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Against Heresies
Irenaeus of Lyons
Book 4 · Chapter 17 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 Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake, or as requiring such service; for He does, in fact, need nothing from men. Section 1 1 . Moreover , the prophets indicate in the
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fullest
manner
that
God
stood
in
no
need
of
their
slavish
obedience
,
but
that
it
was
upon
their
own
account
that
He
enjoined
certain
observances
in
the
law
.
And
again
,
that
God
needed
not
their
oblation
,
but
[
merely
demanded
it
]
,
on
account
of
man
himself
who
offers
it
,
the
Lord
taught
distinctly
,
as
I
have
pointed
out
.
For
when
He
perceived
them
neglecting
righteousness
,
and
abstaining
from
the
love
of
God
,
and
imagining
that
God
was
to
be
propitiated
by
sacrifices
and
the
other
typical
observances
,
Samuel
did
even
thus
speak
to
them
:
“
God
does
not
desire
whole
burnt
-
offerings
and
sacrifices
,
but
He
will
have
His
voice
to
be
hearkened
to
.
Behold
,
a
ready
obedience
is
better
than
sacrifice
,
and
to
hearken
than
the
fat
of
rams
.
”
David
also
says
:
“
Sacrifice
and
oblation
Thou
didst
not
desire
,
but
mine
ears
hast
Thou
perfected
;
burnt
-
offerings
also
for
sin
Thou
hast
not
required
.
”
He
thus
teaches
them
that
God
desires
obedience
,
which
renders
them
secure
,
rather
than
sacrifices
and
holocausts
,
which
avail
them
nothing
towards
righteousness
;
and
[
by
this
declaration
]
he
prophesies
the
new
covenant
at
the
same
time
.
Still
clearer
,
too
,
does
he
speak
of
these
things
in
the
fiftieth
Psalm
:
“
For
if
Thou
hadst
desired
sacrifice
,
then
would
I
have
given
it
:
Thou
wilt
not
delight
in
burnt
-
offerings
.
The
sacrifice
of
God
is
a
broken
spirit
;
a
broken
and
contrite
heart
the
Lord
will
not
despise
.
”
Because
,
therefore
,
God
stands
in
need
of
nothing
,
He
declares
in
the
preceding
Psalm
:
“
I
will
take
no
calves
out
of
thine
house
,
nor
he
-
goats
out
of
thy
fold
.
For
Mine
are
all
the
beasts
of
the
earth
,
the
herds
and
the
oxen
on
the
mountains
:
I
know
all
the
fowls
of
heaven
,
and
the
various
tribes
of
the
field
are
Mine
.
If
I
were
hungry
,
I
would
not
tell
thee
:
for
the
world
is
Mine
,
and
the
fulness
thereof
.
Shall
I
eat
the
flesh
of
bulls
,
or
drink
the
blood
of
goats
?
”
Then
,
lest
it
might
be
supposed
that
He
refused
these
things
in
His
anger
,
He
continues
,
giving
him
(
man
)
counsel
:
“
Offer
unto
God
the
sacrifice
of
praise
,
and
pay
thy
vows
to
the
Most
High
;
and
call
upon
Me
in
the
day
of
thy
trouble
,
and
I
will
deliver
thee
,
and
thou
shalt
glorify
Me
;
”
rejecting
,
indeed
,
those
things
by
which
sinners
imagined
they
could
propitiate
God
,
and
showing
that
He
does
Himself
stand
in
need
of
nothing
;
but
He
exhorts
and
advises
them
to
those
things
by
which
man
is
justified
and
draws
nigh
to
God
.
This
same
declaration
does
Esaias
make
:
“
To
what
purpose
is
the
multitude
of
your
sacrifices
unto
Me
?
saith
the
Lord
.
I
am
full
.
”
And
when
He
had
repudiated
holocausts
,
and
sacrifices
,
and
oblations
,
as
likewise
the
new
moons
,
and
the
sabbaths
,
and
the
festivals
,
and
all
the
rest
of
the
services
accompanying
these
,
He
continues
,
exhorting
them
to
what
pertained
to
salvation
:
“
Wash
you
,
make
you
clean
,
take
away
wickedness
from
your
hearts
from
before
mine
eyes
:
cease
from
your
evil
ways
,
learn
to
do
well
,
seek
judgment
,
relieve
the
oppressed
,
judge
the
fatherless
,
plead
for
the
widow
;
and
come
,
let
us
reason
together
,
saith
the
Lord
.
