 Chapter 13-15 of Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ann Boulet. Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambeau. Chapter 13. Refutation of the opinion that Paul was the only apostle who had knowledge of the truth. 1. With regard to those, the Marchaeanites, who alleged that Paul alone knew the truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by revelation, let Paul himself convict them when he says, that one and the same God wrought in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision and in himself for the Gentiles. 2. Peter therefore was an apostle of that very God, who was also Paul, and him whom Peter preached as God among those of the circumcision, and likewise the Son of God. Did Paul declare also among the Gentiles? 3. For our Lord never came to save Paul alone, nor is God so limited in means that he should have but one apostle who knew the dispensation of his Son. And again, when Paul says, how beautiful are the feet of those bringing glad tidings of good things and preaching the gospel of peace. He shows clearly that it was not merely one, but there were many who used to preach the truth. And again, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when he had recounted all those who had seen God after the resurrection, he says in continuation, but whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. According to one and the same, the preaching of all those who saw God after the resurrection from the dead. 2. And again, the Lord replied to Philip, who wished to behold the Father, have I been so long a time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that sees me sees also the Father, and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? For I am in the Father and the Father in me, and henceforth ye know him and have seen him. To these men, therefore, did the Lord bear witness that in himself they had both known and seen the Father, and the Father is truth. To allege, then, that these men did not know the truth is to act the part of false witnesses and of those who had been alienated from the doctrine of Christ. For why did the Lord send the twelve apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, if these men did not know the truth? How also did the seventy preach, unless they had themselves previously known the truth of what was to be preached? Or how could Peter have been in ignorance to whom the Lord gave testimony that flesh and blood had not revealed to him, but the Father who is in heaven? Just then, as Paul was an apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, so with the rest, the Son indeed leading them to the Father, but the Father revealing to them the Son. 3. But that Paul is seated to the request of those who summoned him to the apostles on account of the question which had been raised, and went up to them, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, not without reason, but that the liberty of the Gentiles might be confirmed by them. He does himself say in the Epistle to the Galatians, Then, fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also Titus, but I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, and again he says, for an hour did we give place to subjection that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. If then anyone shall, from the acts of the apostles, carefully scrutinize the time concerning which it is written, that he went up to Jerusalem on account of the aforementioned question, he will find those years mentioned by Paul coinciding with it. Thus the statement of Paul harmonizes with, and is, as it were, identical with, the testimony of Luke regarding the apostles. Chapter 14 If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his constant companion and fellow traveler, could not have been ignorant of them. Neither could the truth have possibly lain hid from him, for alone we learn many and most important particulars of the gospel history. 1. But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul and his fellow laborer in the gospel. He himself clearly evences, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself, for he says that when Barnabas and John, who was called Mark, had parted company from Paul and sailed to Cyprus, we came to trow us. God beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, Come into Macedonia, Paul, and help us. Immediately, he says, we endeavored to go into Macedonia, understanding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore sailing from trow us, we directed our ship's course towards Samothracia, and then he carefully indicates all the rest of their journey as far as Philippi, 4. Sitting down, he says, we spake unto the women who had assembled, and certain believed, even a great many, and again does he say, but we sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to trow us, where we abode seven days. And all the remaining details of his course with Paul he recounts, indicating with all diligence both places and cities and number of days, until they went up to Jerusalem and what befell Paul there, how he was sent to Rome in bonds, the name of the centurion who took charge of him, and the signs of the ships, and how they made shipwreck, and the island upon which they escaped, and how they received kindness there, Paul healing the chief man of that island, and how they sailed from thence to Putioli, and from that arrived at Rome, and for what period they sojourned at Rome. As Luke was present at all these occurrences, he carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be convicted of falsehood or boastfulness, because all these particulars proved both that he was senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and that he was not ignorant of the truth, that he was not merely a follower, but also a fellow laborer of the apostles, but especially of Paul. Paul has himself declared also in the epistles saying, Dimas hath forsaken me, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Crescans to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. From this he shows that he was always attached to and insurmountable from him, and again he says, in the epistle to the Colossians, Luke the beloved physician greets you. But surely if Luke, who always preached in company with Paul, and is called by him the beloved, and with him performed the work of the evangelist, and was entrusted to hand down to us a gospel, learn nothing different from him, Paul, as has been pointed out from his words, how can these men, who were never attached to Paul, boast that they have learned hidden and unspeakable mysteries? Two. But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew, not only to those who were employed with him, but to those that heard him, and who did not. And the other men were sent to visit, and to be served as their guests. For when the bishops and presbyters who came from Ephesus, and the other cities adjoining, had assembled in Meletus, since he was himself hastening to Jerusalem to observe Pentecost, after testifying many things to them, and declaring what must happen to him at Jerusalem, he added, I know that ye shall see my face no more. Therefore I take you to record this day to you all the counsel of God, take heed therefore both to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has placed you as bishops, to rule the church of the Lord, which he has acquired for himself through his own blood." Then, referring to the evil teachers who should arise, he said, "'I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves come to you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." "'I have not shunned,' he says, to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Thus did the apostles simply and without respect of persons, deliver to what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also does Luke, without respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned from them, as he has himself testified, saying, "'Even as they deliver them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word?' Three. Now if any man set Luke aside, as one who did not know the truth, he will, by so acting, manifestly reject that gospel of which he claims to be a disciple, for through him we have become acquainted with very many and important parts of the gospel. For instance, the generation of John, the history of Zacharias, the coming of the angel to Mary, the exclamation of Elizabeth, the descent of the angels to the shepherds, the words spoken by them, the testimony of Anna, Anna of Simeon with regard to Christ, and that twelve years of age he was left behind at Jerusalem. Also the baptism of John, the number of the Lord's years when he was baptized, and that this occurred in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. In his office of teacher, this is what he has said to the rich, "'Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation, and woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger, and ye who laugh now, for ye shall weep. And woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did your fathers to the false prophets. All things of the following kind we have known through Luke alone, and numerous actions of the Lord we have learned through him, which also all the evangelists notice. The multitude of fishes which Peter's companions enclosed, when at the Lord's command they cast the nets. The woman who had suffered for eighteen years and was healed on the Sabbath day. The man who had the dropsy, whom the Lord made whole on the Sabbath, and how he did defend himself for having performed an act of healing on that day. How he taught his disciples not to aspire to the uppermost rooms. How we should invite the poor and feeble, who cannot recompense us. The man who knocked during the night to obtain loaves, and did obtain them, because of the urgency of his importunity. How, when our Lord was sitting at meet with a Pharisee, a woman that was a sinner kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment, with what the Lord said to Simon on her behalf concerning the two debtors. Also about the parable of that rich man who stored up the goods which had accrued to him, to whom it was also said, In this night they shall demand thy soul from thee. Whose then shall these things be which thou hast prepared? And similar to this, that of the rich man, who was clothed in purple and who fared sumptuously, and the indigent Lazarus. Also the answer which he gave to his disciples when they said, Increase our faith. Also his conversation was the chaos, the publican. Also about the Pharisee and the publican, who were praying in the temple at the same time. Also the ten lepers, whom he cleansed in the way simultaneously. Also how he ordered the lame and the blind to be gathered to the wedding from the lanes and streets. Also the parable of the judge who feared not God, whom the widow's importunity led to avenge her cause. And about the fig tree in the vineyard which produced no fruit. There are also many other particulars to be found mentioned by Luke alone, which are made use of by both Markeon and Valentinas. And besides all these, he records what Christ said to his disciples in the way after the resurrection, and how they recognize him in the breaking of bread. Four. It follows then, as of course, that these men must either receive the rest of his narrative, or else reject these parts also. For no persons of common sense can permit them to receive some things recounted by Luke as being true, and to set others aside, as if he had not known the truth. And if indeed Markeon's followers reject these, they will then possess no gospel. Four, curtailing that according to Luke, as I have said already, they boast in having the gospel in what remains. But the followers of Valentinas must give up their utterly vain talk, for they have taken from that gospel many occasions for their own speculations. To put an evil interpretation upon what he has well said, if, on the other hand, they feel compelled to receive the remaining portions also, then, by studying the perfect gospel and the doctrine of the apostles, they will find it necessary to repent, that they may be saved from the danger to which they are exposed. Chapter 15. Refutation of the Ebeonites, who disparage the authority of St. Paul, from the writings of St. Luke, which must be received as a whole, exposure of the hypocrisy, deceit, and pride of the Gnostics. The apostles and their disciples knew and preached one God, the Creator of the world. One, but again, we allege the same against those who do not recognize Paul as an apostle, that they should either reject the other words of the gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them, or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he, Luke, tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutist thou me? I am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutist, and then to Ananias saying regarding him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name among the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him from this time how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Those therefore who do not accept of him as a teacher, who was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear his name, as being sent to the four mentioned nations, do despise the election of God and separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can they contend that Paul was no apostle when he was chosen for this purpose. Or can they prove Luke guilty of falsehood when he proclaims the truth to us with all diligence? It may be indeed that it was with this view that God set forth very many gospel truths through Luke's instrumentality, which all should esteem it necessary to use in order that all persons, following his subsequent testimony, which treats upon the acts and the doctrines of the apostles, and holding the unadulterated rule of truth, may be saved. This testimony, therefore, is true, and the doctrine of the apostles is open and steadfast, holding nothing in reserve, nor did they teach one set of doctrines in private and another in public. 