SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
Since, therefore, the Father is truly Lord, and the
Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by the title of Lord.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the
name, of God-both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is,
the Father.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
He of whom He has said, "God shall come openly, our
God, and shall not keep silence; " that is, the Son, who came manifested to men
who said, "I have openly appeared to those who seek Me not."
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
...no other is named as God, or is called Lord,
except Him who is God and Lord of all, who also said to Moses, "I AM That I AM.
And thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is, hath sent me unto
you; " and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who makes those that believe in His
name the sons of God. And again, when the Son speaks to Moses, He says, "I am
come down to deliver this people."
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
...so that He indeed who made all things can alone,
together with His Word, properly be termed God and Lord: but the things which
have been made cannot have this term applied to them, neither should they justly
assume that appellation which belongs to the Creator.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
...the prophets and the apostles confessing the
Father and the Son; but naming no other as God
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
...they showed, by these gifts which they offered,
who it was that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who should die and be
buried for the mortal human met; gold, because He was a King, "of whose kingdom
is no end; " and frankincense, because He was God, who also "was made
known in Judea," and was "declared to those who sought Him not."
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the
root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest
upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as
He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the
manner of speech.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
Thus the apostles did not change God, but preached
to the people that Christ was Jesus the crucified One, whom the same God that
had sent the prophets, being God Himself, raised up, and gave in Him salvation
to men.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
He who suffered under Pontius Pilate, the same is
Lord of all, and King, and God, and Judge, receiving power from Him who is the
God of all...
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
For when it has been manifestly declared, that they
who were the preachers of the truth and the apostles of liberty termed no one
else God, or named him Lord, except the only true God the Father, and His Word,
who has the pre-eminence in all things
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
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."
[Note: This is Romans 9:5. The NWT
translation reads, "...Christ [sprang] according to the flesh: God, who is over
all, [be] blessed forever." However, some modern Christian translations,
such as NIV, read, "Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!" This
reading from Irenaeus is significant because it affirms that the NWT translation
is incorrect.]
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
For He fulfils the bountiful and comprehensive will
of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself the Saviour of those who are saved, and
the Lord of those who are under authority, and the God of all those things which
have been formed, the only-begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and
the Word of God, who became incarnate when the fullness of time had come, at
which the Son of God had to become the Son of man.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
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.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
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...
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
He was despised among the people, and humbled
Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the
Counsellor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the
clouds as the Judge of all men; -all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of
Him.
SEE THIS IN ITS
CONTEXT
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...
SEE
THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
Thus he indicates in clear terms that He is God, and
that His advent was [to take place] in Bethlehem, and from Mount Effrem, which
is towards the south of the inheritance, and that [He is] man. For he says, "His
feet shall advance in the plains: "and this is an indication proper to man.
SEE THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself
save us, giving us the token of the Virgin.
SEE
THIS IN ITS CONTEXT
Carefully, then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by
what has been said, His birth from a virgin, and His essence, that He is God
(for the name Emmanuel indicates this).
Irenaeus Book III
Contents
Chapter I.-The Apostles Did Not Commence to Preach the Gospel, or to Place
Anything on Record, Until They Were Endowed with the Gifts and Power of the Holy
Spirit. They Preached One God Alone, Maker of Heaven and Earth.
Chapter II.-The Heretics Follow Neither Scripture Nor Tradition.
Chapter III.-A Refutation of the Heretics, from the Fact That, in the Various
Churches, a Perpetual Succession of Bishops Was Kept Up.
Chapter IV.-The Truth is to Be Found Nowhere Else But in the Catholic Church,
the Sole Depository of Apostolical Doctrine. Heresies are of Recent Formation,
and Cannot Trace Their Origin Up to the Apostles.
Chapter V.-Christ and His Apostles, Without Any Fraud, Deception, or Hypocrisy,
Preached that One God, the Father, Was the Founder of All Things. They Did Not
Accommodate Their Doctrineto the Prepossessions of Their Hearers.
Chapter VI-The Holy Ghost, Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, Made Mention
of No Other God or Lord, Save Him Who is the True God.
Chapter VII.-Reply to an Objection Founded on the Words of St.paul (2
Corinthians 4:5). St. Paul Occasionally Uses Words Not in Their Grammatical,
Sequence.
Chapter VIII.-Answer to an Objection, Arising from the Words of Christ (Matt.
VI. 24). God Alone is to Be Really Called God and Lord, for He is Without
Beginning and End.
Chapter IX.-One and the Same God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, is He Whom
the Prophets Foretold, and Who Was Declared by the Gospel. Proof of This, at the
Outset, from St. Matthew's Gospel.
Chapter X.-Proofs of the Foregoing, Drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Chapter XI-Proofs in Continuation, Extracted from St. John's Gospel. The Gospels
are Four in Number, Neither More Nor Less. Mystic Reasons for This.
Chapter XII.-Doctrine of the Rest of the Apostles.
Chapter XIII-Refutation of the Opinion, that Paul Was the Only Apostle Who Had
Knowledge of the Truth.
Chapter XIV.-If Paul Had Known Any Mysteries Unrevealed to the Other Apostles,
Luke, His Constant Companion and Fellow-Traveller, Could Not Have Been Ignorant
of Them; Neither Could the Truth Have Possibly Lain Hid from Him, Through Whom
Alone We Learn Many and Most Important Particulars of the Gospel History.
Chapter XV.-Refutation of the Ebionites, Who Disparaged the Authority of St.
Paul, from the Writings of St. Luke, Which Must Be Received as a Whole. Exposure
of the Hypocrisy, Deceit, and Pride of the Gnostics. The Apostles and Their
Disciples Knew and Preached One God, the Creator of the World.
Chapter XVI.-Proofs from the Apostolic Writings, that Jesus Christ Was One and
the Same, the Only Begotten Son of God, Perfect God and Perfect Man.
Chapter XVII.-The Apostles Teach that It Was Neither Christ Nor the Saviour, But
the Holy Spirit, Who Did Descend Upon Jesus. The Reason for This Descent.
Chapter XVIII.-Continuation of the Foregoing Argument. Proofs from the Writings
of St. Paul, and from the Words of Our Lord, that Christ and Jesus Cannot Be
Considered as Distinct Beings; Neither Can It Be Alleged that the Son of God
Became Man Merely in Appearance, But that He Did So Truly and Actually.
Chapter XIX.-Jesus Christ Was Not a Mere Man, Begotten from Joseph in the
Ordinary Course of Nature, But Was Very God, Begotten of the Father Most High,
and Very Man, Born' Of the Virgin.
Chapter XX.-God Showed Himself, by the Fall of Man, as Patient, Benign,
Merciful, Mighty to Save. Man is Therefore Most Ungrateful, If, Unmindful of His
Own Lot, and of the Benefits Held Out to Him, He Do Not Acknowledge Divine
Grace.
Chapter XXI.-A Vindication of the Prophecy in Isaiah (VII. 14) Against the
Misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority
of the Septuagint Version.arguments in Proof that Christ Was Born of a Virgin.
Chapter XXII.-Christ Assumed Actual Flesh, Conceived and Born of the Virgin.
Chapter XXIII.-Arguments in Opposition to Tatian, Showing that It Was Consonant
to Divine Justice and Mercy that the First Adam Should First Partake in that
Salvation Offered to All by Christ.
Chapter XXIV.-Recapitulation of the Various Arguments Adduced Against Gnostic
Impiety Under All Its Aspects. The Heretics, Tossed About by Every Blast of
Doctrine, are Opposed by the Uniform Teaching of the Church, Which Remains So
Always, and is Consistent with Itself.
Chapter XXV.-This World is Ruled Providence of One God, Who is Both Endowed with
Infinite Justice to Punish the Wicked, and with Infinite Goodness to Bless the
Pious, and Impart to Them Salvation.
Thou hast indeed enjoined upon me, my very dear friend, that I should bring to
light the Valentinian doctrines, concealed, as their votaries imagine; that I
should exhibit their diversity, and compose a treatise in refutation of them.
therefore have undertaken-showing that they spring from Simon, the father of all
heretics-to exhibit both their doctrines and successions, and to set forth
arguments against them all. Wherefore, since the conviction of these men and
their exposure is in many points but one work, I have sent unto thee [certain]
books, of which the first comprises the opinions of all these men, and exhibits
their customs, and the character of their behaviour. In the second, again, their
perverse teachings are cast down and overthrown, and, such as they really are,
laid bare and open to view. But in this, the third book I shall adduce proofs
from the Scriptures, so that I may come behind in nothing of what thou hast
enjoined; yea, that over and above what thou didst reckon upon, thou mayest
receive from me the means of combating and vanquishing those who, in whatever
manner, are propagating falsehood. For the love of God, being rich and
ungrudging, confers upon the suppliant more than he can ask from it. Call to
mind then, the things which I have stated in the two preceding books, and,
taking these in connection with them, thou shalt have from me a very copious
refutation of all the heretics; and faithfully and strenuously shalt thou resist
them in defence of the only true and life-giving faith, which the Church has
received from the apostles and imparted to her sons. For the Lord of all gave to
His apostles the power of the Gospel, through whom also we have known the truth,
that is, the doctrine of the Son of God; to whom also did the Lord declare: "He
that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me, and Him
that sent Me."
Chapter I.-The Apostles Did Not Commence to
Preach the Gospel, or to Place Anything on Record, Until They Were Endowed with
the Gifts and Power of the Holy Spirit. They Preached One God Alone, Maker of
Heaven and Earth.
1. WE have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those
through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim
in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the
Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. For it is unlawful to
assert that they preached before they possessed "perfect knowledge," as some do
even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles. For,
after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from
on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His
gifts], and had perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth,
preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and
proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and
individually possess the Gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written Gospel
among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at
Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the
disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had
been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the
Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had
leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at
Ephesus in Asia.
2. These have all declared to us that there is one God, Creator of heaven and
earth, announced by the law and the prophets; and one Christ the Son of God. If
any one do not agree to these truths, he despises the companions of the Lord;
nay more, he despises Christ Himself the Lord; yea, he despises the Father also,
and stands self-condemned, resisting and opposing his own salvation, as is the
case with all heretics.
Chapter II.-The Heretics Follow Neither Scripture
Nor Tradition.
1. When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and
accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and
[assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from
them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth
was not delivered by means of written documents, but vivâ voce: wherefore also
Paul declared, "But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the
wisdom of this world." And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be the
fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their idea, the
truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at
another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even been
indifferently in any other opponent, who could speak nothing pertaining to
salvation. For every one of these men, being altogether of a perverse
disposition, depraving the system of truth, is not ashamed to preach himself.
2. But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the
apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in
the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser
not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have
discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the apostles
intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Saviour; and that not
the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the
Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma,
but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have knowledge
of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator after a most
impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do now consent
neither to Scripture nor to tradition.
3. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal, my very dear friend,
endeavouring like slippery serpents to escape at all points. Where-fore they
must be opposed at all points, if per-chance, by cutting off their retreat, we
may succeed in turning them back to the truth. For, though it is not an easy
thing for a soul under the influence of error to repent, yet, on the other hand,
it is not altogether impossible to escape from error when the truth is brought
alongside it.
Chapter III.-A Refutation of the Heretics, from
the Fact That, in the Various Churches, a Perpetual Succession of Bishops Was
Kept Up.
1. It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to
see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested
throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were
by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the
succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of
anything like what these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known
hidden mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to "the perfect"
apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them especially to
those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves. For they were
desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom
also they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place
of government to these men; which men, if they discharged their functions
honestly, would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall away,
the direst calamity.
2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon
up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in
whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness
and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say, ]
by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the
very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the
two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith
preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the
bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with
this Church, on account of its pre- eminent authority, that is, the faithful
everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved
continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.
3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed
into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes
mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him,
in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This
man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them,
might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears],
and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were
many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the
time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at
Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most powerful letter to the
Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the
tradition which it had lately received from the apostles, proclaiming the one
God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought
on the deluge, and called Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt,
spake with Moses, set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared
fire for the devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do
so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached by the
Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of the Church, since
this Epistle is of older date than these men who are now propagating falsehood,
and who conjure into existence another god beyond the Creator and the Maker of
all existing things. To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander
followed Evaristus; then, sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after
him, Telephorus, who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius;
then after him, Anicetus. Sorer having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now,
in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate.
In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the
apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most
abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been
preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth.
4. But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with
many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of
the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on
earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly
suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which
he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and
which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do
also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time,-a man who
was of much greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth, than
Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was who, coming to
Rome in the time of Anicetus caused many to turn away from the aforesaid
heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and
sole truth from the apostles,-that, namely, which is handed down by the Church.
There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord,
going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the
bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house
fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." And Polycarp
himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, "Dost thou
know me? ""I do know thee, the first-born of Satan." Such was the horror which
the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication
with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says, "A man that is an heretic,
after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is
subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." There is also a very
powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who
choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character
of his faith, and the preaching of the truth. Then, again, the Church in
Ephesus, founded by Paul, and having John remaining among them permanently until
the times of Trajan, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.
Chapter IV.-The Truth is to Be Found Nowhere Else
But in the Catholic Church, the Sole Depository of Apostolical Doctrine.
Heresies are of Recent Formation, and Cannot Trace Their Origin Up to the
Apostles.
1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth
among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles,
like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most
copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will,
can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life; all others
are thieves and robbers. On this account are we bound to avoid them, but to make
choice of the thing pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to
lay hold of the tradition of the truth. For how stands the case? Suppose there
arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have
recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant
intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the
present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left
us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of
the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the
Churches?
2. To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do
assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or
ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the
Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus,
the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation,
condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to
God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been
received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are
saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire
those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent. Those who,
in the absence of written documents, have believed this faith, are barbarians,
so far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine, manner, and tenor of
life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed; and they do please God,
ordering their conversation in all righteousness, chastity, and wisdom. If any
one were to preach to these men the inventions of the heretics, speaking to them
in their own language, they would at once stop their ears, and flee as far off
as possible, not enduring even to listen to the blasphemous address. Thus, by
means of that ancient tradition of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind
to conceive anything of the [doctrines suggested by the] portentous language of
these teachers, among whom neither Church nor doctrine has ever been
established.
3. For, prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no existence; nor
did those from Marcion exist before Marcion; nor, in short, had any of those
malignant-minded people, whom I have above enumerated, any being previous to the
initiators and inventors of their perversity. For Valentinus came to Rome in the
time of Hyginus, flourished under Pius, and remained until Anicetus. Cerdon,
too, Marcion's predecessor, himself arrived in the time of Hyginus, who was the
ninth bishop. Coming frequently into the Church, and making public confession,
he thus remained, one time teaching in secret, and then again making public
confession; but at last, having been denounced for corrupt teaching, he was
excommunicated from the assembly of the brethren. Marcion, then, succeeding him,
flourished under Anicetus, who held the tenth place of the episcopate. But the
rest, who are called Gnostics, take rise from Menander, Simon's disciple, as I
have shown; and each one of them appeared to be both the father and the high
priest of that doctrine into which he has been initiated. But all these (the
Marcosians) broke out into their apostasy much later, even during the
intermediate period of the Church.
Chapter V.-Christ and His Apostles, Without Any
Fraud, Deception, or Hypocrisy, Preached that One God, the Father, Was the
Founder of All Things. They Did Not Accommodate Their Doctrineto the
Prepossessions of Their Hearers.
1. Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the
Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scrip-rural proof
furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they
recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is
the truth, and that no lie is in Him. As also David says, prophesying His birth
from a virgin, and the resurrection from the dead, "Truth has sprung out of the
earth." The apostles, likewise, being disciples of the truth, are above all
falsehood; for a lie has no fellowship with the truth, just as darkness has none
with light, but the presence of the one shuts out that of the other. Our Lord,
therefore, being the truth, did not speak lies; and whom He knew to have taken
origin from a de-feet, He never would have acknowledged as God, even the God of
all, the Supreme King, too, and His own Father, an imperfect being as a perfect
one, an animal one as a spiritual, Him who was without the Pleroma as Him who
was within it. Neither did His disciples make mention of any other God, or term
any other Lord, except Him, who was truly the God and Lord of all, as these most
vain sophists affirm that the apostles did with hypocrisy frame their doctrine
according to the capacity of their hearers, and gave answers after the opinions
of their questioners,-fabling blind things for the blind, according to their
blindness; for the dull according to their dulness; for those in error according
to their error. And to those who imagined that the Demiurge alone was God, they
preached him; but to those who are capable of comprehending the unnameable
Father, they did declare the unspeakable mystery through parables and enigmas:
so that the Lord and the apostles exercised the office of teacher not to further
the cause of truth, but even in hypocrisy, and as each individual was able to
receive it!
