Since, therefore, the tradition
that derives from the apostles is of such nature in the Church and continues
among us, let us return to the proof from the Scriptures of the apostles, of
those who wrote the Gospel. These wrote down the doctrine about God, proving
that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth
and that there is no deceit in Him.
Just as David, too, prophesied His birth from the Virgin and His resurrection
from the dead when he said, Truth will
spring up out of the ground. The apostles, being disciples of truth, are
beyond all lying; for a lie has no
fellowship with the truth, just as darkness
has no fellowship with light. [On the contrary,] the presence of the one
excludes the other. Since, then, our Lord is the truth, He never told a lie.
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies
3.1.1, in St. Irenaeus of Lyons:
Against the Heresies, Book 3 [trans. Dominic J. Unger; Ancient Christian
Writers 64; New York: The Newman Press, 2012], 36)
