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Against Heresies
Irenaeus of Lyons
Book 5 · 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 There is but one Lord and one God, the Father and Creator of all things, who has loved us in Christ, given us commandments, and remitted our sins; whose Son and Word Christ proved Himself to be, when He forgave our sins. Section 1 1 . Now this being is the Creator (
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)
,
who
is
,
in
respect
of
His
love
,
the
Father
;
but
in
respect
of
His
power
,
He
is
Lord
;
and
in
respect
of
His
wisdom
,
our
Maker
and
Fashioner
;
by
transgressing
whose
commandment
we
became
His
enemies
.
And
therefore
in
the
last
times
the
Lord
has
restored
us
into
friendship
through
His
incarnation
,
having
become
“
the
Mediator
between
God
and
men
;
”
propitiating
indeed
for
us
the
Father
against
whom
we
had
sinned
,
and
cancelling
(
consolatus
)
our
disobedience
by
His
own
obedience
;
conferring
also
upon
us
the
gift
of
communion
with
,
and
subjection
to
,
our
Maker
.
For
this
reason
also
He
has
taught
us
to
say
in
prayer
,
“
And
forgive
us
our
debts
;
”
since
indeed
He
is
our
Father
,
whose
debtors
we
were
,
having
transgressed
His
commandments
.
But
who
is
this
Being
?
Is
He
some
unknown
one
,
and
a
Father
who
gives
no
commandment
to
any
one
?
Or
is
He
the
God
who
is
proclaimed
in
the
Scriptures
,
to
whom
we
were
debtors
,
having
transgressed
His
commandment
?
Now
the
commandment
was
given
to
man
by
the
Word
.
For
Adam
,
it
is
said
,
“
heard
the
voice
of
the
Lord
God
.
”
Rightly
then
does
His
Word
say
to
man
,
“
Thy
sins
are
forgiven
thee
;
”
He
,
the
same
against
whom
we
had
sinned
in
the
beginning
,
grants
forgiveness
of
sins
in
the
end
.
But
if
indeed
we
had
disobeyed
the
command
of
any
other
,
while
it
was
a
different
being
who
said
,
“
Thy
sins
are
forgiven
thee
;
”
such
an
one
is
neither
good
,
nor
true
,
nor
just
.
For
how
can
he
be
good
,
who
does
not
give
from
what
belongs
to
himself
?
Or
how
can
he
be
just
,
who
snatches
away
the
goods
of
another
?
And
in
what
way
can
sins
be
truly
remitted
,
unless
that
He
against
whom
we
have
sinned
has
Himself
granted
remission
“
through
the
bowels
of
mercy
of
our
God
,
”
in
which
“
He
has
visited
us
”
through
His
Son
?
Section 2 2 . And therefore , when He had healed the man sick of the palsy , [ the evangelist ] says “ The people upon seeing it glorified God , who gave such power unto men . ” What God , then , did the bystanders glorify ? Was it indeed that unknown Father invented by the heretics ? And how could they glorify him who was altogether unknown to them ? It is evident , therefore , that the Israelites glorified Him who has been proclaimed as God by the law and the prophets , who is also the Father of our Lord ; and therefore He taught men , by the evidence of their senses through those signs which He accomplished , to give glory to God . If , however , He Himself had come from another Father , and men glorified a different Father when they beheld His miracles , He [ in that case ] rendered them ungrateful to that Father who had sent the gift of healing . But as the only - begotten Son had come for man’s salvation from Him who is God , He did both stir up the incredulous by the miracles which He was in the habit of working , to give glory to the Father ; and to the Pharisees , who did not admit the advent of His Son , and who consequently did not believe in the remission [ of sins ] which was conferred by Him , He said , “ That ye may know that the Son of man hath power to forgive sins . ” And when He had said this , He commanded the paralytic man to take up the pallet upon which he was lying , and go into his house . By this work of His He confounded the unbelievers , and showed that He is Himself the voice of God , by which man received commandments , which he broke , and became a sinner ; for the paralysis followed as a consequence of sins .
Section 3 3 . Therefore , by remitting sins , He did indeed heal man , while He also manifested Himself who He was . For if no one can forgive sins but God alone , while the Lord remitted them and healed men , it is plain that He was Himself the Word of God made the Son of man , receiving from the Father the power of remission of sins ; since He was man , and since He was God , in order that since as man He suffered for us , so as God He might have compassion on us , and forgive us our debts , in which we were made debtors to God our Creator . And therefore David said beforehand , “ Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven , and whose sins are covered . Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin ; ” pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon His advent , by which “ He has destroyed the handwriting ” of our debt , and “ fastened it to the cross ; ” so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors to God , [ so also ] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our debt .
Section 4 4 . This fact has been strikingly set forth by many others , and especially through means of Elisha the prophet . For when his fellow - prophets were hewing wood for the construction of a tabernacle , and when the iron [ head ] , shaken loose from the axe , had fallen into the Jordan and could not be found by them , upon Elisha’s coming to the place , and learning what had happened , he threw some wood into the water . Then , when he had done this , the iron part of the axe floated up , and they took up from the surface of the water what they had previously lost . By this action the prophet pointed out that the sure word of God , which we had negligently lost by means of a tree , and were not in the way of finding again , we should receive anew by the dispensation of a tree , [ viz . , the cross of Christ ] . For that the word of God is likened to an axe , John the Baptist declares [ when he says ] in reference to it , “ But now also is the axe laid to the root of the trees . ” Jeremiah also says to the same purport : “ The word of God cleaveth the rock as an axe . ” This word , then , what was hidden from us , did the dispensation of the tree make manifest , as I have already remarked . For as we lost it by means of a tree , by means of a tree again was it made manifest to all , showing the height , the length , the breadth , the depth in itself ; and , as a certain man among our predecessors observed , “ Through the extension of the hands of a divine person , gathering together the two peoples to one God . ”
For these were two hands , because there were two peoples scattered to the ends of the earth ; but there was one head in the middle , as there is but one God , who is above all , and through all , and in us all .
