously.” [4671] And the angel Gabriel, when

explaining his vision, states with regard to this person: “And towards

the end of their kingdom a king of a most fierce countenance shall

arise, one understanding [dark] questions, and exceedingly powerful,

full of wonders; and he shall corrupt, direct, influence (faciet), and

put strong men down, the holy people likewise; and his yoke shall be

directed as a wreath [round their neck]; deceit shall be in his hand,

and he shall be lifted up in his heart: he shall also ruin many by

deceit, and lead many to perdition, bruising them in his hand like

eggs.” [4672] And then he points out the time that his tyranny shall

last, during which the saints shall be put to flight, they who offer a

pure sacrifice unto God: “And in the midst of the week,” he says, “the

sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and the abomination of

desolation [shall be brought] into the temple: even unto the

consummation of the time shall the desolation be complete.” [4673] Now

three years and six months constitute the half-week.

5. From all these passages are revealed to us, not merely the

particulars of the apostasy, and [the doings] of him who concentrates

in himself every satanic error, but also, that there is one and the

same God the Father, who was declared by the prophets, but made

manifest by Christ. For if what Daniel prophesied concerning the end

has been confirmed by the Lord, when He said, “When ye shall see the

abomination of desolation, which has been spoken of by Daniel the

prophet” [4674] (and the angel Gabriel gave the interpretation of the

visions to Daniel, and he is the archangel of the Creator (Demiurgi),

who also proclaimed to Mary the visible coming and the incarnation of

Christ), then one and the same God is most manifestly pointed out, who

sent the prophets, and made promise [4675] of the Son, and called us into His knowledge.

[4664] Matt. xxiv. 15, 21.

[4665] Dan. vii. 8, etc.

[4666] Dan. vii. 23, etc.

[4667] 2 Thess. ii. 8.

[4668] John v. 43.

[4669] Luke xviii. 2, etc.

[4670] This may refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, Antichrist’s prototype,

who offered swine upon the altar in the temple at Jerusalem. The LXX.

version has, edothe epi ten thusian hamartia, i.e., sin has been given

against (or, upon) the sacrifice.

[4671] Dan. viii. 12.

[4672] Dan. viii. 23, etc.

[4673] Dan. ix. 27.

[4674] Matt. xxiv. 15.

[4675] The mss. have “praemisit,” but Harvey suggests “promisit,” which

we have adopted.

Chapter XXVI.—John and Daniel have predicted the dissolution and desolation

of the Roman Empire, which shall precede the end of the world and the eternal

kingdom of Christ. The Gnostics are refuted, those tools of Satan, who invent

another Father different from the Creator.

1. In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to

the Lord’s disciples what shall happen in the last times, and

concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire

which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned. He teaches us what

the ten horns shall be which were seen by Daniel, telling us that thus

it had been said to him: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten

kings, who have received no kingdom as yet, but shall receive power as

if kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and give their

strength and power to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb,

and the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and

the King of kings.” [4676] It is manifest, therefore, that of these

[potentates], he who is to come shall slay three, and subject the

remainder to his power, and that he shall be himself the eighth among

them. And they shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight.

After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord. For that

the kingdom must be divided, and thus come to ruin, the Lord [declares

when He] says: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to

desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not

stand.” [4677] It must be, therefore, that the kingdom, the city, and

the house be divided into ten; and for this reason He has already foreshadowed the partition and division [which shall take place].

Daniel also says particularly, that the end of the fourth kingdom

consists in the toes of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, upon which

came the stone cut out without hands; and as he does himself say: “The

feet were indeed the one part iron, the other part clay, until the

stone was cut out without hands, and struck the image upon the iron and

clay feet, and dashed them into pieces, even to the end.” [4678] Then

afterwards, when interpreting this, he says: “And as thou sawest the

feet and the toes, partly indeed of clay, and partly of iron, the

kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it a root of iron, as

thou sawest iron mixed with baked clay. And the toes were indeed the

one part iron, but the other part clay.” [4679] The ten toes,

therefore, are these ten kings, among whom the kingdom shall be

partitioned, of whom some indeed shall be strong and active, or

energetic; others, again, shall be sluggish and useless, and shall not

agree; as also Daniel says: “Some part of the kingdom shall be strong,

and part shall be broken from it. As thou sawest the iron mixed with

the baked clay, there shall be minglings among the human race, but no

cohesion one with the other, just as iron cannot be welded on to

pottery ware.” [4680] And since an end shall take place, he says: “And

in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven raise up a kingdom

which shall never decay, and His kingdom shall not be left to another

people. It shall break in pieces and shatter all kingdoms, and shall

itself be exalted for ever. As thou sawest that the stone was cut

without hands from the mountain, and brake in pieces the baked clay,

the iron, the brass, the silver, and the gold, God has pointed out to

the king what shall come to pass after these things; and the dream is

true, and the interpretation trustworthy.” [4681]

2. If therefore the great God showed future things by Daniel, and

confirmed them by His Son; and if Christ is the stone which is cut out

without hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms, and introduce an

eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just; as he declares,

“The God of heaven shall raise up a kingdom which shall never be

destroyed,”—let those thus confuted come to their senses, who reject

the Creator (Demiurgum), and do not agree that the prophets were sent

beforehand from the same Father from whom also the Lord came, but who

assert that prophecies originated from diverse powers. 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: [4682] 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.

[4676] Rev. xvii. 12, etc.

[4677] Matt. xii. 25.

[4678] Dan. ii. 33, 34.

[4679] Dan. ii. 41, 42.

[4680] Dan. ii. 42, 43.

[4681] Dan. ii. 44, 45.

[4682] The Greek text is here preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv.

18; but we are not told from what work of Justin Martyr it is

extracted. The work is now lost. An ancient catena continues the Greek

for several lines further.

Chapter XXVII.—The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation

from the divine being. The eternal punishment of unbelievers.

1. 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;” [4683] 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: [4684] [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; [4685] 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. [4686] 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; [4687] 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.” [4688]

2. 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,” [4689] 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.”

[4683] Matt. x. 25.

[4684] Luke xvii. 34.

[4685] Matt. xiii. 30.

[4686] Matt. xxv. 33, etc.

[4687] Luke x. 12.

[4688] Matt. v. 45.

[4689] John iii. 18-21.

Chapter XXVIII.—The distinction to be made between the righteous and the

wicked. The future apostasy in the time of Antichrist, and the end of the

world.

1. Inasmuch, then, as in this world (aioni) 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.

2. 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.” [4690] 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:” [4691] [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.” [4692] 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.” [4693] 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,” [4694] 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.

3. 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.”

[4695] 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; [4696] and in six days created things were completed: it is

evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand

year.

4. 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.” [4697]

[4690] 2 Thess. ii. 10-12.

[4691] Rev. xix. 20.

[4692] Rev. xiii. 2, etc.

[4693] Rev. xiii. 11, etc.

[4694] Rev. xiii. 14, etc.

[4695] Gen. ii. 2.

[4696] 2 Pet. iii. 8.

[4697] This is quoted from the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, ch.

iv. It is found in the two Greek recensions of his works, and also in

the Syriac. See pp. 75 and 103 of this volume. The Latin translation is

here followed: the Greek of Ignatius would give “the wheat of God,” and

omits “of God” towards the end, as quoted by Eusebius.

Chapter XXIX.—All things have been created for the service of man. The

deceits, wickedness, and apostate power of Antichrist. This was prefigured at

the deluge, as afterwards by the persecution of Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego.

1. In the previous books I have set forth the causes for which God

permitted these things to be made, and have pointed out that all such

have been created for the benefit of that human nature which is saved,

ripening for immortality that which is [possessed] of its own free will

and its own power, and preparing and rendering it more adapted for

eternal subjection to God. And therefore the creation is suited to [the

wants of] man; for man was not made for its sake, but creation for the

sake of man. Those nations, however, who did not of themselves raise up

their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished

to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in

the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a

sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance—in fact, as nothing;”

[4698] so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces

towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion,

serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, “There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” [4699] For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.

2. And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in

order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him,

may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his

name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in

his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place

previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was

six hundred years old when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping

away the rebellious world, for the sake of that most infamous

generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also sums

up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the

slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just. For that image

which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty cubits,

while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias,

and Mishaell, when they did not worship it, were cast into a furnace of

fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath

against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end.

For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man’s

coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be

worshipped by all men. Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in

whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number

of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the

fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom

is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and

unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception; for

which things’ sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].

[4698] Isa. xl. 15.

[4699] Matt. xxiv. 21.

Chapter XXX.—Although certain as to the number of the name of Antichrist, yet

we should come to no rash conclusions as to the name itself, because this

number is capable of being fitted to many names. Reasons for this point being

reserved by the Holy Spirit. Antichrist’s reign and death.

1. Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found

in all the most approved and ancient copies [4700] [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.] [4701] 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, [4702] 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.

2. 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.” [4703] 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.” [4704] This, too, is the reason that this

tribe is not reckoned in the Apocalypse along with those which are saved. [4705]

3. 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 (EUANThAS) contains the

required number, but I make no allegation regarding it. Then also

Lateinos (LATEINOS) 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: [4706] I will not, however, make any boast over this

[coincidence]. Teitan too, (TEITAN, the first syllable being written

with the two Greek vowels e and i, 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. [4707] 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.