5. Such [a line of conduct] belongs not to those who heal, or who give life: it
is rather that of those bringing on diseases, and increasing ignorance; and much
more true than these men shall the law be found, which pronounces every one
accursed who sends the blind man astray in the way. For the apostles, who were
commissioned to find out the wanderers, and to be for sight to those who saw
not, and medicine to the weak, certainly did not address them in accordance with
their opinion at the time, but according to revealed truth. For no persons of
any kind would act properly, if they should advise blind men, just about to fall
over a precipice, to continue their most dangerous path, as if it were the right
one, and as if they might go on in safety. Or what medical man, anxious to heal
a sick person, would prescribe in accordance with the patient's whims, and not
according to the requisite medicine? But that the Lord came as the physician of
the sick, He does Himself declare saying, "They that are whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance." How then shall the sick be strengthened, or how shall sinners
come to repentance? Is it by persevering in the very same courses? or, on the
contrary, is it by undergoing a great change and reversal of their former mode
of living, by which they have brought upon themselves no slight amount of
sickness, and many sins? But ignorance, the mother of all these, is driven out
by knowledge. Wherefore the Lord used to impart knowledge to His disciples, by
which also it was His practice to heal those who were suffering, and to keep
back sinners from sin. He therefore did not address them in accordance with
their pristine notions, nor did He reply to them in harmony with the opinion of
His questioners, but according to the doctrine leading to salvation, without
hypocrisy or respect of person.
3. This is also made clear from the words of the Lord, who did truly reveal the
Son of God to those of the circumcision-Him who had been foretold as Christ by
the prophets; that is, He set Himself forth, who had restored liberty to men,
and bestowed on them the inheritance of incorruption. And again, the apostles
taught the Gentiles that they should leave vain stocks and stones, which they
imagined to be gods, and worship the true God, who had created and made all the
human family, and, by means of His creation, did nourish, increase, strengthen,
and preserve them in being; and that they might look for His Son Jesus Christ,
who redeemed us from apostasy with His own blood, so that we should also be a
sanctified people,-who shall also descend from heaven in His Father's power, and
pass judgment upon all, and who shall freely give the good things of God to
those who shall have kept His commandments. He, appearing in these last times,
the chief cornerstone, has gathered into one, and united those that were far off
and those that were near; that is, the circumcision and the uncircumcision,
enlarging Japhet, and placing him in the dwelling of Shem.
Chapter VI-The Holy Ghost, Throughout the Old
Testament Scriptures, Made Mention of No Other God or Lord, Save Him Who is the
True God.
1. Therefore neither would the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the apostles, have
ever named as God, definitely and absolutely, him who was not God, unless he
were truly God; nor would they have named any one in his own person Lord, except
God the Father ruling over all, and His Son who has received dominion from His
Father over all creation, as this passage has it: "The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." Here the
[Scripture] represents to us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the
inheritance of the heathen, and subjected to Him all His enemies.
Since, therefore,
the Father is truly Lord, and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly
designated them by the title of Lord.
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And again, referring to the destruction of the
Sodomites, the Scripture says, "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon
Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." For it here points out
that the Son, who had also been talking with Abraham, had received power to
judge the Sodomites for their wickedness. And this [text following] does declare
the same truth: "Thy throne, O God; is for ever and ever; the sceptre of Thy
kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity:
therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee."
For the Spirit
designates both [of them] by the name, of God-both Him who is anointed as Son,
and Him who does anoint, that is, the Father.
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And again: "God stood in the congregation of
the gods, He judges among the gods." He [here] refers to the Father and the Son,
and those who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is
the synagogue of God, which God-that is, the Son Himself-has gathered by
Himself. Of whom He again speaks: "The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and
hath called the earth." Who is meant by God?
He
of whom He has said, "God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep
silence; " that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, "I have openly
appeared to those who seek Me not."
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But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those]
to whom He says, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High." To
those, no doubt, who have received the grace of the "adoption, by which we cry,
Abba Father."
2. Wherefore, as I have already stated,
no other is named as God, or is called
Lord, except Him who is God and Lord of all, who also said to Moses, "I AM That
I AM. And thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is, hath sent me
unto you; " and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who makes those that believe in
His name the sons of God. And again, when the Son speaks to Moses, He says, "I
am come down to deliver this people."
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For it is He who descended and ascended for
the salvation of men. Therefore God has been declared through the Son, who is in
the Father, and has the Father in Himself-He who is, the Father bearing witness
to the Son, and the Son announcing the Father.-As also Esaias says, "I too am
witness," he declares, "saith the Lord God, and the Son whom I have chosen, that
ye may know, and believe, and understand that I am."
3. When, however, the Scripture terms them [gods] which are no gods, it does
not, as I have already remarked, declare them as gods in every sense, but with a
certain addition and signification, by which they are shown to be no gods at
all. As with David: "The gods of the heathen are idols of demons; " and, "Ye
shall not follow other gods" For in that he says "the gods of the heathen"-but
the heathen are ignorant of the true God-and calls them "other gods," he bars
their claim [to be looked upon] as gods at all. But as to what they are in their
own person, he speaks concerning them; "for they are," he says, "the idols of
demons." And Esaias: "Let them be confounded, all who blaspheme God, and carve
useless things; even I am witness, saith God." He removes them from [the
category of] gods, but he makes use of the word alone, for this [purpose], that
we may know of whom he speaks. Jeremiah also says the same: "The gods that have
not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is under
the heaven." For, from the fact of his having subjoined their destruction, he
shows them to be no gods at all. Elias, too, when all Israel was assembled at
Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from idolatry, says to them, "How long halt
ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him." And again, at the
burnt-offering, he thus addresses the idolatrous priests: "Ye shall call upon
the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord my God; and the
Lord that will hearken by fire, He is God." Now, from the fact of the prophet
having said these words, he proves that these gods which were reputed so among
those men, are no gods at all. He directed them to that God upon whom he
believed, and who was truly God; whom invoking, he exclaimed, "Lord God of
Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hear me to-day, and let all this people
know that Thou art the God of Israel."
4. Wherefore I do also call upon thee, Lord God of Abraham, and God of Isaac,
and God of Jacob and Israel, who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
God who, through the abundance of Thy mercy, hast had a favour towards us, that
we should know Thee, who hast made heaven and earth, who rulest over all, who
art the only and the true God, above whom there is none other God; grant, by our
Lord Jesus Christ, the governing power of the Holy Spirit; give to every reader
of this book to know Thee, that Thou art God alone, to be strengthened in Thee,
and to avoid every heretical, and godless, and impious doctrine.
5. And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are
no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God," has made a separation
between those that were not [gods] and Him who is God. And again, speaking of
Antichrist, he says, "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped." He points out here those who are called gods, by
such as know not God, that is, idols. For the Father of all is called God, and
is so; and Antichrist shall be lifted up, not above Him, but above those which
are indeed called gods, but are not. And Paul himself says that this is true:
"We know that an idol is nothing, and that there is none other God but one. For
though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; yet to us
there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him;
and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." For he has
made a distinction, and separated those which are indeed called gods, but which
are none, from the one God the Father, from whom are all things, and, he has
confessed in the most decided manner in his own person, one Lord Jesus Christ.
But in this [clause], "whether in heaven or in earth," he does not speak of the
formers of the world, as these [teachers] expound it; but his meaning is similar
to that of Moses, when it is said, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any image for
God, of whatsoever things are in heaven above, whatsoever in the earth beneath,
and whatsoever in the waters under the earth." And he does thus explain what are
meant by the things in heaven: "Lest when," he says, "looking towards heaven,
and observing the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the ornament of
heaven, falling into error, thou shouldest adore and serve them." And Moses
himself, being a man of God, was indeed given as a god before Pharaoh; but he is
not properly termed Lord, nor is called God by the prophets, but is spoken of by
the Spirit as "Moses, the faithful minister and servant of God," which also he
was.
Chapter VII.-Reply to an Objection Founded on the
Words of St.paul (2 Corinthians 4:5). St. Paul Occasionally Uses Words Not in
Their Grammatical, Sequence.
1. As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle] to the
Corinthians, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that
believe not," and maintaining that there is indeed one god of this world, but
another who is beyond all principality, and beginning, and power, we are not to
blame if they, who give out that they do themselves know mysteries beyond God,
know not how to read Paul. For if any one read the passage thus-according to
Paul's custom, as I show elsewhere, and by many examples, that he uses
transposition of words-"In whom God," then pointing it off, and making a slight
interval, and at the same time read also the rest [of the sentence] in one
[clause], "hath blinded the minds of them of this world that believe not," he
shall find out the true [sense]; that it is contained in the expression, "God
hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world." And this is shown by
means of the little interval [between the clause]. For Paul does not say, "the
God of this world," as if recognising any other beyond Him; but he confessed God
as indeed God. And he says, "the unbelievers of this world," because they shall
not inherit the future age of incorruption. I shall show from Paul himself, how
it is that God has blinded the minds of them that believe not, in the course of
this work, that we may not just at present distract our mind from the matter in
hand, [by wandering] at large.
2. From many other instances also, we may discover that the apostle frequently
uses a transposed order in his sentences, due to the rapidity of his discourses,
and the impetus of the Spirit which is in him. An example occurs in the
[Epistle] to the Galatians, where he expresses himself as follows: "Wherefore
then the law of works? It was added, until the seed should come to whom the
promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator."
For the order of the words runs thus: "Wherefore then the law of works? Ordained
by angels in the hand of a Mediator, it was added until the seed should come to
whom the promise was made,"-man thus asking the question, and the Spirit making
answer. And again, in the Second to the Thessalonians, speaking of Antichrist,
he says, "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ
shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him with the presence
of his coming; [even him] whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power, and signs, and lying wonders." Now in these [sentences] the order of the
words is this: "And then shall be revealed that wicked, whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, whom the
Lord Jesus shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the
presence of His coming." For he does not mean that the coming of the Lord is
after the working of Satan; but the coming of the wicked one, whom we also call
Antichrist. If, then, one does not attend to the [proper] reading [of the
passage], and if he do not exhibit the intervals of breathing as they occur,
there shall be not only incongruities, but also, when reading, he will utter
blasphemy, as if the advent of the Lord could take place according to the
working of Satan. So therefore, in such passages, the hyperbaton must be
exhibited by the reading, and the apostle's meaning following on, preserved; and
thus we do not read in that passage, "the god of this world," but, "God," whom
we do truly call God; and we hear [it declared of] the unbelieving and the
blinded of this world, that they shall not inherit the world of life which is to
come.
Chapter VIII.-Answer to an Objection, Arising
from the Words of Christ (Matt. VI. 24). God Alone is to Be Really Called God
and Lord, for He is Without Beginning and End.
1. This calumny, then, of these men, having been quashed, it is clearly proved
that neither the prophets nor the apostles did ever name another God, or call
[him] Lord, except the true and only God. Much more [would this be the case with
regard to] the Lord Himself, who did also direct us to "render unto Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's; " naming indeed
Caesar as Caesar, but confessing God as God. In like manner also, that [text]
which says, "Ye cannot serve two masters," He does Himself interpret, saying,
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon; "acknowledging God indeed as God, but
mentioning mammon, a thing having also an existence. He does not call mammon
Lord when He says, "Ye cannot serve two masters; "but He teaches His disciples
who serve God, not to be subject to mammon, nor to be ruled by it. For He says,
"He that committeth sin is the slave of sin." Inasmuch, then, as He terms those
"the slaves of sin" who serve sin, but does not certainly call sin itself God,
thus also He terms those who serve mammon "the slaves of mammon," not calling
mammon God. For mammon is, according to the Jewish language, which the
Samaritans do also use, a covetous man, and one who wishes to have more than he
ought to have. But according to the Hebrew, it is by the addition of a syllable
(adjunctive) called Mamuel, and signifies gulosum, that is, one whose gullet is
insatiable. Therefore, according to both these things which are indicated, we
cannot serve God and mammon.
2. But also, when He spoke of the devil as strong, not absolutely so, but as in
comparison with us, the Lord showed Himself under every aspect and truly to be
the strong man, saying that one can in no other way "spoil the goods of a strong
man, if he do not first bind the strong man himself, and then he will spoil his
house." Now we were the vessels and the house of this [strong man] when we were
in a state of apostasy; for he put us to whatever use he pleased, and the
unclean spirit dwelt within us. For he was not strong, as opposed to Him who
bound him, and spoiled his house; but as against those persons who were his
tools, inasmuch as he caused their thought to wander away from God: these did
the Lord snatch from his grasp. As also Jeremiah declares, "The Lord hath
redeemed Jacob, and has snatched him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he." If, then, he had not pointed out Him who binds and spoils his goods, but
had merely spoken of him as being strong, the strong man should have been
unconquered. But he also subjoined Him who obtains and retains possession; for
he holds who binds, but he is held who is bound. And this he did without any
comparison, so that, apostate slave as he was, he might not be compared to the
Lord: for not he alone, but not one of created and subject things, shall ever be
compared to the Word of God, by whom all things were made, who is our Lord Jesus
Christ.
3. For that all things, whether Angels, or Archangels, or Thrones, or Dominions,
were both established and created by Him who is God over all, through His Word,
John has thus pointed out. For when he had spoken of the Word of God as having
been in the Father, he added, "All things were made by Him, and without Him was
not anything made." David also, when he had enumerated [His] praises, subjoins
by name all things whatsoever I have mentioned, both the heavens and all the
powers therein: "For He commanded, and they were created; He spake, and they
were made." Whom, therefore, did He command? The Word, no doubt, "by whom," he
says, "the heavens were established, and all their power by the breath of His
mouth." But that He did Himself make all things freely, and as He pleased, again
David says, "But our God is in the heavens above, and in the earth; He hath made
all things whatsoever He pleased." But the things established are distinct from
Him who has established them, and what have been made from Him who has made
them. For He is Himself uncreated, both without beginning and end, and lacking
nothing. He is Himself sufficient for Himself; and still further, He grants to
all others this very thing, existence; but the things which have been made by
Him have received a beginning. But whatever things had a beginning, and are
liable to dissolution, and are subject to and stand in need of Him who made
them, must necessarily in all respects have a different term [applied to them],
even by those who have but a moderate capacity for discerning such things;
so that He indeed who
made all things can alone, together with His Word, properly be termed God and
Lord: but the things which have been made cannot have this term applied to them,
neither should they justly assume that appellation which belongs to the Creator.
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Chapter IX.-One and the Same God, the Creator of
Heaven and Earth, is He Whom the Prophets Foretold, and Who Was Declared by the
Gospel. Proof of This, at the Outset, from St. Matthew's Gospel.
1. This, therefore, having been clearly demonstrated here (and it shall yet be
so still more clearly), that neither the prophets, nor the apostles, nor the
Lord Christ in His own person, did acknowledge any other Lord or God, but the
God and Lord supreme:
the
prophets and the apostles confessing the Father and the Son; but naming no other
as God,
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and confessing no other as Lord: and the Lord
Himself handing down to His disciples, that He, the Father, is the only God and
Lord, who alone is God and ruler of all;-it is incumbent on us to follow, if we
are their disciples indeed, their testimonies to this effect. For Matthew the
apostle-knowing, as one and the same God, Him who had given promise to Abraham,
that He would make his seed as the stars of heaven, and Him who, by His Son
Christ Jesus, has called us to the knowledge of Himself, from the worship of
stones, so that those who were not a people were made a people, and she beloved
who was not beloved -declares that John, when preparing the way for Christ, said
to those who were boasting of their relationship [to Abraham] according to the
flesh, but who had their mind tinged and stuffed with all manner of evil,
preaching that repentance which should call them back from their evil doings,
said, "O generation of vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to
come? Bring forth therefore fruit meet for repentance. And think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham [to our] father: for I say unto you, that God
is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." He preached to them,
therefore, the repentance from wickedness, but he did not declare to them
another God, besides Him who made the promise to Abraham; he, the forerunner of
Christ, of whom Matthew again says, and Luke likewise, "For this is he that was
spoken of from the Lord by the prophet, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough into smooth ways; and all flesh
shall see the salvation of God." There is therefore one and the same God, the
Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He would send
His forerunner; and His salvation-that is, His Word-He caused to be made visible
to all flesh, [the Word] Himself being made incarnate, that in all things their
King might become manifest. For it is necessary that those [beings] which are
judged do see the judge, and know Him from whom they receive judgment; and it is
also proper, that those which follow on to glory should know Him who bestows
upon them the gift of glory.
2. Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel, says, "The angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in sleep." Of what Lord he does himself interpret: "That it
may be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, Out of Egypt have
I called my son." "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with
us." David likewise speaks of Him who, from the virgin, is Emmanuel: "Turn not
away the face of Thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn a truth to David, and will
not turn from him. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat." And
again: "In Judea is God known; His place has been made in peace, and His
dwelling in Zion." Therefore there is one and the same God, who was proclaimed
by the prophets and announced by the Gospel; and His Son, who was of the fruit
of David's body, that is, of the virgin of [the house of] David, and Emmanuel;
whose star also Balaam thus prophesied: "There shall come a star out of Jacob,
and a leader shall rise in Israel." But Matthew says that the Magi, coming from
the east, exclaimed "For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to
worship Him; " and that, having been led by the star into the house of Jacob to
Emmanuel,
they showed, by these gifts which
they offered, who it was that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who
should die and be buried for the mortal human met; gold, because He was a King,
"of whose kingdom is no end; " and frankincense, because He was God, who
also "was made known in Judea," and was "declared to those who sought Him not."
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3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, "The heavens were opened,
and He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." For Christ
did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus
another: but the Word of God-who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven
and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon
Him flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father-was made Jesus Christ,
as Esaias also says, "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a
flower shall rise from his root; and the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him: the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of God, shall fill Him. He
shall not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech; but
He shall dispense judgment to the humble man, and reprove the haughty ones of
the earth." And again Esaias, pointing out beforehand His unction, and the
reason why he was anointed, does himself say, "The Spirit of God is upon Me,
because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach the Gospel to the lowly,
to heal the broken up in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight
to the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance; to comfort all that mourn."
