 Chapter 36 of Irenaeus against Heresies, Book 4. 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 Adam Ulliman. Irenaeus against Heresies, Book 4. Translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rombo. Chapter 36. The prophets were sent from one and the same father from whom the Son was sent. 1. Which God the Lord does not reject, nor does he say that the prophets spake from another God than his father, nor from any other essence, but from one and the same father, nor that any other being made the things in the world except his own father, when he speaks as follows in his teaching. There was a certain household, and he planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged in it a wine press and built a tower, and led it out to the husbandman, and went into a far country. 2. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants unto the husbandman that they might receive the fruits of it, and the husbandman took his servants. 3. They cut one to pieces, stoned another, and killed another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. 4. But last of all, he sent unto them his only son, saying, Perchance, they will reverence my son. 5. But when the husbandman saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the air. Come, let us kill him, and we shall possess his inheritance. 6. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 7. When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto these husbandmen? 8. They say unto him, He will miserably destroy these wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their season. 9. Again, does the Lord say, Have you never read? The stone which the builders rejected, the same is becoming the head of the corner? 10. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. 11. Therefore I say unto you, That the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 12. By these words he clearly points out to his disciples, one and the same householder, that is, one God the Father, who made all things by himself. 13. While he shows that there are various husbandmen, some obstinate and proud and worthless, and slayers of the Lord, but others, who render him with all obedience the fruits in their seasons. 14. And that it is the same householder, who sends at one time his servants, at another his son. 15. From that Father, therefore, from whom the Son was sent to those husbandmen who slew him, from him also were the servants sent. 16. But the Son, as coming from the Father with supreme authority, Prinkapali Aktoritate, used to express himself thus, But I say unto you, 17. The servants again, who came as from their Lord, spoke after the manner of servants, delivering a message, and they, therefore, used to say, Thus saith the Lord. 17. Whom these men did therefore preach to the unbelievers as Lord, him did Christ teach to those who obey him. 18. And the God, who had called those of the former dispensation, is the same as he who has received those of the latter. 19. In other words, he who had first used that law which entails bondage, is also he who didn't after times call his people by means of adoption. 20. For God planted the vineyard of the human race, when at the first he formed Adam and chose the Fathers. 21. Then he let it out to the husbandmen when he established the mosaic dispensation. 22. He hedged it round about, that is, he gave particular instructions with regard to their worship. 23. He built a tower, that is, he chose Jerusalem. 24. He digged a wine-press, that is, he prepared a receptacle of the prophetic spirit. 25. And thus did he send prophets, prior to the transmigration to Babylon. 26. And after that event, others again in greater number than the former, to seek the fruits, saying thus to them, the Jews. 27. Thus saith the Lord, cleanse your ways and your doings, execute just judgment, and look each one with pity and compassion on his brother. 28. Oppress not the widow, nor the orphan, the proselyte, nor the poor, and let none of you treasure up evil against his brother in your hearts. 29. And love not false-swering, wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your hearts, learn to do well, seek judgment, protect the oppressed, judge the fatherless, pupilo, plead for the widow, and come let us reason together, saith the Lord. 30. And again, keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile, depart from evil and do good, seek peace, and pursue it. 31. In preaching these things, the prophets sought the fruit of righteousness. 32. But last of all, he sent to those unbelievers his own son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the wicked husbandmen cast out of the vineyard when they had slain him. 33. Wherefore the Lord God did even give it up, no longer hedged around but thrown open throughout all the world to other husbandmen who render the fruits in their seasons, the beautiful elect tower being also raised everywhere. 34. For the illustrious church is now everywhere, and everywhere is the wine-pressed digged, because those who do receive the Spirit are everywhere. 35. For inasmuch as the former have rejected the Son of God and cast him out of the vineyard when they slew him, God has justly rejected them, and given to the Gentiles outside the vineyard the fruits of its cultivation. 36. This is in accordance with what Jeremiah says, the Lord hath rejected and cast off the nation which does these things, for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord. 37. And again, in like manner does Jeremiah speak, I said, Watchmen over you, hearken to the sound of the trumpet, and they said, We will not hearken. 38. Therefore have the Gentiles heard, and they who feed the flocks in them. 39. It is therefore one and the same Father who planted the vineyard, who led forth the people, who sent the prophets, who sent his own Son, and who gave the vineyard to those other husbandmen that render the fruits in their season. 39. And therefore did the Lord say to his disciples, To make us become good workmen, take heed to yourselves, and watch continually upon every occasion, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfacing and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day shall come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth. 40. Let your loins therefore be girded around, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for the Lord when he shall return from the wedding, for as it was in the days of Noah, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and they knew not, until Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 41. As also it was in the days of Lot, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and build it until the time that Lot went out of Sodom. It rained fire from heaven and destroyed them all. So shall it also be at the coming of the Son of Man. 42. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not in what day your Lord shall come. In these passages he declares one and the same Lord who in the times of Noah brought the deluge because of man's disobedience, and who also in the days of Lot rained fire from heaven because of the multitude of sinners among the sodomites, and who on account of the same disobedience and similar sins will bring on the day of judgment at the end of time in Novisimo. 43. On which day he declares that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city and house which shall not receive the word of his apostles? 44. And thou, Capernaum, he said, is it that thou shalt be exalted to heaven? Thou shalt go down to hell, for of the mighty works which have been done and thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. Verily I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. 44. Since the Son of God is always one and the same, he gives to those who believe on him a well of water springing up to eternal life, but he causes the unfruitful fig tree immediately to dry up, and in the days of Noah he justly brought on the deluge for the purpose of extinguishing that most infinist race of men then existent, who could not bring forth fruit to God since the angels that sinned had commingled with them, and acted as he did in order that he might put a check upon the sins of these men, but that at the same time he might preserve the archetype, the formation of Adam. And it was he who reigned fire and brimstone from heaven in the days of Lot upon Sodom and Gomorrah, an example of the righteous judgment of God that all may know that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. And it is he who uses the words that it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the general judgment than for those who beheld his wonders and did not believe on him, nor receive his doctrine. For as he gave by his advent a greater privilege to those who believed on him and who do his will, so also did he point out that those who did not believe on him should have a more severe punishment in the judgment, thus extending equal justice to all, and being to exact more from those to whom he gives the more. The more, however, not because he reveals the knowledge of another father, as I have shown so fully and so repeatedly, but because he has, by means of his advent, poured upon the human race the greater gift of paternal grace. 5. If, however, what I have stated be insufficient to convince anyone that the prophets were sent from one and the same father, from whom also our Lord was sent, that such a one opening the mouth of his heart and calling upon the Master Christ Jesus the Lord, listen to him when he says, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a king who made a marriage for his son, and he sent forth his servants to call them who are bidden to the marriage. And when there would not obey, he goes on to say again, he sent other servants saying, tell them that are bidden, come ye, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and all the fatlings are killed, and everything is ready, come unto the wedding. But they made light of it, and went their way, some to their farm, and others to their merchandise, but the remnant took his servants, and some they treated despitefully, while others they slew. But when the king heard this, he was wroth, and sent his armies and destroyed these murderers, and burned up their city, and said to his servants, the wedding is indeed ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go out there for unto the highways, and as many as ye shall find, gather into the marriage. So the servants went out, and collected together as many as they found, bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man not having on a wedding garment, and he said unto him, friend, how came this thou hither not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. Then said the king to his servant, take him away, hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are cold, but few are chosen. Now, by these words of his, does the Lord clearly show all these points, vis that there