4. 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,” [4708] 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 temple at

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.” [4709]

[4700] en pasi tois spoudaiois kai archaiois antigraphois This passage

is interesting, as showing how very soon the autographs of the New

Testament must have perished, and various readings crept into the mss.

of the canonical books.

[4701] That is, X into EI, according to Harvey, who considers the whole

of this clause as an evident interpolation. It does not occur in the Greek here preserved by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., v. 8).

[4702] Rev. xxii. 19.

[4703] 1 Thess. v. 3.

[4704] Jer. viii. 16.

[4705] Rev. vii. 5-7. [The Danites (though not all) corrupted the Hebrew church and the Levitical priesthood, by image-worship, (Judg. xviii.), and forfeited the blessings of the old covenant.]

[4706] [A very pregnant passage, as has often been noted. But let us imitate the pious reticence with which this section concludes.]

[4707] Massuet here quotes Cicero and Ovid in proof of the sun being termed Titan. The Titans waged war against the gods, to avenge themselves upon Saturn.

[4708] Rev. xvii. 8.

[4709] Matt. viii. 11.

Chapter XXXI.—The preservation of our bodies is confirmed by the resurrection

and ascension of Christ: the souls of the saints during the intermediate

period are in a state of expectation of that time when they shall receive

their perfect and consummated glory.

1. Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the

pre-arranged plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of

the methods by which they are disciplined beforehand for incorruption,

they thus entertain heretical opinions. For the heretics, despising the

handiwork of God, and not admitting the salvation of their flesh, while

they also treat the promise of God contemptuously, and pass beyond God

altogether in the sentiments they form, affirm that immediately upon

their death they shall pass above the heavens and the Demiurge, and go

to the Mother (Achamoth) or to that Father whom they have feigned.

Those persons, therefore, who disallow a resurrection affecting the

whole man (universam reprobant resurrectionem), and as far as in them

lies remove it from the midst [of the Christian scheme], how can they

be wondered at, if again they know nothing as to the plan of the

resurrection? For they do not choose to understand, that if these

things are as they say, the Lord Himself, in whom they profess to

believe, did not rise again upon the third day; but immediately upon

His expiring on the cross, undoubtedly departed on high, leaving His

body to the earth. But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in

the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: “And

the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of

sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them.” [4710]

And the Lord Himself says, “As Jonas remained three days and three

nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of

the earth.” [4711] Then also the apostle says, “But when He ascended,

what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the

earth?” [4712] This, too, David says when prophesying of Him, “And thou

hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell;” [4713] and on His

rising again the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see

and to worship Him, “Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the

Father; but go to the disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father.” [4714]

2. If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten from the dead, and tarried until the third

day “in the lower parts of the earth;” [4715] then afterwards rising in

the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His

disciples, [4716] He thus ascended to the Father;--[if all these things

occurred, I say], how must these men not be put to confusion, who

allege that “the lower parts” refer to this world of ours, but that

their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the

super-celestial place? For as the Lord “went away in the midst of the

shadow of death,” [4717] where the souls of the dead were, yet

afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up

[into heaven], it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also,

upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into

the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the

resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and

rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they

shall come thus into the presence of God. “For no disciple is above the

Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.” [4718]

As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to

heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the

Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again

after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God and foretold by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege]. [4719]

[4710] See the note, book iii. xx. 4.

[4711] Matt. xi. 40.

[4712] Eph. iv. 9.

[4713] Ps. lxxxvi. 23.

[4714] John xx. 17.

[4715] Eph. iv. 9.

[4716] John xx. 20, 27.

[4717] Ps. xxiii. 4.

[4718] Luke vi. 40.

[4719] The five following chapters were omitted in the earlier

editions, but added by Feuardentius. Most mss., too, did not contain

them. It is probable that the scribes of the middle ages rejected them

on account of their inculcating millenarian notions, which had been

long extinct in the Church. Quotations from these five chapters have

been collected by Harvey from Syriac and Armenian mss. lately come to

light.

Chapter XXXII.—In that flesh in which the saints have suffered so many

afflictions, they shall receive the fruits of their labours; especially since

all creation waits for this, and God promises it to Abraham and his seed.

1. Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons]

are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God’s

dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and

of the [earthly] kingdom which is the commencement of incorruption, by

means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed

gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum [4720] ); and it

is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behoves the

righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God

promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to

behold God in this creation which is renovated, and that the judgment

should take place afterwards. For it is just that in that very creation

in which they toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by

suffering, they should receive the reward of their suffering; and that

in the creation in which they were slain because of their love to God,

in that they should be revived again; and that in the creation in which

they endured servitude, in that they should reign. For God is rich in

all things, and all things are His. It is fitting, therefore, that the

creation itself, being restored to its primeval condition, should

without restraint be under the dominion of the righteous; and the

apostle has made this plain in the Epistle to the Romans, when he thus

speaks: “For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the

manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature has been subjected

to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the

same in hope; since the creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” [4721]

2. Thus, then, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains stedfast. For thus He said: “Lift up thine eyes, and look from this place where now thou art, towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth which thou seest, I will give to thee and to thy seed, even for ever.” [4722] And again He says, “Arise, and go

through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it unto

thee;” [4723] and [yet] he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always a stranger and a pilgrim therein.

[4724] And upon the death of Sarah his wife, when the Hittites were

willing to bestow upon him a place where he might bury her, he declined

it as a gift, but bought the burying-place (giving for it four hundred

talents of silver) from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. [4725]

Thus did he await patiently the promise of God, and was unwilling to

appear to receive from men, what God had promised to give him, when He

said again to him as follows: “I will give this land to thy seed, from

the river of Egypt even unto the great river Euphrates.” [4726] If,

then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not

receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that

together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him,

he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is

the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as

John the Baptist said: “For God is able from the stones to raise up

children to Abraham.” [4727] Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle

to the Galatians: “But ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of

the promise.” [4728] And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly

declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the

promise to Abraham thus saying, “The promises were spoken to Abraham,

and to his seed. Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if [He spake] of

many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” [4729] And

again, confirming his former words, he says, “Even as Abraham believed

God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore,

that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham. But the

Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,

declared to Abraham beforehand, That in thee shall all nations be

blessed. So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful

Abraham.” [4730] Thus, then, they who are of faith shall be blessed

with faithful Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham. Now God

made promise of the earth to Abraham and his seed; yet neither Abraham

nor his seed, that is, those who are justified by faith, do now receive

any inheritance in it; but they shall receive it at the resurrection of

the just. For God is true and faithful; and on this account He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” [4731]

[4720] Or, “gradually to comprehend God.”

[4721] Rom. viii. 19, etc.

[4722] Gen. xiii. 13, 14.

[4723] Gen. xiii. 17.

[4724] Acts vii. 5; Heb. xi. 13.

[4725] Gen. xxiii. 11.

[4726] Gen. xv. 13.

[4727] Luke iii. 8.

[4728] Gal. iv. 28.

[4729] Gal. iii. 16.

[4730] Gal. iii. 6, etc.

[4731] Matt. v. 5.

Chapter XXXIII.—Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the

promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of

the vine with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom, while at the same time He

promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets.

The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and

the elders have interpreted it.

1. 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.” [4732] 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.” [4733] 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.

2. 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.” [4734] 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.” [4735] 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.

3. The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob

has the same meaning, when he says, “Behold, the smell of my son is as

the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed.” [4736] But “the

field is the world.” [4737] And therefore he added, “God give to thee

of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, plenty of corn

and wine. And let the nations serve thee, and kings bow down to thee;

and be thou lord over thy brother, and thy father’s sons shall bow down

to thee: cursed shall be he who shall curse thee, and blessed shall be

he who shall bless thee.” [4738] If any one, then, does not accept

these things as referring to the appointed kingdom, he must fall into

much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with the Jews, who

are involved in absolute perplexity. For not only did not the nations

in this life serve this Jacob; but even after he had received the

blessing, he himself going forth [from his home], served his uncle

Laban the Syrian for twenty years; [4739] and not only was he not made

lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down before his brother

Esau, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father, and offered many

gifts to him. [4740] Moreover, in what way did he inherit much corn and

wine here, he who emigrated to Egypt because of the famine which

possessed the land in which he was dwelling, and became subject to

Pharaoh, who was then ruling over Egypt? The predicted blessing,

therefore, belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the

righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead; [4741] when

also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify

with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven, and

from the fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the

disciple of the Lord, related that they had heard from him how the Lord

used to teach in regard to these times, and say: The days will come, in

which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each

branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true [4742] twig ten thousand

shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on

every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when

pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of

the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, [4743] another shall cry out,

“I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me.” In like

manner [the Lord declared] that a grain of wheat would produce ten

thousand ears, and that every ear should have ten thousand grains, and

every grain would yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres) of clear, pure,

fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees, [4744] and seeds

and grass, would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam

iis consequentem); and that all animals feeding [only] on the productions of the earth, should [in those days] become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to man.