For inasmuch as the Word of God was man
from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of
God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But
inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove
after the manner of speech.
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For "He needed not that any should testify to
Him of man, for He Himself knew what was in man." For He called all men that
mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by
their sins, He loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, "Every one
shall be holden with the cords of his own sins." Therefore did the Spirit of God
descend upon Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the prophets that He
would anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of His unction, might
be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of Matthew.
Chapter X.-Proofs of the Foregoing, Drawn from
the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
1. Luke also, the follower and disciple of the apostles, referring to Zacharias
and Elisabeth, from whom, according to promise, John was born, says: "And they
were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless." And again, speaking of Zacharias: "And it came to pass,
that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his
course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn
incense; " and he came to sacrifice, "entering into the temple of the Lord."
Whose angel Gabriel, also, who stands prominently in the presence of the Lord,
simply, absolutely, and decidedly confessed in his own person as God and Lord,
Him who had chosen Jerusalem, and had instituted the sacerdotal office. For he
knew of none other above Him; since, if he had been in possession of the
knowledge of any other more perfect God and Lord besides Him, he surely would
never-as I have already shown-have confessed Him, whom he knew to be the fruit
of a defect, as absolutely and altogether God and Lord. And then, speaking of
John, he thus says: "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and many of
the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go
before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to make ready a people prepared for
the Lord." For whom, then, did he prepare the people, and in the sight of what
Lord was he made great? Truly of Him who said that John had something even "more
than a prophet," and that "among those born of women none is greater than John
the Baptist; "who did also make the people ready for the Lord's advent, warning
his fellow-servants, and preaching to them repentance, that they might receive
remission from the Lord when He should be present, having been convened to Him,
from whom they had been alienated because of sins and transgressions. As also
David says, "The alienated are sinners from the womb: they go astray as soon as
they are born." And it was on account of this that he, turning them to their
Lord, prepared, in the spirit and power of Elias, a perfect people for the Lord.
2. And again, speaking in reference to the angel, he says: "But at that time the
angel Gabriel was sent from God, who did also say to the virgin, Fear not, Mary;
for thou hast found favour with God." And he says concerning the Lord: "He shall
be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house
of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." For who else is
there who can reign uninterruptedly over the house of Jacob for ever, except
Jesus Christ our Lord, the Son of the Most High God, who promised by the law and
the prophets that He would make His salvation visible to all flesh; so that He
would become the Son of man for this purpose, that man also might become the son
of God? And Mary, exulting because of this, cried out, prophesying on behalf of
the Church, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Saviour. For He hath taken up His child Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spake to our fathers, Abraham, and his seed for ever." By these and such
like [passages] the Gospel points out that it was God who spake to the fathers;
that it was He who, by Moses, instituted the legal dispensation, by which giving
of the law we know that He spake to the fathers. This same God, after His great
goodness, poured His compassion upon us, through which compassion "the
Day-spring from on high hath looked upon us, and appeared to those who sat in
darkness and the shadow of death, and has guided our feet into the way of peace;
" as Zacharias also, recovering from the state of dumbness which he had suffered
on account of unbelief, having been filled with a new spirit, did bless God in a
new manner. For all things had entered upon a new phase, the Word arranging
after a new manner the advent in the flesh, that He might win back to God that
human nature (hominem) which had departed from God; and therefore men were
taught to worship God after a new fashion, but not another god, because in truth
there is but "one God, who justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the
uncircumcision through faith." But Zacharias prophesying, exclaimed, "Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath
raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He
spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world begun;
salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform
the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath
which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we,
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in
holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days." Then he says to John: "And
thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go
before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation
to His people, for the remission of their sins." For this is the knowledge of
salvation which was wanting to them, that of the Son of God, which John made
known, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.
This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was made before me; because
He was prior to me: and of His fullness have all we received." This, therefore,
was the knowledge of salvation; but [it did not consist in] another God, nor
another Father, nor Bythus, nor the Pleroma of thirty Aeons, nor the Mother of
the (lower) Ogdoad: but the knowledge of salvation was the knowledge of the Son
of God, who is both called and actually is, salvation, and Saviour, and
salutary. Salvation, indeed, as follows: "I have waited for Thy salvation, O
Lord." And then again, Saviour: "Behold my God, my Saviour, I will put my trust
in Him." But as bringing salvation, thus: "God hath made known His salvation (salutare)
in the sight of the heathen." For He is indeed Saviour, as being the Son and
Word of God; but salutary, since [He is] Spirit; for he says: "The Spirit of our
countenance, Christ the Lord." But salvation, as being flesh: for "the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us." This knowledge of salvation, therefore, John
did impart to those repenting, and believing in the Lamb of God, who taketh away
the sin of the world.
3. And the angel of the Lord, he says, appeared to the shepherds, proclaiming
joy to them: "For there is born in the house of David, a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord. Then [appeared] a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God,
and saying, Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, to men of good
will." The falsely-called Gnostics say that these angels came from the Ogdoad,
and made manifest the descent of the superior Christ. But they are again in
error, when saying that the Christ and Saviour from above was not born, but that
also, after the baptism of the dispensational Jesus, he, [the Christ of the
Pleroma, ] descended upon him as a dove. Therefore, according to these men, the
angels of the Ogdoad lied, when they said, "For unto you is born this day a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." For neither was Christ
nor the Saviour born at that time, by their account; but it was he, the
dispensational Jesus, who is of the framer of the world, the [Demiurge], and
upon whom, after his baptism, that is, after [the lapse of] thirty years, they
maintain the Saviour from above descended. But why did [the angels] add, "in the
city of David," if they did not proclaim the glad tidings of the fulfilment of
God's promise made to David, that from the fruit of his body there should be an
eternal King? For the Framer [Demiurge] of the entire universe made promise to
David, as David himself declares: "My help is from God, who made heaven and
earth; " and again: "In His hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of
the mountains are His. For the sea is His, and He did Himself make it; and His
hands founded the dry land. Come ye, let us worship and fall down before Him,
and weep in the presence of the Lord who made us; for He is the Lord our God."
The Holy Spirit evidently thus declares by David to those hearing him, that
there shall be those who despise Him who formed us, and who is God alone.
Wherefore he also uttered the foregoing words, meaning to say: See that ye do
not err; besides or above Him there is no other God, to whom ye should rather
stretch out [your hands], thus rendering us pious and grateful towards Him who
made, established, and [still] nourishes us. What, then, shall happen to those
who have been the authors of so much blasphemy against their Creator? This
identical truth was also what the angels [proclaimed]. For when they exclaim,
"Glory to God in the highest, and in earth peace," they have glorified with
these. words Him who is the Creator of the highest, that is, of super-celestial
things, and the Founder of everything on earth: who has sent to His own
handiwork, that is, to men, the blessing of His salvation from heaven. Wherefore
he adds: "The shepherds returned, glorifying God for all which they had heard
and seen, as it was told unto them." For the Israelitish shepherds did not
glorify another god, but Him who had been announced by the law and the prophets,
the Maker of all things, whom also the angels glorified. But if the angels who
were from the Ogdoad were accustomed to glorify any other, different from Him
whom the shepherds [adored], these angels from the Ogdoad brought to them error
and not truth.
4. And still further does Luke say in reference to the Lord: "When the days of
purification were accomplished, they brought Him up to Jerusalem, to present Him
before the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, That every male
opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord; and that they should offer a
sacrifice, as it is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two
young pigeons: " in his own person most clearly calling Him Lord, who appointed
the legal dispensation. But "Simeon," he also says, "blessed God, and said,
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light for
the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." And "Anna"
also, "the prophetess," he says, in like manner glorified God when she saw
Christ, "and spake of Him to all them who were looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem." Now by all these one God is shown forth, revealing to men the new
dispensation of liberty, the covenant, through the new advent of His Son.
5. Wherefore also Mark, the interpreter and follower of Peter, does thus
commence his Gospel narrative: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send My messenger before
Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make the paths straight before our
God." Plainly does the commencement of the Gospel quote the words of the holy
prophets, and point out Him at once, whom they confessed as God and Lord; Him,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had also made promise to Him, that He
would send His messenger before His face, who was John, crying in the
wilderness, in "the spirit and power of Elias," "Prepare ye the way of me Lord,
make straight paths before our God." For the prophets did not announce one and
mother God, but one and the same; under rations aspects, however, and many
titles. For varied and rich in attribute is the Father, as I have already shown
in the book preceding this; and I shall show [the same truth] from the prophets
themselves in the further course of this work. Also, towards the conclusion of
his Gospel, Mark says: "So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was
received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God; " confirming what
had been spoken by the prophet: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit Thou on My right
hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." Thus God and the Father are truly
one and the same; He who was announced by the prophets, and handed down by the
true Gospel; whom we Christians worship and love with the whole heart, as the
Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things therein.
Chapter XI-Proofs in Continuation, Extracted from
St. John's Gospel. The Gospels are Four in Number, Neither More Nor Less. Mystic
Reasons for This.
1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the
proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been
disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans,
who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so called, that he might confound
them, and persuade them that there is but one God, who made all things by His
Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the
Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ
from above another, who also continued impossible, descending upon Jesus, the
Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was
the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation
to which we belong was not made by the primary God, but by some power lying far
below Him, and shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable.
The disciple of the Lord therefore desiring to put an end to all such doctrines,
and to establish the rule of truth in the Church, that there is one Almighty
God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and invisible; showing at the
same time, that by the Word, through whom God made the creation, He also
bestowed salvation on the men included in the creation; thus commenced His
teaching in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. What was made was life in
Him, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehended it not." "All things," he says, "were made by Him;
"therefore in "all things" this creation of ours is [included], for we cannot
concede to these men that [the words] "all things" are spoken in reference to
those within their Pleroma. For if their Pleroma do indeed contain these, this
creation, as being such, is not outside, as I have demonstrated in the preceding
book; but if they are outside the Pleroma, which indeed appeared impossible, it
follows, in that case, that their Pleroma cannot be "all things: "therefore this
vast creation is not outside [the Pleroma].
2. John, however, does himself put this matter beyond all controversy on our
part, when he says, "He was in this world, and the world was made by Him, and
the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [things], and His own [people]
received Him not." But according to Marcion, and those like him, neither was the
world made by Him; nor did He come to His own things, but to those of another.
And, according to certain of the Gnostics, this world was made by angels, and
not by the Word of God. But according to the followers of Valentinus, the world
was not made by Him, but by the Demiurge. For he (Soter) caused such similitudes
to be made, after the pattern of things above, as they allege; but the Demiurge
accomplished the work of creation. For they say that he, the Lord and Creator of
the plan of creation, by whom they hold that this world was made, was produced
from the Mother; while the Gospel affirms plainly, that by the Word, which was
in the beginning with God, all things were made, which Word, he says, "was made
flesh, and dwelt among us."
3. But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor Christ, nor
the Saviour (Soter), who was produced from [the joint contributions of] all [the
Aeons]. For they will have it, that the Word and Christ never came into this
world; that the Saviour, too, never became incarnate, nor suffered, but that He
descended like a dove upon the dispensational Jesus; and that, as soon as He had
declared the unknown Father, He did again ascend into the Pleroma. Some,
however, make the assertion, that this dispensational Jesus did become
incarnate, and suffered, whom they represent as having passed through Mary just
as water through a tube; but others allege him to be the Son of the Demiurge,
upon whom the dispensational Jesus descended; while others, again, say that
Jesus was born from Joseph and Mary, and that the Christ from above descended
upon him, being without flesh, and impassible. But according to the opinion of
no one of the heretics was the Word of God made flesh. For if anyone carefully
examines the systems of them all, he will find that the Word of God is brought
in by all of them as not having become incarnate (sine carne) and impassible, as
is also the Christ from above. Others consider Him to have been manifested as a
transfigured man; but they maintain Him to have been neither born nor to have
become incarnate; whilst others [hold] that He did not assume a human form at
all, but that, as a dove, He did descend upon that Jesus who was born from Mary.
Therefore the Lord's disciple, pointing them all out as false witnesses, says,
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
4. And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made flesh? he does
himself previously teach us, saying, "There was a man sent from God, whose name
was John. The same came as a witness, that he might bear witness of that Light.
He was not that Light, but [came] that he might testify of the Light." By what
God, then, was John, the forerunner, who testifies of the Light, sent [into the
world]? Truly it was by Him, of whom Gabriel is the angel, who also announced
the glad tidings of his birth: [that God] who also had promised by the prophets
that He would send His messenger before the face of His Son, who should prepare
His way, that is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and
power of Elias. But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the prophet?
Of Him who made heaven and earth, as he does himself confess. John, therefore,
having been sent by the founder and maker of this world, how could he testify of
that Light, which came down from things unspeakable and invisible? For all the
heretics have decided that the Demiurge was ignorant of that Power above him,
whose witness and herald John is found to be. Wherefore the Lord said that He
deemed him "more than a prophet." For all the other prophets preached the advent
of the paternal Light, and desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they
preached; but John did both announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like manner
as did the others, and actually saw Him when He came, and pointed Him out, and
persuaded many to believe on Him, so that he did himself hold the place of both
prophet and apostle. For this is to be more than a prophet, because, "first
apostles, secondarily prophets; " but all things from one and the same God
Himself.
5. That wine, which was produced by God in a vineyard, and which was first
consumed, was good. None of those who drank of it found fault with it; and the
Lord partook of it also. But that wine was better which the Word made from
water, on the moment, and simply for the use of those who had been called to the
marriage. For although the Lord had the power to supply wine to those feasting,
independently of any created substance, and to fill with food those who were
hungry, He did not adopt this course; but, taking the loaves which the earth had
produced, and giving thanks, and on the other occasion making water wine, He
satisfied those who were reclining [at table], and gave drink to those who had
been invited to the marriage; showing that the God who made the earth, and
commanded it to bring forth fruit, who established the waters, and brought forth
the fountains, was He who in these last times bestowed upon mankind, by His Son,
the blessing of food and the favour of drink: the Incomprehensible [acting thus]
by means of the comprehensible, and the Invisible by the visible; since there is
none beyond Him, but He exists in the bosom of the Father.
6. For "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time," unless "the only-begotten
Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared [Him]." For
He, the Son who is in His bosom, declares to all the Father who is invisible.
Wherefore they know Him to whom the Son reveals Him; and again, the Father, by
means of the Son, gives knowledge of His Son to those who love Him. By whom also
Nathanael, being taught, recognised [Him], he to whom also the Lord bare
witness, that he was "an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile." The Israelite
recognised his King, therefore did he cry out to Him, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son
of God, Thou art the King of Israel." By whom also Peter, having been taught,
recognised Christ as the Son of the living God, when [God] said, "Behold My
dearly beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon Him,
and He shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry;
neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not
break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, until He send forth judgment into
contention ; and in His name shall the Gentiles trust."
7. Such, then, are the first principles of the Gospel: that there is one God,
the Maker of this universe; He who was also announced by the prophets, and who
by Moses set forth the dispensation of the law,-[principles] which proclaim the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and ignore any other God or Father except Him.
So firm is the ground upon which these Gospels rest, that the very heretics
themselves bear witness to them, and, starting from these [documents], each one
of them endeavours to establish his own peculiar doctrine. For the Ebionites,
who use Matthew's Gospel only, are confuted out of this very same, making false
suppositions with regard to the Lord. But Marcion, mutilating that according to
Luke, is proved to be a blasphemer of the only existing God, from those
[passages] which he still retains. Those, again, who separate Jesus from Christ,
alleging that Christ remained impassible, but that it was Jesus who suffered,
preferring the Gospel by Mark, if they read it with a love of truth, may have
their errors rectified. Those, moreover, who follow Valentinus, making copious
use of that according to John, to illustrate their conjunctions, shall be proved
to be totally in error by means of this very Gospel, as I have shown in the
first book. Since, then, our opponents do bear testimony to us, and make use of
these [documents], our proof derived from them is firm and true.
8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number
than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live,
and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the
world, and the "pillar and ground" of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of
life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality
on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the
Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all
things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four
aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says, when entreating
His manifestation, "Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth." For
the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the
dispensation of the Son of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, "The first living
creature was like a lion," symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership,
and royal power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His]
sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but "the third had, as it were, the face as of
a man,"-an evident description of His advent as a human being; "the fourth was
like a flying eagle," pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His
wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these
things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. For that according to John relates
His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, thus
declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." Also, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing
made." For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such is
His person. But that according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character,
commenced with Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made
ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for the finding again of the
younger son. Matthew, again, relates His generation as a man, saying, "The book
of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham; " and
also, "The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise." This, then, is the Gospel of
His humanity; for which reason it is, too, that [the character of] a humble and
meek man is kept up through the whole Gospel. Mark, on the other hand, commences
with [a reference to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men,
saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias
the prophet,"-pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account
he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical
character. And the Word of God Himself used to converse with the ante-Mosaic
patriarchs, in accordance with His divinity and glory; but for those under the
law he instituted a sacerdotal and liturgical service. Afterwards, being made
man for us, He sent the gift of the celestial Spirit over all the earth,
protecting us with His wings. Such, then, as was the course followed by the Son
of God, so was also the form of the living creatures; and such as was the form
of the living creatures, so was also the character of the Gospel. For the living
creatures are quadriform, and the Gospel is quadriform, as is also the course
followed by the Lord. For this reason were four principal (kaqolikai/) covenants
given to the human race: one, prior to the deluge, under Adam; the second, that
after the deluge, under Noah; the third, the giving of the law, under Moses; the
fourth, that which renovates man, and sums up all things in itself by means of
the Gospel, raising and bearing men upon heavenly kingdom.its wings into the
9. These things being so, all who destroy the form of the Gospel are vain,
unlearned, and also audacious; those, [I mean, ] who represent the aspects of
the Gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other
hand, fewer. The former class [do so], that they may seem to have discovered
more than is of the truth; the latter, that they may set the dispensations of
God aside. For Marcion, rejecting the entire Gospel, yea rather, cutting himself
off from the Gospel, boasts that he has part in the [blessings of] the Gospel.