is one king and lord, the father of all, of whom he had previously said, neither shall thou swear by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king, and that he had from the beginning prepared the marriage for his son, and used with the utmost kindness to call, by the instrumentality of his servants, the men of the former dispensation to the wedding feast. And when they would not obey, he still invited them by sending out other servants, yet that even then they did not obey him, but even stoned and slew those who brought them the message of invitation. He accordingly sent forth his armies and destroyed them, and burned down their city. But he called them together from all the highways, that is from all nations, guests to the marriage feast of his son. As also he says by Jeremiah, I have sent also unto you, my servants, the prophets, to say, return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings. And again, he says by the same prophet, I have also sent unto you, my servants, the prophets, throughout the day and before the light. Yet they did not obey me, nor incline their ears unto me, and thou shall speak this word to them. This is a people that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord, nor receiveth correction, faith has perished from their mouth. The Lord therefore, who has called us everywhere by the apostles, is he who called those of old by the prophets, as appears by the words of the Lord. And although they preached to various nations, the prophets were not from one God, and the apostles from another, but proceeding from one and the same. Some of them announced the Lord, others preached the Father, and others again foretold the advent of the Son of God, while yet others declared him as already present to those who were then afar off. Six. Still further did he also make it manifest that we ought, after our calling, to be also adorned with works of righteousness, so that the Spirit of God may rest upon us, for this is the wedding garment of which the apostle speaks. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by immortality. But those who have indeed been called to God's supper, yet have not received the Holy Spirit because of their wicked conduct, shall be, he declares, cast into outer darkness. He thus clearly shows that the very same king, who gathered from all quarters the faithful to the marriage of his son, and who grants them the incorruptible banquet, also orders that man to be cast into outer darkness, who has not on a wedding garment, that is, one who despises it. For as in the former covenant, with many of them, was he not well pleased? So also is it the case here that many are called, but few chosen. It is not then one God who judges, and another Father who calls us together to salvation, nor one forsooth who confers eternal light, but another who orders that those who have not on the wedding garment to be sent into outer darkness. But it is one and the same God, the Father of our Lord, from whom also the prophets had their mission, who does indeed through his infinite kindness call the unworthy. But he examines those who are called to ascertain if they have on the garment fit and proper for the marriage of his son, because nothing unbecoming or evil pleases him. This is in accordance with what the Lord said to the man who had been healed. Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. For he who is good and righteous and pure and spotless will endure nothing evil nor unjust nor detestable in his wedding chamber. This is the Father of our Lord, by whose providence all things consist and all are administered by his command, and he confers his free gifts upon those who should receive them. But the most righteous Retributor meets out punishment according to their deserts, most deservedly to the ungrateful and to those that are insensible of his kindness, and therefore does he say he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. He says here, his armies, because all men are the property of God, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein. Wherefore also the apostle Paul says in the epistle to the Romans, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive unto themselves condemnation. For rulers are not a terror to a good work, but to an evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, the Avenger, for wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience's sake, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Both the Lord then and the apostles announces the one only God, the Father, him who gave the law, who sent the prophets, who made all things, and therefore does he say he sent his armies, because every man and as much as he is a man is his workmanship, although he may be ignorant of his God. For he gives existence to all, he who maketh his son to rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and unjust. Seven, and not alone by what has been stated, but also by the parable of the two sons, the younger of whom consumed his substance by living luxuriously with harlots, did the Lord teach one and the same Father, who did not even allow a kid to his elder son. But for him who had been lost, namely his younger son, he ordered the fatted calf to be killed, and he gave him the best robe. Also by the parable of the workmen, who were sent into the vineyard at different periods of the day, one and the same God is declared as having called some in the beginning, when the world was first created, but others afterwards, and others during the intermediate period, others after a long lapse of time, but others again, in the end of time. So that there are many workmen in their generations, but only one householder who calls them together. For there is but one vineyard, since there is also but one righteousness, and one dispensator, for there is one Spirit of God who arranges all things, and in like manner is there one hire, for they all receive to penny each man, having stamped upon it the royal image and superscription the knowledge of the Son of God, which is immortality. And therefore he began by giving the hire to those who were engaged last, because in the last times, when the Lord was revealed, he presented himself to all as their reward. Eight. Then in the case of the publican who excelled the Pharisee in prayer, we find that it was not because he worshipped another father that he received testimony from the Lord that he was justified rather than the other, but because with great humility, apart from all boasting and pride, he made confession to the same God. The parable of the two sons also, those who were sent into the vineyard, of whom one indeed opposed his father, but afterwards repented, when repentance profited him nothing. The other, however, promised to go at once, assuring his father, but he did not go, for every man is a liar. To will is present with him, but he finds not means to perform. This parable, I say, points out one and the same father. Then again, this truth was clearly shown forth by the parable of the fig tree, of which the Lord says, Behold, now these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, but I find none, pointing onwards by the prophets to his advent, by which he came from time to time, seeking the fruit of righteousness from them, which he did not find. And also by the circumstance that, for the reason already mentioned, the fig tree should be hewn down. And without using a parable, the Lord said to Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate. For that which had been said in the parable, Behold, for three years I come seeking fruit, and in clear terms again when he says, How often would I have gathered thy children together? Shall be found a falsehood if we do not understand his advent, which is announced by the prophets, if in fact he came to them but once, and then for the first time. But since he who chose the patriarchs and those who lived under the first covenant is the same word of God, who did both visit them through the prophetic spirit and us also, who have been called together from all quarters by his advent, in addition to what has already been said, he truly declared, Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If then, those who do believe in him through the preaching of his apostles throughout the east and west shall recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, partaking with them of the heavenly banquet, one and the same God is set forth as he who did indeed choose the patriarchs, visited also the people and called the Gentiles. End of book 4, chapter 36. Recording by Adam Ullaman in Daily, Ayrshire in Scotland. Chapters 37 through 38 of Irenaeus against Heresies, book 4. 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 Adam Ullaman. Irenaeus against Heresies, book 4. Translated by Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rombo. Chapter 37. Men are possessed of free will and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true therefore that some are by nature good and others bad. 1. This expression of our Lord, how often would I have gathered thy children together and thou wouldest not, set forth the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free agent from the beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey the behests, ad utendim sententia, of God voluntarily and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will towards us is present with him continually, and therefore does he give good counsel to all. And in man, as well as in angels, he has placed the power of choice for angels are rational beings, so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves. On the other hand, they who have not obeyed shall with justice be not found in possession of the good, and shall receive condine punishment. For God did kindly bestow on them what was good, but they themselves did not diligently keep it, nor deem it something precious, but poured contempt upon his supereminent goodness. Rejecting therefore the good, and as it were spewing it out, they shall all deservedly incur the just judgment of God, which also the apostle Paul testifies in his epistle to the Romans, where he says, But thus thou despise the riches of his goodness, and patience and longsuffering, being ignorant that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. But glory and honor, he says, to everyone that doeth good. God therefore has given that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this epistle, and they who work it shall receive glory and honor, because they have done that which is good when they had it in their power not to do it. But those who do it not shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good when they had it in their power so to do. Two. But if some had been made by nature bad and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good for such where they created, nor would the former be reprehensible for thus they were made originally. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to hold fast and to do what is good, and on the other hand having also the power to cast it from them and not to do it. Some do justly receive praise even among men who are under the control of good laws and much more from God, and obtain deserved testimony of their choice of good in general, and of persevering therein. But the others are blamed and receive a just condemnation because of their rejection of what is fair and good, and therefore the prophets used to exhort men to what was good, to act justly and to work righteousness, as I have so largely demonstrated, because it is in our power so to do, and because by excessive negligence we might become forgetful and thus stand in need of that good counsel which the good God has given us to know by means of the prophets. Three. For this reason the Lord also said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven, and take heed to yourselves lest, perchance, your hearts be overcharged with surfacing and drunkenness in worldly cares, and let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord when he returns from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open to him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. And again, the servant who knows his Lord's will and does it not shall be beaten with many stripes. And, why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. And again, but if the servant say in his heart the Lord delayeth and begin to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect him and shall cut him in sunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time, the counsel which God conveys to him by which he exhorts us to submit ourselves to him and seeks to turn us away from the sin of unbelief against him without, however, in any way coercing us. No doubt, if anyone is unwilling to follow the gospel itself, it is in his power to reject it, but it is not expedient. For it is in man's power to disobey God and to forfeit what is good, but such conduct brings no small amount of injury and mischief. And on this account, Paul says, All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. Referring both to the liberty of man in which respect all things are lawful, God exercising no compulsion in regard to him, and by the expression of expedient pointing out that we should not use our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, for this is not expedient. And again he says, Speak ye every man truth with his neighbour, and let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor scurrility which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. And, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk honestly as children of the light not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in anger and jealousy, and such were some of you, but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified in the name of our Lord. If then it were not in our power to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle and much more the Lord himself to give us counsel to do some things and to abstain from others? But because man is possessed of free will from the beginning and God is possessed of free will in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good which thing is done by means of obedience to God. Five, and not merely in works, but also in faith has God preserved the will of man free and under his own control saying according to thy faith be it unto thee. Thus showing that there is a faith that is truly belonging to man since he has an opinion, especially his own. And again all things are possible to him that believeth, and go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Now all such expressions demonstrate that man is in his own power with respect to faith and for this reason he that believeth in him has eternal life while he who believeth not the faith. In the same manner therefore the Lord both showing his own goodness and indicating that man is in his own free will and his own power said to Jerusalem, how often have I wished to gather thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not. Wherefore, your house shall be left unto you desolate. But ye shall not obtain the opposite to these conclusions to themselves present the Lord as destitute of power as if forsooth he were unable to accomplish what he willed or on the other hand as being ignorant that they were by nature material as these men express it and such as cannot receive his immortality. But he should not say they have created angels of such a nature that they were capable of transgression and that things are rational or of merely animal nature which can do nothing of their own will but are drawn by necessity and compulsion to what is good in which things there is one mind and one usage, working mechanically in one groove in flexibilase et sine eudicio who are incapable of being anything else except just what they have been created. But upon this supposition neither would what is good to them nor communion with God be precious, nor would the good be very much to be sought after which would present itself without their own proper endeavor, care or study but would be implanted of its own accord and without their concern. Thus it would come to pass that there being good would be of no consequence because they were so by nature rather than by will and are possessors of good spontaneously not by choice nor would they take pleasure in it. For how can those who are ignorant of good enjoy it? Or what credit is it to those who have not aimed at it? And what crown is it to those who have not followed in pursuit of it like those victorious in the contest? Seven. On this account too did the Lord assert that the kingdom of heaven was the portion of the violent and he says the violent take it by force that is those who by strength are in the moment. On this account also Paul the apostle says to the Corinthians no ye not that they who run in a race course do all indeed run but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may obtain everyone also who engages in the contest is temperate in all things now these men do it that they may obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible but I so run not as uncertainty I fight not as one beating the air but I make my body livid into subjection less by any means when preaching to others I may myself be rendered a cast away. This able wrestler therefore exhorts us to the struggle for immortality that we may be crowned and may deem the crown precious namely that which is acquired by our struggle and which does not encircle us of its own accord said non-ultro koalitam and the harder we strive so much is it the more valuable while so much the more valuable it is so much the more should we esteem it and indeed those things are not esteemed so highly which comes spontaneously as those which are reached by much anxious care since then this power has been conferred upon us both the Lord has taught and the apostle has enjoined us the more to love God that we may reach this prize for ourselves by striving after it for otherwise no doubt this our good would be virtually irrational because not the result of trial moreover the faculty of seeing would not appear to be so desirable unless we had known what a lost were to be devoid of sight and health too is rendered all the more estimable by an acquaintance with disease light also by contrasting it with darkness and life with death just in the same way is the heavenly kingdom honorable to those who have known the earthly one but in proportion as it is more honorable so much the more do we prize it and if we have prized it more we shall be the more glorious in the presence of God the Lord has therefore endured all these things on our behalf in order that we having been instructed by means of them all may be in all respects circumspect for the time to come and that having been rationally taught to love God we may continue in his perfect love for God has displayed long suffering and mercy while man has been instructed by means of it as also the prophet says thine own apostasy shall heal thee God thus determining all things beforehand for the bringing of man to perfection for his edification and for the revelation of his dispensations that goodness may both be made apparent and righteousness perfected and that the church may be fashioned after the image of his son and that man may finally be brought to maturity at some future time and ripe through such privileges to see and comprehend God chapter 38 why man was not made perfect from the beginning 1 if however anyone say what then could not God have exhibited man as perfect from beginning let him know that in as much as God is indeed always the same and unbegotten as respects himself all things are possible to him but created things must be inferior from the very fact of their later origin for it was not possible for things recently created to have been uncreated but in as much as they are not uncreated for this very reason do they come short of the perfect because as these things are of later date so are they infantile so are they unaccustomed to and unexercised in perfect discipline for as it certainly is in the power of a mother to give strong food to her infant but she does not do so yet so also was it possible for God himself to have made man perfect from the first but man could not receive this perfection being as yet an infant and for this cause our Lord in these last times when he had summed up all things into himself came to us not as he might have come but as we were capable of beholding him he might easily have come to us in his immortal glory but in that case we could never endured the greatness of the glory and therefore it was that he who was the perfect bread of the Father offered himself to us as milk because we were as infants he did this when he appeared as a man that we being nourished as it were from the breast of his flesh and having by such a course of milk nourishment become accustomed to eat and drink the word of God may be able also to contain in ourselves the bread of immortality and on this account as Paul declared to the Corinthians I have fed you with milk not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it that is you have indeed learned the advent of our Lord as a man nevertheless because of your infirmity the spirit of the Father has not as yet rested upon you for when envying and strife he says and ascensions are among you are you not carnal and walk as men that is that the spirit of the Father was not yet with them on account of their imperfection and shortcomings of their walk in life as therefore the apostle had the power to give them strong meat for those upon whom the apostle laid hands received the Holy Spirit who is the food of life eternal but they were not capable of receiving it because they had the sentient faculties of the soul still feeble and undisciplined in the practice of things pertaining to God so in