4. And these things are borne witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; for there were five books compiled (suntetagmena) by him. [4745] And he

says in addition, “Now these things are credible to believers.” And he

says that, “when the traitor Judas did not give credit to them, and put

the question, How then can things about to bring forth so abundantly be

wrought by the Lord?’ the Lord declared, They who shall come to these

[times] shall see.’ “ When prophesying of these times, therefore,

Esaias says: “The wolf also shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard

shall take his rest with the kid; the calf also, and the bull, and the

lion shall eat together; and a little boy shall lead them. The ox and

the bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall agree

together; and the lion shall eat straw as well as the ox. And the

infant boy shall thrust his hand into the asp’s den, into the nest also

of the adder’s brood; and they shall do no harm, nor have power to hurt

anything in my holy mountain.” And again he says, in recapitulation,

“Wolves and lambs shall then browse together, and the lion shall eat

straw like the ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread; and they

shall neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain, saith the

Lord.” [4746] I am quite aware that some persons endeavour to refer

these words to the case of savage men, both of different nations and

various habits, who come to believe, and when they have believed, act

in harmony with the righteous. But although this is [true] now with

regard to some men coming from various nations to the harmony of the

faith, nevertheless in the resurrection of the just [the words shall

also apply] to those animals mentioned. For God is rich in all things.

And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals

should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food

originally given by God (for they had been originally subjected in

obedience to Adam), that is, the productions of the earth. But some

other occasion, and not the present, is [to be sought] for showing that

the lion shall [then] feed on straw. And this indicates the large size

and rich quality of the fruits. For if that animal, the lion, feeds

upon straw [at that period], of what a quality must the wheat itself be

whose straw shall serve as suitable food for lions?

[4732] Matt. xxvi. 27.

[4733] Ps. civ. 30.

[4734] Luke xiv. 12, 13.

[4735] Matt. xix. 29; Luke xviii. 29, 30.

[4736] Gen. xxvii. 27, etc.

[4737] Matt. xiii. 38.

[4738] Gen. xxvii. 28, 29.

[4739] Gen. xxxi. 41.

[4740] Gen. xxxiii. 3.

[4741] From this to the end of the section there is an Armenian version

extant, to be found in the Spicil. Solesm. i. p. 1, edited by M. Pitra,

Paris 1852, and which was taken by him from an Armenian ms. in the Mechitarist Library at Venice, described as being of the twelfth century.

[4742] This word “true” is not found in the Armenian.

[4743] Or, following Arm. vers., “But if any one shall lay hold of an

holy cluster.”

[4744] The Arm. vers. is here followed; the old Latin reads, “Et reliqua autem poma.”

[4745] [See pp. 151-154, this volume.]

[4746] Isa. xl. 6, etc.

Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and

earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various

testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; also by the parable of

the servants watching, to whom the Lord promised that He would minister.

1. Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be

joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The

dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise,

and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is

health to them.” [4747] And this again Ezekiel also says: “Behold, I

will open your tombs, and will bring you forth out of your graves; when

I will draw my people from the sepulchres, and I will put breath in

you, and ye shall live; and I will place you on your own land, and ye

shall know that I am the Lord.” [4748] And again the same speaks thus:

“These things saith the Lord, I will gather Israel from all nations

whither they have been driven, and I shall be sanctified in them in the

sight of the sons of the nations: and they shall dwell in their own

land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell in it in

peace; and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell in

hope, when I shall cause judgment to fall among all who have

dishonoured them, among those who encircle them round about; and they

shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers.”

[4749] Now I have shown a short time ago that the church is the seed of

Abraham; and for this reason, that we may know that He who in the New

Testament “raises up from the stones children unto Abraham,” [4750] is

He who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those that shall be

saved from all the nations, Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days come,

saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, who led

the children of Israel from the north, and from every region whither

they had been driven; He will restore them to their own land which He

gave to their fathers.” [4751]

2. That the whole creation shall, according to God’s will, obtain a

vast increase, that it may bring forth and sustain fruits such [as we

have mentioned], Isaiah declares: “And there shall be upon every high

mountain, and upon every prominent hill, water running everywhere in

that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall. And the light

of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of the

day, when He shall heal the anguish of His people, and do away with the

pain of His stroke.” [4752] Now “the pain of the stroke” means that

inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is,

death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the

dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again

says: “And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee

to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of

Jacob thy father.” [4753] This is what the Lord declared: “Happy are

those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily

I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down

[to meat], and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in

the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall

make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second,

or it be in the third, blessed are they.” [4754] Again John also says

the very same in the Apocalypse: “Blessed and holy is he who has part

in the first resurrection.” [4755] Then, too, Isaiah has declared the

time when these events shall occur; he says: “And I said, Lord, how

long? Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses be

without men, and the earth be left a desert. And after these things the

Lord shall remove us men far away (longe nos faciet Deus homines), and

those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth.” [4756] Then

Daniel also says this very thing: “And the kingdom and dominion, and

the greatness of those under the heaven, is given to the saints of the

Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall

serve and obey Him.” [4757] And lest the promise named should be

understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet:

“And come thou, and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days.”

[4758]

3. 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 harbour 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.” [4759] Now, in the

preceding book [4760] 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. [4761] 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.

4. Then again, speaking of Jerusalem, and of Him reigning there, Isaiah

declares, “Thus saith the Lord, Happy is he who hath seed in Zion, and

servants in Jerusalem. Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and

princes shall rule with judgment.” [4762] And with regard to the

foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says: “Behold, I will lay

in order for thee a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for thy foundations;

and I will lay thy ramparts with jasper, and thy gates with crystal,

and thy wall with choice stones: and all thy children shall be taught

of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children; and in

righteousness shalt thou be built up.” [4763] And yet again does he say

the same thing: “Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people [a

joy]; for the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the

voice of crying. Also there shall not be there any immature [one], nor

an old man who does not fulfil his time: for the youth shall be of a

hundred years; and the sinner shall die a hundred years old, yet shall

be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them themselves;

and shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them themselves, and

shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others inhabit; neither

shall they prepare the vineyard, and others eat. For as the days of the

tree of life shall be the days of the people in thee; for the works of

their hands shall endure.” [4764]

[4747] Isa. xxvi. 19.

[4748] Ezek. xxxvii. 12, etc.

[4749] Ezek. xxviii. 25, 26.

[4750] Matt. iii. 9.

[4751] Jer. xxiii. 6, 7.

[4752] Isa. xxx. 25, 26.

[4753] Isa. lviii. 14.

[4754] Luke xii. 37, 38.

[4755] Rev. xx. 6.

[4756] Isa. vi. 11.

[4757] Dan. vii. 27.

[4758] Dan. xii. 13.

[4759] Jer. xxxi. 10, etc.

[4760] See. iv. 8, 3.

[4761] Matt. xii. 5.

[4762] Isa. xxxi. 9, Isa. xxxii. 1.

[4763] Isa. liv. 11-14.

[4764] Isa. lxv. 18.

Chapter XXXV.—He contends that these testimonies already alleged cannot be

understood allegorically of celestial blessings, but that they shall have

their fulfilment after the coming of Antichrist, and the resurrection, in the

terrestrial Jerusalem. To the former prophecies he subjoins others drawn from

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John.

1. If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize [prophecies] of this

kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points,

and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very expressions [in

question]. For example: “When the cities” of the Gentiles “shall be

desolate, so that they be not inhabited, and the houses so that there

shall be no men in them and the land shall be left desolate.” [4765]

“For, behold,” says Isaiah, “the day of the Lord cometh past remedy,

full of fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root

sinners out of it.” [4766] And again he says, “Let him be taken away,

that he behold not the glory of God.” [4767] And when these things are

done, he says, “God will remove men far away, and those that are left

shall multiply in the earth.” [4768] “And they shall build houses, and

shall inhabit them themselves: and plant vineyards, and eat of them

themselves.” [4769] For all these and other words were unquestionably

spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place

after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations

under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous

shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and

through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God

the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion

with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with

respect to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him

from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the

hands of the Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the

prophet says: “And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,”

And Jeremiah [4770] the prophet has pointed out, that as many believers

as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon

earth, should both be under the rule of the saints to minister to this

Jerusalem, and that [His] kingdom shall be in it, saying, “Look around

Jerusalem towards the east, and behold the joy which comes to thee from

God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come whom thou hast sent forth:

they shall come in a band from the east even unto the west, by the word

of that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour which is from thy God. O

Jerusalem, put off thy robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on

that beauty of eternal splendour from thy God. Gird thyself with the

double garment of that righteousness proceeding from thy God; place the

mitre of eternal glory upon thine head. For God will show thy glory to

the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall for ever be called by

God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships

God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and

behold thy sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the

Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For

the footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by

the enemy. God shall bring them in to thee, being borne with glory as

the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain

shall be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be

filled, so that the surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that

Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall

make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel

itself by the command of God. For God shall go before with joy in the

light of His splendour, with the pity and righteousness which proceeds

from Him.”