Others, again (the Montanists), that they may set at nought the gift of the
Spirit, which in the latter times has been, by the good pleasure of the Father,
poured out upon the human race, do not admit that aspect [of the evangelical
dispensation] presented by John's Gospel, in which the Lord promised that He
would send the Paraclete; but set aside at once both the Gospel and the
prophetic Spirit. Wretched men indeed! who wish to be pseudo-prophets, forsooth,
but who set aside the gift of prophecy from the Church; acting like those (the
Encratitae) who, on account of such as come in hypocrisy, hold themselves aloof
from the communion of the brethren. We must conclude, moreover, that these men
(the Montanists) can not admit the Apostle Paul either. For, in his Epistle to
the Corinthians, he speaks expressly of prophetical gifts, and recognises men
and women prophesying in the Church. Sinning, therefore, in all these
particulars, against the Spirit of God, they fall into the irremissible sin. But
those who are from Valentinus, being, on the other hand, altogether reckless,
while they put forth their own compositions, boast that they possess more
Gospels than there really are. Indeed, they have arrived at such a pitch of
audacity, as to entitle their comparatively recent writing "the Gospel of
Truth," though it agrees in nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that
they have really no Gospel which is not full of blasphemy. For if what they have
published is the Gospel of truth, and yet is totally unlike those which have
been handed down to us from the apostles, any who please may learn, as is shown
from the Scriptures themselves, that that which has been handed down from the
apostles can no longer be reckoned the Gospel of truth. But that these Gospels
alone are true and reliable, and admit neither an increase nor diminution of the
aforesaid number, I have proved by so many and such [arguments]. For, since God
made all things in due proportion and adaptation, it was fit also that the
outward aspect of the Gospel should be well arranged and harmonized. The opinion
of those men, therefore, who handed the Gospel down to us, having been
investigated, from their very fountainheads, let us proceed also to the
remaining apostles, and inquire into their doctrine with regard to God; then, in
due course we shall listen to the very words of the Lord.
Chapter XII.-Doctrine of the Rest of the
Apostles.
1. The Apostle Peter, therefore, after the resurrection of the Lord, and His
assumption into the heavens, being desirous of filling up the number of the
twelve apostles, and in electing into the place of Judas any substitute who
should be chosen by God, thus addressed those who were present: "Men [and]
brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost,
by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was made guide to
them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us: ... Let his habitation be
desolate, and let no man dwell therein; and, His bishop-rick let another take; "
-thus leading to the completion of the apostles, according to the words spoken
by David. Again, when the Holy Ghost had descended upon the disciples, that they
all might prophesy and speak with tongues, and some mocked them, as if drunken
with new wine, Peter said that they were not drunken, for it was the third hour
of the day; but that this was what had been spoken by the prophet: "It shall
come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh, and they shall prophesy." The God, therefore, who did promise by the
prophet, that He would send His Spirit upon the whole human race, was He who did
send; and God Himself is announced by Peter as having fulfilled His own promise.
2. For Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, hear my words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved by God among you by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did by
Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, by the hands of wicked men ye have
slain, affixing [to the cross]: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains
of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of them. For
David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for He
is on my right hand, lest I should be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and
my tongue was glad; moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see
corruption." Then he proceeds to speak confidently to them concerning the
patriarch David, that he was dead and buried, and that his sepulchre is with
them to this day. He said, "But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his body one should sit in his
throne; foreseeing this, he spake of the resurrection of Christ, that He was not
left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus," he said, "hath
God raised up, of which we all are witnesses: who, being exalted by the right
hand of God, receiving from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed
forth this gift which ye now see and hear. For David has not ascended into the
heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My fight
hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly, that God hath made [that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Christ." And when the multitudes exclaimed, "What shall we do
then? "Peter says to them, "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name
of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost." Thus the apostles did not preach another God, or another Fulness; nor,
that the Christ who suffered and rose again was one, while he who flew off on
high was another, and remained impossible; but that there was one and the same
God the Father, and Christ Jesus who rose from the dead; and they preached faith
in Him, to those who did not believe on the Son of God, and exhorted them out of
the prophets, that the Christ whom God promised to send, He sent in Jesus, whom
they crucified and God raised up.
3. Again, when Peter, accompanied by John, had looked upon the man lame from his
birth, before that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, sitting and
seeking alms, he said to him, "Silver and gold I have none; but such as I have
give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And
immediately his legs and his feet received strength; and he walked, and entered
with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." Then, when a
multitude had gathered around them from all quarters because of this unexpected
deed, Peter addressed them: "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this; or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power we had made this man to
walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified His Son, whom ye delivered up for judgment, and denied
in the presence of Pilate, when he wished to let Him go. But ye were bitterly
set against the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you; but ye killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead,
whereof we are witnesses. And in the faith of His name, him, whom ye see and
know, hath His name made strong; yea, the faith which is by Him, hath given him
this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that
through ignorance ye did this wickedness. ... But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He
hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, and that the times of refreshing may come to you from the presence
of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, prepared for you beforehand, whom
the heaven must indeed receive until the times of the arrangement of all things,
of which God hath spoken by His holy prophets. For Moses truly said unto our
fathers, Your Lord God Shall raise up to you a Prophet from your brethren, like
unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And
it shall come to pass, that every soul, whosoever will not hear that Prophet,
shall be destroyed from among the people. And all [the prophets] from Samuel,
and henceforth, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye
are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our
fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son, sent Him
blessing you, that each may turn himself from his iniquities." Peter, together
with John, preached to them this plain message of glad tidings, that the promise
which God made to the fathers had been fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly
proclaiming another god, but the Son of God, who also was made man, and
suffered; thus leading Israel into knowledge, and through Jesus preaching the
resurrection of the dead, and showing, that whatever the prophets had proclaimed
as to the suffering of Christ, these had God fulfilled.
4. For this reason, too, when the chief priests were assembled, Peter, full of
boldness, said to them, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we
this day be examined by you of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what
means he has been made whole; be it known to you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, even by Him cloth this man stand here before you
whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is
become the head-stone of the corner. [Neither is there salvation in any other:
for] there is none other name under heaven, which is given to men, whereby we
must be saved: "
Thus the apostles did not change God, but
preached to the people that Christ was Jesus the crucified One, whom the same
God that had sent the prophets, being God Himself, raised up, and gave in Him
salvation to men.
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5. They were confounded, therefore, both by this instance of healing ("for the
man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing took place" ), and
by the doctrine of the apostles, and by the exposition of the prophets, when the
chief priests had sent away Peter and John. [These latter] returned to the rest
of their fellow-apostles and disciples of the Lord, that is, to the Church, and
related what had occurred, and how courageously they had acted in the name of
Jesus. The whole Church, it is then said, "when they had heard that, lifted up
the voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who, through the Holy
Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, Thy servant, hast said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His
Christ. For of a truth, in this city, against Thy holy Son Jesus, whom Thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel
determined before to be done." These [are the] voices of the Church from which
every Church had its origin; these are the voices of the metropolis of the
citizens of the new covenant; these are the voices of the apostles; these are
voices of the disciples of the Lord, the truly perfect, who, after the
assumption of the Lord, were perfected by the Spirit, and called upon the God
who made heaven, and earth, and the sea,-who was announced by the prophets,-and
Jesus Christ His Son, whom God anointed, and who knew no other [God]. For at
that time and place there was neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor the rest of
these subverters [of the truth], and their adherents. Wherefore God, the Maker
of all things, heard them. For it is said, "The place was shaken where they were
assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake
the word of God with boldness" to every one that was willing to believe. "And
with great power," it is added, "gave the apostles witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus," saying to them, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam of wood: Him hath God raised
up by His right hand to be a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel,
and forgiveness of sins. And we are in this witnesses of these words; as also is
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that believe in Him." "And daily,"
it is said, "in the temple, and from house to house, they ceased not to teach
and preach Christ Jesus," the Son of God. For this was the knowledge of
salvation, which renders those who acknowledge His Son's advent perfect towards
God.
6. But as some of these men impudently assert that the apostles, when preaching
among the Jews, could not declare to them another god besides Him in whom they
(their hearers ) believed, we say to them, that if the apostles used to speak to
people in accordance with the opinion instilled into them of old, no one learned
the truth from them, nor, at a much earlier date, from the Lord; for they say
that He did Himself speak after the same fashion. Wherefore neither do these men
themselves know the truth; but since such was their opinion regarding God, they
had just received doctrine as they were able to hear it. According to this
manner of speaking, therefore, the rule of truth can be with nobody; but all
learners will ascribe this practice to all [teachers], that just as every person
thought, and as far as his capability extended, so was also the language
addressed to him. But the advent of the Lord will appear superfluous and
useless, if He did indeed come intending to tolerate and to preserve each man's
idea regarding God rooted in him from of old. Besides this, also, it was a much
heavier task, that He whom the Jews had seen as a man, and had fastened to the
cross, should be preached as Christ the Son of God, their eternal King. Since
this, however, was so, they certainly did not speak to them in accordance with
their old belief. For they, who told them to their face that they were the
slayers of the Lord, would themselves also much more boldly preach that Father
who is above the Demiurge, and not what each individual bid himself believe
[respecting God]; and the sin was much less, if indeed they had not fastened to
the cross the superior Saviour (to whom it behoved them to ascend), since He was
impassible. For, as they did not speak to the Gentiles in compliance with their
notions, but told them with boldness that their gods were no gods, but the idols
of demons; so would they in like manner have preached to the Jews, if they had
known another greater or more perfect Father, not nourishing nor strengthening
the untrue opinion of these men regarding God. Moreover, while destroying the
error of the Gentiles, and bearing them away from their gods, they did not
certainly induce another error upon them; but, removing those which were no
gods, they pointed out Him who alone was God and the true Father.
7. From the words of Peter, therefore, which he addressed in Caesarea to
Cornelius the centurion, and those Gentiles with him, to whom the word of God
was first preached, we can understand what the apostles used to preach, the
nature of their preaching, and their idea with regard to God. For this Cornelius
was, it is said, "a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house,
giving much alms to the people, and praying to God always. He saw therefore,
about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying,
Thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. Wherefore send to Simon, who
is called Peter." But when Peter saw the vision, in which the voice from heaven
said to him, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common," this happened
[to teach him] that the God who had, through the law, distinguished between
clean and unclean, was He who had purified the Gentiles through the blood of His
Son-He whom also Cornelius worshipped; to whom Peter, coming in, said, "Of a
truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he
that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him." He thus
clearly indicates, that He whom Cornelius had previously feared as God, of whom
he had heard through the law and the prophets, for whose sake also he used to
give alms, is, in truth, God. the knowledge of the Son was, however, wanting to
him; therefore did [Peter] add, "The word, ye know, which was published
throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John
preached, Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with
power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all those things which He
did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew, hanging Him
on a beam of wood: Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly; not
to all the people, but unto us, witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and
drink with Him after the resurrection from the dead. And He commanded us to
preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God
to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets witness, that,
through His name, every one that believeth in Him does receive remission of
sins." The apostles, therefore, did preach the Son of God, of whom men were
ignorant; and His advent, to those who had been already instructed as to God;
but they did not bring in another god. For if Peter had known any such thing, he
would have preached freely to the Gentiles, that the God of the Jews was indeed
one, but the God of the Christians another; and all of them, doubtless, being
awe-struck because of the vision of the angel, would have believed whatever he
told them. But it is evident from Peter's words that he did indeed still retain
the God who was already known to them; but he also bare witness to them that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Judge of quick and dead, into whom he did
also command them to be baptized for the remission of sins; and not this alone,
but he witnessed that Jesus was Himself the Son of God, who also, having been
anointed with the Holy Spirit, is called Jesus Christ. And He is the same being
that was born of Mary, as the testimony of Peter implies. Can it really be, that
Peter was not at that time as yet in possession of the perfect knowledge which
these men discovered afterwards? According to them, therefore, Peter was
imperfect, and the rest of the apostles were imperfect; and so it would be
fitting that they, coming to life again, should become disciples of these men,
in order that they too might be made perfect. But this is truly ridiculous.
These men, in fact, are proved to be not disciples of the apostles, but of their
own wicked notions. To this cause also are due the various opinions which exist
among them, inasmuch as each one adopted error just as he was capable [of
embracing it]. But the Church throughout all the world, having its origin finn
from the apostles, perseveres in one and the same opinion with regard to God and
His Son.
8. But again: Whom did Philip preach to the eunuch of the queen of the
Ethiopians, returning from Jerusalem, and reading Esaias the prophet, when he
and this man were alone together? Was it not He of whom the prophet spoke: "He
was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before the shearer, so
He opened not the month? ""But who shall declare His nativity? for His life
shall be taken away from the earth." [Philip declared] that this was Jesus, and
that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him; as did also the believing eunuch
himself: and, immediately requesting to be baptized, he said, "I believe Jesus
Christ to be the Son of God." This man was also sent into the regions of
Ethiopia, to preach what he had himself believed, that there was one God
preached by the prophets, but that the Son of this [God] had already made [His]
appearance in human nature (secundum hominem), and had been led as a sheep to
the slaughter; and all the other statements which the prophets made regarding
Him.
9. Paul himself also-after that the Lord spoke to him out of heaven, and showed
him that, in persecuting His disciples, he persecuted his own Lord, and sent
Ananias to him that he might recover his sight, and be baptized-"preached," it
is said, "Jesus in the synagogues at Damascus, with all freedom of speech, that
this is the Son of God, the Christ." This is the mystery which he says was made
known to him by revelation, that
He who suffered under
Pontius Pilate, the same is Lord of all, and King, and God, and Judge, receiving
power from Him who is the God of all,
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because He became "obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." And inasmuch as this is true, when [preaching to the
Athenians on the Areopagus-where, no Jews being present, he had it in his power
to preach God with freedom of speech-he said to them: "God, who made the world,
and all things therein, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
temples made with hands; neither is He touched by men's hands, as though He
needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; who
hath made from one blood the whole race of men to dwell upon the face of the
whole earth, predetermining the times according to the boundary of their
habitation, to seek the Deity, if by any means they might be able to track Him
out, or find Him, although He be not far from each of us. For in Him we live,
and move, and have our being, as certain men of your own have said, For we are
also His offspring. Inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not
to think that the Deity is like unto gold or silver, or stone graven by art or
man's device. Therefore God, winking at the times of ignorance, does now command
all men everywhere to turn to Him with repentance; because He hath appointed a
day, on which the world shall be judged in righteousness by the man Jesus;
whereof He hath given assurance by raising, Him from the dead." Now in this
passage he does not only declare to them God as the Creator of the world, no
Jews being present, but that He did also make one race of men to dwell upon all
the earth; as also Moses declared: "When the Most High divided the nations, as
He scattered the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations after the number
of the angels of God; " but that people which believes in God is not now under
the power of angels, but under the Lord's [rule]. "For His people Jacob was made
the portion of the Lord, Israel the cord of His inheritance." And again, at
Lystra of Lycia (Lycaonia), when Paul was with Barnabas, and in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ had made a man to walk who had been lame from his birth, and
when the crowd wished to honour them as gods because of the astonishing deed, he
said to them: "We are men like unto you, preaching to you God, that ye may be
turned away from these vain idols to [serve] the living God, who made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein; who in times past
suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, although He left not Himself
without witness, performing acts of goodness, giving you rain from heaven, and
fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness." But that all his
Epistles are consonant to these declarations, I shall, when expounding the
apostle, show from the Epistles themselves, in the right place. But while I
bring out by these proofs the truths of Scripture, and set forth briefly and
compendiously things which are stated in various ways, do thou also attend to
them with patience, and not deem them prolix; taking this into account, that
proofs [of the things which are] contained in the Scriptures cannot be shown
except from the Scriptures themselves.
10. And still further, Stephen, who was chosen the first deacon by the apostles,
and who, of all men, was the first to follow the footsteps of the martyrdom of
the Lord, being the first that was slain for confessing Christ, speaking boldly
among the people, and teaching them, says: "The God of glory appeared to our
father Abraham, ... and said to him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee; ... and He removed him
into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And He gave him none inheritance in it,
no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to
him for a possession, and to his seed after him.... And God spake on this wise,
That his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and should be brought into
bondage, and should be evil-entreated four hundred years; and the nation whom
they shall serve will I judge, says the Lord. And after that shall they come
forth, and serve me in this place. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision:
and so [Abraham] begat Isaac." And the rest of his words announce the same God,
who was with Joseph and with the patriarchs, and who spake with Moses.