like manner God had power at the beginning to give affection to man but as the latter was only recently created he could not possibly have received it or even if he had received it he could not have contained it or containing it he could not have retained it it is for this reason that the Son of God although he was perfect passed through the state of infancy in common with the rest of mankind partaking of it thus not for his own benefit but for that of the infantile stage of man's existence in order that man might be able to have the possible two and a deficient in God implied in the fact that man was not an uncreated being but this merely applied to him who was lately created namely man three with God there are simultaneously exhibited power, wisdom and goodness his power and goodness appear in this that of his own will he called into being and fashioned things having no previous existence his wisdom is shown which through his super-eminent kindness receive growth and a long period of existence do reflect the glory of the uncreated one of that God who bestows what is good ungrudgingly for from the very fact of these things having been created it follows that they are not uncreated but by their continuing in being throughout a long course of ages they shall receive a faculty of the uncreated through the gratuitous bestowal of eternal existence upon them by God as God has the preeminence who alone is uncreated the first of all things and the primary cause of the existence of all while all other things remain under God's subjection but being in subjection to God is continuance in immortality and immortality is the glory of the uncreated one by this arrangement therefore in these harmonies and a sequence of this nature man a created and organized being of the uncreated God the father planning everything well and giving his commands the son carrying these into execution and performing the work of creating and the spirit nourishing and increasing what is made but the man making progress day by day and ascending towards the perfect that is approximating to the uncreated one for the uncreated is perfect that is God now it was necessary that man should in the first instance be created and having been created should receive growth and having received growth should be strengthened and having been strengthened should abound and having abounded should recover from the disease of sin and having recovered should be glorified and being glorified should see his Lord for God is he who is yet to be seen and the beholding of God is productive of immortality renders one nigh and to God for irrational therefore in every respect are they who await not the time of increase but ascribe to God the infirmity of their nature such persons no need of God nor themselves being insatiable and ungrateful and willing to be at the outset what they have also been created men subject to passions but go beyond the law of the human race and before that they become men like God their creator and they who are more destitute of reason than dumb animals insist that there is no distinction between the uncreated God and man a creature of today for these the dumb animals bring no charge against God for not having made them men but each one just as he has been created gives thanks that he has been created for we cast blame upon him because we have not been made Gods from the beginning but at first we were left with Gods although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence that no one may impute to him invidiousness or grudgingness he declares I have said ye are Gods and ye are all sons of the highest but since we could not sustain the power of divinity he adds but ye shall die like men setting forth both truths the kindness of his free gift and our weakness and also that we were possessed for after his great kindness he graciously conferred good upon us and made men like to himself that is in their own power while at the same time by his prescience he knew the infirmity of human beings and the consequences which would flow from it but through his love and his power he shall overcome the substance of created nature for it was necessary at first that nature should be exhibited then after that and the corruptible by incorruptibility and that man should be made after the image and likeness of God having received the knowledge of good and evil End of Book 4 Chapters 37-38 Recording by Adam Ulliman in daily South Ayrshire, Scotland Chapters 39-41 of Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4 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 Marian Martin Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4 Translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rombo Chapter 39 Man is endowed with a faculty of distinguishing good and evil so that without compulsion he has the power by his own will and choice to perform God's commandments by doing which he awards the evils prepared for the rebellious Man has received the knowledge of good and evil it is good to obey God and to believe in him and to keep his commandment and this is the life of man as not to obey God is evil and this is his death since God therefore gave to man such mental power man knew both the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience that the eye of the mind receiving experience of both may with judgment make choice of the better things and that he may never become indolent or neglectful of God's command and learning by experience that it is an evil thing which deprives him of life that is disobedience to God may never attempted at all but that knowing that which preserves his life to God is good he may diligently keep it with all earnestness wherefore he has also had a two fold experience possessing knowledge of both kinds that with discipline he may make choice of the better things but how if he had no knowledge of the contrary could he have had instruction in that which is good for there is also sure and an undoubted comprehension of matters submitted to us for just as the tongue receives experience of sweet and bitter by means of tasting and the eye discriminates between black and white by means of vision and the ear recognises the distinctions of sounds by hearing so also does the mind receiving through the experience of both the knowledge of what is good become more tenacious of its preservation by acting in obedience to God by place casting away by means of repentance disobedience as being something disagreeable and nauseous and afterwards coming to understand what it really is that it is contrary to goodness and sweetness so that the mind may never even attempt to taste disobedience to God but if anyone do shun the knowledge of both these kinds of things and the two fold perception of knowledge he unawares divests himself as a protector of a human being how then shall he be a God who has not as yet been made a man or how can he be perfect who was but lately created how again can he be mortal who in his mortal nature did not obey his maker for it must be that thou at the outset should just hold the rank of a man and then afterwards partake of the glory of God for thou it does not make God but God thee if then thou art God's workmanship await the hand of thy maker which creates everything in due time in due time as far as thou art concerned whose creation is being carried out offer to him thy heart in a soft and tractable state and preserve the form in which the creator has fashioned thee having moisture in thyself lest by becoming hardened thou lose the impressions of his fingers preserving the framework thou shalt ascend to that which is perfect for the moist clay which is in thee is hidden there by the workmanship of God his hand fashion thy substance he will cover thee over to within and without with pure gold and silver and he will adorn thee to such a degree that even the king himself shall have pleasure in thy beauty but if thou being obstinately hardened dost reject the operation of his skill and show thyself ungrateful towards him because thou art created a mere man by becoming thus ungrateful to God thou hast at once lost both his workmanship and life for creation is an attribute of the goodness of God but to be created is that of human nature if then thou shalt deliver up to him what is thine that is faith towards him and subjection of his handy work and shall be a perfect work of God if however thou wilt not believe in him and wilt flee from his hands the cause of imperfection shall be in thee who deserts not obey but not in him who called thee for he commissioned messengers to call people to their marriage but they who did not obey him deprive themselves of the royal supper the skill of God therefore is not defective for he has power of the stones to raise up children to Abraham but the man who does not obtain it is the cause to himself of his own imperfection nor in light manner does the light fail because of those who have blinded themselves but while it remains the same as ever those who are thus blinded are involved in darkness through their own fault the light does never enslave anyone by necessity nor again does God exercise compulsion upon anyone unwilling to accept the exercise of his skill those persons therefore who have apostatised from the light given by the Father and transgressed the law of liberty have done so through their own fault since they have been created free agents and possessed of power over themselves but God for knowing all things prepared fit habitations for both kindly conferring that light which they desire on those who seek after the light of incorruption but for the despisers and mockers who avoid and turn themselves away from this light and who do as it were blind themselves he has prepared darkness suitable to persons who oppose the light and he has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to him submission to God is eternal rest so that they who shone the light have a place worthy of their flight and those who fly from eternal rest have a habitation in accordance with their fleeing now since all good things are with God they who by their own determination fly from God do defraud themselves of all good things and having been thus defrauded of all good things with respect to God they shall consequently fall under the just judgment of God for those persons who shone rest shall justly incur punishment and those who avoid the light shall justly dwell in darkness for as in the case of this temporal light those who shone it do deliver themselves over to darkness so that they do themselves become the cause to themselves that they are destitute of light and do inhabit darkness and as I have already observed the light is not the cause of such an unhappy condition of existence to them so those who fly from the eternal light of God which contains in itself all good things are themselves the cause to themselves of their inhabiting eternal darkness having become to themselves the cause of their