2. For this is the subterfuge of false persons, evil seducers and hypocrites, as they act who are from Valentinas. These men discourse to the multitude about those who belong to the church, whom they do themselves turn vulgar and ecclesiastic. By these words they entrap the more simple and entice them, imitating our phraseology, that these dupes may listen to them the oftener. And then these are asked regarding us, how it is that when they hold doctrines similar to ours, we, without cause, keep ourselves aloof from their company, and how it is that when they say the same things and hold the same doctrine, we call them heretics. When they have thus, by means of questions, overthrown the faith of any, and rendered them uncontradicting hearers of their own, they describe to them in private the unspeakable mystery of their pluroma. But they are altogether deceived, who imagine that they may learn from the scriptural text adduced by heretics, that doctrine which their words plausibly teach. For error is plausible, and bears a resemblance to the truth, but requires to be disguised. While truth is without disguise, and therefore has been entrusted to children. If any one of their auditors do indeed demand explanations, or start objections to them, they affirm that he is one not capable of receiving the truth, and not having from above the seed derived from their mother. And thus really give him no reply, but simply declare that he is of the intermediate regions, that is, belongs to animal natures. But if anyone do yield himself up to them like little sheep, and follows out their practice, and their redemption, such a one is puffed up to such an extent that he thinks he is neither in heaven nor on earth, but that he has passed within the pluroma, and having already embraced his angel. He walks with a strutting gate, and a super-salicious countenance, possessing all the pompous air of a cock. There are those among them who assert that that man who comes from above ought to follow a good course of conduct. Wherefore they do also pretend a gravity of demeanor, with a certain super-saliciousness. The majority, however, having become scoffers also, as if already perfect, and living without regard to appearances, yea, in contempt of that which is good, call themselves the spiritual, and allege they have already become acquainted with that place of refreshing which is within their pluroma. 3. But let us revert to the same line of argument hitherto pursued, for when it has been manifestly declared that they who were the preachers of the truth and the apostles of liberty term no one else God, or named him Lord, except the one true God, the Father, and his Word, who has the preeminence in all things, it shall then be clearly proved that they, the apostles, confess as the Lord God him who was the creator of heaven and earth, who also spoke with Moses, gave to him the dispensation of the law, and who called the fathers, and that they knew no other. The opinion of the apostles, therefore, and of those, Mark and Luke, who learned from their words concerning God, has been made manifest. End of book 3, chapters 13 through 15. Chapter 16 of Irenaeus against Heresies, book 3. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Anne Boulay. Irenaeus against Heresies, book 3. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambeau. Chapter 16. Proofs from the apostolic writings that Jesus Christ was one and the same, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God, and perfect man. 1. But there are some who say that Jesus was merely a receptacle of Christ, upon whom the Christ, as a dove, descended from above, and that when he had declared the unnameable Father, he entered into the pluroma in an incomprehensible and invisible manner. For that he was not comprehended, not only by men, but not even by those powers and virtues which are in heaven, and that Jesus was the Son, but that Christ was the Father and the Father of Christ, God. While others say that he merely suffered in outward appearance, being naturally impassable, the Valentinians again maintain that the dispensational Jesus was the same who passed through Mary, upon whom that Saviour from the more exalted region descended, who was also turned pan, because he possessed the names, vocabula, of all those who had produced him, but that this latter shared with him, the dispensational one, his power and his name, so that by his means death was abolished, but the Father was made known by that Saviour who had descended from above, whom they do also allege to be himself the receptacle of Christ and of the entire pluroma, confessing indeed in tongue one Christ Jesus, but being divided in actual opinion, for as I have already observed, it is the practice of these men to say that there was one Christ who was produced by monogenes for the confirmation of the pluroma, but that another, the Saviour, was sent forth for the glorification of the Father, and yet another, the dispensational one, and whom they represented as having suffered, who also bore in himself Christ, that Saviour who returned into the pluroma. I judge it necessary, therefore, to take into account the entire mind of the apostles regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that not only did they never hold any such opinions regarding him, but still further, that they announced through the Holy Spirit, that those who should teach such doctrines were agents of Satan, sent forth for the purpose of overturning the faith of some, and drawing them away from life. 2. That John knew the one and the same word of God, and that he was the only begotten, and that he became incarnate for our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord, I have sufficiently proved from the word of John himself. And Matthew too, recognizing the one and the same Jesus Christ, exhibiting his generation as a man from the Virgin, even as God did promise David that he would raise up from the fruit of his body an eternal King, having made the same promise to Abraham a long time previously, saying, the Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Then that he might free our mind from suspicion regarding Joseph, he says, but the birth of Christ was on this wise. When his mother was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then, when Joseph had it in contemplation to put Mary away, since she proved with child, Matthew tells us of the angel of God standing by him and saying, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth the Son, and shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth the Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is God with us. Clearly signifying that both the promise made to the fathers had been accomplished, that the Son of God was born of a Virgin, and that he himself was Christ the Savior whom the prophets had foretold, not as these men assert, that Jesus was he who was born of Mary, but that Christ was he who descended from above. Matthew might certainly have said, Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise, but the Holy Ghost, foreseeing the corruptures of the truth and guarding by anticipation against their deceit, says by Matthew, but the birth of Christ was on this wise, and that he is Emmanuel, less per chance we might consider him as a mere man, for not by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man, but by the will of God was the Word made flesh, and that we should not imagine that Jesus was one and Christ another, but should know them to be one and the same. 3. Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestinated unto the Gospel of God, which he had promised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, who was made to him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated to the Son of God with power through the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ, and again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he says, Whose are the fathers and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever? And again in his epistle to the Galatians he says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption, plainly indicating one God, who did by the prophets make promise of the Son, and one Jesus Christ our Lord, who was the seed of David according to his birth from Mary, and that Jesus Christ was appointed the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, as being the first begotten in all the creation, the Son of God being made the Son of Man, that through him we may receive the adoption, humanity sustaining and receiving and embracing the Son of God, wherefore Mark also says, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, knowing one and the same Son of God Jesus Christ, who was announced by the prophets, who from the fruit of David's body was Immanuel, the messenger of great counsel of the Father, through whom God caused the dayspring and the just one to arise to the house of David, and raised up for him a horn of salvation, and established a testimony in Jacob, as David says when discoursing on the causes of his birth, and he appointed a law in Israel that another generation might know him, the children which should be born from these, and they arising shall themselves declare to their children, so that they might set their hope in God and seek after his commandments. And again the angel said, when bringing good tidings to Mary, he shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his Father David, acknowledging that he who is the Son of the Highest, the same is himself also the Son of David, and David, knowing by the spirit the dispensation of the advent of this person, by which he is supreme over all the living and dead, confessed him as Lord, sitting on the right hand of the Most High Father. 4. But Simeon also, he who had received an intimation from the Holy Ghost that he should not see death until first he had beheld Christ Jesus, taking him, the first begotten of the Virgin, into his hands, blessed God, and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, because mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel, confessing thus that the infant whom he was holding in his hands, Jesus, born of Mary, was Christ himself, the Son of God, the light of all, the glory of Israel itself, and the peace and refreshing of those who had fallen asleep, for he was already despoiling men by removing their ignorance, conferring upon them his own knowledge and scattering abroad those who recognized him, as Isaiah says, call his name, quickly spoil, rapidly divide. Now these are the works of Christ. He therefore was himself Christ, whom Simeon carrying in his arms blessed the most high, on beholding whom the shepherds glorified God, whom John, while yet in his mother's womb, and he Christ in that of Mary, recognizing as the Lord, saluted with leaping, whom the Magi, when they had seen, adored and offered their gifts to him, as I have already stated, and prostrated themselves to the Eternal King, departed by another way, not now returning by the way of the Assyrians. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians, declaring in a mysterious manner indeed, but emphatically that the Lord did fight with a hidden hand against Amalek. For this cause, too, he suddenly removed those children belonging to the house of David, whose happy lot it was to have been born at that time, that he might send them on before into his kingdom, he, since he himself was an infant, so arranging it that human infants should be martyrs, slain according to the scriptures, for the sake of Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the city of David. 5. Therefore did the Lord also say to his disciples after the resurrection, O thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And again does he say to them, These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me, then open he their understanding that they should understand the scriptures and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that repentance for the remission of sins be preached in his name among all nations. Now this is he who was born of Mary, for he says, The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected and crucified, and on the third day rise again. The gospel therefore knew no other son of man but him who was of Mary, who also suffered, and no Christ who flew away from Jesus before the Passion, but him who was born it knew as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same suffered and rose again, as John, the disciple of the Lord verifies, saying, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have eternal life in his name, foreseeing these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord as far as lies in their power, saying that he was formed of two different substances. For this reason also he has thus testified to us in his epistle. Little children it is the last time, and as ye have heard that Antichrist doth come, now have many Antichrists appeared, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they departed, that they might be made manifest that they are not of us. Know ye therefore, that every lie is from without, and is not of the truth. Who is the liar, but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist. 6. But inasmuch as all those before mentioned, although they certainly do with their tongue confess one Jesus Christ, make fools of themselves, thinking one thing and saying another. For their hypotheses vary, as I have already shown, alleging as they do, that one being suffered and was born, and that this was Jesus, but that there was another who descended upon him, and that this was Christ, who also ascended again, and they argue that he who proceeded from the demiurge, or he who was dispensational, or he who sprang from Joseph, was the being subject to suffering, but upon the latter they descended from the invisible and ineffable places the former, whom they assert to be incomprehensible, invisible, and impassable. They thus wander from the truth, because their doctrine departs from him who is truly God, being ignorant that his only begotten Word, who is always present with the human race, united to and mingled with his own creation, according to the Father's pleasure, and who became flesh, is himself Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us, and rose again on our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of his Father, to raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and to apply the rule of just judgment to all who were made by him. There is therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father and one Christ Jesus, who came by means of the whole dispensational arguments connected with him, and gathered together all things in himself. But in every respect too he is man, the formation of God, and thus he took up man into himself, the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassable becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in himself, so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so also in things visible and corporeal he might possess the supremacy, and taking to himself the preeminence, as well as constituting himself head of the church, he might draw all things to himself at the proper time. 7. With him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were foreknown by the Father, but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence. This was the reason why, when Mary was urging him on to perform the wonderful miracle of the wine, and was desirous before the time to partake of the cup of emblematic significance, the Lord, checking her untimely haste, said, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Everything for that hour which was foreknown by the Father. This is also the reason why, when men were often desirous to take him, it is said. No man laid hands upon him, for the hour of his being taken was not yet come. Nor the time of his passion, which had been foretold by the Father, as also says the Prophet Habakkuk, By this thou shalt be known when the years have drawn nigh. Thou shalt be set forth when the time comes, because my soul is disturbed by anger. Thou shalt remember thy mercy. Paul also says, But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, by which is made manifest, that all things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish in their order, season and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed one and the same, but rich and great. For he fulfills the bountiful and comprehensive will of his Father, in as much as he is himself the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under authority, and the God of all those things which have been formed, the only begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of God, who became incarnate when the fullness of time had come, at which the Son of God had to become the Son of Man. 8. All therefore are outside of the Christian dispensation who, under pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ another, and the only begotten another, from whom again is the Word, and that the Saviour is another, whom these disciples of error alleged to be a production of those who were made aeons in a state of degeneracy. Such men are to outward appearance sheet, for they appear to be like us, by what they say in public, repeating the same words as we do, but inwardly they are wolves. Their doctrine is homicidal, conjuring up, as it does, a number of gods, and simulating many fathers, but lowering and dividing the Son of God in many ways. These are they against whom the Lord has cautioned us beforehand, and his disciple, in his epistle already mentioned, commands us to avoid them when he says, for many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Take heed to them, that ye lose not what ye have wrought. And again does he say in the epistle, many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God, but is of antichrist. These words agree with what was said in the Gospel, that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Wherefore he again exclaims in his epistle, every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, knowing Jesus Christ to be the one and the same, to whom the gates of heaven were opened, because of his taking upon him flesh, who shall also come in the same flesh in which he suffered, revealing the glory of the Father. 9. Concurring with these statements, Paul, speaking to the Romans, declares, much more they who receive abundance of grace and righteousness for eternal life shall reign by one Christ Jesus. It follows from this, that he knew nothing of that Christ who flew away from Jesus, or did he of the Saviour above, whom they hold to be impassable? For if, in truth, the one suffered and the other remained incapable of suffering, and the one was born, but the other descended upon him who was born, and left him again, it is not one, but two that are shown forth. But that the apostle did know him as one, both who was born and who suffered, namely Christ Jesus, he again says in the same epistle. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized in his death, that like his Christ rose from the dead, so should we also walk in newness of life, but again showing that Christ did suffer and was himself the Son of God, who died for us, and redeemed us with his blood at the time appointed beforehand, he says, for how is it that Christ, when we were yet without strength, in due time died for the ungodly? But God commanded his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. He declares in the plainest manner, that the same being who was lain hold of and underwent suffering and shed his blood for us, was both Christ and the Son of God, who did also rise again, and was taken up into heaven, as he himself, Paul, says. But at the same time it is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, and again, knowing that Christ rising from the dead diedeth no more. For, as himself foreseeing, through the Spirit, the subdivisions of evil teachers with regard to the Lord's person, and being desirous of cutting away from them all occasions of evil, he says what has been already stated, and also declares, but if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. Because he does not utter to those alone who wish to hear, do not err, he says to all. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is one and the same, who did by suffering reconcile us to God, and rose from the dead, who is at the right hand of the Father, and perfect in all things, who, when he was buffeted, struck not in return, who, when he suffered, threatened not. And when he underwent tyranny, he prayed his Father that he would forgive those who had crucified him, for he did himself truly bring in salvation, since he is himself the Word of God, himself the only begotten of the Father, Christ Jesus our Lord. Chapter 17-18 of Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ann Boulet. Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3 Translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rombeau. Chapter 17-18 The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Savior, but the Holy Spirit, who did descend upon Jesus. The reason for this descent. 1. It certainly was in the power of the apostles to declare that Christ descended upon Jesus, for that the so-called superior Savior came down upon the dispensational one, or he who is from the invisible places, upon him from the demiurge. But they neither knew nor said anything of the kind, for, had they known it, they would have also certainly stated it. But what really was the case, that did they record, namely, that the Spirit of God as a dove descended upon him, this Spirit of whom it was declared by Isaiah, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, as I have already said. And again, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me. That is the Spirit of whom the Lord declares, for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into God, he said to them, Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. For God promised that in the last times he would pour him, the Spirit, upon his servants and handmaids, that they might prophesy. Wherefore he did also descend upon the Son of God, made the Son of Man, becoming a custom in fellowship with him to dwell in the human race, to rest with human beings, and to dwell in the workmanship of God, working the will of the Father in them and renewing them from their old habits into the newness of Christ. 2. This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, Establish me with thine all-governing Spirit, who also, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord's ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life and to the opening of the new covenant. From whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity and offering to the Father the first fruits of all nations. Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to God, for as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity. So in like manner neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that layer which leads to incorruption, but our souls by means of the Spirit. Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of God. Our Lord, compassionating that erring Samaritan woman, who did not remain with one husband, but committed fornication by contracting many marriages, by pointing out and promising to her living water, so that she should thirst no more, nor occupy herself in acquiring the refreshing water obtained by labor, having in herself water springing up to eternal life. The Lord receiving this as a gift from his father, does himself also confer upon those who are partakers of himself, sending the Holy Spirit upon all the earth. 3. Gideon, that Israelite whom God chose, that he might save the people of Israel from the power of foreigners, foreseeing this gracious gift, changed his request and prophesied that there would be dryness upon the fleece of wool, a type of people, on which alone at first there had been dew, thus indicating that they should no longer have the Holy Spirit from God, as saith Isaias. I will also command the clouds, that they reign no reign upon it, but that the dew which is the Spirit of God, who descended upon the Lord, should be diffused throughout all the earth. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God. This Spirit again, he did confer upon the Church, sending throughout all the world the Comforter from heaven. From whence also the Lord tells us that the devil, like lightning, was cast down. Wherefore we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there may be also an advocate, the Lord commending to the Holy Spirit his own man, who had fallen among thieves, whom he himself compassionate and bound up his wounds, giving to royal denaria, so that we, receiving by the Spirit the image and subscription of the Father and the Son, might cause the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out the increase thereof to the Lord. 4. The Spirit, therefore, descending under the predestined dispensation, and the Son of God, the only begotten, who is also the Word of the Father, coming in the fullness of time, having become incarnate in man for the sake of man, and fulfilling all the conditions of human nature, our Lord Jesus Christ being one and the same, as he himself the Lord doth testify. As the apostles confess, and as the prophets announce, all the doctrines of these men who have invented putative Ogduads and Tetrods, and imagine subdivisions of the Lord's person, have been proved falsehoods. These men do, in fact, set the Spirit aside altogether. They understand that Christ was one, and Jesus another, and they teach that there was not one Christ but many. And if they speak of them as united, they do again separate them, for they show that one did indeed undergo sufferings, but that the other remained impassable, that the one truly did ascend to the Pluroma, but the other remained in the intermediate place, that the one does truly feast and revel in places invisible and above all name, but that the other is seated with a demiurge, emptying him of power. It will therefore be incumbent upon thee, and all others who give their attention to this writing, and are anxious about their own salvation, not readily to express acquiescence when they hear abroad the speeches of these men. For speaking things resembling the doctrine of the faithful, as I have already observed, not only do they hold opinions which are different, but absolutely contrary, and in all points full of blasphemies, by which they destroy those persons who, by reasons of the resemblance of the words, imbibah poison which disagrees with their constitution. Just as it is one, giving lime mixed with water for milk, should mislead by the solemitude of the color, as a man superior to me has said, concerning all that in any way corrupt the things of God and adulterate the truth, lime is wickedly mixed with the milk of God. Chapter 18. Continuation of the foregoing argument, proofs from the writings of St. Paul, and from the other words of our Lord, that Christ and Jesus cannot be considered as distinct beings. Here can it be alleged that the Son of God became man merely in appearance, but that he did so truly and actually. One, as it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who was also always present with mankind, was in these last days, according to the time appointed by the Father, united to his own workmanship. And as much as he became a man liable to suffering, it follows that every objection is set aside of those who say, if our Lord was born at that time, Christ had therefore no previous existence. For I have shown that the Son of God did not begin to exist, being with the Father from the beginning, but when he became incarnate and was made man, he commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us in a brief comprehensive manner with salvation, so that what we had lost in Adam, namely to be according to the image and likeness of God, that we might recover in Christ Jesus. Two, for as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been conquered, and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could reform himself and obtain the prize of victory. And as it was also impossible that he could attain to salvation who had fallen under the power of sin, the Son effected both these things, being the Word of God, descending from the Father, becoming incarnate, stooping low, even to death, and consummating the arranged plan of our salvation. Upon whom, Paul, exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says, Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring down Christ, or who shall descend into the deep, that is, to liberate Christ again from the dead? Then he continues, If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. And he renders the reason why the Son of God did these things, saying, For to this end Christ both lived and died and revived, that he might rule over the living and the dead. And again, writing to the Corinthians, he declares, But we preach Christ Jesus crucified, and adds, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? 3. But who is it that has had fellowship with us in the matter of food, whether it is he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who extended himself through horrors, and imparted a form to their mother? Or is it he who is from the Virgin, Emmanuel, who did eat butter and honey, of whom the prophet declared, He is also man, and who shall know him? He was likewise preached by Paul, for I delivered, he said, Unto you first of all, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. It is plain then that Paul knew no other Christ besides him alone, who both suffered and was buried and rose again, who was also born, and whom he speaks of as a man. For after remarking, But if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, he continues rendering the reason of his incarnation, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead, and everywhere when referring to the passion of our Lord and to his human nature, and his subjection to death, he employs the name of Christ as in this passage, Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. And again, But now, in Christ, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. And again, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. And again, And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died, indicating that the impassable Christ did not descend upon Jesus, but that he himself, because he was Jesus Christ, suffered for us. He who lay in the tomb and rose again, who descended and ascended, the Son of God having been made the Son of Man, as the very name itself doth declare. For in the name of Christ is implied, that he anoints, that he is anointed, and the unction itself with which he is anointed. And it is the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the unction, as the word declares by Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, pointing out both the anointing Father, the anointed Son, and the unction, which is the Spirit. 4. The Lord himself too makes it evident who it was that suffered, for when he asked the disciples, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And when Peter had replied, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and when he had been commended by him in these words, that flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the Father who is in heaven. He made it clear that he, the Son of Man, is Christ the Son of the Living God, for from that time forth it is said, he began to show to his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the priests, and be rejected and crucified and rise again the third day. He who was acknowledged by Peter as Christ, who pronounced him blessed because the Father had revealed the Son of the Living God to him, said that he must himself suffer many things and be crucified, and then he rebuked Peter, who imagined that he was the Christ as the generality of man supposed that the Christ should be, and was averse to the idea of his suffering, and said to the disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose it for my sake shall save it. For these things Christ spoke openly, he being himself the Savior of those who should be delivered over to death for their confession of him, and lose their lives. 5. If, however, he was himself not to suffer, but should fly away from Jesus, why did he exhort his disciples to take up the cross and follow him? That cross which these men represent him as not having taken up, but speaking of him as having relinquished the dispensation of suffering. For that he did not say this with reference to the acknowledging of the staros cross above, as some among them ventured to expound, but with respect to the suffering which he should himself undergo, and that his disciples should endure, he implies when he says, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose it shall find it. And that his disciples must suffer for his sake, he implied when he said to the Jews, Behold, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify. And to the disciples he was want to say, And ye shall stand before governors and kings for my sake, and they shall scourge some of you, and slay you, and persecute you from city to city. He knew, therefore, both those who should suffer persecution, and he knew those who should have to be scourged and slain because of him, and he did not speak of any other cross, but of the suffering which he should himself undergo first, and his disciples afterwards. For this purpose he did give them this exhortation, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to send both soul and body into hell, thus exhorting them to hold fast those professions of faith which they had made in reference to him, for he promised to confess before his father those who should confess his name before men, but declared that he would deny those who should deny him, and would be ashamed of those who should be ashamed to confess him. And although these things are so, some of these men have proceeded to such a degree of temerity that they even pour contempt upon the martyrs, and vituperate those who are slain on account of the confession of the Lord, and who suffer all things predicted by the Lord, and who in this respect strive to follow the footprints of the Lord's passion. When they become martyrs of the suffering one, these we do also enroll with the martyrs themselves, for when the inquisition shall be made for their blood, and they shall attain to glory, then all shall be confounded by Christ, who have cast a slur upon their martyrdom. And from this fact that he exclaimed upon the cross, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. The long-suffering patience, compassion, and goodness of Christ are exhibited, since he both suffered, and did himself exculpate those who had maltreated him. For the word of God, who said to us, Love your enemies, and pray for those that hate you. Himself did this very thing upon the cross, loving the human race to such a degree that he even prayed for those putting him to death. If, however anyone, going upon the supposition there are two Christs, forms a judgment in regard to them, that Christ shall be found much the better one, and more patient, and the truly one, who in the midst of his own wounds and stripes, and the other cruelties inflicted upon him, was beneficent, and unmindful of the wrongs perpetrated upon him, than he who flew away, and sustained neither injury nor insult. 6. This also does likewise meet the case of those who maintain that he suffered only in appearance. Or if he did not truly suffer, no thanks to him. Since there was no suffering at all, and when we shall actually begin to suffer, he will seem as leading us astray, exhorting us to endure buffering, and to turn the other cheek, if he did not himself before us in reality suffer the same, and as he misled them by seeming to them what he was not, so does he also mislead us, by exhorting us to endure what he did not endure himself. In that case, we shall be even above the Master, because we suffer and sustain what our Master never bore or endured. But as our Lord is alone truly Master, so the Son of God is truly good and patient, the Word of God the Father having been made the Son of Man. For he fought and conquered, for he was a man contending for the Fathers, and through obedience doing away with disobedience completely. For he bound the strong man, and set free the weak, and endowed his own handiwork with salvation by destroying sin. For he is a most holy and merciful Lord, and loves the human race. 7. Therefore, as I have already said, he caused man, human nature, to cleave to and to become one with God. For unless man had overcome the enemy of man, the enemy would not have been legitimately vanquished, and again, unless it had been God who had freely given salvation, we could never have possessed it securely. And unless man had been joined to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility. For it was incumbent upon the mediator between God and men, by his relationship to both, to bring both to friendship and concord, and present man to God, while he revealed God to man. For in what way could we be partaken of the adoption of sons, unless we had received from him through the son, that fellowship which refers to himself, unless his word, having been made flesh, had entered into communion with us? Wherefore also he passed through every stage of life, restoring to all communion with God. Those therefore who assert that he appeared putitively, and was neither born in the flesh nor truly made man, are as yet under the old condemnation, holding out patronage to sin. For by their showing, death has not been vanquished, which reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them who had not sinned after the solemitude of Adam's transgression. But the law coming, which was given by Moses and testifying of sin that it is a sinner, did truly take away his, death's kingdom, showing that he was no king but a robber, and it revealed him as a murderer. It laid, however, a weighty burden upon man, who had sinned in himself, showing that he was liable to death. For as the law was spiritual, it merely made sin to stand out in relief, but did not destroy it. For sin had no dominion over the spirit, but over man. For it behoved him who was to destroy sin, and redeem man under the power of death, that he should himself be made that very same thing which he was, that is, man, who had been drawn by sin into bondage, but was held by death, so that sin should be destroyed by man, and man should go forth from death. For as by the disobedience of the one man who was originally molded from virgin soil, the many were made sinners and forfeited life. So was it necessary that, by the obedience of one man, who was originally born from a virgin, many should be justified and receive salvation? Thus then was the word of God made man, as also Moses says, God, true are his works. But if, not having been made flesh, he did appear as if flesh, his work was not a true one. But what he did appear, that he also was, God recapitulated in himself the ancient formation of man that he might kill sin, deprive death of its power, and vivify man, and therefore his works are true. End of book three, chapters 17 through 18. Chapters 19 through 21 of Irenaeus against Heresies, book three. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Anne Boulet. Irenaeus against Heresies, book three, translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambeau. Chapter 19. Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the ordinary course of nature, but was very God, begotten of the Father most high, and very man, born of the virgin. One. But again, those who assert that he was simply a mere man, begotten by Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience, are in a state of death having been not as yet joined to the word of God the Father, nor receiving liberty through the Son, as he does himself declare. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. But being ignorant of him who from the virgin is Emanuel, they are deprived of his gift, which is eternal life, and not receiving the incorruptible word, they remain in mortal flesh and are debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of life. To whom the word says, mentioning his own gift of grace, I said, ye are all sons of the highest and gods, but ye shall die like men. He speaks undoubtedly these words to those who have not received the gift of adoption, but who despise the incarnation of the pure generation of the word of God, defraud human nature of promotion into God, and prove themselves ungrateful to the word of God, who became flesh for them. For it was for this end that the word of God was made man, and he who was the Son of God became the Son of man. That man, having been taken into the word and receiving the adoption, might become the Son of God. For by no other means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to incorruptibility and immortality, unless first incorruptibility and immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible might be swallowed up by incorruptibility and the mortal by immortality, that we might receive the adoption of sons? Two, for this reason it is said, who shall declare his generation, since he is a man and who shall recognize him? But he to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed him knows him, so that he understands that he who was not born either by the will of the flesh or by the will of man, is the Son of man. This is Christ, the Son of the living God. For I have shown from scriptures that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything and absolutely called God or named Lord, but that he is himself in his own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God and Lord and King eternal and the incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles and by the spirit himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now the scriptures would not have testified these things of him, if like the others, he had been a mere man, but that he had beyond all others, in himself that preeminent birth which is from the most high Father, and also experienced that preeminent generation which is from the virgin. The divine scriptures do in both respects testify of him, also that he was a man with out comeliness and liable to suffering, that he sat upon the full of an ass, that he received for drink vinegar and gall, that he was despised among the people and humbled himself even to death and that he is the holy Lord, the wonderful, the counselor, the beautiful in appearance and the mighty God. Coming on the clouds as the judge of all men, all these things did the scriptures prophesy of him. Three, for as he became man in order to undergo temptation, so also was he the word that he might be glorified, the word remaining quiescent, that he might be capable of being tempted, dishonored, crucified and of suffering death, but the human nature being swallowed up in it, the divine, when it conquered and endured without yielding and performed acts of kindness and rose again and was received up into heaven. He therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, being the word of the Father and the Son of Man, since he had a generation as to his human nature from Mary who was descended from mankind and who was herself a human being was made the Son of Man. Wherefore also the Lord himself gave us a sign in the depth below and in the height above, which man did not ask for because he never expected that a virgin could conceive or that it was possible that one remaining a virgin could bring forth a son and that what was thus born should be God with us and descend to those things which are of the earth beneath, seeking the sheep which had perished, which was indeed his own peculiar handiwork and ascend to the height above, offering and commending to his Father that human nature, hominin, which had been found, making in his own person the first fruits of the resurrection of man, that as the head rose from the dead, so also the remaining part of the body, namely the body of every man who was found in life. When the time is fulfilled of that condemnation which existed by reason of disobedience, may arise, blended together and strengthened through means of joints and bands by the increase of God, each of the members having its own proper and fit position in the body, for there are many mansions in the Father's house, in as much as there are also many members of the body. Chapter 20, God showed himself by the fall of man as patient, benign, merciful, mighty to save. Man is therefore most ungrateful if, unmindful of his own lot and of the benefits held out to him, he do not acknowledge divine grace. One, long suffering therefore was God, when man became a defaulter, as foreseeing that victory which should be granted to him through the word. For when strength was made perfect in weakness, it showed the kindness and transcendent power of God, for as he patiently suffered Jonah to be swallowed by the whale, not that he should be swallowed up and perished altogether, but that having been cast out again, he might be the more subject to God and might glorify him the more who had conferred upon him such an unhopeful deliverance and might bring the Ninevites to a lasting repentance so that they should be converted to the Lord who would deliver them from death, having been struck with awe by the portent which had been wrought in Jonah's case, as the scripture says of them, and they returned each from his evil way and the unrighteousness which was in their hands, saying, who knoweth if God will repent and turn away his anger from us, and we shall not perish. So also from the beginning did God permit man to be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of transgression, not that he should perish altogether when so engulfed, but arranging and preparing the plan of salvation which was accomplished by the word through the sign of Jonah. For those who held the same opinion as Jonah regarding the Lord and who confessed and said, I am a servant of the Lord and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land. This was done that man receiving an unhopeful salvation from God might rise from the dead and glorify God and repeat that word which was uttered in prophecy by Jonah. I cried by reason of mine affliction to the Lord my God and he heard me out of the belly of hell and that he might always continue glorifying God and giving thanks without ceasing for that salvation which he has derived from him, that no flesh should glory in the Lord's presence and that man should never adopt an opposite opinion with regard to God, supposing that the incorruptibility which belongs to him is his own naturally and by thus not holding the truth should boast with empty super-soliciousness as if he were naturally like to God. For he, Satan, thus rendered him, man, more ungrateful towards his creator, obscuring the love which God had towards man and blinded his mind not to perceive what is worthy of God, comparing himself with and judging himself equal to God. Two, this therefore was the object of the long-suffering God, that man