11. And that the whole range of the doctrine of the apostles proclaimed one and
the same God, who removed Abraham, who made to him the promise of inheritance,
who in due season gave to him the covenant of circumcision, who called his
descendants out of Egypt, preserved outwardly by circumcision-for he gave it as
a sign, that they might not be like the Egyptians-that He was the Maker of all
things, that He was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He was the God of
glory,-they who wish may learn from the very words and acts of the apostles, and
may contemplate the fact that this God is one, above whom is no other. But even
if there were another god above Him, we should say, upon [instituting] a
comparison of the quantity [of the work done by each], that the latter is
superior to the former. For by deeds the better man appears, as I have already
remarked; and, inasmuch as these men have no works of their father to adduce,
the latter is shown to be God alone. But if any one, "doting about questions,"
do imagine that what the apostles have declared about God should be allegorized,
let him consider my previous statements, in which I set forth one God as the
Founder and Maker of all things, and destroyed and laid bare their allegations;
and he shall find them agreeable to the doctrine of the apostles, and so to
maintain what they used to teach, and were persuaded of, that there is one God,
the Maker of all things. And when he shall have divested his mind of such error,
and of that blasphemy against God which it implies, he will of himself find
reason to acknowledge that both the Mosaic law and the grace of the new
covenant, as both fitted for the times [at which they were given], were bestowed
by one and the same God for the benefit of the human race.
12. For all those who are of a perverse mind, having been set against the Mosaic
legislation, judging it to be dissimilar and contrary to the doctrine of the
Gospel, have not applied themselves to investigate the causes of the difference
of each covenant. Since, therefore, they have been deserted by the paternal
love, and puffed up by Satan, being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus,
they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that
they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another
god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under
the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in
doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles. Wherefore also Marcion and
his followers have betaken themselves to mutilating the Scriptures, not
acknowledging some books at all; and, curtailing the Gospel according to Luke
and the Epistles of Paul, they assert that these are alone authentic, which they
have themselves thus shortened. In another work, however, I shall, God granting
[me strength], refute them out of these which they still retain. But all the
rest, inflated with the false name of "knowledge," do certainly recognise the
Scriptures; but they pervert the interpretations, as I have shown in the first
book. And, indeed, the followers of Marcion do directly blaspheme the Creator,
alleging him to be the creator of evils, [but] holding a more tolerable theory
as to his origin, [and] maintaining that there are two beings, gods by nature,
differing from each other,-the one being good, but the other evil. Those from
Valentinus, however, while they employ names of a more honourable kind, and set
forth that He who is Creator is both Father, and Lord, and God, do
[nevertheless] render their theory or sect more blasphemous, by maintaining that
He was not produced from any one of those Aeons within the Pleroma, but from
that defect which had been expelled beyond the Pleroma. Ignorance of the
Scriptures and of the dispensation of God has brought all these things upon
them. And in the course of this work I shall touch upon the cause of the
difference of the covenants on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of their
unity and harmony.
13. But that both the apostles and their disciples thus taught as the Church
preaches, and thus teaching were perfected, wherefore also they were called away
to that which is perfect-Stephen, teaching these truths, when he was yet on
earth, saw the glory of God, and Jesus on His right hand, and exclaimed,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand
of God." These words he said, and was stoned; and thus did he fulfil the perfect
doctrine, copying in every respect the Leader of martyrdom, and praying for
those who were slaying him, in these words: "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." Thus were they perfected who knew one and the same God, who from
beginning to end was present with mankind in the various dispensations; as the
prophet Hosea declares: "I have filled up visions, and used similitudes by the
hands of the prophets." Those, therefore, who delivered up their souls to death
for Christ's Gospel-how could they have spoken to men in accordance with
old-established opinion? If this had been the course adopted by them, they
should not have suffered; but inasmuch as they did preach things contrary to
those persons who did not assent to the truth, for that reason they suffered. It
is evident, therefore, that they did not relinquish the truth, but with all
boldness preached to the Jews and Greeks. To the Jews, indeed, [they proclaimed]
that the Jesus who was crucified by them was the Son of God, the Judge of quick
and dead, and that He has received from His Father an eternal kingdom in Israel,
as I have pointed out; but to the Greeks they preached one God, who made all
things, and Jesus Christ His Son.
14. This is shown in a still clearer light from the letter of the apostles,
which they forwarded neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks, but to those who
from the Gentiles believed in Christ, confirming their faith. For when certain
men had come down from Judea to Antioch-where also, first of all, the Lord's
disciples were called Christians, because of their faith in Christ-and sought to
persuade those who had believed on the Lord to be circumcised, and to perform
other things after the observance of the law; and when Paul and Barnabas had
gone up to Jerusalem to the apostles on account of this question, and the whole
Church had convened together, Peter thus addressed them: "Men, brethren, ye know
how that from the days of old God made choice among you, that the Gentiles by my
mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, the Searcher of
the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as to us; and put
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now
therefore why tempt ye God, to impose a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that, through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be saved, even as they." After him
James spoke as follows: "Men, brethren, Simon hath declared how God did purpose
to take from among the Gentiles a people for His name. And thus do the words of
the prophets agree, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build
again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men may seek after the Lord,
and all the Gentiles, among whom my name has been invoked, saith the Lord, doing
these things. Known from eternity is His work to God. Wherefore I for my part
give judgment, that we trouble not them who from among the Gentiles are turned
to God: but that it be enjoined them, that they do abstain from the vanities of
idols, and from fornication, and from blood; and whatsoever they wish not to be
done to themselves, let them not do to others." And when these things had been
said, and all had given their consent, they wrote to them after this manner:
"The apostles, and the presbyters, [and] the brethren, unto those brethren from
among the Gentiles who are in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, greeting:
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain persons going out from us have troubled
you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep
the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being
assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas
and Paul; men who have delivered up their soul for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, that they may declare our
opinion by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to
lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from
meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from fornication; and whatsoever ye
do not wish to be done to you, do not ye to others: from which preserving
yourselves, ye shall do well, walking in the Holy Spirit." From all these
passages, then, it is evident that they did not teach the existence of another
Father, but gave the new covenant of liberty to those who had lately believed in
God by the Holy Spirit. But they clearly indicated, from the nature of the point
debated by them, as to whether or not it were still necessary to circumcise the
disciples, that they had no idea of another god.
15. Neither [in that case] would they have had such a tenor with regard to the
first covenant, as not even to have been willing to eat with the Gentiles. For
even Peter, although he had been sent to instruct them, and had been constrained
by a vision to that effect, spake nevertheless with not a little hesitation,
saying to them: "Ye know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to
keep company with, or to come unto, one of another nation; but God hath shown me
that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I without
gainsaying; " indicating by these words, that he would not have come to them
unless he had been commanded. Neither, for a like reason, would he have given
them baptism so readily, had he not heard them prophesying when the Holy Ghost
rested upon them. And therefore did he exclaim, "Can any man forbid water, that
these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? "
He persuaded, at the same time, those that were with him, and pointed out that,
unless the Holy Ghost had rested upon them, there might have been some one who
would have raised objections to their baptism. And the apostles who were with
James allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding us up to the Spirit of God.
But they themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in the ancient
observances; so that even Peter, fearing also lest he might incur their reproof,
although formerly eating with the Gentiles, because of the vision, and of the
Spirit who had rested upon them, yet, when certain persons came from James,
withdrew himself, and did not eat with them. And Paul said that Barnabas
likewise did the same thing. Thus did the apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses
of every action and of every doctrine-for upon all occasions do we find Peter,
and James, and John present with Him-scrupulously act according to the
dispensation of the Mosaic law, showing that it was from one and the same God;
which they certainly never would have done, as I have already said, if they had
learned from the Lord [that there existed] another Father besides Him who
appointed the dispensation of the law.
Chapter XIII-Refutation of the Opinion, that Paul
Was the Only Apostle Who Had Knowledge of the Truth.
1. With regard to those (the Marcionites) who allege that Paul alone knew the
truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by revelation, let Paul
himself convict them, when he says, that one and the same God wrought in Peter
for the apostolate of the circumcision, and in himself for the Gentiles. Peter,
therefore, was an apostle of that very God whose was also Paul; and Him whom
Peter preached as God among those of the circumcision, and likewise the Son of
God, did Paul [declare] also among the Gentiles. For our Lord never came to save
Paul alone, nor is God so limited in means, that He should have but one apostle
who knew the dispensation of His Son. And again, when Paul says, "How beautiful
are the feet of those bringing glad tidings of good things, and preaching the
Gospel of peace," 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," acknowledging as 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 have been alienated from the doctrine of Christ. For
why did the Lord send the twelve apostles to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, if these men did not know the truth? How also did the seventy preach,
unless they had themselves previously known the truth of what was preached? Or
how could Peter have been in ignorance, to whom the Lord gave testimony, that
flesh and blood had not revealed to him, but the Father, who is in heaven? Just,
then, as" Paul [was] an apostle, not of men, neither by man, 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 acceded to [the request of] those who summoned him to the
apostles, on account of the question [which had been raised], and went up to
them, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, not without reason, but that the liberty of
the Gentiles might be confirmed by them, he does himself say, in the Epistle to
the Galatians: "Then, fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with
Barnabas, taking also Titus. But I went up by revelation, and communicated to
them that Gospel which I preached among the Gentiles." And again he says, "For
an hour we did give place to subjection, that the truth of the gospel might
continue with you." If, then, any one shall, from the Acts of the Apostles,
carefully scrutinize the time concerning which it is written that he went up to
Jerusalem on account of the forementioned question, he will find those years
mentioned by Paul coinciding with it. Thus the statement of Paul harmonizes
with, and is, as it were, identical with, the testimony of Luke regarding the
apostles.
Chapter XIV.-If Paul Had Known Any Mysteries
Unrevealed to the Other Apostles, Luke, His Constant Companion and Fellow-Traveller,
Could Not Have Been Ignorant of Them; Neither Could the Truth Have Possibly Lain
Hid from Him, Through Whom Alone We Learn Many and Most Important Particulars of
the Gospel History.
1. But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow-labourer in the
Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to
do so by the truth itself. For he says that when Barnabas, and John who was
called Mark, had parted company from Paul, and sailed to Cyprus, "we came to
Troas; " and when Paul had beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, "Come
into Macedonia, Paul, and help us," "immediately," he says, "we endeavoured to
go into Macedonia, understanding that the Lord had called us to preach the
Gospel unto them. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we directed our ship's course
towards Samothracia." And then he carefully indicates all the rest of their
journey as far as Philippi, and how they delivered their first address: "for,
sitting down," he says, "we spake unto the women who had assembled; " and
certain believed, even a great many. And again does he say, "But we sailed from
Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to Troas, where we abode
seven days." 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 him in charge; 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 Puteoli, and from that arrived
at Rome; and for what period they sojourned at Rome. As Luke was present at all
these occurrences, he carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be
convicted of falsehood or boastfulness, because all these [particulars] proved
both that he was senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and that he was
not ignorant of the truth. That he was not merely a follower, but also a fellow-labourer
of the apostles, but especially of Paul, Paul has himself declared also in the
Epistles, saying: "Demas hath forsaken me, ... and is departed unto
Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me."
From this he shows that he was always attached to and inseparable from him. And
again he says, in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Luke, the beloved physician,
greets you." But surely if Luke, who always preached in company with Paul, and
is called by him "the beloved," and with him performed the work of an
evangelist, and was entrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, learned nothing
different from him (Paul), as has been pointed out from his words, how can these
men, who were never attached to Paul, boast that they have learned hidden and
unspeakable mysteries?
2. But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew, not only to those who were
[employed] with him, but to those that heard him, he does himself make manifest.
For when the bishops and presbyters who came from Ephesus and the other cities
adjoining had assembled in Miletus, since he was himself hastening to Jerusalem
to observe Pentecost, after testifying many things to them, and declaring what
must happen to him at Jerusalem, he added: "I know that ye shall see my face no
more. Therefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of
all. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take
heed, therefore, both to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy
Ghost has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of the Lord, 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 all
what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also does Luke, without
respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned from them, as he has
himself testified, saying, "Even as they delivered them unto us, who from the
beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word."
3. Now if any man set Luke aside, as one who did not know the truth, he will,
[by so acting, ] manifestly reject that Gospel of which he claims to be a
disciple. For through him we have become acquainted with very many and important
parts of the Gospel; for instance, the generation of John, the history of
Zacharias, the coming of the angel to Mary, the exclamation of Elisabeth, the
descent of the angels to the shepherds, the words spoken by them, the testimony
of Anna and of Simeon with regard to Christ, and that twelve years of age He was
left behind at Jerusalem; also the baptism of John, the number of the Lord's
years when He was baptized, and that this occurred in the fifteenth year of
Tiberius Caesar. And in His office of teacher this is what He has said to the
rich: "Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation; " 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 meat with a
Pharisee, a woman that was a sinner kissed His feet, and anointed them with
ointment, with what the Lord said to Simon on her behalf concerning the two
debtors; also about the parable of that rich man who stored up the goods which
had accrued to him, to whom it was also said, "In this night they shall demand
thy soul from thee; whose then shall those things be which thou hast prepared? "
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 with
Zaccheus 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 Marcion and Valentinus. And besides all these, [he records] what
[Christ] said to His disciples in the way, after the resurrection, and how they
recognised Him in the breaking of bread.
4. It follows then, as of course, that these men must either receive the rest of
his narrative, or else reject these parts also. For no persons of common sense
can permit them to receive some things recounted by Luke as being true, and to
set others aside, as if he had not known the truth. And if indeed Marcion's
followers reject these, they will then possess no Gospel; for, curtailing that
according to Luke, as I have said already, they boast in having the Gospel [in
what remains]. But the followers of Valentinus must give up their utterly vain
talk; for they have taken from that [Gospel] many occasions for their own
speculations, to put an evil interpretation upon what he has well said. If, on
the other hand, they feel compelled to receive the remaining portions also,
then, by studying the perfect Gospel, and the doctrine of the apostles, they
will find it necessary to repent, that they may be saved from the danger [to
which they are exposed].
Chapter XV.-Refutation of the Ebionites, Who
Disparaged the Authority of St. Paul, from the Writings of St. Luke, Which Must
Be Received as a Whole. Exposure of the Hypocrisy, Deceit, and Pride of the
Gnostics. The Apostles and Their Disciples Knew and Preached One God, the
Creator of the World.
1. But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise Paul as an
apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we
have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them; or else, if they
do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning
Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven:
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutest;
" 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 [asa teacher],
who was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as
being sent to the forementioned nations, do despise the election of God, and
separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can they
contend that Paul was no apostle, when he was chosen for this purpose; nor can
they prove Luke guilty of falsehood, when he proclaims the truth to us with all
diligence. It may be, indeed, that it was with this view that God set forth very
many Gospel truths, through Luke's instrumentality, which all should esteem it
necessary to use, in order that all persons, following his subsequent testimony,
which treats upon the acts and the doctrine of the apostles, and holding the
unadulterated rule of truth, may be saved. His testimony, therefore, is true,
and the doctrine of the apostles is open and stedfast, holding nothing in
reserve; nor did they teach one set of doctrines in private, and another in
public.
2. For this is the subterfuge of false persons, evil seducers, and hypocrites,
as they act who are from Valentinus. These men discourse to the multitude about
those who belong to the Church, whom they do themselves term "vulgar," and
"ecclesiastic." 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 Pleroma. But they
are altogether deceived, who imagine that they may learn from the Scriptural
texts adduced by heretics, that [doctrine] which their words plausibly teach.
For error is plausible, and bears a resemblance to the truth, but requires to be
disguised; while truth is without disguise, and therefore has been entrusted to
children. And if any one of their auditors do indeed demand explanations, or
start objections to them, they affirm that he is one not capable of receiving
the truth, and not having from above the seed [derived] from their Mother; and
thus really give him no reply, but simply declare that he is of the intermediate
regions, that is, belongs to animal natures. But if any one do yield himself up
to them like a little sheep, and follows out their practice, and their
"redemption," such an one is puffed up to such an extent, that he thinks he is
neither in heaven nor on earth, but that he has passed within the Pleroma; and
having already embraced his angel, he walks with a strutting gait and a
supercilious countenance, possessing all the pompous air of a cock. There are
those among them who assert that that man who comes from above ought to follow a
good course of conduct; wherefore they do also pretend a gravity [of demeanour]
with a certain superciliousness. The majority, however, having become scoffers
also, as if already perfect, and living without regard [to appearances], yea, in
contempt [of that which is good], call themselves "the spiritual," and allege
that they have already become acquainted with that place of refreshing which is
within their Pleroma.
3. But let us revert to the same line of argument [hitherto pursued].
For when it has been manifestly declared, that they who were the preachers
of the truth and the apostles of liberty termed no one else God, or named him
Lord, except the only true God the Father, and His Word, who has the
pre-eminence in all things;
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it shall then be clearly proved, that they
(the apostles) confessed as the Lord God Him who was the Creator of heaven and
earth, who also spoke with Moses, gave to him the dispensation of the law, and
who called the fathers; and that they knew no other. The opinion of the
apostles, therefore, and of those (Marks and Luke) who learned from their words,
concerning God, has been made manifest.
Chapter XVI.-Proofs from the Apostolic Writings,
that Jesus Christ Was One and the Same, the Only Begotten Son of God, Perfect
God and Perfect Man.
1. But there are some who say that Jesus was merely a receptacle of Christ, upon
whom the Christ, as a dove, descended from above, and that when He had declared
the unnameable Father He entered into the Pleroma in an incomprehensible and
invisible manner: for that He was not comprehended, not only by men, but not
even by those powers and virtues which are in heaven, and that Jesus was the
Son, but that Christ was the Father, and the Father of Christ, God; while others
say that He merely suffered in outward appearance, being naturally impassible.
