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 we 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,5 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, 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.
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. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.18.1-3 [ANF 1:445-46])
11. For some of them, beholding Him in glory, saw His glorious life
(conversationem) at the Father's right hand; others beheld Him coming on the
clouds as the Son of man; and those who declared regarding Him, "They
shall look on Him whom they have pierced," indicated His [second] advent,
concerning which He Himself says, "Thinkest thou that when the Son of man
cometh, He shall find faith on the earth?" Paul also refers to this event
when he says, "If, however, it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you that are troubled rest with
us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with His mighty angels,
and in a flame of fire." Others again, speaking of Him as a judge, and
[referring], as if it were a burning furnace, [to] the day of the Lord, who
"gathers the wheat into His barn, but will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire," were accustomed to threaten those who were
unbelieving, concerning whom also the Lord Himself declares, "Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the
devil and his angels." And the apostle in like manner says [of them],
"Who shall be punished with everlasting death from the face of the Lord,
and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His
saints, and to be admired in those who believe in Him." There are also
some [of them] who declare, "Thou art fairer than the children of
men;" and, "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness
above Thy fellows;" and, "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most
Mighty, with Thy beauty and Thy fairness, and go forward and proceed
prosperously; and rule Thou because of truth, and meekness, and
righteousness." And whatever other things of a like nature are spoken
regarding Him, these indicated that beauty and splendour which exist in His
kingdom, along with the transcendent and pre-eminent exaltation [belonging] to
all who are under His sway, that those who hear might desire to be found there,
doing such things as are pleasing to God. Again, there are those who say,
"He is a man, and who shall know him?" and, "I came unto the
prophetess, and she bare a son, and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor,
the Mighty God;" and those [of them] who proclaimed Him as Immanuel,
[born] of the Virgin, exhibited the union of the Word of God with His own
workmanship, [declaring] that the Word should become flesh, and the Son of God
the Son of man (the pure One opening purely that pure womb which regenerates
men unto God, and which He Himself made pure); and having become this which we
also are, He [nevertheless] is the Mighty God, and possesses a generation which
cannot be declared. And there are also some of them who say, "The Lord
hath spoken in Zion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem;" and, "In
Judah is God known;"-- these indicated His advent which took place in
Judea. Those, again, who declare that "God comes from the south, and from
a mountain thick with foliage," announced His advent at Bethlehem, as I
have pointed out in the preceding book. From that place, also, He who rules,
and who feeds the people of His Father, has come. Those, again, who declare
that at His coming "the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of
the dumb shall [speak] plainly, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and
the ears of the deaf shall hear," and that "the hands which hang
down, and the feeble knees, shall be strengthened," and that "the
dead which are in the grave shall arise," and that He Himself "shall
take [upon Him] our weaknesses, and bear our sorrows,"-- [all these]
proclaimed those works of healing which were accomplished by Him. (Irenaeus,
Against Heresies, 4.33.11 [ANF 1:509-10])
In a note in the Schaff set, we read the following
note concerning the use of Jer 17:9:
Harvey here remarks: "The LXX.
read אֱנֹושׁ
instead of אָנֹושׁ.
Thus, from a text that teaches us that the heart is deceitful above all
things, the Fathers extract a proof of the manhood of Christ."
He is not undone, he says, but revolves as it were, and goes round
himself. Moreover, also, cities in which we dwell, because we turn and go round
in them, are denominated “Poleis.” In
this manner, he says, the Phrygians call this one “Aipolis,” inasmuch as he
everywhere ceaselessly turns all things, and changes them into their own
peculiar (functions). And the Phrygians style him, he says, “very fruitful”
likewise, “because,” says he, “more numerous are the children of the desolate
one, than those of her which hath an husband;” that is, things by being born
again become immortal and abide for ever in great numbers, even though the
things that are produced may be few; whereas things carnal, he says, are all
corruptible, even though very many things (of this type) are produced. For this
reason, he says, “Rachel wept for her children, and would not,” says (the
prophet), “be comforted; sorrowing for them, for she knew,” says he, “that they
are not.” But Jeremiah likewise utters lamentation for Jerusalem below, not the
city in Phœnicia, but the corruptible generation below. For Jeremiah likewise,
he says, was aware of the Perfect Man, of him that is born again—of water and
the Spirit not carnal. At least Jeremiah himself remarked: “He is a man, and
who shall know him?” In this manner, (the Naassene) says, the knowledge of
the Perfect Man is exceedingly profound, and difficult of comprehension. For,
he says, the beginning of perfection is a knowledge of man, whereas knowledge
of God is absolute perfection. (Hippolytus, The Refutation of All Heresies Book
5, chapter 3 [ANF 5:55])