consignment to an abode of that nature chapter 40 one and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate and bestows rewards on the elect it is therefore one and the same God the Father who has prepared good things with himself for those who desire his fellowship and who remain in subjection to him and who has the eternal fire for the ringleader of the apostasy the devil and those who revolted with him into which fire the Lord has declared those men shall be sent who have been set apart by themselves on his left hand and this is what has been spoken by the prophet I am a jealous God making peace and creating evil things thus making peace and friendship with those who repent and turn to him and bringing them to unity those who shun the light eternal fire and outer darkness which are evils indeed to those persons who fall into them if however it were truly one Father who confers rest and another God who has prepared the fire their sons would have been equally different one from the other one indeed sending men into the Father's kingdom but the other into eternal fire but in as much as one and the same Lord has pointed out that the whole human race shall be divided at the judgment as a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats and that to some he will say come ye blessed of my Father receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you but to others depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels one and the same Father is manifestly declared in his passage making peace and creating evil things preparing fit things for both as also there is one judge sending both into a fit place as the Lord sets forth in the parable of the tears and the wheat where he says as therefore the tears are gathered together and burned in the fire so shall it be at the end of the world the son of man shall send his angels and they shall gather from his kingdom everything that offends of and those who work iniquity and shall send them into a furnace of fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth then shall the just shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their Father the Father therefore who has prepared the kingdom for the righteous into which the son has received those worthy of it is he who has also prepared the furnace of fire into which these angels commissioned by the son of man shall send those persons who deserve it according to God's command the Lord indeed sowed good seed in his own field and he says the field is the world but while men slept the enemy came and sowed tears in the midst of the wheat and went his way hence we learn that this was the apostate angel and the enemy because he was envious of God's workmanship and took in hand to render this workmanship and enmity with God for this cause also God has banished from his presence him who did of his own accord that is him who brought about the transgression but he took compassion upon man who through want of care no doubt but still wickedly on the part of another became involved in disobedience and he turned the enmity by which the devil had designed to make man the enemy of God against the author of it by removing his own anger from man turning it in another direction and sending it instead upon the serpent as also the scripture tells us the serpent and I will place enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed he shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel and the Lord summed up in himself this enmity when he was made man from a woman and tried upon his the serpent's head as I have pointed out in the preceding book Chapter 41 those persons who do not believe in God but who are disobedient are angels and sons of the devil but by mutation close of this book and scope of the succeeding one in as much as the Lord has said that there are certain angels theirs those of the devil for whom eternal fire is prepared and as again he declared with regard to the tears the tears of the children of the wicked one it must be affirmed that he has ascribed all who are of the apostasy to him who is the ringleader of this transgression by nature for we do not find that the devil created anything whatsoever since indeed he is himself a creature of God like the other angels for God made all things as also David says with regard to all things of the kind for he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created since therefore all things were made by God and since the devil has become only does the scripture always term those who remain in a state of apostasy sons of the devil and angels of the wicked one for the word son as one before me has observed has a two fold meaning one is a son in the order of nature because he was born a son the other in that he was made so is reputed a son although there be a difference between being born so and being made so being born from the person referred to but the second is made so by him whether as respect his creation or by the teaching of his doctrine for when any person has been taught from the mouth of another he is termed the son of him who instructs him and the latter is called his father according to nature then that is according to creation so to speak we are all sons of God because we have all been created by God we are all sons of God those only are so who believe in him and do his will and those who do not believe and do not obey his will are sons and angels of the devil because they do the works of the devil and that such is the case he has declared in Isaiah I have begotten and brought up children but they have rebelled against me and again where he says that these children are aliens strange children have lied unto me according to nature then they are his children because they have been so created but with regard to their works they are not his children for as among men those sons who disobey their fathers being disinherited are still their sons in the course of nature but by law are disinherited for they do not become the heirs of their natural parents so in the same ways that with God those who do not obey him have ceased to be his sons wherefore they cannot receive his inheritance as David says sinners are alienated from the womb their anger is after the likeness of a serpent and therefore did the Lord turn those whom he knew to be the offspring of men a generation of vipers because after the manner of these animals they go about in subtlety and injure others for he said beware of the leaven who sees speaking of Herod too he says go ye and tell that fox aiming at his wicked cunning and deceit wherefore the prophet David says man being placed in honour is made like unto cattle and again Jeremiah says they have become like horses furious about females each one made after his neighbour's wife and Isaiah when preaching in Judea and reasoning with Israel the rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah intimating that they were like the Sodomites in wickedness and that the same description of sins was rife among them calling them by the same name because of the similarity of their conduct and inasmuch as they were not by nature so created by God but had power also to act rightly the same person said to them giving them good counsel wash ye, make you clean your own eyes cease from your iniquities thus no doubt since they had transgressed and sinned in the same manner so did they receive the same reproof as did the Sodomites but when they should be converted and come to repentance and cease from evil they should have power to become the sons of God and to receive the inheritance of immortality which is given by him for this reason therefore a wicked one who give heed to the devil and do his works but these are at the same time all created by the one and the same God when however they believe and are subject to God and go on and keep his doctrine they are the sons of God but when they have apostatized and fallen into transgression they are ascribed to their chief the devil to him who first became the cause of apostasy to himself and ordered numerous while they all proclaimed one and the same father the creator of this world it was incumbent also upon me for their own sake to refute by many arguments those who were involved in many eras if by any means when they are confuted by many proofs they may be converted to the truth and saved but it is necessary to subjoin to this composition of God to examine the opinion of this man and expound the apostle and to explain what so ever passages have received other interpretations from the heretics who have all together misunderstood what Paul has spoken and to point out the folly of their mad opinions and to demonstrate from that same Paul from whose writings they press questions upon us that they are indeed utterers of falsehood but that the apostle was a preacher of the truth or to the preaching of the truth to the effect that it was one God the father who spake with Abraham who gave the law who sent the prophets beforehand who in the last time sent his son and conferred salvation upon his own handiwork that is the substance of flesh arranging then in another book the rest of the words of the Lord which he taught concerning the father not by parables but by expressions taken in their obvious meaning said Simplicidad ypsis dictionables and the exposition of the epistles of the blessed apostle I shall with God's aid furnishly with the complete work of the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called thus practicing myself and thee in these five books for presenting our position to all heretics end of book four chapters thirty nine through forty one preface through chapter three of Irenaeus against heresies book five 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 Gord Mitchell Irenaeus against heresies book five by Alexander Roberts and WH Rombo preface in the four preceding books my very dear friend which I put forth to thee all the heretics have been exposed and their doctrines brought to light and these men refuted who have devised irreligious opinions I have accomplished this by adusing something from the doctrine peculiar to each of these men which they have left in their writings as well as by using arguments of their general nature and applicable to them all then I have pointed out the truth and shown the preaching of the church which the prophets proclaimed as I have already demonstrated but which Christ brought to perfection and the apostles have handed down from whom the church receiving these truths and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their integrity Bene has transmitted them to her sons then also having disposed of all questions which the heretics proposed to us and having explained the doctrine of the apostles and clearly set forth many of those things which were said and done by the Lord in parables I shall endeavor in this the fifth book of the entire work which treats of the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called to