2. Now all these things being such as they are, cannot be understood in

reference to super-celestial matters; “for God,” it is said, “will show

to the whole earth that is under heaven thy glory.” But in the times of

the kingdom, the earth has been called again by Christ [to its pristine

condition], and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the Jerusalem

above, of which the prophet Isaiah says, “Behold, I have depicted thy

walls upon my hands, and thou art always in my sight.” [4771] And the

apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, “But the

Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

[4772] He does not say this with any thought of an erratic AEon, or of

any other power which departed from the Pleroma, or of Prunicus, but of

the Jerusalem which has been delineated on [God’s] hands. And in the

Apocalypse John saw this new [Jerusalem] descending upon the new earth.

[4773] For after the times of the kingdom, he says, “I saw a great

white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled

away, and the heavens; and there was no more place for them.” [4774]

And he sets forth, too, the things connected with the general

resurrection and the judgment, mentioning “the dead, great and small.”

“The sea,” he says, “gave up the dead which it had in it, and death and

hell delivered up the dead that they contained; and the books were

opened. Moreover,” he says, “the book of life was opened, and the dead

were judged out of those things that were written in the books,

according to their works; and death and hell were sent into the lake of

fire, the second death.” [4775] Now this is what is called Gehenna,

which the Lord styled eternal fire. [4776] “And if any one,” it is

said, “was not found written in the book of life, he was sent into the

lake of fire.” [4777] And after this, he says, “I saw a new heaven and

a new earth, for the first heaven and earth have passed away; also

there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming

down from heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband.” “And I heard,”

it is said, “a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the

tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; and they

shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them as their God.

And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no

more, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,

because the former things have passed away.” [4778] Isaiah also

declares the very same: “For there shall be a new heaven and a new

earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall

the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and

exultation.” [4779] Now this is what has been said by the apostle: “For

the fashion of this world passeth away.” [4780] To the same purpose did

the Lord also declare, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.” [4781] When

these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord’s

disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a

bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God,

in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem the former one is

an image—that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are

disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation. And

of this tabernacle Moses received the pattern in the mount; [4782] and

nothing is capable of being allegorized, but all things are stedfast,

and true, and substantial, having been made by God for righteous men’s

enjoyment. For as it is God truly who raises up man, so also does man

truly rise from the dead, and not allegorically, as I have shown

repeatedly. And as he rises actually, so also shall he be actually

disciplined beforehand for incorruption, and shall go forwards and

flourish in the times of the kingdom, in order that he may be capable

of receiving the glory of the Father. Then, when all things are made

new, he shall truly dwell in the city of God. For it is said, “He that

sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And the Lord

says, Write all this; for these words are faithful and true. And He

said to me, They are done.” [4783] And this is the truth of the matter.

[4765] Isa. vi. 11.

[4766] Isa. xiii. 9.

[4767] Isa. xxvi. 10.

[4768] Isa. vi. 12.

[4769] Isa. lxv. 21.

[4770] The long quotation following is not found in Jeremiah, but in

the apocryphal book of Baruch iv. 36, etc., and the whole of Baruch v.

[4771] Isa. xlix. 16.

[4772] Gal. iv. 26.

[4773] Rev. xxi. 2.

[4774] Rev. xx. 11.

[4775] Rev. xx. 12-14.

[4776] Matt. xxv. 41.

[4777] Rev. xx. 15.

[4778] Rev. xxi. 1-4.

[4779] Isa. lxv. 17, 18.

[4780] 1 Cor. vii. 31.

[4781] Matt. xxvi. 35.

[4782] Ex. xxv. 40.

[4783] Rev. xxi. 5, 6.

Chapter XXXVI.—Men shall be actually raised: the world shall not be

annihilated; but there shall be various mansions for the saints, according to

the rank allotted to each individual. All things shall be subject to God the

Father, and so shall He be all in all.

1. For since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment (plantationem), that they vanish not away among non-existent things, but progress among those which have an actual

existence. For neither is the substance nor the essence of the creation

annihilated (for faithful and true is He who has established it), but

“the fashion of the world passeth away;” [4784] that is, those things

among which transgression has occurred, since man has grown old in

them. And therefore this [present] fashion has been formed temporary,

God foreknowing all things; as I have pointed out in the preceding

book, [4785] and have also shown, as far as was possible, the cause of

the creation of this world of temporal things. But when this [present]

fashion [of things] passes away, and man has been renewed, and

flourishes in an incorruptible state, so as to preclude the possibility

of becoming old, [then] there shall be the new heaven and the new

earth, in which the new man shall remain [continually], always holding

fresh converse with God. And since (or, that) these things shall ever

continue without end, Isaiah declares, “For as the new heavens and the

new earth which I do make, continue in my sight, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” [4786] And as the presbyters say, Then those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of paradise, and others shall possess the splendour of the city; for everywhere the Saviour [4787] shall be seen according as they who see Him shall be worthy.

2. [They say, moreover], that there is this distinction between the

habitation of those who produce an hundred-fold, and that of those who

produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold: for the

first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in

paradise, the last will inhabit the city; and that was on this account

the Lord declared, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” [4788] For

all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable

dwelling-place; even as His Word says, that a share is allotted to all

by the Father, according as each person is or shall be worthy. And this

is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having been invited to

the wedding. [4789] The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles,

affirm that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are

saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature; also that

they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the

Father, and that in due time the Son will yield up His work to the

Father, even as it is said by the apostle, “For He must reign till He

hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be

destroyed is death.” [4790] For in the times of the kingdom, the

righteous man who is upon the earth shall then forget to die. “But when

He saith, All things shall be subdued unto Him, it is manifest that He

is excepted who did put all things under Him. And when all things shall

be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto

Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” [4791]

3. John, therefore, did distinctly foresee the first “resurrection of

the just,” [4792] and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth; and

what the prophets have prophesied concerning it harmonize [with his

vision]. For the Lord also taught these things, when He promised that

He would have the mixed cup new with His disciples in the kingdom. The

apostle, too, has confessed that the creation shall be free from the

bondage of corruption, [so as to pass] into the liberty of the sons of

God. [4793] And in all these things, and by them all, the same God the

Father is manifested, who fashioned man, and gave promise of the

inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who brought it (the creature)

forth [from bondage] at the resurrection of the just, and fulfils the

promises for the kingdom of His Son; subsequently bestowing in a

paternal manner those things which neither the eye has seen, nor the

ear has heard, nor has [thought concerning them] arisen within the

heart of man, [4794] For there is the one Son, who accomplished His

Father’s will; and one human race also in which the mysteries of God

are wrought, “which the angels desire to look into;” [4795] and they

are not able to search out the wisdom of God, by means of which His

handiwork, confirmed and incorporated with His Son, is brought to

perfection; that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, should descend

to the creature (facturam), that is, to what had been moulded (plasma),

and that it should be contained by Him; and, on the other hand, the

creature should contain the Word, and ascend to Him, passing beyond the

angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God. [4796]

[4784] 1 Cor. vii. 31.

[4785] Lib. iv. 5, 6.

[4786] Isa. lxvi. 22.

[4787] Thus in a Greek fragment; in the Old Latin, Deus.

[4788] John xiv. 2.

[4789] Matt. xxii. 10.

[4790] 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26.

[4791] 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28.

[4792] Luke xiv. 14.

[4793] Rom. viii. 21.

[4794] 1 Cor. ii. 9; Isa. lxiv. 4.

[4795] 1 Pet. i. 12.

[4796] Grabe and others suppose that some part of the work has been lost, so that the above was not its original conclusion.

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus

I.

I adjure thee, who shalt transcribe this book, [4797] by our Lord Jesus

Christ, and by His glorious appearing, when He comes to judge the

living and the dead, that thou compare what thou hast transcribed, and

be careful to set it right according to this copy from which thou hast

transcribed; also, that thou in like manner copy down this adjuration,

and insert it in the transcript.

[4797] This fragment is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 20. It occurred at the close of the lost treatise of Irenaeus entitled De Ogdoade.

II.

These [4798] opinions, Florinus, that I may speak in mild terms, are

not of sound doctrine; these opinions are not consonant to the Church,

and involve their votaries in the utmost impiety; these opinions, even

the heretics beyond the Church’s pale have never ventured to broach;

these opinions, those presbyters who preceded us, and who were

conversant with the apostles, did not hand down to thee. For, while I

was yet a boy, I saw thee in Lower Asia with Polycarp, distinguishing

thyself in the royal court, [4799] and endeavouring to gain his

approbation. For I have a more vivid recollection of what occurred at

that time than of recent events (inasmuch as the experiences of

childhood, keeping pace with the growth of the soul, become

incorporated with it); so that I can even describe the place where the

blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse—his going out, too, and

his coming in—his general mode of life and personal appearance,

together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how

he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest

of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to

remembrance. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the

Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp

having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word

of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures. These

things, through, God’s mercy which was upon me, I then listened to

attentively, and treasured them up not on paper, but in my heart; and I

am continually, by God’s grace, revolving these things accurately in my

mind. And I can bear witness before God, that if that blessed and

apostolical presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried

out, and stopped his ears, exclaiming as he was wont to do: “O good

God, for what times hast Thou reserved me, that I should endure these

things?” And he would have fled from the very spot where, sitting or

standing, he had heard such words. This fact, too, can be made clear,

from his Epistles which he despatched, whether to the neighbouring Churches to confirm them, or to certain of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.

