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Against Heresies
Irenaeus of Lyons
Book 5 · Chapter 33 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 Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it. Section 1 1 . For this reason , when about
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to
undergo
His
sufferings
,
that
He
might
declare
to
Abraham
and
those
with
him
the
glad
tidings
of
the
inheritance
being
thrown
open
,
[
Christ
]
,
after
He
had
given
thanks
while
holding
the
cup
,
and
had
drunk
of
it
,
and
given
it
to
the
disciples
,
said
to
them
:
“
Drink
ye
all
of
it
:
this
is
My
blood
of
the
new
covenant
,
which
shall
be
shed
for
many
for
the
remission
of
sins
.
But
I
say
unto
you
,
I
will
not
drink
henceforth
of
the
fruit
of
this
vine
,
until
that
day
when
I
will
drink
it
new
with
you
in
my
Father’s
kingdom
.
”
Thus
,
then
,
He
will
Himself
renew
the
inheritance
of
the
earth
,
and
will
re
-
organize
the
mystery
of
the
glory
of
[
His
]
sons
;
as
David
says
,
“
He
who
hath
renewed
the
face
of
the
earth
.
”
He
promised
to
drink
of
the
fruit
of
the
vine
with
His
disciples
,
thus
indicating
both
these
points
:
the
inheritance
of
the
earth
in
which
the
new
fruit
of
the
vine
is
drunk
,
and
the
resurrection
of
His
disciples
in
the
flesh
.
For
the
new
flesh
which
rises
again
is
the
same
which
also
received
the
new
cup
.
And
He
cannot
by
any
means
be
understood
as
drinking
of
the
fruit
of
the
vine
when
settled
down
with
his
[
disciples
]
above
in
a
super
-
celestial
place
;
nor
,
again
,
are
they
who
drink
it
devoid
of
flesh
,
for
to
drink
of
that
which
flows
from
the
vine
pertains
to
flesh
,
and
not
spirit
.
Section 2 2 . And for this reason the Lord declared , “ When thou makest a dinner or a supper , do not call thy friends , nor thy neighbours , nor thy kinsfolk , lest they ask thee in return , and so repay thee . But call the lame , the blind , and the poor , and thou shall be blessed , since they cannot recompense thee , but a recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just . ” And again He says , “ Whosoever shall have left lands , or houses , or parents , or brethren , or children because of Me , he shall receive in this world an hundred - fold , and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life . ” For what are the hundred - fold [ rewards ] in this word , the entertainments given to the poor , and the suppers for which a return is made ? These are [ to take place ] in the times of the kingdom , that is , upon the seventh day , which has been sanctified , in which God rested from all the works which He created , which is the true Sabbath of the righteous , which they shall not be engaged in any earthly occupation ; but shall have a table at hand prepared for them by God , supplying them with all sorts of dishes .
Section 3 3 . The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same meaning , when he says , “ Behold , the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed . ” But “ the field is the world . ” And therefore he added , “ God give to thee of the dew of heaven , and of the fatness of the earth , plenty of corn and wine . And let the nations serve thee , and kings bow down to thee ; and be thou lord over thy brother , and thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee : cursed shall be he who shall curse thee , and blessed shall be he who shall bless thee . ” If any one , then , does not accept these things as referring to the appointed kingdom , he must fall into much contradiction and contrariety , as is the case with the Jews , who are involved in absolute perplexity . For not only did not the nations in this life serve this Jacob ; but even after he had received the blessing , he himself going forth [ from his home ] , served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years ; and not only was he not made lord of his brother , but he did himself bow down before his brother Esau , upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father , and offered many gifts to him . Moreover , in what way did he inherit much corn and wine here , he who emigrated to Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land in which he was dwelling , and became subject to Pharaoh , who was then ruling over Egypt ? The predicted blessing , therefore , belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom , when the righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead ; when also the creation , having been renovated and set free , shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food , from the dew of heaven , and from the fertility of the earth : as the elders who saw John , the disciple of the Lord , related that they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times , and say : The days will come , in which vines shall grow , each having ten thousand branches , and in each branch ten thousand twigs , and in each true twig ten thousand shoots , and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters , and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes , and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine . And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster , another shall cry out , “ I am a better cluster , take me ; bless the Lord through me . ” In like manner [ the Lord declared ] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears , and that every ear should have ten thousand grains , and every grain would yield ten pounds ( quinque bilibres ) of clear , pure , fine flour ; and that all other fruit - bearing trees , and seeds and grass , would produce in similar proportions ( secundum congruentiam iis consequentem ) ; and that all animals feeding [ only ] on the productions of the earth , should [ in those days ] become peaceful and harmonious among each other , and be in perfect subjection to man .
Section 4 4 . And these things are borne witness to in writing by Papias , the hearer of John , and a companion of Polycarp , in his fourth book ; for there were five books compiled ( συντεταγμένα ) by him . And he says in addition , “ Now these things are credible to believers . ” And he says that , “ when the traitor Judas did not give credit to them , and put the question , ‘ How then can things about to bring forth so abundantly be wrought by the Lord ? ’ the Lord declared , ‘ They who shall come to these [ times ] shall see . ’ ” When prophesying of these times , therefore , Esaias says : “ The wolf also shall feed with the lamb , and the leopard shall take his rest with the kid ; the calf also , and the bull , and the lion shall eat together ; and a little boy shall lead them . The ox and the bear shall feed together , and their young ones shall agree together ; and the lion shall eat straw as well as the ox . And the infant boy shall thrust his hand into the asp’s den , into the nest also of the adder’s brood ; and they shall do no harm , nor have power to hurt anything in my holy mountain . ” And again he says , in recapitulation , “ Wolves and lambs shall then browse together , and the lion shall eat straw like the ox , and the serpent earth as if it were bread ; and they shall neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain , saith the Lord . ” I am quite aware that some persons endeavour to refer these words to the case of savage men , both of different nations and various habits , who come to believe , and when they have believed , act in harmony with the righteous . But although this is [ true ] now with regard to some men coming from various nations to the harmony of the faith , nevertheless in the resurrection of the just [ the words shall also apply ] to those animals mentioned . For God is rich in all things . And it is right that when the creation is restored , all the animals should obey and be in subjection to man , and revert to the food originally given by God ( for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam ) , that is , the productions of the earth . But some other occasion , and not the present , is [ to be sought ] for showing that the lion shall [ then ] feed on straw . And this indicates the large size and rich quality of the fruits . For if that animal , the lion , feeds upon straw [ at that period ] , of what a quality must the wheat itself be whose straw shall serve as suitable food for lions ?
Notes 284 Matt. xxvi. 27.
285 Ps. civ. 30.
286 Luke xiv. 12, 13.
287 Matt. xix. 29 ; Luke xviii. 29, 30.
288 Gen. xxvii. 27 , etc.
289 Matt. xiii. 38.
290 Gen. xxvii. 28, 29.
291 Gen. xxxi. 41.
292 Gen. xxxiii. 3.
293 From this to the end of the section there is an Armenian version extant, to be found in the Spicil. Solesm. i. p. 1, edited by M. Pitra, Paris 1852, and which was taken by him from an Armenian ms. in the Mechitarist Library at Venice, described as being of the twelfth century.
294 This word “true” is not found in the Armenian.
295 Or, following Arm. vers., “But if any one shall lay hold of an holy cluster.”
296 The Arm. vers. is here followed; the old Latin reads, “Et reliqua autem poma.”
297 [See pp. 151–154, this volume.]
298 Isa. xl. 6 , etc.