exhibit proofs of the Lord's doctrine and the apostolic epistles thus complying with thy demand as thou didst request of me since indeed I have been assigned a place in the ministry of the word and laboring by every means in my power to furnish thee with large assistance against the contradictions of the heretics and also to reclaim the wanderers and convert them to the church of God to confirm at the same time the minds of the neophytes that they may preserve steadfast the faith which they have received guarded by the church in its integrity in order that they be in no way perverted by those who endeavor to teach them false doctrines and lead them away from the truth it will be incumbent upon thee however and all who may happen to read this writing to peruse with great attention what I have already said that thou mayst obtain a knowledge of the subjects against which I am contending for it is thus that thou wilt both controvert them in a legitimate manner and wilt be able to prepare to receive the proofs brought forward against them casting away their doctrines as filth by means of the celestial faith but following the only true and steadfast teacher the word of God our Lord Jesus Christ who did through his transcendent love become what we are that he might bring us to be even what he is himself Chapter 1 Christ alone is able to teach divine things and to redeem us he the same took flesh of the Virgin Mary not merely in appearance but actually by the operation of the Holy Spirit in order to renovate us strictures on the conceits of Valentine's and Ebian 1 for in no other way could we have learned the things of God unless our master existing as the word had become man for no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father except his own proper word for what other person knew the mind of the Lord or who else has become his counselor again we could have learned in no other way than by seeing our teacher and hearing his voice with our own ears that having become imitators of his works as well as doers of his words we may have communion with him receiving increase from the perfect one and from him who is prior to all creation we who were but lately created by the only best and good being by him also who has the gift of immortality having been formed by the likeness predestinated according to the prescience of the Father that we who had as yet no existence might come into being and made the first fruits of creation have received in the times known beforehand the blessings of salvation according to the ministration of the word who is perfect in all things as the mighty word and very man who redeeming us by his own blood in a manner consonant to reason gave himself as a redemption for those who had been led into captivity and since the apostasy tyrannized over us unjustly and though we were by nature the property of the omnipotent God alienated us contrary to nature rendering us its own disciples the word of God powerful in all things and not defective with regard to his own justice against that apostasy and redeem from it his own property not by violent means as the apostasy had obtained dominion over us at the beginning when it insatiably snatched away what was not its own but by means of persuasion as became a God of counsel who does not use violent means to obtain what he desires so that neither should justice be infringed upon nor the ancient handy work of God since the Lord thus has redeemed us through his own blood giving his soul for our souls and his flesh for our flesh and has also poured out the spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man imparting indeed God to men by means of the spirit and on the other hand attaching man to God by his own incarnation and bestowing upon us namely, jurably and truly by means of communion with God all the doctrines of the heretics fall to ruin too vain indeed are those who allege that he appeared in mere seeming for these things were not done in appearance only but in actual reality but if he did appear as a man when he was not a man neither could the Holy Spirit an occurrence which did actually take place as the spirit is invisible nor in that case was there any degree of truth in him for he was not that which he seemed to be but I have already remarked that Abraham and the other prophets beheld him after a prophetical manner for telling in vision what should come to pass if then such a being has now appeared in outward semblance different from what he was there has been a certain prophetical vision made to men and another advent of his must be looked forward to in which he shall be such as he has now been seen in a prophetic manner and I have proved already that it is the same thing to say that he appeared merely to outward seeming and to affirm that he received nothing from Mary for he would not have been one truly possessing flesh and blood unless he had summed up in himself the ancient formation of Adam Vayne therefore are the disciples of Valentinus who put forth this opinion in order that they may exclude the flesh from salvation and cast aside what God has fashioned three Vayne also are the ebionites who do not receive by faith into their soul the union of God and man but who remain in the old leaven and who do not choose to understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary and the power of the Most High did overshadow her wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing and the Son of the Most High God the Father of all who affected the incarnation of this being and showed forth a new kind of generation that as by the former generation we inherited death so by this new generation we might inherit life therefore do these men reject the co-mixture of the heavenly wine and wish it to be water of the world only not receiving God so as to have union with him but they remain in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from paradise not considering that as at the beginning of our formation in Adam that breath of life which proceeded from God having been united to what had been fashioned and animated the man and manifested him as being endowed with reason so also in the times of the end the word of the Father and the spirit of God having become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation rendered man living and perfect receptive of the perfect Father in order that as in the natural Adam we all were dead so in the spiritual we may all be made alive for never at any time did Adam escape the hands of God to whom the Father speaking said let us make man in our image after our likeness and for this reason in the last times not by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man but by the good pleasure of the Father his hands formed a living man in order that Adam might be created again after the image and likeness of God Chapter 2 when Christ visited us in his grace he did not come to what did not belong to him also by shedding his true blood for us and exhibiting to us his true flesh in the Eucharist he conferred upon our flesh the capacity of salvation 1. and vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things which did not belong to him as if covetous of another's property in order that he might deliver up that man who had been created by another to that God who had neither made nor formed anything but who also was deprived from the beginning of his own proper formation of men the advent therefore of him whom these men represent as coming to the things of others was not righteous nor did he truly redeem us by his own blood if he did not really become man restoring to his own handiwork what was said of it in the beginning that man was made after the image and likeness of God not snatching away by stratagem the property of another but taking possession of his own in a righteous and gracious manner as far as concerned the apostasy indeed he redeems us righteously from it but as regards us who have been redeemed he does this graciously for we have given nothing to him previously nor does he desire anything from us as if he stood in need of it but we do stand in need of fellowship with him and for this reason it was that he graciously poured himself out that he might gather us into the bosom of the Father too but vain in every respect may he who despise the entire dispensation of God and disallow the salvation of the flesh and treat with contempt its regeneration maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption but if this indeed does not attain salvation then neither did the Lord redeem us with his blood nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of his blood nor the bread which we break the communion of his body and flesh and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man such as the word of God was actually made by his own blood he redeemed us as also his Apostle declares in whom we have redemption through his blood even the remission of sins and as we are his members we are also nourished by means of the creation and he himself grants the creation to us he has acknowledged the cup which is a part of the creation as his own blood from which he bedews our blood and the bread also a part of the creation he has established as his own body from which he gives increase to our bodies 3 when therefore the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the word of God and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God which is life eternal which flesh is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord and is a member of him even as the blessed Paul declares in his epistle to the Ephesians that we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones he is some spiritual and invisible man for a spirit has not bones nor flesh but he refers to that dispensation by which the Lord became an actual man consisting of flesh and nerves and bones that flesh which is nourished by the cup which is his blood and receives increase from the bread which is his body and just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season falling into the earth and becoming decomposed rises with manifold increase by the spirit of God who contains all things and then through the wisdom of God serves for the use of men and having received the word of God becomes the Eucharist which is the body and blood of Christ so also our bodies being nourished by it and deposited in the earth and suffering decomposition there shall rise at their appointed time the word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God even the Father who freely gives to this mortal immortality and to this corruptible incorruption because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness in order that we may never become puffed up as if we had life from ourselves and exalted against God our minds becoming ungrateful but learning by experience that we possess eternal duration from the excelling power not from our own nature we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as