[4798] This interesting extract we also owe to Eusebius, who (ut sup.)

took it from the work De Ogdoade, written after this former friend of

Irenaeus had lapsed to Valentinianism. Florinus had previously held

that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenaeus opposed in a

treatise, now lost, called peri monarchias.

[4799] Comp. p. 32, this volume, and Phil. iv. 22.

III.

For [4800] the controversy is not merely as regards the day, but also

as regards the form itself of the fast. [4801] For some consider

themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more,

while others [do so during] forty: the diurnal and the nocturnal hours

they measure out together as their [fasting] day. [4802] And this

variety among the observers [of the fasts] had not its origin in our

time, but long before in that of our predecessors, some of whom

probably, being not very accurate in their observance of it, handed

down to posterity the custom as it had, through simplicity or private

fancy, been [introduced among them]. And yet nevertheless all these

lived in peace one with another, and we also keep peace together. Thus,

in fact, the difference [in observing] the fast establishes the harmony

of [our common] faith. [4803] And the presbyters preceding Soter in the

government of the Church which thou dost now rule—I mean, Anicetus and

Pius, Hyginus and Telesphorus, and Sixtus—did neither themselves

observe it [after that fashion], nor permit those with them [4804] to

do so. Notwithstanding this, those who did not keep [the feast in this

way] were peacefully disposed towards those who came to them from other

dioceses in which it was [so] observed although such observance was

[felt] in more decided contrariety [as presented] to those who did not

fall in with it; and none were ever cast out [of the Church] for this

matter. On the contrary, those presbyters who preceded thee, and who

did not observe [this custom], sent the Eucharist to those of other

dioceses who did observe it. [4805] And when the blessed Polycarp was

sojourning in Rome in the time of Anicetus, although a slight

controversy had arisen among them as to certain other points, they were

at once well inclined towards each other [with regard to the matter in

hand], not willing that any quarrel should arise between them upon this

head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the

observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always

[so] observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles

with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could

Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetus to keep [the observance in his

way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the

presbyters who preceded him. And in this state of affairs they held

fellowship with each other; and Anicetus conceded to Polycarp in the

Church the celebration of the Eucharist, by way of showing him respect;

so that they parted in peace one from the other, maintaining peace with

the whole Church, both those who did observe [this custom] and those who did not. [4806]

[4800] See pp. 31 and 312, of this volume. We are indebted again to

Eusebius for this valuable fragment from the Epistle of Irenaeus to

Victor Bishop of Rome (Hist. Eccl., v. 24; copied also by Nicephorus,

iv. 39). It appears to have been a synodical epistle to the head of the

Roman Church, the historian saying that it was written by Irenaeus, “in

the name of (ek prosopou) those brethren over whom he ruled throughout

Gaul.” Neither are these expressions to be limited to the Church at

Lyons, for the same authority records (v. 23) that it was the testimony

“of the dioceses throughout Gaul, which Irenaeus superintended” (Harvey).

[4801] According to Harvey, the early paschal controversy resolved

itself into two particulars: (a) as regards the precise day on which

our Lord’s resurrection should be celebrated; (b) as regards the custom

of the fast preceding it.

[4802] Both reading and punctuation are here subjects of controversy.

We have followed Massuet and Harvey.

[4803] “The observance of a day, though not everywhere the same, showed

unity, so far as faith in the Lord’s resurrection was concerned.”—Harvey.

[4804] Following the reading of Rufinus, the ordinary text has met’ autous, i.e., after them.

[4805] This practice was afterwards forbidden by the Council of Laodicea [held about a.d. 360].

[4806] It was perhaps in reference to this pleasing episode in the

annals of the Church, that the Council of Arles, a.d. 314, decreed that

the holy Eucharist should be consecrated by any foreign bishop present

at its celebration.

IV.

As [4807] 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. [4808]

[4807] Quoted by Maximus Bishop of Turin, a.d. 422, Serm. vii. de

Eleemos., as from the Epistle to Pope Victor. It is also found in some

other ancient writers.

[4808] One of the mss. reads here tou Theou, of God.

V.

The [4809] 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 (logos) 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.

[4809] Also quoted by Maximus Turinensis, Op. ii. 152, who refers it to

Irenaeus’s Sermo de Fide, which work, not being referred to by Eusebius

or Jerome, causes Massuet to doubt the authenticity of the fragment.

Harvey, however, accepts it.

VI.

Since [4810] God is vast, and the Architect of the world, and

omnipotent, He created things that reach to immensity both by the

Architect of the world and by an omnipotent will, and with a new

effect, potently and efficaciously, in order that the entire fulness of

those things which have been produced might come into being, although

they had no previous existence—that is, whatever does not fall under

[our] observation, and also what lies before our eyes. And so does He

contain all things in particular, and leads them on to their own proper

result, on account of which they were called into being and produced,

in no way changed into anything else than what it (the end) had

originally been by nature. For this is the property of the working of

God, not merely to proceed to the infinitude of the understanding, or

even to overpass [our] powers of mind, reason and speech, time and

place, and every age; but also to go beyond substance, and fulness or

perfection.

[4810] We owe this fragment also to Maximus, who quoted it from the

same work, de Fide, written by Irenaeus to Demetrius, a deacon of

Vienne. This and the last fragment were first printed by Feuardentius,

who obtained them from Faber; no reference, however, being given as to

the source from whence the Latin version was derived. The Greek of the

Fragment vi. is not extant.

VII.

This [4811] [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

Irenaeus, 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.

[4811] Taken from a work (Quaes. et Resp. ad Othod.) ascribed to Justin

Martyr, but certainly written after the Nicene Council. It is evident

that this is not an exact quotation from Irenaeus, but a summary of his

words. The “Sunday” here referred to must be Easter Sunday. Massuet’s

emendation of the text has been adopted, ep’ autou for ep’ auton.

VIII.

For [4812] as the ark [of the covenant] was gilded within and without

with pure gold, so was also the body of Christ pure and resplendent; for it was adorned within by the Word, and shielded without by the Spirit, in order that from both [materials] the splendour of the natures might be clearly shown forth.

[4812] Cited by Leontius of Byzantium, who flourished about the year

a.d. 600; but he does not mention the writing of Irenaeus from which it

is extracted. Massuet conjectures that it is from the De Ogdoade, addressed to the apostate Florinus.

IX.

Ever, [4813] indeed, speaking well of the deserving, but never ill of

the undeserving, we also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of God.

[4813] This fragment and the next three are from the Parallela of John

of Damascus. Frag. ix. x. xii. seem to be quotations from the treatise

of Irenaeus on the resurrection. No. xi. is extracted from his

Miscellaneous Dissertations, a work mentioned by Eusebius, biblion ti

dialexeon diaphoron.

X.

It is indeed proper to God, and befitting His character, to show mercy

and pity, and to bring salvation to His creatures, even though they be

brought under danger of destruction. “For with Him,” says the Scripture, “is propitiation.” [4814]

[4814] Ps. cxxx. 7.

XI.

The business of the Christian is nothing else than to be ever preparing

for death (melepan apothneskein).

XII.

We therefore have formed the belief that [our] bodies also do rise

again. For although they go to corruption, yet they do not perish; for

the earth, receiving the remains, preserves them, even like fertile

seed mixed with more fertile ground. Again, as a bare grain is sown,

and, germinating by the command of God its Creator, rises again,

clothed upon and glorious, but not before it has died and suffered

decomposition, and become mingled with the earth; so [it is seen from

this, that] we have not entertained a vain belief in the resurrection

of the body. But although it is dissolved at the appointed time,

because of the primeval disobedience, it is placed, as it were, in the

crucible of the earth, to be recast again; not then as this corruptible

[body], but pure, and no longer subject to decay: so that to each body

its own soul shall be restored; and when it is clothed upon with this,

it shall not experience sorrow, but shall rejoice, continuing

permanently in a state of purity, having for its companion a just

consort, not an insidious one, possessing in every respect the things

pertaining to it, it shall receive these with perfect accuracy; [4815]

it shall not receive bodies diverse from what they had been, nor

delivered from suffering or disease, nor as [rendered] glorious, but as

they departed this life, in sins or in righteous actions: and such as

they were, such shall they be clothed with upon resuming life; and such

as they were in unbelief, such shall they be faithfully judged.

[4815] This sentence in the original seems incomplete; we have followed

the conjectural restoration of Harvey.

XIII.

For [4816] when the Greeks, having arrested the slaves of Christian

catechumens, then used force against them, in order to learn from them

some secret thing [practised] among Christians, these slaves, having

nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except

that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was

the body and blood of Christ, and imagining that it was actually flesh

and blood, gave their inquisitors answer to that effect. Then these

latter, assuming such to be the case with regard to the practices of

Christians, gave information regarding it to other Greeks, and sought

to compel the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina to confess, under the

influence of torture, [that the allegation was correct]. To these men

Blandina replied very admirably in these words: “How should those persons endure such [accusations], who, for the sake of the practice [of piety], did not avail themselves even of the flesh that was permitted [them to eat]?”

[4816] “This extract is found in OEcumenius upon 1 Pet. c. iii. p. 198;

and the words used by him indicate, as Grabe has justly observed, that

he only condensed a longer passage.”—Harvey.

XIV.

How [4817] 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.” [4818] 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,” [4819] 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 [4820] [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.

