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Against Heresies
Irenaeus of Lyons
Book 4 · Chapter 39 About this work A five-book account and refutation of competing Christian movements that also develops Irenaeus’s positive theology of creation, Scripture, apostolic tradition, incarnation, salvation, and recapitulation in Christ.
Author Irenaeus of Lyons
Date c. AD 175–185
Origin Lyons, Gaul
Genre Heresiology Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguishing good and evil; so that, without compulsion, he has the power, by his own will and choice, to perform God’s commandments, by doing which he avoids the evils prepared for the rebellious. Section 1 1 . Man has received the knowledge of good
‹ Book 4 · Chapter 38 Book 4 · Chapter 40 ›
and
evil
.
It
is
good
to
obey
God
,
and
to
believe
in
Him
,
and
to
keep
His
commandment
,
and
this
is
the
life
of
man
;
as
not
to
obey
God
is
evil
,
and
this
is
his
death
.
Since
God
,
therefore
,
gave
[
to
man
]
such
mental
power
(
magnanimitatem
)
man
knew
both
the
good
of
obedience
and
the
evil
of
disobedience
,
that
the
eye
of
the
mind
,
receiving
experience
of
both
,
may
with
judgment
make
choice
of
the
better
things
;
and
that
he
may
never
become
indolent
or
neglectful
of
God’s
command
;
and
learning
by
experience
that
it
is
an
evil
thing
which
deprives
him
of
life
,
that
is
,
disobedience
to
God
,
may
never
attempt
it
at
all
,
but
that
,
knowing
that
what
preserves
his
life
,
namely
,
obedience
to
God
,
is
good
,
he
may
diligently
keep
it
with
all
earnestness
.
Wherefore
he
has
also
had
a
twofold
experience
,
possessing
knowledge
of
both
kinds
,
that
with
discipline
he
may
make
choice
of
the
better
things
.
But
how
,
if
he
had
no
knowledge
of
the
contrary
,
could
he
have
had
instruction
in
that
which
is
good
?
For
there
is
thus
a
surer
and
an
undoubted
comprehension
of
matters
submitted
to
us
than
the
mere
surmise
arising
from
an
opinion
regarding
them
.
For
just
as
the
tongue
receives
experience
of
sweet
and
bitter
by
means
of
tasting
,
and
the
eye
discriminates
between
black
and
white
by
means
of
vision
,
and
the
ear
recognises
the
distinctions
of
sounds
by
hearing
;
so
also
does
the
mind
,
receiving
through
the
experience
of
both
the
knowledge
of
what
is
good
,
become
more
tenacious
of
its
preservation
,
by
acting
in
obedience
to
God
:
in
the
first
place
,
casting
away
,
by
means
of
repentance
,
disobedience
,
as
being
something
disagreeable
and
nauseous
;
and
afterwards
coming
to
understand
what
it
really
is
,
that
it
is
contrary
to
goodness
and
sweetness
,
so
that
the
mind
may
never
even
attempt
to
taste
disobedience
to
God
.
But
if
any
one
do
shun
the
knowledge
of
both
these
kinds
of
things
,
and
the
twofold
perception
of
knowledge
,
he
unawares
divests
himself
of
the
character
of
a
human
being
.
Section 2 2 . How , then , shall he be a God , who has not as yet been made a man ? Or how can he be perfect who was but lately created ? How , again , can he be immortal , who in his mortal nature did not obey his Maker ? For it must be that thou , at the outset , shouldest hold the rank of a man , and then afterwards partake of the glory of God . For thou dost not make God , but God thee . If , then , thou art God’s workmanship , await the hand of thy Maker which creates everything in due time ; in due time as far as thou art concerned , whose creation is being carried out . Offer to Him thy heart in a soft and tractable state , and preserve the form in which the Creator has fashioned thee , having moisture in thyself , lest , by becoming hardened , thou lose the impressions of His fingers . But by preserving the framework thou shalt ascend to that which is perfect , for the moist clay which is in thee is hidden [ there ] by the workmanship of God . His hand fashioned thy substance ; He will cover thee over [ too ] within and without with pure gold and silver , and He will adorn thee to such a degree , that even “ the King Himself shall have pleasure in thy beauty . ” But if thou , being obstinately hardened , dost reject the operation of His skill , and show thyself ungrateful towards Him , because thou wert created a [ mere ] man , by becoming thus ungrateful to God , thou hast at once lost both His workmanship and life . For creation is an attribute of the goodness of God but to be created is that of human nature . If then , thou shalt deliver up to Him what is thine , that is , faith towards Him and subjection , thou shalt receive His handiwork , and shall be a perfect work of God .
Section 3 3 . If , however , thou wilt not believe in Him , and wilt flee from His hands , the cause of imperfection shall be in thee who didst not obey , but not in Him who called [ thee ] . For He commissioned [ messengers ] to call people to the marriage , but they who did not obey Him deprived themselves of the royal supper . The skill of God , therefore , is not defective , for He has power of the stones to raise up children to Abraham ; but the man who does not obtain it is the cause to himself of his own imperfection . Nor , [ in like manner ] , does the light fail because of those who have blinded themselves ; but while it remains the same as ever , those who are [ thus ] blinded are involved in darkness through their own fault . The light does never enslave any one by necessity ; nor , again , does God exercise compulsion upon any one unwilling to accept the exercise of His skill . Those persons , therefore , who have apostatized from the light given by the Father , and transgressed the law of liberty , have done so through their own fault , since they have been created free agents , and possessed of power over themselves .
Section 4 4 . But God , foreknowing all things , prepared fit habitations for both , kindly conferring that light which they desire on those who seek after the light of incorruption , and resort to it ; but for the despisers and mockers who avoid and turn themselves away from this light , and who do , as it were , blind themselves , He has prepared darkness suitable to persons who oppose the light , and He has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to Him . Submission to God is eternal rest , so that they who shun the light have a place worthy of their flight ; and those who fly from eternal rest , have a habitation in accordance with their fleeing . Now , since all good things are with God , they who by their own determination fly from God , do defraud themselves of all good things ; and having been [ thus ] defrauded of all good things with respect to God , they shall consequently fall under the just judgment of God . For those persons who shun rest shall justly incur punishment , and those who avoid the light shall justly dwell in darkness . For as in the case of this temporal light , those who shun it do deliver themselves over to darkness , so that they do themselves become the cause to themselves that they are destitute of light , and do inhabit darkness ; and , as I have already observed , the light is not the cause of such an [ unhappy ] condition of existence to them ; so those who fly from the eternal light of God , which contains in itself all good things , are themselves the cause to themselves of their inhabiting eternal darkness , destitute of all good things , having become to themselves the cause of [ their consignment to ] an abode of that nature .