he is nor be ignorant of our own nature but that we may know what God can effect and what benefits man receives and thus never wonder from the true comprehension of things as they are that is both with regard to God and with regard to man and might it not be the case perhaps as I have already observed that for this purpose God permitted our resolution into the common dust of mortality that we being instructed by every mode may be accurate in all things for the future being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves Chapter 3 The power and glory of God shine forth in the weakness of human flesh as he will render our body a participator of the resurrection and of immortality although he has formed it from the dust of the earth he will also bestow upon it the enjoyment of immortality just as he grants it this short life in common with the soul One the apostle Paul has moreover in the most lucid manner pointed out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity lest being uplifted he might fall away from the truth thus he says in the second epistle to the Corinthians and lest I should be lifted up by the sublimity of the revelations there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me and upon this I besought the lord three times that it might depart from me but he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for strength is made perfect in weakness gladly therefore shall I rather glory in infirmities as Christ may dwell in me what therefore as some may exclaim did the lord wish in that case that his apostles should thus undergo buffeting and that he should endure such infirmity even so it was the word says it for strength is made perfect in weakness rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God for how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being and mortal by nature but that God is immortal and powerful unless he had learned by experience what is in both for there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance yea rather it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature non aberrari in natura sua but the being lifted up against God and taking his glory to oneself rendering man ungrateful has brought much evil upon him and thus I say man must learn both things by experience that he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his creator but the experience of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man and increases his love toward God now where there exists an increase of love there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love him too those men therefore set aside the power of God and do not consider what the word declares when they dwell upon the infirmity of the flesh but do not take into consideration the power of him who raises it up from the dead for if he does not vivify what is mortal and does not bring back the corruptible to incorruption he is not a God of power but that he is powerful in all these respects we ought to perceive from our origin in as much as God taking dust from the earth formed man and surely it is much more difficult and incredible from non-existent bones and nerves and veins and the rest of man's organization to bring it about that all this should be and to make man to integrate again that which had been created and then afterwards decomposed into earth for the reasons already mentioned having thus passed into those elements from which man who had no previous existence was formed for he who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was not just when he pleased shall much more reinstate again those who had a former existence when it is his will and that flesh shall also be found fit and capable of receiving the power of God which at the beginning received the skillful touches of God so that one part became the eye for seeing another the ear for hearing another the hand for feeling and working another the sinews stretched out everywhere and holding the limbs together another arteries and veins passages for the blood and the air another the various internal organs another the blood which is the bond of union between soul and body but why go on in this strain numbers would fail to express the multiplicity of parts in the human frame which was made in no other way than by the great wisdom of God but those things which partake of the skill and wisdom of God do also partake of his power three the flesh therefore is not destitute of participation in the constructive wisdom and power of God but if the power of him who is the bestower of life is made perfect in weakness that is in the flesh let them inform us when they maintain the incapacity of flesh to receive the life granted by God whether they do say these things as being living men in no part in life whatever they are at the present moment dead men and if they really are dead men how is it that they move about and speak and perform those other functions which are not the actions of the dead but of the living but if they are now alive and if their whole body partakes of life how can they venture the assertion that the flesh is not qualified to be a partaker of life when they do confess that they have life at the present moment just as if anybody were to take up a sponge full of water or a torch on fire and to declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water or the torch of the fire in this very manner do those men by alleging that they are alive and bear life about in their members contradict themselves afterwards when they represent these members as not being capable of receiving life but if the present temporal life which is of such an inferior nature to eternal life can nevertheless affect so much as to quicken our mortal members why should not eternal life being much more powerful than this vivify the flesh which has already held converse with and been accustomed to sustain life for that the flesh can really partake of life is shown from the fact of its being alive for it lives on as long as it is God's purpose it is manifest too that God has the power to confer life upon it in as much as he grants life to us who are in existence and therefore since the Lord has power to infuse life into what he has fashioned and since the flesh is capable of being quickened what remains to prevent its participation in incorruption which is a blissful and never ending life granted by God Preface through Chapter 3 Recording by Gordon Mitchell www.gordonsvoice.com Chapters 4 through 7 of Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5 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 J. A. Carter Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus Book 5 Translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambo Chapter 4 Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father besides the creator of the world for he must have been feeble and useless or else malignant and full of envy if he be either unable or unwilling to extend external life to our bodies One Those persons who feign the existence of another Father beyond the creator and who term him the good God do deceive themselves for they introduce him as a feeble, worthless and negligent being not to say malign and full of envy and as much as they affirm that our bodies are not quickened by him for when they say of things which it is manifest to all do remain immortal such as the spirit and the soul and such other things that they are quickened by the Father and in no different manner than by God granting life to it is abandoned by life they must either confess that this proves their Father to be weak and powerless or else envious and malignant for since the creator does even hear quicken our mortal bodies and promises them resurrection by the prophets as I have pointed out who in that case is shown to be more powerful, stronger or truly good whether is it the creator falsely so called he feigns to be the quickener of those things which are immortal by nature to which things life is always present by their very nature but he does not benevolently quicken those things which required his assistance that they might live but leaves them carelessly to fall under the power of death whether is it the case then that their Father does not bestow life upon them when he has the power of so doing or is it that he does not possess is because he cannot he is upon that supposition not a powerful being nor is he more perfect than the creator for the creator grants as we must perceive what he is unable to afford but if on the other hand it be that he does not grant this when he has the power of so doing then he is proved to be not a good but an envious and malignant Father if again they refer to any cause on account of which their Father does not impart life to bodies thus necessarily appear superior to the Father since it restrains him from the exercise of his benevolence and his benevolence will thus be proved weak on account of that cause which they bring forward now everyone must perceive that bodies are capable of receiving life for they live to the extent that God pleases that they should live and that being so the heretics cannot maintain that these bodies are utterly incapable of receiving life for any other cause those bodies which are capable of participating in life are not vivified their Father shall be the slave of necessity and that cause and not therefore a free agent having his will under his own control Chapter 5 the prolonged life of the ancients the translation of Elijah and of Enoch in their own bodies as well as the preservation of Jonah of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the midst of extreme peril are clear demonstrations to life eternal 1. In order to learn that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened period as long as it was God's good pleasure that they should flourish let these heretics read the scriptures and they will find that our predecessors advanced beyond 700, 800 and 900 years of age and that their bodies kept pace with the protracted length of their days and participated in life as long as God willed that they should live but why do I refer to these men when God was translated in the same body in which he did please him thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just Elijah too was caught up when he was yet in the substance of the natural form thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up for by means of the very same hands through which they were molded at the beginning Adam the hands of God had become a custom to set in order to rule and to sustain his own workmanship and to bring it in place it where they pleased where then was the first man placed in paradise certainly as the scripture declares and God planted a garden Paradisum eastward in Eden and there he placed the man whom he had formed and then afterwards when man proved disobedient to this world where for also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place for Paradis has been prepared for