[4817] From the Contemplations of Anastasius Sinaita, who flourished

a.d. 685. Harvey doubts as to this fragment being a genuine production

of Irenaeus; and its whole style of reasoning confirms the suspicion.

[4818] Matt. xv. 17.

[4819] Gen. iii. 19.

[4820] The Greek reads the barbarous word athrixia, which Massuet

thinks is a corruption of athanasia, immortality. We have, however,

followed the conjecture of Harvey, who would substitute aplexia, which

seems to agree better with the context.

XV.

When, [4821] in times of old, Balaam spake these things in parables, he

was not acknowledged; and now, when Christ has appeared and fulfilled

them, He was not believed. Wherefore [Balaam], foreseeing this, and

wondering at it, exclaimed, “Alas! alas! who shall live when God brings

these things to pass?” [4822]

[4821] This and the eight following fragments may be referred to the

Miscellaneous Dissertations of our author; see note on Frag. ix. They

are found in three mss. in the Imperial Collection at Paris, on the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

[4822] Num. xxiv. 23.

XVI.

Expounding again the law to that generation which followed those who

were slain in the wilderness, he published Deuteronomy; not as giving

to them a different law from that which had been appointed for their

fathers, but as recapitulating this latter, in order that they, by

hearing what had happened to their fathers, might fear God with their

whole heart.

XVII.

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;”

[4823] and through Benjamin [that is, Paul] He was glorified, by being

preached throughout all the world. [4824]

[4823] Isa. ix. 1.

[4824] Compare the statement of Clemens Romanus (page 6 of this

volume), where, speaking of St. Paul, he says: “After preaching both in

the east and west ... having taught righteousness to the whole world,

and come to the extreme limit of the west.”

XVIII.

And this was not without meaning; but that by means of the number of

the ten men, [4825] he (Gideon) might appear as having Jesus for a

helper, as [is indicated] by the compact entered into with them. And

when he did not choose to partake with them in their idol-worship, they

threw the blame upon him: for “Jerubbaal” signifies the judgment-seat

of Baal.

[4825] See Judg. vi. 27. It is not very clear how Irenaeus makes out

this allegory, but it is thought that he refers to the initial letter

in the name ‘Iesous, which stands for ten in the Greek enumeration.

Compare the Epistle of Barnabas, cap. ix. p. 143, of this volume.

XIX.

“Take unto thee Joshua (‘Iesoun) the son of Nun.” [4826] For it was

proper that Moses should lead the people out of Egypt, but that Jesus

(Joshua) should lead them into the inheritance. Also that Moses, as was

the case with the law, should cease to be, but that Joshua (‘Iesoun),

as the word, and no untrue type of the Word made flesh (enupostatou),

should be a preacher to the people. Then again, [it was fit] that Moses

should give manna as food to the fathers, but Joshua wheat; [4827] as

the first-fruits of life, a type of the body of Christ, as also the Scripture declares that the manna of the Lord ceased when the people had eaten wheat from the land. [4828]

[4826] Num. xxvii. 18.

[4827] Harvey conceives the reading here (which is doubtful) to have

been ton neon siton, the new wheat; and sees an allusion to the

wave-sheaf of the new corn offered in the temple on the morning of our

Lord’s resurrection.

[4828] Josh. v. 12.

XX.

“And [4829] he laid his hands upon him.” [4830] The countenance of

Joshua was also glorified by the imposition of the hands of Moses, but

not to the same degree [as that of Moses]. Inasmuch, then, as he had obtained a certain degree of grace, [the Lord] said, “And thou shall confer upon him of thy glory.” [4831] For [in this case] the thing given does not cease to belong to the giver.

[4829] Massuet seems to more than doubt the genuineness of this fragment and the next, and would ascribe them to the pen of Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, a contemporary of Irenaeus. Harvey passes over these two fragments.

[4830] Num. xxvii. 23.

[4831] Num. xxvii. 20.

XXI.

But he does not give, as Christ did, by means of breathing, because he

is not the fount of the Spirit.

XXII.

“Thou shall not go with them, neither shalt thou curse the people.”

[4832] He does not hint at anything with regard to the people, for they

all lay before his view, but [he refers] to the mystery of Christ

pointed out beforehand. For as He was to be born of the fathers

according to the flesh, the Spirit gives instructions to the man

(Balaam) beforehand, lest, going forth in ignorance, he might pronounce

a curse upon the people. [4833] Not, indeed, that [his curse] could

take any effect contrary to the will of God; but [this was done] as an

exhibition of the providence of God which He exercised towards them on

account of their forefathers.

[4832] Num. xxii. 12.

[4833] The conjectural emendation of Harvey has been adopted here, but

the text is very corrupt and uncertain.

XXIII.

“And he mounted upon his ass.” [4834] The ass was the type of the body

of Christ, upon whom all men, resting from their labours, are borne as

in a chariot. For the Saviour has taken up the burden of our sins.

[4835] Now the angel who appeared to Balaam was the Word Himself; and

in His hand He held a sword, to indicate the power which He had from above.

[4834] Num. xxii. 22, 23.

[4835] From one of the mss. Stieren would insert en to idio somati, in

His own body; see 1 Pet. ii. 24.

XXIV.

“God is not as a man.” [4836] He thus shows that all men are indeed

guilty of falsehood, inasmuch as they change from one thing to another

(metapheromenoi); but such is not the case with God, for He always continues true, perfecting whatever He wishes.

[4836] Num. xxiii. 19.

XXV.

“To inflict vengeance from the Lord on Midian.” [4837] For this man

(Balaam), when he speaks no longer in the Spirit of God, but contrary

to God’s law, by setting up a different law with regard to fornication,

[4838] is certainly not then to be counted as a prophet, but as a

soothsayer. For he who did not keep to the commandment of God, received

the just recompense of his own evil devices. [4839]

[4837] Num. xxxi. 3.

[4838] Num. xxxi. 16.

[4839] Num. xxxi. 8.

XXVI.

Know [4840] 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,” [4841] such an one is not empty, but full.

[4840] It is not certain from what work of Irenaeus this extract is derived; Harvey thinks it to be from his work peri epistemes, i.e., concerning Knowledge.

[4841] Lev. xxvi. 12.

XXVII.

The little boy, therefore, who guided Samson by the hand, [4842]

pre-typified John the Baptist, who showed to the people the faith in

Christ. And the house in which they were assembled signifies the world,

in which dwell the various heathen and unbelieving nations, offering

sacrifice to their idols. Moreover, the two pillars are the two

covenants. The fact, then, of Samson leaning himself upon the pillars,

[indicates] this, that the people, when instructed, recognized the mystery of Christ.

[4842] Judg. xvi. 26.

XXVIII.

“And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the

place. And he cut down a tree, and cast it in there, and the iron

floated.” [4843] This was a sign that souls should be borne aloft

(anagoges psuchon) through the instrumentality of wood, upon which He

suffered who can lead those souls aloft that follow His ascension. This

event was also an indication of the fact, that when the holy soul of

Christ descended [to Hades], many souls ascended and were seen in their

bodies. [4844] For just as the wood, which is the lighter body, was submerged in the water; but the iron, the heavier one, floated: so, when the Word of God became one with flesh, by a physical and hypostatic union, the heavy and terrestrial [part], having been rendered immortal, was borne up into heaven, by the divine nature, after the resurrection.

[4843] 2 Kings vi. 6. Comp. book v. chap. xvii. 4.

[4844] Matt. xxvii. 52.

XXIX.

The [4845] 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.

[4845] Edited by P. Possin, in a Catena Patrum on St. Matthew. See book

iii. chap. xi. 8.

XXX. [4846]

“The axe unto the root,” [4847] he says, urging us to the knowledge of

the truth, and purifying us by means of fear, as well as preparing [us]

to bring forth fruit in due season.

[4846] From the same Catena. Compare book v. chap. xvii. 4.

[4847] Matt. iii. 10.

XXXI.

Observe [4848] that, by means of the grain of mustard seed in the

parable, the heavenly doctrine is denoted which is sown like seed in

the world, as in a field, [seed] which has an inherent force, fiery and

powerful. For the Judge of the whole world is thus proclaimed, who,

having been hidden in the heart of the earth in a tomb for three days,

and having become a great tree, has stretched forth His branches to the

ends of the earth. Sprouting out from Him, the twelve apostles, having

become fair and fruitful boughs, were made a shelter for the nations as

for the fowls of heaven, under which boughs, all having taken refuge,

as birds flocking to a nest, have been made partakers of that wholesome

and celestial food which is derived from them.

[4848] First edited in Latin by Corderius, afterwards in Greek by Grabe, and also by Dr. Cramer in his Catena on St. Luke.

XXXII. [4849]

Josephus says, that when Moses had been brought up in the royal

palaces, he was chosen as general against the Ethiopians; and having

proved victorious, obtained in marriage the daughter of that king,

since indeed, out of her affection for him, she delivered the city up

to him. [4850]

Why was it, that when these two (Aaron and Miriam) had both acted with

despite towards him (Moses), the latter alone was adjudged punishment?

