3. And they teach that He pointed out
the three kinds of men as follows: the material, when He said to him that asked
Him, "Shall I follow Thee?" "The Son of man hath not where to
lay His head;"-- the animal, when He said to him that declared, "I
will follow Thee, but suffer me first to bid them farewell that are in my
house," "No man, putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of heaven" (for this man they declare to be of the
intermediate class, even as they do that other who, though he professed to have
wrought a large amount of righteousness, yet refused to follow Him, and was so
overcome by [the love of] riches, as never to reach perfection)--this one it
pleases them to place in the animal class;--the spiritual, again, when He said,
"Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God," and when He said to Zaccheus the publican, "Make haste, and
come down, for to-day I must abide in thine house"--for these they
declared to have belonged to the spiritual class. Also the parable of the
leaven which the woman is described as having hid in three measures of meal,
they declare to make manifest the three classes. For, according to their
teaching, the woman represented Sophia; the three measures of meal, the three
kinds of men-- spiritual, animal, and material; while the leaven denoted the
Saviour Himself. Paul, too, very plainly set forth the material, animal, and
spiritual, saying in one place, "As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy;" and in another place, "But the animal man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit;" and again: "He that is spiritual judgeth
all things." And this, "The animal man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit," they affirm to have been spoken concerning the Demiurge, who,
as being animal, knew neither his mother who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor
the AEons in the Pleroma. And that the Saviour received first-fruits of those
whom He was to save, Paul declared when he said, "And if the first-fruits
be holy, the lump is also holy,"15 teaching that the expression
"first-fruits" denoted that which is spiritual, but that "the
lump" meant us, that is, the animal Church, the lump of which they say He
assumed, and blended it with Himself, inasmuch as He is "the leaven."
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.8.3 [ANF 1:327])
1. But we do now receive a certain
portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for
incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which
also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour
which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the
Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel
of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." This earnest,
therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the mortal
is swallowed up by immortality. "For ye," he declares, "are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you." This, however does not take place by a casting away of the flesh,
but by the impartation of the Spirit. For those to whom he was writing were not
without flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God, "by
which we cry, Abba, Father." If therefore, at the present time, having the
earnest, we do cry, "Abba, Father," what shall it be when, on rising
again, we behold Him face to face; when all the members shall burst out into a
continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the dead, and
gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering man into itself,
does even now cause him to cry, "Abba, Father," what shall the
complete grace of the Spirit effect, which shall be given to men by God? It
will render us like unto Him, and accomplish the will of the Father; for it
shall make man after the image and likeness of God.
2. Those persons, then, who possess
the earnest of the Spirit, and who are not enslaved by the lusts of the flesh,
but are subject to the Spirit, and who in all things walk according to the
light of reason, does the apostle properly term "spiritual," because
the Spirit of God dwells in them. Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal
spirits; but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit, receiving
the Spirit of God, makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed reject
the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives
contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own
desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of
swine and of dogs; these men, [I say], does the apostle very properly term
"carnal," because they have no thought of anything else except carnal
things.
3. For the same reason, too, do the
prophets compare them to irrational animals, on account of the irrationality of
their conduct, saying, "They have become as horses raging for the females;
each one of them neighing after his neighbour's wife." And again,
"Man, when he was in honour, was made like unto cattle." This denotes
that, for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational
life. And we also, as the custom is, do designate men of this stamp as cattle
and irrational beasts.
4. Now the law has figuratively
predicted all these, delineating man by the [various] animals: whatsoever of
these, says [the Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as
clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these
[properties], it sets aside by themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean?
Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son; for
this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they
meditate day and night upon the words of God, that they may be adorned with
good works: for this is the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are
those which do neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who
have neither faith in God, nor do meditate on His words: and such is the
abomination of the Gentiles. But as to those animals which do indeed chew the
cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them
a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in
their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted stedfastness in the Father and in
the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which
have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are
more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and
the one hoof supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which
have the double hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all
heretics, and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, neither are
adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also the Lord says, "Why call
ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you?" For men of
this stamp do indeed say that they believe in the Father and the Son, but they
never meditate as they should upon the things of God, neither are they adorned
with works of righteousness; but, as I have already observed, they have adopted
the lives of swine and of dogs, giving themselves over to filthiness, to
gluttony, and recklessness of all sorts. Justly, therefore, did the apostle
call all such "carnal" and "animal," --[all those, namely],
who through their own unbelief and luxury do not receive the Divine Spirit, and
in their various phases cast out from themselves the life-giving Word, and walk
stupidly after their own lusts: the prophets, too, spake of them as beasts of
burden and wild beasts; custom likewise has viewed them in the light of cattle
and irrational creatures; and the law has pronounced them unclean. (Irenaeus,
Against Heresies 5.8.1-4 [ANF 1:533-54])
True knowledge, then, consists in the
understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a
mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the
cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the
disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of
which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated (ἀσχημάτιστος);
and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the
same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient.
For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.” For this is the affinity of
the apostolical teaching and the most holy "faith delivered unto us,"
which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not
"giving heed to endless genealogies," but studying rather [to
observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the
Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the
first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this
are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will,
becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of
heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken. (Irenaeus, Fragments,
XXXV [ANF 1:574])