righteous man such as have the spirit in which place also Paul the apostle when he was caught up heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation of all things as a prelude to immortality anyone imagine it impossible that men should survive for such a length of time and that Elias was not caught up in the flesh but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot let him consider that Jonah when he had been cast into the deep and swallowed down into the whale's belly was by the command of God again thrown out safe upon the land and then again when Ananias, Azarias and Missael were cast into the furnace of fire seven fold heated as therefore the hand of God was present with them working out marvelous things in their case things impossible to be accomplished by man's nature what wonder was it if also in the case of those who were translated it performed something wonderful working in obedience to the will of God even the father now this is the son of God as the scripture represents Nebuchadnezzar the king as having said did not we cast three men bound in obedience to the fire and the fourth is like the son of God neither the nature of any created thing therefore nor the weakness of the flesh can prevail against the will of God for God is not subject to created things but created things to God and all things yield obedience to his will wherefore also the Lord declares things which are impossible with men are possible with God as therefore it might seem to the men of the present day who are ignorant of God's appointment to be a thing incredible and impossible that any man should live for such a number of years yet those who were before us did live to such an age and those who were translated do live as an earnest of the future length of days and as it might also appear impossible that from the whale's belly and from the fiery furnace men issued forth unheard yet they nevertheless did so led forth as it were by the hand of God for the purpose of declaring his power and also now although some not knowing the power and promise of God may oppose their own salvation deeming it impossible for God who raises up the dead to have power to confer upon them eternal duration yet the skepticism of men of this stamp shall not render the faithfulness of God of none effect Chapter 6 God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man consisting of body and soul in close union since the word of God of whom our bodies are and are termed the temples 1. Now God shall be glorified in his handiwork fitting it so as to be conformable to and modeled after his own son for by the hands of the Father that is by the Son and the Holy Spirit man and not merely a part of man was made in the likeness of God now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man but certainly not the man for the perfect man consists of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was molded after the image of God for this reason does the apostle declare we speak wisdom among them that are perfect terming those persons perfect who have received the spirit of God and who through the spirit of God do speak in all languages as he used himself also to speak in like manner we do also hear many brethren in the church who possess prophetic gifts of languages and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men and declare the mysteries of God whom also the apostle terms spiritual they being spiritual because they partake of the spirit and not because their flesh has been stripped off and taken away and because they have become purely spiritual for if anyone take away the substance of flesh that is of the handiwork of God and understand that which is purely spiritual such then would not be a spiritual of a man or the spirit of God but when the spirit here blended with the soul is united to God's handiwork the man is rendered spiritual and perfect because of the outpouring of the spirit and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God but if the spirit be wanting to the soul he who is such as indeed of an animal nature and being left carnal shall be an imperfect being possessing indeed the image of God in his formation leaving the similitude through the spirit and thus is this being imperfect thus also if anyone take away the image and set aside the handiwork it cannot then understand this as being a man but as either some part of a man as I have already said or as something else than a man for that flesh which has been molded is not a perfect man in itself but the body of a man and part of a man neither is the soul itself considered a part by itself the man is the soul of the man and part of a man neither is the spirit a man for it is called the spirit and not a man but the commingling and union of all these constitutes the perfect man and for this cause does the apostle explaining himself make it clear that the saved man is a complete man as well as a spiritual man speaking thus in the first epistle to the Thessalonians now the God of peace sanctify you perfect perfectos the spirit and soul and body be preserved whole without complaint to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ now what was his object in praying that these three that is soul body and spirit might be preserved to the coming of the Lord unless he was aware of the future reintegration and union of the three and that they should be heirs of one and the same salvation for this cause also he declares that those are the perfect who present unto the Lord the three component parts without offense those then are the perfect who have had the spirit of God remaining in them and have preserved their souls and bodies blameless holding fast the faith of God that is that faith which is directed toward God and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their neighbors too whence also he says that this handiwork is the temple of God thus declaring that God dwelleth in you if any man therefore will defile the temple of God him will God destroy for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the spirit dwells as also the Lord speaks in reference to himself destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up he spake this however it is said of the temple of his body to be a temple but even the temple of Christ saying thus to the Corinthians know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot he speaks these things not in reference to some other spiritual man for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do with an harlot but he declares our body that is the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity to be the members of Christ is the members of an harlot and for this reason he said if any man defile the temple of God him will God destroy how then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege the temple of God in which the spirit of the Father dwells and the members of Christ do not partake of salvation but are reduced to perdition also that our bodies are raised not from their own substance but by the power of God he says to the Corinthians now the body is not for fornication of the body but God hath both raised up the Lord and shall raise us up by his own power Chapter 7 in as much as Christ did rise in our flesh it follows that we shall be also raised in the same since the resurrection promised to us should not be referred to spirits naturally immortal but to bodies in themselves mortal one in the same manner therefore as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh and pointed out to his disciples and the opening in his side now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose from the dead so shall he also it is said raise us up by his own power and again to the Romans he says but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies what then are mortal bodies can they be souls nay for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies for God breathed into the face of man the breath of life and man became a living soul now the breath of life is an incorporeal thing and certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal therefore David says my soul also shall live to him just as if its substance were immortal neither on the other hand can they say that the spirit is the mortal body what therefore is there left to which we may apply the term mortal body unless it be the thing that was molded that is the flesh of which it is also said that God will vivify it for this it is which dies and is decomposed but not the soul or the spirit for to die is to lose vital power and become henceforth breathless inanimate and devoid of motion and to melt away into those component parts of which also it derived the commencement of its substance for this event happens neither to the soul for it is the breath of life or the spirit for the spirit is simple and not composite so that it cannot be decomposed and is itself the life of those who receive it we must therefore conclude that it is in reference to the flesh that death is mentioned which flesh after the soul's departure becomes breathless and inanimate and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken this then is what is mortal and it is this of which he also says he shall also quicken your mortal bodies and therefore in reference to it he says in the first epistle to the Corinthians so also is the resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption it rises in incorruption for he declares that which thou sowest cannot be quickened unless first it die too but what is that which like a grain of wheat is sown in the earth and decays unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth into which seeds are also cast and for this reason he said it is sown in dishonor it rises in glory for what is more ignoble than dead flesh or on the other hand what is more glorious than the same when it arises and partakes of incorruption it is sown in weakness it is raised in power in its own weakness certainly because since it is earth it goes to earth but it is quickened by the power of God who raises it from the dead it is sown an animal body he has taught beyond all doubt that such language was not used by him either with reference to the soul or to the spirit but to bodies that have become corpses for these are animal bodies that is bodies which partake of life which when they have lost they succumb to death then rising through the spirit's instrumentality they become spiritual bodies so that by the spirit they possess a perpetual life for now he says we know in part but then face to face and this it is which has been said also by Peter whom having not seen ye love in whom now also not seeing ye believe and believing ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable for our face shall see the face of the Lord and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable that is to say when it shall behold its own delight end of book 5 chapters 4 through 7 recording by J. A. Carter www.authenticlight.org