passing through all things and acquiring the knowledge of moral discipline, then attaining to the resurrection from the dead and learning by experience what is the source of his deliverance, may always live in a state of gratitude to the Lord, having obtained from him the gift of incorruptibility, that he might love him the more, for he to whom more is forgiven loveth more and that he may know himself how mortal and weak he is. While he also understands respecting God, that he is immortal and powerful to such a degree as to confer immortality upon what is mortal and eternity upon what is temporal and may also understand the other attributes of God displayed towards himself by means of which being instructed, he may think of God in accordance with the divine greatness. For the glory of man is God, but his works are the glory of God and the receptacle of all his wisdom and power is man. Just as the physician is proved by his patients, so is God also revealed through man. And therefore Paul declares, for God have concluded all in unbelief that he may have mercy upon all. Not saying this in reference to spiritual aeons, but to man who had been disobedient to God and being cast off from immortality, then obtained mercy receiving through the son of God that adoption which is accomplished by himself, for he who holds without pride and boasting the true glory opinion regarding created things and the creator, who is the almighty God of all and who has granted existence to all, such a one continuing in his love and subjection and of giving thanks shall also receive from him the greater glory of promotion, looking forward to the time when he shall become like him who died for him. For he too was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. To condemn sin and to cast it as now a condemning, a way beyond the flesh, but that he might call man forth into his own likeness, assigning him as his own imitator to God and imposing on him his father's will in order that he may see God and granting him power to receive the father, being the word of God who dwelt in man and became the son of man, that he might accustom man to receive God and God to dwell in man according to the good pleasure of the father. Three, on this account therefore, the Lord himself who is Emmanuel from the virgin is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord himself who saved them because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality. And therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says, for I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing, showing that the good thing of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then he introduces the deliverer saying, the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. And Isaiah declares this also when he says, be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down and ye feeble knees, be ye encouraged, ye feeble minded, be comforted, fear not, behold, our God has given judgment with retribution and shall recompense. He will come himself and will save us. Here we see that not by ourselves, but by the help of God, we must be saved. Four, again, that it should not be a mere man who should save us, nor one without flesh, for the angels are without flesh. The same prophet announced saying, neither an elder nor an angel, nor the Lord himself will save them because he loves them and will spare them. He will himself set them free. And that he should himself become very man, visible when he should be the word giving salvation. Isaiah again says, behold, city of Zion, thine eyes shall see our salvation. And that he was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says. And the holy Lord remembered his dead Israel, who had slept in the land of Sepulchre. And he came down to preach his salvation to them, that he might save them. And Amos, Micah the prophet, declares the same, he will turn again and will have compassion upon us. He will destroy our iniquities and will cast our sins into the depths of the sea. And again, specifying the place of his advent, he says, the Lord hath spoken from Zion and he has uttered his voice from Jerusalem. And that it is from that region which is towards the south of the inheritance of Judah that the Son of God shall come, who is God, and who was from Bethlehem, where the Lord was born and will send out his praise through all the earth. Thus says the prophet Habakkuk. God shall come from the south and the holy one from Mount Ephraim. His power covered the heavens over and the earth is full of his praise. Before his face shall go forth the word and his feet shall advance in the plains. Thus he indicates in clear terms that he is God and that his advent was to take place in Bethlehem and from Mount Ephraim which is towards the south of the inheritance and that he is man. For he says, his feet shall advance in the plains and this is an indication proper to man. Chapter 21, a vindication of the prophecy in Isaiah chapter seven verse 14 against the misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Evianites and the Jews, authority of the Septuagint version, arguments improved that Christ was born of a virgin. One, God then was made man and the Lord did himself save us giving us the token of the virgin but not as some allege among those now presuming to expound the scripture thus, behold a young woman shall conceive and bring forth the Son. As Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytites, the Evianites following these assert that he was begotten by Joseph, thus destroying as far as in them lies such a marvelous dispensation of God and setting aside the testimony of the prophets which proceeded from God. For truly this prediction was uttered before the removal of the people to Babylon, that is anterior to the supremacy acquired by the Medes and the Persians but it was interpreted into Greek by the Jews themselves much before the period of our Lord's advent that there might remain no suspicion that perchance the Jews complying with our humor did put this interpretation into these words. They indeed had they been cognizant of our future existence and that we should use these proofs from scriptures would themselves never have hesitated to burn their own scriptures which do declare that all other nations partake of eternal life and show that they who boast themselves as being the house of Jacob and the people of Israel are disinherited from the grace of God. Two, for before the Romans possessed their kingdom while as yet the Macedonians held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Logus, being anxious to adorn the library which he had founded in Alexandria with the collection of the writings of all men which were works of merit made requests to the people of Jerusalem that they should have their scriptures translated into the Greek language and they for at that time they were still subject to the Macedonians sent to Ptolemy 70 of their elders who were thoroughly skilled in the scriptures and in both languages to carry out what he had desired but he wishing to test them individually and fearing less they might perchance by taking counsel together conceal the truth in the scriptures by their interpretation separated them from each other and commanded them all to write the same translation. He did this with respect to all the books but when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy and each of them compared their own interpretation with that of every other God was indeed glorified and the scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine for all of them read out of the common translation which they had prepared in the very same words and the very same names from beginning to end so that even the Gentiles present perceived that the scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of God and there was nothing astonishing in God having done this. He who when during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar the scriptures had been corrupted and when after 70 years the Jews had returned to their own land then in the time of Arta Xerxes king of the Persians inspired Ezra's the priest of the tribe of Levi to recast all the words of the former prophets and to reestablish with the people the Mosaic legislation. Three since therefore the scriptures have been interpreted with such fidelity and by the grace of God and since from these God has prepared and formed again our faith towards his son and has preserved to us the unadulterated scriptures in Egypt where the house of Jacob flourished fleeing from the famine in Canaan where also our Lord was preserved when he fled from the persecution set on foot by Herod and since this interpretation of these scriptures was made prior to our Lord's descent to earth and came into being before the Christians appeared for our Lord was born about the 41st year of the reign of Augustus but Ptolemy was much earlier under whom the scriptures were interpreted since these things are so I say truly these men are proved to be impudent and presumptuous who would now show a desire to make different translations when we refute them out of these scriptures and shut them up to a belief in the advent of the son of God but our faith is steadfast unfaigned and the only true one having clear proof from these scriptures which were interpreted in the way I have related and the preaching of the church is without interpolation for the apostles since they are of a more ancient date than all these heretics agree with the aforesaid translation and the translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles for Peter and John and Matthew and Paul and the rest successively as well as their followers did set forth all prophetical announcements just as the interpretation of the elders contains them for for the one in the same spirit of God who proclaimed by the prophets what and of what sort the advent of the Lord should be did by these elders give a just interpretation of what had been truly prophesied and he did himself by the apostles announced that the fullness of the time of the adoption had arrived that the kingdom of heaven had drawn nigh and that he was dwelling within those that believed on him who was born Emmanuel of the virgin to this effect they testify saying that before Joseph had come together with Mary while she therefore remained in virginity she was found with child of the Holy Ghost and that the angel Gabriel said unto her the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God and that the angel said to Joseph in a dream now this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet behold a virgin shall be with child but the elders have thus interpreted what Isaiah said and the Lord moreover said unto Ahaz ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God out of the death below or from the height above and Ahaz said I will not ask and I will not tempt the Lord and he said it is not a small thing for you to weary men and how does the Lord weary them therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and ye shall call his name Immanuel butter and honey shall he eat before he knows or chooses out of things that are evil he shall exchange them for what is good for before the child knows good or evil he shall not consent to evil that he may choose that which is good carefully then has the Holy Ghost pointed out by what has been said his birth from a virgin and his essence that he is God for the name Immanuel indicates this and he shows that he is a man when he says butter and honey shall he eat and in that he turns him a child also in saying before he knows good and evil for these are all tokens of a human infant but that he will not consent to evil that he may choose that which is good this is proper to God that by the fact that he shall eat butter and honey we should not understand that he is a mere man only nor on the other hand from the name Immanuel should suspect him to be God without flesh five and when he says here oh house of David he performed the part of indicating that he whom God promised David that he would raise up from the flesh of his belly ventris and eternal king is the same who was born of the virgin herself of the lineage of David for on this account also he promised that the king should be of the fruit of his belly which was the