The Valentinians, again, maintain that the dispensational Jesus was the same who
passed through Mary, upon whom that Saviour from the more exalted [region]
descended, who was also termed Pan, because He possessed the names (vocabula) of
all those who had produced Him; but that [this latter] shared with Him, the
dispensational one, His power and His name; so that by His means death was
abolished, but the Father was made known by that Saviour who had descended from
above, whom they do also allege to be Himself the receptacle of Christ and of
the entire Pleroma; confessing, indeed, in tongue one Christ Jesus, but being
divided in [actual] opinion: for, as I have already observed, it is the practice
of these men to say that there was one Christ, who was produced by Monogenes,
for the confirmation of the Pleroma; but that another, the Saviour, was sent
[forth] for the glorification of the Father; and yet another, the dispensational
one, and whom they represent as having suffered, who also bore [in himself]
Christ, that Saviour who returned into the Pleroma. I judge it necessary
therefore to take into account the entire mind of the apostles regarding our
Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that not only did they never hold any such
opinions regarding Him; but, still further, that they announced through the Holy
Spirit, that those who should teach such doctrines were agents of Satan, sent
forth for the purpose of overturning the faith of some, and drawing them away
from life.
2. That John knew the one and the same Word of God, and that He was the only
begotten, and that He became incarnate for our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord,
I have sufficiently proved from the word of John himself. And Matthew, too,
recognising one and the same Jesus Christ, exhibiting his generation as a man
from the Virgin, even as God did promise David that He would raise up from the
fruit of his body an eternal King, having made the same promise to Abraham a
long time previously, says: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham" 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 a son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their
sins. Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet: Behold. a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a son, and they
shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, God with us; "clearly signifying that
both the promise made to the fathers had been accomplished, that the Son of God
was born of a virgin, and that He Himself was Christ the Saviour whom the
prophets had foretold; not, as these men assert, that Jesus was He who was born
of Mary, but that Christ was He who descended from above. Matthew might
certainly have said, "Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise; "but the Holy
Ghost, foreseeing the corrupters [of the truth], and guarding by anticipation
against their deceit, says by Matthew, "But the birth of Christ was on this
wise; "and that He is Emmanuel, lest perchance we might consider Him as a mere
man: for "not by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man, but by the will
of God was the Word made flesh; " and that we should not imagine that Jesus was
one, and Christ another, but should know them to be one and the same.
3. Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point: "Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, predestinated unto the Gospel of God, which He had
promised by His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was
made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated
the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ."
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."
[Note: This is Romans 9:5. The NWT
translation reads, "...Christ [sprang] according to the flesh: God, who is over
all, [be] blessed forever." However, some modern Christian translations,
such as NIV, read, "Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!" This
reading from Irenaeus is significant because it affirms that the NWT translation
is incorrect.]
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And again, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he
says: "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption; " plainly indicating one God, who did by the prophets make
promise of the Son, and one Jesus Christ our Lord, who was of the seed of David
according to His birth from Mary; and that Jesus Christ was appointed the Son of
God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from
the dead, as being the first begotten in all the creation; 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 Emmanuel,
"`the messenger of great counsel of the Father; "through whom God caused the
day-spring and the Just One to arise to the house of David, and raised up for
him an horn of salvation, "and established a testimony in Jacob; " as David says
when discoursing on the causes of His birth: "And He appointed a law in Israel,
that another generation might know [Him, ] the children which should he born
from these, and they arising shall themselves declare to their children, so that
they might set their hope in God, and seek after His commandments." And again,
the angel said, when bringing good tidings to Mary: "He shall he great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto Him the
throne of His father David; " 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
lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: because mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel; "
confessing thus, that the infant whom he was holding in his hands, Jesus, born
of Mary, was Christ Himself, the Son of God, the light of all, the glory of
Israel itself, and the peace and refreshing of those who had fallen asleep. For
He was already despoiling men, by removing their ignorance, conferring upon them
His own knowledge, and scattering abroad those who recognised Him, as Esaias
says: "Call His name, Quickly spoil, Rapidly divide." Now these are the works of
Christ. He therefore was Himself Christ, whom Simeon carrying [in his arms]
blessed the Most High; on beholding whom the shepherds glorified God; whom John,
while yet in his mother's womb, and He (Christ) in that of Mary, recognising as
the Lord, saluted with leaping; whom the Magi, when they had seen, adored, and
offered their gifts [to Him], as I have already stated, and prostrated
themselves to the eternal King, departed by another way, not now returning by
the way of the Assyrians. "For before the child shall have knowledge to cry,
Father or mother, He shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of
Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians; " 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 was Himself an infant,
so arranging it that human infants should be martyrs, slain, according to the
Scriptures, for the sake of Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the
city of David.
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 opened He their understanding, that they should understand the
Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ
to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that repentance for the
remission of sins be preached in His name among all nations." 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, verities, 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 a
liar, but he that denieth 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 there descended from the
invisible and ineffable [places] the former, whom they assert to be
incomprehensible, invisible, and impassible: they thus wander from the truth,
because their doctrine departs from Him who is truly God, being ignorant that
His only-begotten Word, who is always present with the human race, united to and
mingled with His own creation, according to the Father's pleasure, and who
became flesh, is Himself Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us, and
rose again on our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of His Father, to
raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and to apply the
rule of just judgment to all who were made by Him. There is therefore, as I have
pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus, who came by means of the
whole dispensational arrangements [connected with Him], and gathered together
all things in Himself. But in every respect, too, He is man, the formation of
God; and thus He took up man into Himself, the invisible becoming visible, the
incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of
suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in Himself:
so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God
is supreme, so also in things visible and corporeal He might possess the
supremacy, and, taking to Himself the pre-eminence, as well as constituting
Himself Head of the Church, He might draw all things to Himself at the proper
time.
7. With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with the Father
there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were foreknown by the Father;
but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence.
This was the reason why, when Mary was urging [Him] on to [perform] the
wonderful miracle of the wine, and was desirous before the time to partake 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" -waiting for
that hour which was foreknown by the Father. This is also the reason why, when
men were often desirous to take Him, it is said, "No man laid hands upon Him,
for the hour of His being taken was not yet come; " nor the time of His passion,
which had been foreknown by the Father; as also says the prophet Habakkuk, "By
this Thou shalt be known when the years have drawn nigh; Thou shalt be set forth
when the time comes; because my soul is disturbed by anger, Thou shalt remember
Thy mercy." 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 fulfils
the bountiful and comprehensive will of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself
the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under
authority, and the God of all those things which have been formed, the
only-begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of God, who
became incarnate when the fullness of time had come, at which the Son of God had
to become the Son of man.
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8. All, therefore, are outside of the [Christian] dispensation, who, under
pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ another, and the
Only-begotten another, from whom again is the Word, and that the Saviour is
another, whom these disciples of error allege to be a production of those who
were made Aeons in a state of degeneracy. Such men are to outward appearance
sheep; for they appear to be like us, by what they say in public, repeating the
same words as we do; but inwardly they are wolves. Their doctrine is homicidal,
conjuring up, as it does, a number of gods, and simulating many Fathers, but
lowering and dividing the Son of God in many ways. These are they against whom
the Lord has cautioned us beforehand; and His disciple, in his Epistle already
mentioned, commands us to avoid them, when he says: "For many deceivers are
entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Take heed to them, that ye lose not what
ye have wrought." 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 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; nor did he of the Saviour
above, whom they hold to be impassible. For if, in truth, the one suffered, and
the other remained incapable of suffering, and the one was born, but the other
descended upon him who was born, and left him gain, it is not one, but two, that
are shown forth. But that the apostle did know Him as one, both who was born and
who suffered, namely Christ Jesus, he again says in the same Epistle: "Know ye
not, that so many of us as were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized in His
death? that like as Christ rose from the dead, so should we also walk in newness
of life." But again, showing that Christ did suffer, and was Himself the Son of
God, who died for us, and redeemed us with His blood at the time appointed
beforehand, he says: "For how is it, that Christ, when we were yet without
strength, in due time died for the ungodly? But God commendeth His love towards
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, then,
being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son;
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." He declares in the
plainest manner, that the same Being who was laid hold of, and underwent
suffering, and shed His blood for us, was both Christ and the Son of God, who
did also rise again, and was taken up into heaven, as he himself [Paul] says:
"But at the same time, [it, is] Christ [that] died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the fight hand of God." And again, "Knowing that Christ,
rising from the dead, dieth 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 occasion of cavil, he says what
has been already stated, [and also declares: ] "But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." This he does not utter to those
alone who wish to hear: Do not err, [he says to all: ] Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, is one and the same, who did by suffering reconcile us to God, and rose
from the dead; who is at the right hand of the Father, and perfect in all
things; "who, when He was buffeted, struck not in return; who, when He suffered,
threatened not; " 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 XVII.-The Apostles Teach that It Was
Neither Christ Nor the Saviour, But the Holy Spirit, Who Did Descend Upon Jesus.
The Reason for This Descent.
1. It certainly was in the power of the apostles to declare that Christ
descended upon Jesus, or that the so-called superior Saviour [came down] upon
the dispensational one, or he who is from the invisible places upon him from the
Demiurge; but they neither knew nor said anything of the kind: for, had they
known it, they would have also certainly stated it. But what really was the
case, that did they record, [namely, ] that the Spirit of God as a dove
descended upon Him; this Spirit, of whom it was declared by Isaiah, "And the
Spirit of God shall rest upon Him," 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 accustomed in fellowship with
Him to dwell in the human race, to rest with human beings, and to dwell in the
workmanship of God, working the will of the Father in them, and renewing them
from their old habits into the newness of Christ.
2. This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, "And stablish me with
Thine all-governing Spirit; " 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 labour, having in
herself water springing up to eternal life. The Lord, receiving this as a gift
from His Father, does Himself also confer it upon those who are partakers of
Himself, sending the Holy Spirit upon all the earth.
3. Gideon, that Israelite whom God chose, that he might save the people of
Israel from the power of foreigners, foreseeing this gracious gift, changed his
request, and prophesied that there would be dryness upon the fleece of wool (a
type of the people), on which alone at first there had been dew; thus indicating
that they should no longer have the Holy Spirit from God, as saith Esaias, "I
will also command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it," 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 we may have also an Advocate, the Lord commending to the
Holy Spirit His own man, who had fallen among thieves, whom He Himself
compassionated, and bound up his wounds, giving two royal denaria; so that we,
receiving by the Spirit the image and superscription of the Father and the Son,
might cause the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out the
increase [thereof] to the Lord.
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 Ogdoads and Tetrads, and imagined 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 impassible; that the one truly did
ascend to the Pleroma, but the other remained in the intermediate place; that
the one does truly feast and revel in places invisible and above all name, but
that the other is seated with the Demiurge, emptying him of power. It will
therefore be incumbent upon thee, and all others who give their attention to
this writing, and are anxious about their own salvation, not readily to express
acquiescence when they hear abroad the speeches of these men: for, speaking
things resembling the [doctrine of the] faithful, as I have already observed,
not only do they hold opinions which are different, but absolutely contrary, and
in all points full of blasphemies, by which they destroy those persons who, by
reason of the resemblance of the words, imbibe a poison which disagrees with
their constitution, just as if one, giving lime mixed with water for milk,
should mislead by the similitude of the colour; as a man 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 XVIII.-Continuation of the Foregoing
Argument. Proofs from the Writings of St. Paul, and from the Words of Our Lord,
that Christ and Jesus Cannot Be Considered as Distinct Beings; Neither Can It Be
Alleged that the Son of God Became Man Merely in Appearance, But that He Did So
Truly and Actually.
1. As it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed in the
beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who was also always present
with mankind, was in these last days, according to the time appointed by the
Father, united to His own workmanship, inasmuch as He became a man liable to
suffering, [it follows] that every objection is set aside of those who say, "If
our Lord was born at that time, Christ had therefore no previous existence." For
I have shown that the Son of God did not then begin to exist, being with the
Father from the beginning; but when He became incarnate, and was made man, He
commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief,
comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam-namely,
to be according to the image and likeness of God-that we might recover in Christ
Jesus.
2. For as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been conquered,
and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could reform himself, and
obtain the prize of victory; and as it was also impossible that he could attain
to salvation who had fallen under the power of sin,-the Son effected both these
things, being the Word of God, descending from the Father, becoming incarnate,
stooping low, even to death, and consummating the arranged plan of our
salvation, upon whom [Paul], exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says,
"Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring down Christ; or who shall
descend into the deep? that is, to liberate Christ again from the dead." Then he
continues, "If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be
saved." 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
is it he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who extended himself
through Horos, and imparted a form to their mother; or is it He who is from the
Virgin, Emmanuel, who did eat butter and honey, of whom the prophet declared,
"He is also a man, and who shall know him? " He was likewise preached by Paul:
"For I delivered," he says, "unto you first of all, that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and rose again the
third day, according to the Scriptures." It is plain, then, that Paul knew no
other Christ besides Him alone, who both suffered, and was buried, and rose
gain, who was also born, and whom he speaks of as man. For after remarking, "But
if Christ be preached, that He rose from the dead," he continues, rendering the
reason of His incarnation, "For since by man came death, by man [came] also the
resurrection of the dead." And everywhere, when [referring to] the passion of
our Lord, and to His human nature, and His subjection to death, he employs the
name of Christ, as in that passage: "Destroy not him with thy meat for whom
Christ died." 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 every
one that hangeth upon a tree." And again: "And through thy knowledge shall the
weak brother perish, for whom Christ died; " indicating that the impassible
Christ did not descend upon Jesus, but that He Himself, because He was Jesus
Christ, suffered for us; He, who lay in the tomb, and rose again, who descended
and ascended,-the Son of God having been made the Son of man, as the very name
itself doth declare. For in the name of Christ is implied, He that anoints, He
that is anointed, and the unction itself with which He is anointed. And it is
the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the
unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me," -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 unto
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 men 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 Saviour of
those who should be delivered over to death for their confession of Him, and
lose their lives.
5. If, however, He was Himself not to suffer, but should fly away from Jesus,
why did He exhort His disciples to take up the cross and follow Him,-that cross
which these men represent Him as not having taken up, but [speak of Him] as
having relinquished the dispensation of suffering? For that He did not say this
with reference to the acknowledging of the Stauros (cross) above, as some among
them venture to expound, but with respect to the suffering which He should
Himself undergo, and that His disciples should endure, He implies when He says,
"For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose, shall
find it. And that His disciples must suffer for His sake, He [implied when He]
said to the Jews, "Behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and
some of them ye shall kill and crucify." And to the disciples He was wont to
say, "And ye shall stand before governors and kings for My sake; and they shall
scourge some of you, and slay you, and persecute you from city to city." He
knew, therefore, both those who should suffer persecution, and He knew those who
should have to be scourged and slain because of Him; and He did not speak of any
other cross, but of the suffering which He should Himself undergo first, and His
disciples afterwards. For this purpose did He give them this exhortation: "Fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear
Him who is able to send both soul and body into hell; " [thus exhorting them] to
hold fast those professions of faith which they had made in reference to Him.
For He promised to confess before His Father those who should confess His name
before men; but declared that He would deny those who should deny Him, and would
be ashamed of those who should be ashamed to confess Him. And although these
things are so, some of these men have proceeded to such a degree of temerity,
that they even pour contempt upon the martyrs, and vituperate those who are
slain on account of the confession of the Lord, and who suffer all things
predicted by the Lord, and who in this respect strive to follow the footprints
of the Lord's passion, having become martyrs of the suffering One; these we do
also enrol with the martyrs themselves. For, when inquisition shall be made for
their blood, 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, any one, going upon the supposition that there are
two [Christs], forms a judgment in regard to them, that [Christ] shall be found
much the better one, and more patient, and the truly good one, who, in the midst
of His own wounds and stripes, and the other [cruelties] inflicted upon Him, was
beneficent, and unmindful of the wrongs perpetrated upon Him, than he who flew
away, and sustained neither injury nor insult.
6. This also does likewise meet [the case] of those who maintain that He
suffered only in appearance. For if He did not truly suffer, no thanks to Him,
since there was no suffering at all; and when we shall actually begin to suffer,
He will seem as leading us astray, exhorting us to endure buffering, and to turn
the other cheek, if He did not Himself before us in reality suffer the same; and
as He misled them by seeming to them what He was not, so does He also mislead
us, by exhorting us to endure what He did not endure Himself. [In that case] we
shall be even above the Master, because we suffer and sustain what our Master
never bore or endured. But as our Lord is alone truly Master, so the Son of God
is truly good and patient, the Word of God the Father having been made the Son
of man. For He fought and conquered; for He was man contending for the fathers,
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.
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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 putatively, and was neither born in the
flesh nor truly made man, are as yet under the old condemnation, holding out
patronage to sin; for, by their showing, death has not been vanquished, which
"reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression." But the law coming, which was given by
Moses, and testifying of sin that it is a sinner, did truly take away his
(death's) kingdom, showing that he was no king, but a robber; and it revealed
him as a murderer. It laid, however, a weighty burden upon man, who had sin in
himself, showing that he was liable to death. For as the law was spiritual, it
merely made sin to stand out in relief, but did not destroy it. For sin had no
dominion over the spirit, but over man. For it behooved Him who was to destroy
sin, and redeem man under the power of death, that He should Himself be made
that very same thing which he was, that is, man; who had been drawn by sin into
bondage, but was held by death, so that sin should be destroyed by man, and man
should go forth from death. For as by the disobedience of the one man who was
originally moulded from virgin soil, the many were made sinners, 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.