[4851] First, because the woman was the more culpable, since both

nature and the law place the woman in a subordinate condition to the

man. Or perhaps it was that Aaron was to a certain degree excusable, in

consideration of his being the elder [brother], and adorned with the

dignity of high priest. Then again, inasmuch as the leper was accounted

by the law unclean, while at the same time the origin and foundation of

the priesthood lay in Aaron, [the Lord] did not award a similar

punishment to him, lest this stigma should attach itself to the entire

[sacerdotal] race; but by means of his sister’s [example] He awoke his

fears, and taught him the same lesson. For Miriam’s punishment affected

him to such an extent, that no sooner did she experience it, than he

entreated [Moses], who had been injured, that he would by his

intercession do away with the affliction. And he did not neglect to do

so, but at once poured forth his supplication. Upon this the Lord, who

loves mankind, made him understand how He had not chastened her as a judge, but as a father; for He said, “If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed? Let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her come in again.” [4852]

[4849] Massuet’s Fragment xxxii. is here passed over; it is found in book iii. chap. xviii. 7.

[4850] See Josephus’ Antiquities, book ii. chap. x., where we read that

this king’s daughter was called Tharbis. Immediately upon the surrender

of this city (Saba, afterwards called Meroe) Moses married her, and

returned to Egypt. Whiston, in the notes to his translation of

Josephus, says, “Nor, perhaps, did St. Stephen refer to anything else

when he said of Moses, before he was sent by God to the Israelites, that he was not only learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but was also mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts vii. 22).

[4851] Num. xii. 1, etc.

[4852] Num. xii. 14.

XXXIII.

Inasmuch [4853] 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].

[4853] Harvey considers this fragment to be a part of the work of Irenaeus referred to by Photius under the title De Universo, or de Substantia Mundi. It is to be found in Codex 3011 of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

XXXIV.

“And [4854] dipped himself,” says [the Scripture], “seven times in

Jordan.” [4855] It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when

suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [it

served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are

made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the

Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as

new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: “Except a man be born

again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom

of heaven.” [4856]

[4854] This and the next fragment first appeared in the Benedictine

edition reprinted at Venice, 1734. They were taken from a ms. Catena on

the book of Kings in the Coislin Collection.

[4855] 2 Kings v. 14.

[4856] John iii. 5.

XXXV.

If the corpse of Elisha raised a dead man, [4857] how much more shall

God, when He has quickened men’s dead bodies, bring them up for judgment?

[4857] 2 Kings xiii. 21.

XXXVI.

True [4858] 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,” [4859] the doctrine of the cross; of which

if any man “taste,” [4860] he will not accede to the disputations and

quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, [4861] who go into matters of

which they have no perception. [4862] For the truth is unsophisticated

(aschematistos); and “the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy

heart,” [4863] 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.” [4864] For this is the affinity [4865]

of the apostolical teaching and the most holy “faith delivered unto

us,” [4866] which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge

have taught, not “giving heed to endless genealogies,” [4867] 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.

[4858] This extract and the next three were discovered in the year 1715

by [Christopher Matthew] Pfaff, a learned Lutheran, in the Royal

Library at Turin. The mss. from which they were taken were neither

catalogued nor classified, and have now disappeared from the

collection. It is impossible to say with any degree of probability from

what treatises of our author these four fragments have been culled. For

a full account of their history, see Stieren’s edition of Irenaeus,

vol. ii. p. 381. [But, in all candor, let Pfaff himself be heard. His

little work is full of learning, and I have long possessed it as a treasure to which I often recur. Pfaff’s Irenaei Fragmenta was published at The Hague, 1715.]

[4859] 1 Cor. ii. 14.

[4860] 1 Pet. ii. 3.

[4861] 1 Tim. vi. 4, 5.

[4862] Col. ii. 18.

[4863] Rom. x. 8; Deut. xxx. 14.

[4864] Phil. iii. 10.

[4865] Harvey’s conjectural emendation, epiploke for epiloge, has been

adopted here.

[4866] Jude 3.

[4867] 1 Tim. i. 4.

XXXVII.

Those who have become acquainted with the secondary (i.e., under

Christ) constitutions of the apostles, [4868] 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;”

[4869] as John also declares in the Apocalypse: “The incense is the

prayers of the saints.” [4870] Then again, Paul exhorts us “to present

our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your

reasonable service.” [4871] And again, “Let us offer the sacrifice of

praise, that is, the fruit of the lips.” [4872] Now those oblations are

not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away

from the midst by cancelling it; [4873] but they are according to the

Spirit, for we must worship God “in spirit and in truth.” [4874] 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 [4875] 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.

[4868] tais deuterais ton apostolon diataxesi. Harvey thinks that these

words imply, “the formal constitution, which the apostles, acting under

the impulse of the Spirit, though still in a secondary capacity, gave

to the Church.”

[4869] Mal. i. 11.

[4870] Rev. v. 8. The same view of the eucharistic oblation, etc., is

found in book iv. chap. xvii.: as also in Justin Martyr; see Trypho, cap. xli. supra in this volume.

[4871] Rom. xii. 1.

[4872] Heb. xiii. 15.

[4873] Col. ii. 14.

[4874] John iv. 24.

[4875] Harvey explains this word antitupon as meaning an “exact

counterpart.” He refers to the word where it occurs in Contra Haereses,

lib. i. chap. xxiv. (p. 349, this vol.) as confirmatory of his view.

XXXVIII.

The [4876] 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.” [4877] 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. [4878]

[4876] Taken apparently from the Epistle to Blastus, de Schismate.

Compare a similar passage, lib. iv. chap. xxxiii. 7.

[4877] Col. ii. 16.

[4878] Isa. i. 14.

XXXIX.

Christ, [4879] 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.

[4879] “From the same collection at Turin. The passage seems to be of

cognate matter with the treatise De Resurrec. Pfaff referred it either

to the dialexeis diaphoroi or to the epideixis apostolikou kerugmatos.”

• Harvey.

XL.

“And [4880] he found the jaw-bone of an ass.” [4881] It is to be

observed that, after [Samson had committed] fornication, the holy

Scripture no longer speaks of the things happily accomplished by him in

connection with the formula, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.”

[4882] For thus, according to the holy apostle, the sin of fornication

is perpetrated against the body, as involving also sin against the temple of God. [4883]

[4880] This and the four following fragments are taken from mss. in the

Vatican Library at Rome. They are apparently quoted from the homiletical expositions of the historical books already referred to.

[4881] Judg. xv. 15.

[4882] Judg. xiv. 6-19.

[4883] 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.

XLI.

This [4884] indicates the persecution against the Church set on foot by

the nations who still continue in unbelief. But he (Samson) who suffered those things, trusted that there would be a retaliation against those waging this war. But retaliation through what means?

First of all, by his betaking himself to the Rock [4885] not cognizable

to the senses; [4886] secondly, by the finding of the jaw-bone of an ass. Now the type of the jaw-bone is the body of Christ.

[4884] These words were evidently written during a season of persecution in Gaul; but what that persecution was, it is useless to conjecture.

[4885] Judg. xv. 11.

[4886] That is, when he fled to the rock Etam, he typified the true believer taking refuge in the spiritual Rock, Christ.

XLII.

Speaking always well of the worthy, but never ill of the unworthy, we

also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of God.

XLIII.

In [4887] 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.

[4887] Most probably from a homily upon the third and fourth chapters

of Ezekiel. It is found repeated in Stieren’s and Migne’s edition as Fragment xlviii. extracted from a Catena on the Book of Judges.

XLIV.

It [4888] is not an easy thing for a soul, under the influence of error, to be persuaded of the contrary opinion.

[4888] We give this brief fragment as it appears in the editions of

Stieren, Migne, and Harvey, who speculate as to its origin. They seem

to have overlooked the fact that it is the Greek original of the old Latin, non facile est ab errore apprehensam resipiscere animam,--a sentence found towards the end of book iii. chap. ii.

XLV.

“And [4889] Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.” [4890]

For, speaking no longer by the Spirit of God, but setting up another

law of fornication contrary to the law of God, [4891] this man shall no

longer be reckoned as a prophet, but as a soothsayer. For, as he did

not continue in the commandment of God, he received the just reward of

his evil devices.

[4889] With the exception of the initial text, this fragment is almost

identical with No. xxv.

[4890] Num. xxxi. 8.

[4891] Rev. ii. 14.

XLVI.

“The [4892] god of the world;” [4893] that is, Satan, who was designated God to those who believe not.

[4892] From the Catena on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians, edited by Dr. Cramer, and reprinted by Stieren.

[4893] 2 Cor. iv. 4.

XLVII.

The [4894] birth of John [the Baptist] brought the dumbness of

Zacharias to an end. For he did not burden his father, when the voice

issued forth from silence; but as when not believed it rendered him

tongue-tied, so did the voice sounding out clearly set his father free,

to whom he had both been announced and born. Now the voice and the burning light [4895] were a precursor of the Word and the Light.

[4894] Extracted from a ms. of Greek theology in the Palatine Library

at Vienna. The succeeding fragment in the editions of Harvey, Migne,

and Stieren, is omitted, as it is merely a transcript of book iii. ch.

x. 4.

[4895] John v. 35.

XLVIII.