appropriate term to use with respect to a virgin conceiving and not of the fruit of his loins nor of the fruit of his reins which expression is appropriate to a generating man and a woman conceiving by a man in this promise therefore the scripture excluded all verile influence yet it certainly is not mentioned that he who was born was not from the will of man but it has fixed and established the fruit of the belly that it might declare the generation of him who should be born from the virgin as Elizabeth testified when filled with the holy ghost saying to Mary blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy belly and the holy ghost pointing out those willing to hear that the promise which God had made of raising up a king from the fruit of David's belly was fulfilled in the birth from the virgin that is from Mary let those therefore who alter the passage of Isaiah thus behold a young woman shall conceive and who will have him to be Joseph's son also alter the form of the promise which was given to David when God promised him to raise up from the fruit of his belly the horn of Christ the king but they did not understand otherwise they would have presumed to alter even this passage also six but what Isaiah said from the height above or from the depth below was meant to indicate that he who descended was the same also who ascended but in this that he said the Lord himself shall give you a sign he declared an unlooked for thing with regard to his generation which could have been accomplished in no other way than by God the Lord of all God himself giving a sign in the house of David for what great thing or what sign should have been in this that a young woman conceiving by a man should bring forth a thing which happens to all women that produce offspring but since an unlooked for salvation was to be provided for men through the help of God so also was the unlooked for birth from a virgin accomplished God giving this sign but man not working it out seven on this account also Daniel for seeing his advent said that a stone cut out without hands came into this world for this is what without hands means that his coming into this world was not by the operation of human hands that is of those men who are accustomed to stone cutting that is Joseph taking no part with regard to it but Mary alone cooperating with the prearranged plan for this stone from the earth derives existence from both the power and wisdom of God where for also Isaiah says thus saith the Lord behold I deposit in the foundations of Zion a stone precious elect the chief the corner one to be had in honor so then we understand that his advent in human nature was not by the will of man but by the will of God where for also Moses giving a type cast his rod onto the earth in order that it by becoming flesh might expose and swallow up all the opposition of the Egyptians which was lifting itself up against the prearranged plan of God that the Egyptians themselves might testify that it is the finger of God which works salvation for the people and not the son of Joseph for if he were the son of Joseph how could he be greater than Solomon or greater than Jonah or greater than David when he was generated from the same seed and was the descendant of these men but how was it that he also pronounced Peter blessed because he acknowledged him to be the son of the living God nine but besides if indeed he had been the son of Joseph he could not according to Jeremiah be either king or heir for Joseph is shown to be the son of Joachim and Yoconia as also Matthew sets forth in his pedigree but Yoconia and all his posterity were disinherited from the kingdom Jeremiah thus declaring as I live saith the Lord if Yoconia the son of Joachim king of Judah had been made the signet of my right hand I would pluck him thence and deliver him into the hand of those seeking thy life and again Yoconia is dishonored as a useless vessel for he has been cast into a land which he knew not earth hear the word of the Lord write this man a disinherited person for none of his seed sitting on the throne of David shall prosper or be a prince in Judah and again God speaks of Joachim his father therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joachim his father king of Judea there shall be from him none sitting upon the throne of David and his dead body shall be cast out in the heat of day and in the frost of night and I will look upon him and upon his sons and will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem upon the land of Judah all the evils that I have pronounced against them those therefore who say that he was begotten of Joseph and that they have hope in him do cause themselves to be disinherited from the kingdom failing under the curse and rebuke directed against Yoconia and his seed because for this reason I have these things been spoken concerning Yoconia the Holy Spirit for knowing the doctrines of the evil teachers that they may learn from his seed that is from Joseph he was not to be born but that according to the promise of God from David's belly the king eternal is raised up who sums up all things in himself and has gathered into himself the ancient formation of man ten for as by one man's disobedience sin entered and death obtained a place through sin so also by the obedience of one man righteousness having been introduced shall cause life to fructify in those persons who in times past were dead and as the protoplast himself Adam had his substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil for God had not yet sent rain and man had not tilled the ground and was formed by the hand of God that is by the word of God for all things were made by him and the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man so did he who was the word recapitulating Adam in himself rightly received a birth enabling him to gather up Adam into himself from Mary who was as yet a virgin if then the first Adam had a man for his father and was born of human seed it were reasonable to say that the second Adam was begotten of Joseph but if the former was taken from the dust and God was his maker it was incumbent that the latter also making a recapitulation in himself should be formed as man by God to have an analogy with the former as respects his origin why then did not God again take dust but wrought so that the formation should be made of Mary it was that there might not be another formation called into being nor any other which should require to be saved but that the very same formation should be summed up in Christ as has existed in Adam the analogy having been preserved end of book 3 chapters 19 through 21 chapters 22 through 23 of Irenaeus against Heresies book 3 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Anne Boulet Irenaeus against Heresies book 3 translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambeau chapter 22 Christ assumed actual flesh conceived and born of the virgin 1. those therefore who alleged that he took nothing from the virgin do greatly air since in order that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh they also reject the analogy between him and Adam for if the one who sprang from the earth had indeed formation and substance from both the hand and workmanship of God but the other not from the hand and workmanship of God then he who was made after the image and likeness of the former did not in that case preserve the analogy of man and he must seem an inconsistent piece of work not having wherewith he may show his wisdom but this is to say that he also appeared putatively as man when he was not man and that he was made man while taking nothing from man for if he did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being he neither was made man nor the son of man and if he was not made what we were he did no great thing in what he suffered and endured but everyone will allow that we were composed of a body taken from the earth and a soul receiving spirit from God this therefore the word of God was made recapitulating in himself his own handiwork and on this account does he confess himself the son of man and blesses the meek because they shall inherit the earth the apostle Paul moreover in the epistle to the Galatians declares plainly God sent his son made of a woman and again in that to the Romans he says concerning his son who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh who was predestinated as the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord 2. Superfluous 2 in that case is his descent into Mary for why did he come down into her if he were to take nothing of her still further if he had taken nothing of Mary he would never have availed himself of those kinds of foods which are derived from the earth by which that body which has been taken from the earth is nourished nor would he have hungered fasting those 40 days like Moses and Elias unless his body was craving after its own proper nourishment nor again would John his disciple have said when writing of him but Jesus being worried with the journey was sitting to rest nor would David have proclaimed of him beforehand they have added to the grief of my wounds nor would he have wept over Lazarus nor have sweated great drops of blood nor have declared my soul is exceedingly sorrowful nor when his side was pierced would there have come forth blood and water for all these are tokens of the flesh which have been derived from the earth which he had recapitulated in himself bearing salvation to his own handiwork 3. Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the generation of our lord back to Adam contains 72 generations connecting the end with the beginning and implying that it is he who has summed up in himself all nations dispersed from Adam downwards and all languages and generations of men together with Adam himself hence also was Adam himself turned by Paul the figure of him that was to come because the word the maker of all things had formed beforehand for himself the future dispensation of the human race connected with the Son of God God having predestined that the first man should be of an animal nature with this view that he might be saved by the spiritual one for in as much as he had a pre-existence as a saving being it was necessary that what might be saved should also be called into existence in order that the being who saves should not exist in vain 4. In accordance with this design Mary the virgin is found obedient saying behold the handmade of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word but Eve was disobedient for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin and even as she having indeed a husband Adam but being nevertheless as yet a virgin for in paradise they were both naked and were not ashamed in as much as they having been created a short time previously had no understanding of the procreation of children for it was necessary that they should come to adult age and then multiply from that time onward having become disobedient was made the cause of death both to herself and to the entire human race so also did Mary having a man betrothed to her and being nevertheless a virgin by yielding obedience become the cause of salvation both to herself and the whole human race and on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man the wife of him who had betrothed her although she was as yet a virgin thus indicating the back reference from Mary to Eve because what is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder them by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen so that the former ties be canceled by the latter that the latter may set the former again at liberty and it has in fact happened that the first compact loses from the second tie but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been canceled for this reason did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last and the last first and the prophet too indicates the same saying instead of fathers children have been born unto thee for the Lord having been born the first begotten of the dead and receiving into his bosom the ancient fathers has regenerated them into the life of God he having been made himself the beginning of those that live as Adam became the beginning of those who die wherefore also Luke commencing the genealogy with the Lord