”
Section 2 2 . For it was not because He was angry , like a man , as many venture to say , that He rejected their sacrifices ; but out of compassion to their blindness , and with the view of suggesting to them the true sacrifice , by offering which they shall appease God , that they may receive life from Him . As He elsewhere declares : “ The sacrifice to God is an afflicted heart : a sweet savour to God is a heart glorifying Him who formed it . ” For if , when angry , He had repudiated these sacrifices of theirs , as if they were persons unworthy to obtain His compassion , He would not certainly have urged these same things upon them as those by which they might be saved . But inasmuch as God is merciful , He did not cut them off from good counsel . For after He had said by Jeremiah , “ To what purpose bring ye Me incense from Saba , and cinnamon from a far country ? Your whole burnt - offerings and sacrifices are not acceptable to Me ; ” He proceeds : “ Hear the word of the Lord , all Judah . These things saith the Lord , the God of Israel , Make straight your ways and your doings , and I will establish you in this place . Put not your trust in lying words , for they will not at all profit you , saying , The temple of the Lord , The temple of the Lord , it is [ here ] . ”
Section 3 3 . And again , when He points out that it was not for this that He led them out of Egypt , that they might offer sacrifice to Him , but that , forgetting the idolatry of the Egyptians , they should be able to hear the voice of the Lord , which was to them salvation and glory , He declares by this same Jeremiah : “ Thus saith the Lord ; Collect together your burnt - offerings with your sacrifices and eat flesh . For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of Egypt , concerning burnt - offerings or sacrifices : but this word I commanded them , saying , Hear My voice , and I will be your God , and ye shall be My people ; and walk in all My ways whatsoever I have commanded you , that it may be well with you . But they obeyed not , nor hearkened ; but walked in the imaginations of their own evil heart , and went backwards , and not forwards . ” And again , when He declares by the same man , “ But let him that glorieth , glory in this , to understand and know that I am the Lord , who doth exercise loving - kindness , and righteousness , and judgment in the earth ; ” He adds , “ For in these things I delight , says the Lord , ” but not in sacrifices , nor in holocausts , nor in oblations . For the people did not receive these precepts as of primary importance ( principaliter ) , but as secondary , and for the reason already alleged , as Isaiah again says : “ Thou hast not [ brought to ] Me the sheep of thy holocaust , nor in thy sacrifices hast thou glorified Me : thou hast not served Me in sacrifices , nor in [ the matter of ] frankincense hast thou done anything laboriously ; neither hast thou bought for Me incense with money , nor have I desired the fat of thy sacrifices ; but thou hast stood before Me in thy sins and in thine iniquities . ” He says , therefore , “ Upon this man will I look , even upon him that is humble , and meek , and who trembles at My words . ” “ For the fat and the fat flesh shall not take away from thee thine unrighteousness . ” “ This is the fast which I have chosen , saith the Lord . Loose every band of wickedness , dissolve the connections of violent agreements , give rest to those that are shaken , and cancel every unjust document . Deal thy bread to the hungry willingly , and lead into thy house the roofless stranger . If thou hast seen the naked , cover him , and thou shalt not despise those of thine own flesh and blood ( domesticos seminis tui ) . Then shall thy morning light break forth , and thy health shall spring forth more speedily ; and righteousness shall go before thee , and the glory of the Lord shall surround thee : and whilst thou art yet speaking , I will say , Behold , here I am . ” And Zechariah also , among the twelve prophets , pointing out to the people the will of God , says : “ These things does the Lord Omnipotent declare : Execute true judgment , and show mercy and compassion each one to his brother . And oppress not the widow , and the orphan , and the proselyte , and the poor ; and let none imagine evil against your brother in his heart . ” And again , he says : “ These are the words which ye shall utter . Speak ye the truth every man to his neighbour , and execute peaceful judgment in your gates , and let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his brother , and ye shall not love false swearing : for all these things I hate , saith the Lord Almighty . ” Moreover , David also says in like manner : “ What man is there who desireth life , and would fain see good days ? Keep thy tongue from evil , and thy lips that they speak no guile . Shun evil , and do good : seek peace , and pursue it . ”
Section 4 4 . From all these it is evident that God did not seek sacrifices and holocausts from them , but faith , and obedience , and righteousness , because of their salvation . As God , when teaching them His will in Hosea the prophet , said , “ I desire mercy rather than sacrifice , and the knowledge of God more than burnt - offerings . ” Besides , our Lord also exhorted them to the same effect , when He said , “ But if ye had known what [ this ] meaneth , I will have mercy , and not sacrifice , ye would not have condemned the guiltless . ” Thus does He bear witness to the prophets , that they preached the truth ; but accuses these men ( His hearers ) of being foolish through their own fault .