Chapter XIX.-Jesus Christ Was Not a Mere Man,
Begotten from Joseph in the Ordinary Course of Nature, But Was Very God,
Begotten of the Father Most High, and Very Man, Born' Of the Virgin.
1. But again, those who assert that He was simply a mere man, begotten by
Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience, are in a state of
death having been not as yet joined to the Word of God the Father, nor receiving
liberty through the Son, as He does Himself declare: "If the Son shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed." But, being ignorant of Him who from the Virgin
is Emmanuel, 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 the 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 might
receive the adoption of sons?
2. For this reason [it is, said], "Who shall declare His generation? " since "He
is a man, and who shall recognise 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 the 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,
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may be seen by all who have attained to even a
small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these
things of Him, if, like others, He had been a mere man. But that He had, beyond
all others, in Himself that pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High
Father, and also experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the
Virgin, the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He
was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering; that He sat upon the foal
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 Counsellor, 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.
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3. For as He became man in order to undergo temptation, so also was He the Word
that He might be glorified; the Word remaining quiescent, that He might be
capable of being tempted, dishonoured, crucified, and of suffering death, but
the human nature being swallowed up in it (the divine), when it conquered, and
endured [without yielding], and performed acts of kindness, and rose again, and
was received up [into heaven]. He therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, being the
Word of the Father, and the Son of man, since He had a generation as to His
human nature from Mary-who was descended from mankind, and who was herself a
human being-was made the Son of man. Wherefore also the Lord Himself gave us a
sign, in the depth below, and in the height above, which man did not ask for,
because he never expected that a virgin could conceive, or that it was possible
that one remaining a virgin could bring forth a son, and that what was thus born
should be" God with us, " and descend to those things which are of the earth
beneath, seeking the sheep which had perished, which was indeed His own peculiar
handiwork, and ascend to the height above, offering and commending to His Father
that human nature (hominem) which had been found, making in His own person the
first-fruits of the resurrection of man; that, as the Head rose from the dead,
so also the remaining pan of the body-[namely, the body] of everyman who is
found in life-when the time is fulfilled of that condemnation which existed by
reason of disobedience, may arise, blended together and strengthened through
means of joints and bands 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, inasmuch as there are also many members in the body.
Chapter XX.-God Showed Himself, by the Fall of
Man, as Patient, Benign, Merciful, Mighty to Save. Man is Therefore Most
Ungrateful, If, Unmindful of His Own Lot, and of the Benefits Held Out to Him,
He Do Not Acknowledge Divine Grace.
1. Long-suffering therefore was God, when man became a defaulter, as foreseeing
that victory which should be granted to him through the Word. For, when strength
was made perfect in weakness, it showed the kindness and transcendent power of
God. For as He patiently suffered Jonah to be swallowed by the whale, not that
he should be swallowed up and perish altogether, but that, having been cast out
again, he might be the more subject to God, and might glorify Him the more who
had conferred upon him such an unhoped-for deliverance, and might bring the
Ninevites to a lasting repentance, so that they should be convened to the Lord,
who would deliver them from death, having been struck with awe by that portent
which had been wrought in Jonah's case, as the Scripture says of them, "And they
returned each from his evil way, and the unrighteousness which was in their
hands, saying, Who knoweth if God will repent, and turn away His anger from us,
and we shall not perish? " -so also, from the beginning, did God permit man to
be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of transgression, not
that he should perish altogether when so engulphed; but, arranging and preparing
the plan of salvation, which was accomplished by the Word, through the sign of
Jonah, for those who held the same opinion as Jonah regarding the Lord, and who
confessed, and said, "I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of
heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land." [This was done] that man,
receiving an unhoped-for salvation from God, might rise from the dead, and
glorify God, and repeat that word which was uttered in prophecy by Jonah: "I
cried by reason of mine affliction to the Lord my God, and He heard me out of
the belly of hell; " 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 superciliousness, as if he were
naturally like to God. For he (Satan) thus rendered him (man) more ungrateful
towards his Creator, obscured the love which God had towards man, and blinded
his mind not to perceive what is worthy of God, comparing himself with, and
judging himself equal to, God.
2. This, therefore, was the [object of the] long-suffering of God, that man,
passing through all things, and acquiring the knowledge of moral discipline,
then attaining to the resurrection from the dead, and learning by experience
what is the source of his deliverance, may always live in a state of gratitude
to the Lord, having obtained from Him the gift of incorruptibility, that he
might love Him the more; for "he to whom more is forgiven, loveth more: " and
that he may know himself, how mortal and weak he is; while he also understands
respecting God, that He is immortal and powerful to such a degree as to confer
immortality upon what is mortal, and eternity upon what is temporal; and may
understand also the other attributes of God displayed towards himself, by means
of which being instructed he may think of God in accordance with the divine
greatness. For the glory of man [is] God, but [His] works [are the glory] of
God; and the receptacle of all His. wisdom and power [is] man. Just as the
physician is proved by his patients, so is God also revealed through men. And
therefore Paul declares, "For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may
have mercy upon all; " 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 an one, ]
continuing in His love and subjection, and giving of 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 condemned thing, away
beyond the flesh, but that He might call man forth into His own likeness,
assigning him as [His own] imitator to God, and imposing on him His Father's
law, in order that he may see God, and granting him power to receive the Father;
[being] the Word of God who dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He
might accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man, according to the
good pleasure of the Father.
3. On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, 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.
4. Again, that it should not be a mere man who should save us, nor [one] without
flesh-for the angels are without flesh-[the same prophet] announced, saying:
"Neither an eider, nor angel, but 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 sap: "Behold, city of Zion: thine eyes shall see our
salvation." And that it was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says: "And
the holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who had slept in the land of
sepulture; and He came down to preach His salvation to them, that He might save
them." 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,
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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, Effrem.
His power covered the heavens over, and the earth is full of His praise. Before
His face shall go forth the Word, and His feet shall advance in the plains."
Thus he indicates
in clear terms that He is God, and that His advent was [to take place] in
Bethlehem, and from Mount Effrem, which is towards the south of the inheritance,
and that [He is] man. For he says, "His feet shall advance in the plains: "and
this is an indication proper to man.
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Chapter XXI.-A Vindication of the Prophecy in
Isaiah (VII. 14) Against the Misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the
Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority of the Septuagint Version.arguments in Proof
that Christ Was Born of a Virgin.
1.
God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the
token of the Virgin.
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But not as some allege, among those now
presuming to expound the Scripture, [thus: ] "Behold, a young woman shall
conceive, and bring forth a son," as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted,
and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these,
assert that He was begotten by Joseph; thus destroying, as far as in them lies,
such a marvellous dispensation of God, and setting aside the testimony of the
prophets which proceeded from God. For truly this prediction was uttered before
the removal of the people to Babylon; that is, anterior to the supremacy
acquired by the Medes and Persians. But it was interpreted into Greek by the
Jews themselves, much before the period of our Lord's advent, that there might
remain no suspicion that perchance the Jews, complying with our humour, did put
this interpretation upon these words. They indeed, had they been cognizant of
our future existence, and that we should use these proofs from the Scriptures,
would themselves never have hesitated to burn their own Scriptures, which do
declare that all other nations partake of [eternal] life, and show that they who
boast themselves as being the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, am
disinherited from the grace of God.
2. For before the Romans possessed their kingdom, while as yet the Macedonians
held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being anxious to adorn the library which he
had founded in Alexandria, with a collection of the writings of all men, which
were [works] of merit, made request to the people of Jerusalem, that they should
have their Scriptures translated into the Greek language. And they-for at that
time they were still subject to the Macedonians-sent to Ptolemy seventy of their
elders, who were thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the languages,
to carry out what he had desired. But he, wishing to test them individually, and
fearing lest they might perchance, by taking counsel together, conceal the truth
in the Scriptures, by their interpretation, separated them from each other, and
commanded them all to write the same translation. He did this with respect to
all the books. But when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy, and
each of them compared his own interpretation with that of every other, God was
indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine. For all
of them read out the common translation [which they had prepared] in the very
same words and the very same names, from beginning to end, so that even the
Gentiles present perceived that the Scriptures had been interpreted by the
inspiration of God. And there was nothing astonishing in God having done
this,-He who, when, during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the
Scriptures had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years, the Jews had
returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the
Persians, inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recast all the
words of the former prophets, and to re-establish with the people the Mosaic
legislation.
3. Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such fidelity,
and by the grace of God, and since from these God has prepared and formed again
our faith towards His Son, and has preserved to us the unadulterated Scriptures
in Egypt, where the house of Jacob flourished, fleeing from the famine in
Canaan; where also our Lord was preserved when He fled from the persecution set
on foot by Herod; and [since] this interpretation of these Scriptures was made
prior to our Lord's descent [to earth], and came into being before the
Christians appeared-for our Lord was bern about the forty-first year of the
reign of Augustus; but Ptolemy was much earlier, under whom the Scriptures were
interpreted;-[since these things are so, I say, ] truly these men are proved to
be impudent and presumptuous, who would now show a desire to make different
translations, when we refute them out of these Scriptures, and shut them up to a
belief in the advent of the Son of God. But our faith is stedfast, unfeigned,
and the only true one, having clear proof from these Scriptures, which were
interpreted in the way I have related; and the preaching of the Church is
without interpolation. For the apostles, since they are of more ancient date
than all these [heretics], agree with this aforesaid translation; and the
translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles. For Peter, and John,
and Matthew, and Paul, and the rest successively, as well as their followers,
did set forth all prophetical [announce-merits], just as the interpretation of
the elders contains them.
4. For the one and the same Spirit of God, who proclaimed by the prophets what
and of what sort the advent of the Lord should be, did by these elders give a
just interpretation of what had been truly prophesied; and He did Himself, by
the apostles, announce that the fulness of the times of the adoption had
arrived, that the kingdom of heaven had drawn nigh, and that He was dwelling
within those that believe on Him who was born Emmanuel of the Virgin. To this
effect they testify, [saying, ] that before Joseph had come together with Mary,
while she therefore remained in virginity, "she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost; " and that the angel Gabriel said unto her, "The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God; "
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 Esaias said: "And the
Lord, moreover, said unto Ahaz, Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God out
of the depth below, or from the height above. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and
I will not tempt the Lord. And he said, It is not a small thing for you to weary
men; and how does the Lord weary them? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; and ye shall call His
name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat: before He knows or chooses out
things that are evil, He shall exchange them for what is good; for before the
child knows good or evil, He shall not consent to evil, that He may choose that
which is good."
Carefully, then,
has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a virgin,
and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates this).
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And He shows that He is a man, when He says,
"Butter and honey shall He eat; "and in that He terms Him a child also, [in
saying, ] "before He knows good and evil; "for these are all the tokens of a
human infant. But that He "will not consent to evil, that He may choose that
which is good,"-this is proper to God; that by the fact, that He shall eat
butter and honey, we should not understand that He is a mere man only, nor, on
the other hand, from the name Emmanuel, should suspect Him to be God without
flesh.
5. And when He says, "Hear, O house of David," He performed the part of one
indicating that He whom God promised David that He would raise up from the fruit
of his belly (ventris) an eternal King, is the same who was born of the Virgin,
herself of the lineage of David. For on this account also, He promised that the
King should be "of the fruit of his belly," which was the appropriate [term to
use with respect] to a virgin conceiving, and not "of the fruit of his loins,"
nor "of the fruit of his reins," which expression is appropriate to a generating
man, and a woman conceiving by a man. In this promise, therefore, the Scripture
excluded all virile influence; yet it certainly is not mentioned that He who was
born was not from the will of man. But it has fixed and established "the fruit
of the belly," that it might declare the generation of Him who should be [born]
from the Virgin, as Elisabeth testified when filled with the Holy Ghost, saying
to Mary, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy belly; "
the Holy Ghost pointing out to those willing to hear, that the promise which God
had made, of raising up a King from the fruit of [David's] belly, was fulfilled
in the birth from the Virgin, that is, from Mary. Let those, therefore, who
alter the passage of Isaiah thus, "Behold, a young woman shall conceive," and
who will have Him to be Joseph's son, also alter the form of the promise which
was given to David, when God promised him to raise up, from the fruit of his
belly, the horn of Christ the King. But they did not understand, otherwise they
would have presumed to alter even this passage also.
6. But what Isaiah said, "From the height above, or from the depth beneath," 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.
7. On this account also, Daniel, foreseeing His advent, said that a stone, cut
out without hands, came into this world. For this is what "without hands" means,
that His coming into this world was not by the operation of human hands, that
is, of those men who are accustomed to stone-cutting; that is, Joseph taking no
part with regard to it, but Mary alone co-operating with the pre-arranged plan.
For this stone from the earth derives existence from both the power and the
wisdom of God. Wherefore also Isaiah says: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I
deposit in the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, the chief, the
corner-one, to be had in honour." So, then, we understand that His advent in
human nature was not by the will of a man, but by the will of God.
8. Wherefore also Moses giving a type, cast his rod upon the earth, in order
that it, by becoming flesh, might expose and swallow up all the opposition of
the Egyptians, which was lifting itself up against the pre-arranged plan of God;
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, of greater than Jonah, or
greater than David, when He was generated from the same seed, and was a
descendant of these men? And how was it that He also pronounced Peter blessed,
because he acknowledged Him to be the Son of the living God?
9. But besides, if indeed He had been the son of Joseph, He could not, according
to Jeremiah, be either king or heir. For Joseph is shown to be the son of
Joachim and Jechoniah, as also Matthew sets forth in his pedigree. But Jechoniah,
and all his posterity, were disinherited from the kingdom; Jeremiah thus
declaring, "As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechoniah the son of Joachim king of
Judah had been made the signet of my right hand, I would pluck him thence, and
deliver him into the hand of those seeking thy life." And again: "Jechoniah is
dishonoured as a useless vessel, for he has been cast into a land which he knew
not. Earth, hear the word of the Lord: Write this man a disinherited person; for
none of his seed, sitting on the throne of David, shall prosper, or be a prince
in Judah." 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 tinder the
curse and rebuke directed against Jechoniah and his seed. Because for this
reason have these things been spoken concerning Jechoniah, the [Holy] Spirit
foreknowing the doctrines of the evil teachers; that they may learn that from
his seed-that is, from Joseph-He was not to be born but that, according to the
promise of God, from David's belly the King eternal is raised up, who sums up
all things in Himself, and has gathered into Himself the ancient formation [of
man].
10. For as by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death obtained [a place]
through sin; so also by the obedience of one man, righteousness having been
introduced, shall cause life to fructify in those persons who in times past were
dead. 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 is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive
a birth, enabling Him to gather up Adam [into Himself], from Mary, who was as
yet a virgin. If, then, the first Adam had a man for his father, and was born of
human seed, it were reasonable to say that the second Adam was begotten of
Joseph. But if the former was taken from the dust, and God was his Maker, it was
incumbent that the latter also, making a recapitulation in Himself, should be
formed as man by God, to have an analogy with the former as respects His origin.
Why, then, did not God again take dust, but wrought so that the formation should
be made of Mary? It was that there might not be another formation called into
being, nor any other which should [require to] be saved, but that the very same
formation should be summed up [in Christ as had existed in Adam], the analogy
having been preserved.
Chapter XXII.-Christ Assumed Actual Flesh,
Conceived and Born of the Virgin.
1. Those, therefore, who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin do greatly
err, [since, ] in order that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh,
they also reject the analogy [between Him and Adam]. For if the one [who sprang]
from the earth had indeed formation and substance from both the hand and
workmanship of God, but the other not from the hand and workmanship of God, then
He who was made after the image and likeness of the former did not, in that
case, preserve the analogy of man, and He must seem an inconsistent piece of
work, not having wherewith He may show His wisdom. But this is to say, that He
also appeared putatively as man when He was not man, and that He was made man
while taking nothing from man. For if He did not receive the substance of flesh
from a human being, He neither was made man nor the Son of man; and if He was
not made what we were, He did no great thing in what He suffered and endured.
But every one will allow that we are [composed of] a body taken from the earth,
and a soul receiving spirit from God. This, therefore, the Word of God was made,
recapitulating in Himself His own handiwork; and on this account does He confess
Himself the Son of man, and blesses "the meek, because they shall inherit the
earth." 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, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for why did He come
down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Still further, if He had taken
nothing of Mary, He would never have availed Himself of those kinds of food
which are derived from the earth, by which that body which has been taken from
the earth is nourished; nor would He have hungered, fasting those forty days,
like Moses and Elias, unless His body was craving after its own proper
nourishment; nor, again, would John His disciple have said, when writing of Him,
"But Jesus, being wearied with the journey, was sitting [to rest]; " 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 exceeding sorrowful; " nor, when His side
was pierced, would there have come forth blood and water. For all these are
tokens of the flesh which had been derived from the earth, which He had
recapitulated in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.
3. Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the generation of
our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations, connecting the end with
the beginning, and implying that it is He who has summed up in Himself all
nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and all languages and generations of men,
together with Adam himself. Hence also was Adam himself termed by Paul "the
figure of Him that was to come," because the Word, the Maker of all things, had
formed beforehand for Himself the future dispensation of the human race,
connected with the Son of God; God having predestined that the first man should
be of an animal nature, with this view, that he might be saved by the spiritual
One. For inasmuch as He had a pre-existence as a saving Being, it was necessary
that what might be saved should also be called into existence, in order that the
Being who saves should not exist in vain.