As [4896] therefore seventy tongues are indicated by number, and from

[4897] dispersion the tongues are gathered into one by means of their

interpretation; so is that ark declared a type of the body of Christ,

which is both pure and immaculate. For [4898] as that ark was gilded

with pure gold both within and without, so also is the body of Christ

pure and resplendent, being adorned within by the Word, and shielded on

the outside by the Spirit, in order that from both [materials] the splendour of the natures might be exhibited together.

[4896] This fragment commences a series derived from the Nitrian Collection of Syriac mss. in the British Museum.

[4897] The Syriac text is here corrupt and obscure.

[4898] See. No. viii., which is the same as the remainder of this fragment.

XLIX.

Now [4899] therefore, by means of this which has been already brought

forth a long time since, the Word has assigned an interpretation. We

are convinced that there exist [so to speak] two men in each one of us.

The one is confessedly a hidden thing, while the other stands apparent;

one is corporeal, the other spiritual; although the generation of both

may be compared to that of twins. For both are revealed to the world as

but one, for the soul was not anterior to the body in its essence; nor,

in regard to its formation, did the body precede the soul: but both these were produced at one time; and their nourishment consists in purity and sweetness.

[4899] The Syriac ms. introduces this quotation as follows: “From the

holy Irenaeus Bp. of Lyons, from the first section of his interpretation of the Song of Songs.”

L.

For [4900] 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.

[4900] This extract is introduced as follows: “For Irenaeus Bishop of

Lyons, who was a contemporary of the disciple of the apostle, Polycarp

Bishop of Smyrna, and martyr, and for this reason is held in just

estimation, wrote to an Alexandrian to the effect that it is right,

with respect to the feast of the Resurrection, that we should celebrate

it upon the first day of the week.” This shows us that the extract must

have been taken from the work Against Schism addressed to Blastus.

LI.

Now, [4901] however, inasmuch as the books of these men may possibly

have escaped your observation, but have come under our notice, I call

your attention to them, that for the sake of your reputation you may

expel these writings from among you, as bringing disgrace upon you,

since their author boasts himself as being one of your company. For

they constitute a stumbling-block to many, who simply and unreservedly

receive, as coming from a presbyter, the blasphemy which they utter

against God. Just [consider] the writer of these things, how by means

of them he does not injure assistants [in divine service] only, who

happen to be prepared in mind for blasphemies against God, but also

damages those among us, since by his books he imbues their minds with

false doctrines concerning God.

[4901] From the same ms. as the preceding fragment. It is thus introduced: “And Irenaeus Bp. of Lyons, to Victor Bp. of Rome, concerning Florinus, a presbyter, who was a partisan of the error of Valentinus, and published an abominable book, thus wrote.”

LII.

The [4902] 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” [4903] Himself: thus does Jesus now

give to His believing people power to drink spiritual waters, which

spring up to life eternal. [4904] 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. [4905] 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. [4906] 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, [4907] and entered without impediment

through closed doors. [4908] 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;” [4909]

who “descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and who “ascended up

above the heavens;” [4910] for whom a manger sufficed, yet who filled

all things; who was dead, yet who liveth for ever and ever. Amen.

[4902] This extract had already been printed by M. Pitra in his Spicilegium Solesmense, p. 6.

[4903] 1 Cor. x. 4.

[4904] John iv. 14.

[4905] John viii. 58.

[4906] John xx. 22.

[4907] John viii. 59.

[4908] John xx. 26.

[4909] 2 Cor. xiii. 4.

[4910] Eph. iv. 9, 10.

LIII.

With [4911] 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.

[4911] This extract from the Syriac is a shorter form of the next

fragment, which seems to be interpolated in some places. The latter is

from an Armenian ms. in the Mechitarist Library at Venice.

LIV.

The [4912] law and the prophets and evangelists have declared that

Christ was born of a virgin, and suffered on the cross; was raised also

from the dead, and taken up to heaven; that He was glorified, and

reigns for ever. He is Himself termed the Perfect Intellect, the Word

of God. He is the First-begotten, [4913] after a transcendent manner,

the Creator of man; All in all; Patriarch among the patriarchs; Law in

the law; the Priest among priests; among kings Prime Leader; the

Prophet among the prophets; the Angel among angels; the Man among men;

Son in the Father; God in God; King to all eternity. 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.

[4912] This fragment is thus introduced in the Armenian copy: “From St.Irenaeus, bishop, follower of the apostles, on the Lord’s resurrection.”

[4913] The Armenian text is confused here; we have adopted the conjectural emendation of Quatremere.

LV.

“Then [4914] drew near unto Him the mother of Zebedee’s children, with

her sons, worshipping, and seeking a certain thing from Him.” [4915]

These people are certainly not void of understanding, nor are the words

set forth in that passage of no signification: being stated beforehand

like a preface, they have some agreement with those points formerly expounded.

“Then drew near.” Sometimes virtue excites our admiration, not merely

on account of the display which is given of it, but also of the

occasion when it was manifested. I may refer, for example, to the

premature fruit of the grape, or of the fig, or to any fruit

whatsoever, from which, during its process [of growth], no man expects

maturity or full development; yet, although any one may perceive that

it is still somewhat imperfect, he does not for that reason despise as

useless the immature grape when plucked, but he gathers it with

pleasure as appearing early in the season; nor does he consider whether

the grape is possessed of perfect sweetness; nay, he at once

experiences satisfaction from the thought that this one has appeared

before the rest. Just in the same way does God also, when He perceives

the faithful possessing wisdom though still imperfect, and but a small

degree of faith, overlook their defect in this respect, and therefore

does not reject them; nay, but on the contrary, He kindly welcomes and

accepts them as premature fruits, and honours the mind, whatsoever it

may be, which is stamped with virtue, although not yet perfect. He

makes allowance for it, as being among the harbingers of the vintage,

[4916] and esteems it highly, inasmuch as, being of a readier

disposition than the rest, it has forestalled, as it were, the blessing

to itself.

Abraham therefore, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, are to be esteemed

before all, since they did indeed afford us such early examples of

virtue. How many martyrs can be compared to Daniel? How many martyrs, I

ask, can rival the three youths in Babylon, although the memory of the

former has not been brought before us so conspicuously as that of the

latter? These were truly first-fruits, and indications of the [succeeding] fructification. Hence God has directed their life to be recorded, as a model for those who should come after.

And that their virtue was thus accepted by God, as the first-fruits of

the produce, hear what He has Himself declared: “As a grape,” He says,

“I have found Israel in the wilderness, and as first-ripe figs your

fathers.” [4917] Call not therefore the faith of Abraham merely blessed

because he believed. Do you wish to look upon Abraham with admiration?

Then behold how that one man alone professed piety when in the world

six hundred had been contaminated with error. Dost thou wish Daniel to

carry thee away to amazement? Behold that [city] Babylon, haughty in

the flower and pride of impiousness, and its inhabitants completely

given over to sin of every description. But he, emerging from the

depth, spat out the brine of sins, and rejoiced to plunge into the

sweet waters of piety. And now, in like manner, with regard to that

mother of Zebedee’s children, do not admire merely what she said, but

also the time at which she uttered these words. For when was it that

she drew near to the Redeemer? Not after the resurrection, nor after

the preaching of His name, nor after the establishment of His kingdom;

but it was when the Lord said, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the

Son of man shall be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and

they shall kill Him, and on the third day He shall rise again.” [4918]

These things the Saviour told in reference to His sufferings and cross;

to these persons He predicted His passion. Nor did He conceal the fact

that it should be of a most ignominious kind, at the hands of the chief

priests. This woman, however, had attached another meaning to the

dispensation of His sufferings. The Saviour was foretelling death; and

she asked for the glory of immortality. The Lord was asserting that He

must stand arraigned before impious judges; but she, taking no note of

that judgment, requested as of the judge: “Grant,” she said, “that

these my two sons may sit, one on the right hand, and the other on the

left, in Thy glory.” In the one case the passion is referred to, in the

other the kingdom is understood. The Saviour was speaking of the cross,

while she had in view the glory which admits no suffering. This woman,

therefore, as I have already said, is worthy of our admiration, not

merely for what she sought, but also for the occasion of her making the

request.

She did indeed suffer, not merely as a pious person, but also as a

woman. For, having been instructed by His words, she considered and

believed that it would come to pass, that the kingdom of Christ should

flourish in glory, and walk in its vastness throughout the world, and

be increased by the preaching of piety. She understood, as was [in

fact] the case, that He who appeared in a lowly guise had delivered and

received every promise. I will inquire upon another occasion, when I

come to treat upon this humility, whether the Lord rejected her

petition concerning His kingdom. But she thought that the same

confidence would not be possessed by her, when, at the appearance of

the angels, He should be ministered to by the angels, and receive

service from the entire heavenly host. Taking the Saviour, therefore,

apart in a retired place, she earnestly desired of Him those things which transcend every human nature.

[4914] From an Armenian ms. in the Library of the Mechitarist Convent

at Vienna, edited by M. Pitra, who considers this fragment as of very

doubtful authority. It commences with this heading: “From the second series of Homilies of Saint Irenaeus, follower of the Apostles; a Homily upon the Sons of Zebedee.”

[4915] Matt. xx. 20.

[4916] That is, the wine which flows from the grapes before they are trodden out.

[4917] Hos. ix. 10.

[4918] Matt. xx. 18, 19.