carried it back to Adam indicating that it was he who regenerated them into the gospel of life and not they him and thus also it was that the knot of eaves disobedience was loose by the obedience of Mary for what the virgin eve had bound fast through unbelief this did the virgin Mary set free through faith chapter 23 arguments in opposition to tation showing that it was consonant to divine justice and mercy that the first Adam should partake in that salvation offered to all by Christ one it was necessary therefore that the Lord coming to the lost sheep and making recapitulation of so comprehensive a dispensation and seeking after his own handiwork should save that very man who had been created after his image and likeness that is Adam filling up the times of his condemnation which had been incurred through disobedience times which the father had placed in his own power this was necessary too in as much as the whole economy of salvation regarding man came to pass according to the good pleasure of the father in order that God might not be conquered nor his wisdom lesson in the estimation of his creatures for if man who had been created by God that he might live after losing life through being injured by the serpent that had corrupted him should not anymore return to life but should be utterly and forever abandoned to death God would in that case have been conquered and the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God but in as much as God is invincible and long suffering he did indeed show himself to be long suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the probation of all as I have already observed and by means of the second man did he bind the strong man and spoiled his goods and abolished death vivifying that man who had been in a state of death for at the first Adam became a vessel in his Satan's possession whom he did also hold under his power that is by bringing sin on him iniquitously and under color of immortality entailing death upon him for while promising that they should be as gods which was in no way possible for him to be he wrought death in them wherefore he who had led man captive was justly captured in his turn by God but man who had been led captive was loose from the bonds of condemnation two but this Adam if the truth should be told the first form man of whom the scripture says that the Lord speak let us make man after our own image and likeness and we are all from him and as we are from him therefore we have all inherited his title but in as much as man is saved it is fitting that he who was created the original man should be saved for it is too absurd to maintain that he who was so deeply injured by the enemy and was the first to suffer captivity was not rescued by him who captured the enemy but that his children were those whom he had be gotten in the same captivity neither would the enemy appear to be as yet conquered if the old spoils remained with him to give an illustration if a hostile force had overcome certain enemies had bound them and led them away captive and held them for a long time in servitude so that they begat children among them and somebody compassionate those who had been made slaves should overcome this same hostile force he certainly would not act equitably were he to liberate the children of those who had been led captive from the sway of those who had enslaved their fathers but should leave these latter who had suffered the act of capture subject to their enemies those two on whose very account he had proceeded to this retaliation the children succeeding to liberty through the avenging of their father's cause but not so that their fathers who suffered the act of capture itself should be left in bondage for god is neither devoid of power or of justice who has afforded help to man and restored him to his own liberty three for this reason two that immediately after adam had transgressed as the scripture relates he pronounced no curse against adam personally but against the ground in reference to his works as a certain person among the ancients has observed god did indeed transfer the curse to the earth that it might not remain in man but man received as the punishment of his transgression the toilsome task of tilling the earth and to eat bread in the sweat of his face and to return to the desk from once he was taken similarly also did the woman receive toil and labor and groans and the pangs of paturation and a state of subjection that is that she should serve her husband so that they should neither perish altogether when cursed by god nor by remaining unreprimanded should be led to despise god but the curse in all its fullness fell upon the serpent which had beguiled them and god it is declared said to the serpent because thou hast done this cursed art thou above all cattle and above all the beasts of the earth and this same thing does the lord say also in the gospel to those who are found upon the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which my father hath prepared for the devil and his angels indicating that eternal fire was not originally prepared for man but for him who beguiled man and caused him to offend for him i say who is chief of the apostasy and for those angels who became apostates along with him which fire indeed they too shall justly feel who like him persevere in works of wickedness without repentance and without retracing their steps four these act as cain did who when he was counseled by god to keep quiet because he had not made an equitable division of that share to which his brother was entitled but with envy and malice thought that he could domineer over him not only did not acquiesce but even added sin to sin indicating his state of mind by his action for what he had planned that did he also put in practice he tyrannized over and slew him god subjecting the just to the unjust that the former might be proved as the just one by the things which he suffered and the latter detected as the unjust by those which he perpetrated and he was not softened even by this nor did he stop short with that evil deed but being asked where his brother was he said i know not am i my brother's keeper extending and aggravating his wickedness by his answer for if it is wicked to slay a brother much worse is it thus insolently and irreverently to reply to the omniscient god as if he could battle him for this he did himself bear a curse about with him because he gratuitously brought an offering of sin having had no reverence for god nor being put to confusion by the act of fratricide five the case of adam however had no analogy with this but was altogether different for having been beguiled by another under the pretext of immortality he was immediately seized with terror and hides himself not as if he were able to escape from god but in a state of confusion at having transgressed his command he feels unworthy to appear before and to whole converse with god now the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom the sense of sin leads to repentance and god bestows his compassion upon those who are penitent for adam showed his repentance by his conduct through means of the girdle which he used covering himself with fig leaves while there were many other leaves which would have irritated his body in a less degree he however adopted a dress conformable to his disobedience being awed by the fear of god and resisting the erring the lustful propensity of his flesh since he had lost his natural disposition and childlike mind and had come to the knowledge of evil things he girded a bridle of continents upon himself and his wife fearing god and waiting for his coming and indicating as it were some such thing as follows in as much as he says i have by disobedience lost that robe of sanctity which i had from the spirit i do now also acknowledge that i am deserving of a covering of this nature which affords no gratification but which gnaws and frets the body and he would no doubt have retained this clothing forever thus humbling himself if god who is merciful had not clothed them with tunics of skins instead of fig leaves for this purpose too he interrogates them that the blame might light upon the woman and again he interrogates her that she might convey the blame to the serpent for she related what had occurred the serpent she says beguiled me and i did eat but he put no question to the serpent for he knew that he had been the prime mover in the guilty deed but he pronounced the curse upon him in the first instance that it might fall upon man with the mitigated rebuke for god detested him who had led man astray but by degrees and little by little he showed compassion to him who had been beguiled six wherefore also he drove him out of paradise and removed him far from the tree of life not because he envied him the tree of life as some venture to assert but because he pitied him and did not desire that he should continue a sinner forever nor that the sin which surrounded him should be immortal and evil interminable and irremediable but he set abound to his state of sin by interposing death and thus causing sin to cease putting it into it by the dissolution of the flesh which should take place in the earth so that man ceasing at length to live to sin and dying to it might begin to live to god seven for this end did he put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed they keeping it up mutually he the soul of whose foot should be bitten having power also to tread upon the enemy's head but the other biting killing and impeding the steps of man until the seed did come appointed to tread upon his head which was born of Mary of whom the prophet speaks thou shall tread upon the asp and the ballast thou shall trample down the lion and the dragon indicating that sin which was set up and spread out against man and which rendered him subject to death should be deprived of its power along with death which rules over men and that the lion that is antichrist rampant against mankind in the latter days should be trampled down by him and that he should bind the dragon that old serpent and subject him to the power of man who had been conquered so that all his might should be trodden down now Adam had been conquered all life having been taken away from him therefore when the foe was conquered in his turn Adam received new life and the last enemy death is destroyed which at the first had taken possession of man therefore when man has been liberated what is written shall come to pass death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is thy sting this could not be said with justice if that man over whom death did first obtain dominion were not set free for his salvation is death's destruction when therefore the lord vivifies man that is Adam death is at the same time destroyed eight all therefore speak falsely who disallow his Adam's salvation shutting themselves out from life forever in that they do not believe that the sheep which had perished has been found for if it has not been found the whole human race is still held in a state of perdition false therefore is that man who first started this idea or rather this ignorance and blindness tation as i have already indicated this man entangled himself with all the heretics this dogma however has been invented by himself in order that by introducing something new independently of the rest and by speaking vanity he might acquire for himself hearers void of faith affecting to be esteemed a teacher and endeavoring from time to time to employ sayings of this kind often made use of by paul in adam we all die ignorant however that where sin abounded grace did much more abound since this then has been clearly shown let all his disciples be put to shame and let them wrangle about adam as if some great gain were to be accrued to them if he be not saved when they profit nothing more by that even as the serpent also did profit when persuading man to sin except to this effect that he proved him a transgressor obtaining man as the first roots of his own apostasy but he did not know god's power thus also do those who disallow adam salvation gain nothing except this that they render themselves heretics and apostates from the truth and show themselves patrons of the serpent and of death end of book three chapters twenty two through twenty three