4. In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying,
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." 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," inasmuch as they,
having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the
procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to
adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient,
was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so
also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin,
by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the
whole human race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a
man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin;
thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what is joined
together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by
which these bonds of union had arisen; so that the former ties be cancelled by
the latter, that the latter may set the former again at liberty. And it has, in
fact, happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that the
second tie takes the position of the first which has been cancelled. 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 Eve's disobedience was
loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through
unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.
Chapter XXIII.-Arguments in Opposition to Tatian,
Showing that It Was Consonant to Divine Justice and Mercy that the First Adam
Should First Partake in that Salvation Offered to All by Christ.
1. It was necessary, therefore, that the Lord, coming to the lost sheep, and
making recapitulation of so comprehensive a dispensation, and seeking after His
own handiwork, should save that very man who had been created after His image
and likeness, that is, Adam, filling up the times of His condemnation, which had
been incurred through disobedience,-[times] "which the Father had placed in His
own power." [This was necessary, ] too, inasmuch as the whole economy of
salvation regarding man came to pass according to the good pleasure of the
Father, in order that God might not be conquered, nor His wisdom lessened, [in
the estimation of His creatures.] For if man, who had been created by God that
he might live, after losing life, through being injured by the serpent that had
corrupted him, should not any more return to life, but should be utterly [and
for ever] abandoned to death, God would [in that case] have been conquered, and
the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God. But
inasmuch as God is invincible and long-suffering, He did indeed show Himself to
be long-suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the probation of
all, as I have already observed; and by means of the second man did He bind the
strong man, and spoiled his goods, and abolished death, vivifying that man who
had been in a state of death. For 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 colour of immortality entailing
death upon him. For, while promising that they should be as gods, which was in
no way possible for him to be, he wrought death in them: wherefore he who had
led man captive, was justly captured in his turn by God; but man, who had been
led captive, was loosed from the bonds of condemnation.
2. But this is Adam, if the truth should be told, the first formed man, of whom
the Scripture says that the Lord spake, "Let Us make man after Our own image and
likeness; " and we are all from him: and as we are from him, therefore have we
all inherited his title. But inasmuch as man is saved, it is fitting that he who
was created the original man should be saved. For it is too absurd to maintain,
that he who was so deeply injured by the enemy, and was the first to suffer
captivity, was not rescued by Him who conquered the enemy, but that his children
were,-those whom he had begotten in the same captivity. Neither would the enemy
appear to be as yet conquered, if the old spoils remained with him. To give an
illustration: If a hostile force had overcome certain [enemies], had bound them,
and led them away captive, and held them for a long time in servitude, so that
they begat children among them; and somebody, compassionating those who had been
made slaves, should overcome this same hostile force; he certainly would not act
equitably, were he to liberate the children of those who had been led captive,
from the sway of those who had enslaved their fathers, but should leave these
latter, who had suffered the act of capture, subject to their enemies,-those,
too, on whose very account he had proceeded to this retaliation,-the children
succeeding to liberty through the avenging of their fathers' cause, but not so
that their fathers, who suffered the act of capture itself, should be left [in
bondage]. For God is neither devoid of power nor of justice, who has afforded
help to man, and restored him to His own liberty.
3. It was for this reason, too, that immediately after Adam had transgressed, as
the Scripture relates, He pronounced no curse against Adam personally, but
against the ground, in reference to his works, as a certain person among the
ancients has observed: "God did indeed transfer the curse to the earth, that it
might not remain in man." But man received, as the punishment of his
transgression, the toilsome task of tilling the earth, and to eat bread in the
sweat of his face, and to return to the dust from whence he was taken. Similarly
also did the woman [receive] toil, and labour, and groans, and the pangs of
parturition, and a state of subjection, that is, that she should serve her
husband; so that they should neither perish altogether when cursed by God, nor,
by remaining unreprimanded, should be led to despise God. But the curse in all
its fulness fell upon the serpent, which had beguiled them. "And God," it is
declared, "said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this, cubed art thou
above all cattle, and above all the beasts of the earth." And this same thing
does the Lord also say in the Gospel, to those who are found upon the left hand:
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever: lasting 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.
4. [These act] as Cain [did, who], when he was counselled by God to keep quiet,
because he had not made an equitable division of that share to which his brother
was entitled, but with envy and malice thought that he could domineer over him,
not only did not acquiesce, but even added sin to sin, indicating his state of
mind by his action. For what he had planned, that did he also put in practice:
he tyrannized over and slew him; God subjecting the just to the unjust, that the
former might be proved as the just one by the things which he suffered, and the
latter detected as the unjust by those which he perpetrated. And he was not
softened even by this, nor did he stop short with that evil deed; but being
asked where his brother was, he said, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?
"extending and aggravating [his] wickedness by his answer. For if it is wicked
to slay a brother, much worse is it thus insolently and irreverently to reply to
the omniscient God as if he could battle Him. And for this he did himself bear a
curse about with him, because he gratuitously brought an offering of sin, having
had no reverence for God, nor being put to confusion by the act of fratricide.
5. The case of Adam, however, had no analogy with this, but was altogether
different. For, having been beguiled by another under the pretext of
immortality, he is immediately seized with terror, and hides himself; not as if
he were able to escape from God; but, in a state of confusion at having
transgressed His command, he feels unworthy to appear before and to hold
converse with God. Now, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; " the
sense of sin leads to repentance, and God bestows His compassion upon those who
are penitent. For [Adam] showed his repentance by his conduct, through means of
the girdle [which he used], covering himself with fig-leaves, while there were
many other leaves, which would have irritated his body in a less degree. He,
however, adopted a dress conformable to his disobedience, being awed by the fear
of God; and resisting the erring, the lustful propensity of his flesh (since he
had lost his natural disposition and child-like mind, and had come to the
knowledge of evil things), he girded a bridle of continence upon himself and his
wife, fearing God, and waiting for His coming, and indicating, as it were, some
such thing [as follows]: Inasmuch as, he says, I have by disobedience lost that
robe of sanctity which I had from the Spirit, I do now also acknowledge that I
am deserving of a covering of this nature, which affords no gratification, but
which gnaws have retained this clothing for ever, thus humbling himself, if God,
who is merciful, had not clothed them with tunics of skins instead of
fig-leaves. For this purpose, too, He interrogates them, that the blame might
light upon the woman; and again, He interrogates her, that she might convey the
blame to the serpent. For she related what had occurred. "The serpent," says
she, "beguiled me, and I did eat." But He put no question to the serpent; for He
knew that he had been the prime mover in the guilty deed; but He pronounced the
curse upon him in the first instance, that it might fall upon man with a
mitigated rebuke. For God detested him who had led man astray, but by degrees,
and little by little, He showed compassion to him who had been beguiled.
6. Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise, and removed him far from the
tree of life, not because He envied him the tree of life, as some venture to
assert, but because He pitied him, [and did not desire] that he should continue
a sinner for ever, nor that the sin which surrounded him should be immortal, and
evil interminable and irremediable. But He set a bound to his [state of] sin, by
interposing death, and thus causing sin to cease, putting an end to it by the
dissolution of the flesh, which should take place in the earth, so that man,
ceasing at length to live to sin, and dying to it, might begin to live to God.
7. For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her
seed, they keeping it up mutually: He, the sole of whose foot should be bitten,
having power also to tread upon the enemy's head; but the other biting, killing,
and impeding the steps of man, until the seed did come appointed to tread down
his head,-which was born of Mary, of whom the prophet speaks: "Thou shalt tread
upon the asp and the basilisk; thou shalt trample down the lion and the dragon;
" -indicating that sin, which was set up and spread out against man, and which
rendered him subject to death, should be deprived of its power, along with
death, which rules [over men]; and that the lion, that is, antichrist, rampant
against mankind in the latter days, should be trampled down by Him; and that He
should bind "the dragon, that old serpent" and subject him to the power of man,
who had been conquered so that all his might should be trodden down. Now Adam
had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him: wherefore, when
the foe was conquered in his turn, Adam received new life; and the last enemy,
death, is destroyed, which at the first had taken possession of man. Therefore,
when man has been liberated, "what is written shall come to pass, Death is
swallowed up in victory. O death 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.
8. All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam's) salvation, shutting
themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe that the sheep
which had perished has been found. For if it has not been found, the whole human
race is still held in a state of perdition. False, therefore, is that, man who
first started this idea, or rather, this ignorance and blindness-Tatian. As I
have already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics. This
dogma, however, has been invented by himself, in order that, by introducing
something new, independently of the rest, and by speaking vanity. he might
acquire for himself hearers void of faith, affecting to be esteemed a teacher,
and endeavouring from time to time to employ sayings of this kind often [made
use of] by Paul: "In Adam we all die; " ignorant, however, that "where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound." Since this, then, has been clearly shown,
let all his disciples be put to shame, and let them wrangle about Adam, as if
some great gain were to accrue to them if he be not saved; when they profit
nothing more [by that], even as the serpent also did not profit when persuading
man [to sin], except to this effect, that he proved him a transgressor,
obtaining man as the first-fruits of his own apostasy. But he did not know God's
power. Thus also do those who disallow Adam's salvation gain nothing, except
this, that they render themselves heretics and apostates from the truth, and
show themselves patrons of the serpent and of death.
Chapter XXIV.-Recapitulation of the Various
Arguments Adduced Against Gnostic Impiety Under All Its Aspects. The Heretics,
Tossed About by Every Blast of Doctrine, are Opposed by the Uniform Teaching of
the Church, Which Remains So Always, and is Consistent with Itself.
1. Thus, then, have all these men been exposed, who bring in impious doctrines
regarding our Maker and Framer, who also formed this world. and above whom there
is no other God; and those have been overthrown by their own arguments who teach
falsehoods regarding the substance of our Lord, and the dispensation which He
fulfilled for the sake of His own creature man. But [it has, on the other hand,
been shown], that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and
continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the
apostles, and all the disciples-as I have proved-through [those in] the
beginning, the middle, and the end, and through the entire dispensation of God,
and that well-grounded system which tends to man's salvation, namely, our faith;
which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always,
by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in
an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its youth
also. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to
the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may
be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed
throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means
of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. "For in the Church,"
it is said, "God hath set apostles, prophets, teachers," and all the other means
through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not
join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their
perverse opinions and infamous behaviour. For where the Church is, there is the
Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every
kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of
Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother's breasts, nor do they
enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ; but they
dig for themselves broken cisterns out of earthly trenches, and drink putrid
water out of the mire, fleeing from the faith of the Church lest they be
convicted; and rejecting the Spirit, that they may not be instructed.
2. Alienated thus from the truth, they do deservedly wallow in all error, tossed
to and fro by it, thinking differently in regard to the same things at different
times, and never attaining to a well-grounded knowledge, being more anxious to
be sophists of words than disciples of the truth. For they have not been founded
upon the one rock, but upon the sand, which has in itself a multitude of stones.
Wherefore they also imagine many gods, and they always have the excuse of
searching [after truth] (for they are blind), but never succeed in finding it.
For they blaspheme the Creator, Him who is truly God, who also furnishes power
to find [the truth]; imagining that they have discovered another god beyond God,
or another Pleroma, or another dispensation. Wherefore also the light which is
from God does not illumine them, because they have dishonoured and despised God,
holding Him of small account, because, through His love and infinite benignity,
He has come within reach of human knowledge (knowledge, however, not with regard
to His greatness, ú or with regard to His essence-for that has no man measured
or handled-but after this sort: that we should know that He who made, and
formed, and breathed in them the breath of life, and nourishes us by means of
the creation, establishing all things by His Word, and binding them together by
His Wisdom -this is He who is the only true God); but they dream of a
non-existent being above Him, that they may be regarded as having found out the
great God, whom nobody, [they hold, ] can recognise holding communication with
the human race, or as directing mundane matters: that is to say, they find out
the god of Epicurus, who does nothing either for himself or others; that is, he
exercises no providence at all.
Chapter XXV.-This World is Ruled Providence of
One God, Who is Both Endowed with Infinite Justice to Punish the Wicked, and
with Infinite Goodness to Bless the Pious, and Impart to Them Salvation.
1. God does, however, exercise a providence over all things, and therefore He
also gives counsel; and when giving counsel, He is present with those who attend
to moral discipline. It follows then of course, that the things which are
watched over and governed should be acquainted with their ruler; which things
are not irrational or vain, but they have understanding derived from the
providence of God. And, for this reason certain of the Gentiles, who were less
addicted to [sensual] allurements and voluptuousness, and were not led away to
such a degree of superstition with regard to idols, being moved, though but
slightly, by His providence, were nevertheless convinced that they should call
the Maker of this universe the Father, who exercises a providence over all
things, and arranges the affairs of our world.
2. Again, that they might remove the rebuking and judicial power from the
Father, reckoning that as unworthy of God, and thinking that they had found out
a God both without anger and [merely] good, they have alleged that one [God]
judges, but that another saves, unconsciously taking away the intelligence and
justice of both deities. For if the judicial one is not also good, to bestow
favours upon the deserving, and to direct reproofs against those requiring them,
he will appear neither a just nor a wise judge. On the other hand, the good God,
if he is merely good, and not one who tests those upon whom he shall send his
goodness, will be out of the range of justice and goodness; and his goodness
will seem imperfect, as not saving all; [for it should do so, ] if it be not
accompanied with judgment.
3. Marcion, therefore, himself, by dividing God into two, maintaining one to be
good and the other judicial, does in fact, on both sides, put an end to deity.
For he that is the judicial one, if he be not good, is not God, because he from
whom goodness is absent is no God at all; and again, he who is good, if he has
no judicial power, suffers the same [loss] as the former, by being deprived of
his character of deity. And how can they call the Father of all wise, if they do
not assign to Him a judicial faculty? For if He is wise, He is also one who
tests [others]; but the judicial power belongs to him who tests, and justice
follows the judicial faculty, that it may reach a just conclusion; justice calls
forth judgment, and judgment, when it is executed with justice, will pass on to
wisdom. Therefore the Father will excel in wisdom all human and angelic wisdom,
because He is Lord, and Judge, and the Just One, and Ruler over all. For He is
good, and merciful, and patient, and saves whom He ought: nor does goodness
desert Him in the exercise of justice, nor is His wisdom lessened; for He saves
those whom He should save, and judges those worthy of judgment. Neither does He
show Himself unmercifully just; for His goodness, no doubt, goes on before, and
takes precedency.
4. The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His sun to rise upon all, and
sends rain upon the just and unjust, shall judge those who, enjoying His equally
distributed kindness, have led lives not corresponding to the dignity of His
bounty; but who have spent their days in wantonness and luxury, in opposition to
His benevolence, and have, moreover, even blasphemed Him who has conferred so
great benefits upon them.
5. Plato is proved to be more religious than these men, for he allowed that the
same God was both just and good, having power over all things, and Himself
executing judgment, expressing himself thus, "And God indeed, as He is also the
ancient Word, possessing the beginning, the end, and the mean of all existing
things, does everything rightly, moving round about them according to their
nature; but retributive justice always follows Him against those who depart from
the divine law." Then, again, he points out that the Maker and Framer of the
universe is good. "And to the good," he says, "no envy ever springs up with
regard to anything; " thus establishing the goodness of God, as the beginning
and the cause of the creation of the world, but not ignorance, nor an erring
Aeon, nor the consequence of a defect, nor the Mother weeping and lamenting, nor
another God or Father.
6. Well may their Mother bewail them, as capable of conceiving and inventing
such things for they have worthily uttered this falsehood against themselves,
that their Mother is beyond the Pleroma, that is beyond the knowledge of God,
and that their entire multitude became a shapeless and crude abortion: for it
apprehends nothing of the truth; it falls into void and darkness: for their
wisdom (Sophia) was void, and wrapped up in darkness; and Horos did not permit
her to enter the Pleroma: for the Spirit (Achamoth) did not receive them into
the place of refreshment. For their father, by begetting ignorance, wrought in
them the sufferings of death. We do not misrepresent [their opinions on] these
points; but they do themselves confirm, they do themselves teach, they do glory
in them, they imagine a lofty [mystery] about their Mother, whom they represent
as having been begotten without a father, that is, without God, a female from a
female, that is, corruption from error.
7. We do indeed pray that these men may not remain in the pit which they
themselves have dug, but separate themselves from a Mother of this nature, and
depart from Bythus, and stand away from the void, and relinquish the shadow; and
that they, being converted to the Church of God, may be lawfully begotten, and
that Christ may be formed in them, and that they may know the Framer and Maker
of this universe, the only true God and Lord of all. We pray for these things on
their behalf, loving them better than they seem to love themselves. For our
love, inasmuch as it is true, is salutary to them, if they will but receive it.
It may be compared to a severe remedy, extirpating the proud and sloughing flesh
of a wound; for it puts an end to their pride and haughtiness. Wherefore it
shall not weary us, to endeavour with all our might to stretch out the hand unto
them. Over and above what has been already stated, I have deferred to the
following book, to adduce the words of the Lord; if, by convincing some among
them, through means of the very instruction of Christ, I may succeed in
persuading them to abandon such error, and to cease from blaspheming their
Creator, who is both God alone, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.