Section 5 5 . Again , giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first - fruits of His own , created things — not as if He stood in need of them , but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful — He took that created thing , bread , and gave thanks , and said , “ This is My body . ” And the cup likewise , which is part of that creation to which we belong , He confessed to be His blood , and taught the new oblation of the new covenant ; which the Church receiving from the apostles , offers to God throughout all the world , to Him who gives us as the means of subsistence the first - fruits of His own gifts in the New Testament , concerning which Malachi , among the twelve prophets , thus spoke beforehand : “ I have no pleasure in you , saith the Lord Omnipotent , and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands . For from the rising of the sun , unto the going down [ of the same ] , My name is glorified among the Gentiles , and in every place incense is offered to My name , and a pure sacrifice ; for great is My name among the Gentiles , saith the Lord Omnipotent ; ” — indicating in the plainest manner , by these words , that the former people [ the Jews ] shall indeed cease to make offerings to God , but that in every place sacrifice shall be offered to Him , and that a pure one ; and His name is glorified among the Gentiles .
Section 6 6 . But what other name is there which is glorified among the Gentiles than that of our Lord , by whom the Father is glorified , and man also ? And because it is [ the name ] of His own Son , who was made man by Him , He calls it His own . Just as a king , if he himself paints a likeness of his son , is right in calling this likeness his own , for both these reasons , because it is [ the likeness ] of his son , and because it is his own production ; so also does the Father confess the name of Jesus Christ , which is throughout all the world glorified in the Church , to be His own , both because it is that of His Son , and because He who thus describes it gave Him for the salvation of men . Since , therefore , the name of the Son belongs to the Father , and since in the omnipotent God the Church makes offerings through Jesus Christ , He says well on both these grounds , “ And in every place incense is offered to My name , and a pure sacrifice . ” Now John , in the Apocalypse , declares that the “ incense ” is “ the prayers of the saints . ”
Notes 210 1 Sam. xv. 22.
211 Latin, “aures autem perfecisti mihi;” a reading agreeable to neither the Hebrew nor Septuagint version, as quoted by St. Paul in Heb. x. 9. Harvey, however, is of opinion that the text of the old Latin translation was originally “perforasti;” indicating thus an entire concurrence with the Hebrew, as now read in this passage. [Both readings illustrated by their apparent reference to Ex. xxi. 6 , compared with Heb. v. 7–9. ]
212 Ps. xl. 6.
213 Ps. li. 17.
214 Or, “the beauty,” species.
215 Ps. l. 9.
216 Ps. l. 14, 15.
217 Isa. i. 11.
218 This passage is not now found in holy Scripture. Harvey conjectures that it may have been taken from the apocryphal Gospel according to the Egyptians. It is remarkable that we find the same words quoted also by Clement of Alexandria. [But he (possibly with this place in view) merely quotes it as a saying, in close connection with Ps. li. 19 , which is here partially cited. See Clement, Pædagogue, b. iii. cap. xii.]
219 Jer. vi. 20.
220 Jer. vii. 2, 3.
221 Jer. vii. 21.
222 Jer. ix. 24.
223 Isa. xliii. 23, 24.
224 Isa. xlvi. 2.
225 Jer. xi. 15.
226 Isa. lviii. 6 , etc.
227 Zech. vii. 9, 10.
228 Zech. viii. 16, 17.
229 Ps. xxxiv. 13, 14.
230 Hos. vi. 6.
231 Matt. xii. 7.
232 Grabe has a long and important note on this passage and what follows, which may be seen in Harvey, in loc. See, on the other side, and in connection with the whole of the following chapter, Massuet’s third dissertation on the doctrine of Irenæus, art. vii., reprinted in Migne’s edition.
233 Matt. xxvi. 26 , etc.
234 Mal. i. 10, 11.
235 [One marvels that there should be any critical difficulty here as to our author’s teaching. Creatures of bread and wine are the body and the blood; materially one thing, mystically another. See cap. xviii. 5 below.]
236 Rev. v. 8. [Material incense seems to be always disclaimed by the primitive writers.]
