Since, then, the law
originated with Moses, it terminated with John as a necessary consequence.
Christ had come to fulfil it: wherefore “the law and the prophets were” with
them “until John.” And therefore Jerusalem, taking its commencement from David,
and fulfilling its own times, must have an end of legislation when the new
covenant was revealed. For God does all things by measure and in order; nothing
is unmeasured with Him, because nothing is out of order. Well spake he, who
said that the unmeasurable Father was Himself subjected to measure in the Son;
for the Son is the measure of the Father, since He also comprehends Him. But
that the administration of them (the Jews) was temporary, Esaias says: “And the
daughter of Zion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a
garden of cucumbers.” And when shall these things be left behind? Is it not
when the fruit shall be taken away, and the leaves alone shall be left, which
now have no power of producing fruit? (Against Heresies, 4.4.2)
Notice that Irenaeus understood Luke 16:16
as a statement of how the Law of Moses was binding upon God’s people until John
the Baptist, not a statement that prophets/prophecy ceased with John the
Baptist.
Further Reading
Not
by Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura
