Against Heresies 3.24.1–4.4.3

Against 3, chapter 24

3.24.1Harvey 2:37

Traductis igitur omnibus, qui nefandas inferunt sententias de factore et plasmatore nostro, qui et hunc mundum fabricatus est, super quem alius Deus non est; et ipsis ostensionibus eversis his, qui de substantia Domini nostri, et de dispositione quam fecit propter hominem suum, falsa docent; praedicationem vero Ecclesie undique constantem, et squaliter perseverantem, et testimonium habentem a prophetis et ab Apostolis, et ab omnibus discipulis, quemadmodum ostendimus, per initia, et medietates, et finem, et per universam Dei dispositionem, et eam que secundum salutem hominis est solidam operationem, quze est in fide nostra; quam perceptam ab Ecclesia custodimus, et quz semper a Spiritu Dei, quasi in vase bono eximium quoddam depositum juvenescens, et juvenescere faciens ipsum vas in quo est. Hoc enim Ecclesie creditum est Dei munus, quemadmodum aspiratio plasmationi, ad hoc ut omnia membra percipientia vivificentur: et in eo disposita est communicatio Christi, id est Spiritus sanctus, arrha incorruptele, et confirmatio fidei nostre, et scala ascensionis ad Deum. In Ecclesia enim, inquit, posuit Deus Apostolos, prophetas, doctores, et universam reliquam operationem Spiritus: cujus nón sunt participes omnes, qui non concurrunt ad Ecclesiam, sed semetipsos fraudant a vita, per sententiam malam, et operationem pessimam. Ubi enim Ecclesia, ibi et Spiritus Dei; et ubi Spiritus Dei, illic Ecclesia, et omnis gratia: Spiritus autem veritas. Quapropter qui non participant eum, neque a mammillis matris nutriuntur in vitam, neque percipiunt de corpore Christi procedentem nitidissimum fontem: sed effodiunt sibi lacus detritos de fossis terrenis, et de caeno putidam bibunt aquam, effugientes fidem Ecclesiae, ne traducantur; rejicientes vero Spiritum, ut non erudiantur.

Thus, then, all have been exposed who bring in abominable opinions about our Maker and Fashioner, who also made this world, above whom there is no other God; and those who teach falsehoods about the substance of our Lord and the dispensation he carried out for the sake of his human creature have been overthrown by their own arguments. But the preaching of the Church is everywhere constant and continues unchanged, having the testimony of the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples, as we have shown, through the beginning, the middle, and the end, and through the whole dispensation of God and the well-grounded working for man’s salvation which is in our faith. This faith we have received from the Church and guard; and by the Spirit of God, like a precious deposit in a good vessel, it is always renewing its youth and makes the very vessel in which it is renew its youth. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first formation, so that all the members who receive it may be made alive; and in it has been placed the communion with Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruption, the confirmation of our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. “For in the Church,” it says, “God has set apostles, prophets, teachers,” and all the rest of the working of the Spirit. Of him none have a share who do not run together to the Church, but defraud themselves of life by evil opinion and most wicked conduct. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every grace; and the Spirit is truth. Therefore those who do not share in him are neither nourished into life from their mother’s breasts nor receive the most limpid fountain that flows from the body of Christ, but dig for themselves broken cisterns out of earthly ditches and drink foul water from the mud, fleeing the faith of the Church so as not to be exposed, and rejecting the Spirit so as not to be instructed.

Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Cor 1:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 28:12 (echo, low confidence) · 1 Cor 12:28 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 5:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 2:13 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Church’s preaching is everywhere constant; the Spirit is given to the Church, and those outside it cut themselves off from life.

Harvey’s chapter title (against those who make a schism for any reason) was removed. “Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God”: translated as written. Quotations and allusions: Gen 2:7; 2 Cor 1:22; Gen 28:12; 1 Cor 12:28; 1 John 5:6; Jer 2:13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; editor's chapter title; small capitals; line number): Adversus eos qui ex quacunque causa schisma faciunt. Tnapvcris igitur → Traductis igitur; 3per initia → per initia; Ecclesia. eustodimus → Ecclesia custodimus; 5depositum → depositum; tommunicatio → communicatio; Jn Ecclesia → In Ecclesia; fraudant & vita → fraudant a vita; neque & mammillis → neque a mammillis; Ohristi → Christi.

Topics: Heresy, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.24.1 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-24-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.24.2Harvey 2:37

Alienati vero a veritate, digne in omni volutantur errore, fluctuati ab eo, aliter atque aliter per tempora de eisdem sentientes, et nunquam scientiam stabilitam habentes, sophistae verborum magis volentes esse quam discipuli veritatis. Non enim sunt fundati super unam petram, sed super arenam, habentem in seipsa lapides multos. Propter hoc et multos Deos fingunt, et quaerere quidem semper in excusatione habent, caecutiunt enim, invenire vero nunquam possunt. Blasphemant enim fabricatorem, hoc est, eum qui est vere Deus, qui et praestat invenire; putantes se super Deum alterum invenisse Deum, vel alteram plenitudinem, vel alteram dispositionem. Quapropter et lumen, quod est a Deo, non lucet eis, quoniam inhonoraverunt et spreverunt Deum, minimum arbitrantes eum, quoniam propter dilectionem suam et immensam benignitatem in agnitionem venit hominibus: (agnitionem autem non secundum magnitudinem, nec secundum substantiam; nemo enim mensus est eam, nec palpavit; sed secundum illud, ut sciremus, quoniam qui fecit, et plasmavit, et insufflationem vitae insufflavit in eis, et per conditionem nutrit nos, Verbo suo confirmans, et Sapientia compingens omnia, hic est qui est solus verus Deus:) eum vero qui non est, somniantes super hunc, ut magnum Deum putentur adinvenisse, quem nemo possit cognoscere, humano generi communicantem, nec terrena administrantem: Epicuri videlicet invenientes Deum, neque sibi, neque aliis aliquid praestantem, id est, nullius providentiam habentem.

Estranged from the truth, they deservedly wallow in every error, tossed about by it, thinking differently about the same things at different times, and never having a settled knowledge, wishing to be sophists of words rather than disciples of the truth. For they are not founded on the one rock, but on sand that has many stones in it. For this reason they also invent many gods; and they always have the excuse of seeking, for they are blind, but they can never find. For they blaspheme the Maker, that is, him who is truly God, who also enables us to find, thinking that they have found another God above God, or another Pleroma, or another dispensation. Therefore the light that is from God does not shine on them, because they have dishonoured and despised God, thinking him very small because, through his love and immeasurable kindness, he came to be known by human beings (known, however, not according to his greatness nor according to his substance, for no one has measured or handled it, but in this way: that we should know that he who made and formed them, breathed into them the breath of life, and nourishes us through creation, establishing all things by his Word and binding them together by his Wisdom, is the only true God). But they dream of a non-existent being above him, so that they may be thought to have discovered the great God, whom no one can know, who has no dealings with the human race and does not govern earthly things: they find, in fact, the god of Epicurus, who provides nothing either for himself or for others, that is, who exercises no providence over anything.

Matt 7:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 7:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Tim 3:7 (echo, medium confidence) · Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Cut off from the truth, the heretics are always seeking and never finding, and invent a remote god like the god of Epicurus who exercises no providence.

Allusions: Matt 7:24–26; 2 Tim 3:7; Gen 2:7. The god of Epicurus: Epicurus taught that the gods take no part in the world’s affairs.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip (Greek letter for Latin a); hyphenated word; margin debris; running head; stray mark): vero ἃ veritate → vero a veritate; hoc est, “eum qui → hoc est, eum qui; agni- tionem → agnitionem; solus ! verus → solus verus; somniantes LIB. IIT, super → somniantes super; nemo GR iR lt possit → nemo possit; terrena E administrantem → terrena administrantem.

Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.24.2 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-24-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 3, chapter 25

3.25.1Harvey 2:37

Providentiam autem habet Deus omnium, propter hoc et consilium dat: consilium autem dans adest his, qui morum providentiam habent. Necesse est igitur ea que providentur et gubernantur, cognoscere suum directorem: qus quidem non sunt irrationalia, neque vana, sed habent sensibilitatem perceptam de providentia Dei. Et propter hoc ethnicorum quidam, qui minus illecebris ac voluptatibus servierunt, et non in tantum superstitione idolorum coabducti sunt, providentia ejus moti licet tenuiter, tamen conversi sunt, ut dicerent fabricatorem hujus universitatis Patrem omnium providentem, et disponentem secundum nos mundum.

God, however, exercises providence over all things, and for this reason he also gives counsel; and in giving counsel he is present to those who take care for their conduct. It follows, then, that the things that are provided for and governed should know their ruler; and they are not irrational or empty, but have a perception received from the providence of God. For this reason some of the pagans, who were less enslaved to allurements and pleasures and were not carried away so far by the superstition of idols, being moved, though faintly, by his providence, were nevertheless converted to the point of calling the maker of this universe the Father who provides for all things and orders our world.

Notes and citation

Summary: God exercises providence over all, and even some pagans, moved by it, called the maker of the universe the provident Father.

Harvey’s chapter title (that this world is ruled by the providence of God) was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (editor's chapter title; small capitals; line number): Ostensio quoniam providentia, Dei regatur hic mundus. PnaovipENTIAM → Providentiam; 2providentiam → providentiam; 5coabducti → coabducti.

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.1 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.2Harvey 2:37

Rursus ut increpativum auferrent a Patre et judiciale, indignum id Deo putantes, et sine iracundia et bonum arbitrantes se adinvenisse Deum, alterum quidem judicare, et alterum quidem. salvare dixerunt, nescientes utrorumque auferentes sensum et justitiam. Si enim judicialis non et bonus sit, ad donandum quidem his quibus debet, et ad exprobrandum his quibus oportet, neque justus neque sapiens videbitur judex; rursus bonus, si hoc tantum sit, bonus, non et probator in quos immittat bonitatem, extra justitiam erit et bonitatem, et infirma bonitas ejus videbitur, non omnes salvans, si non cum judicio fiat.

Again, so as to remove rebuke and judgment from the Father, thinking that unworthy of God, and supposing that they had found a God without anger and good, they said that one God judges and another saves, not realizing that they take away the understanding and justice of both. For if the judging one is not also good, to give gifts to those to whom he ought and to reprove those whom he should, he will appear neither a just nor a wise judge. And again, the good one, if he is only good and not also one who tests on whom he should send his goodness, will be outside both justice and goodness, and his goodness will seem weak, not saving all, if it is not accompanied by judgment.

Notes and citation

Summary: To split God into a judge and a saviour destroys both: a judge without goodness is unjust, and goodness without judgment is weak.

Harvey’s chapter titles (that justice cannot exist without goodness nor goodness without justice; that the Word of God is both just and good) and a fragment of his note were removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note leaked into the text; editor's chapter titles; small capitals; page number of Massuet; stray mark): Quoniam neque justitia sine bonitate constare potest, neque bonitas sine justitia. Quoniam sapiens idem et Judex. Ostensio quod Verbum Dei et justum, et bonum sit. Runsus → Rursus; dixerunt, ˆ nescientes → dixerunt, nescientes; judex; !?^rursus bonus, si hoc irrationabilia. neque quidem, οὐδὲ μήν. 118. 111. tantum sit → judex; rursus bonus, si hoc tantum sit; videbitur, M. 994. non omnes → videbitur, non omnes; judicio fiat. ! → judicio fiat..

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.2 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.3Harvey 2:37

Marcion igitur ipse dividens Deum in duo, alterum quidem bonum, et alterum judicialem dicens, ex utrisque interimit Deum. Hic enim qui judicialis, si non et bonus sit, non est Deus, quia Deus non est, cui bonitas desit: et ille rursus qui est bonus, si non et judicialis, idem quod hic patietur, ut auferatur ei ne sit Deus. Quemadmodum autem et sapientem dicunt Patrem omnium, si non et judiciale ei assignent? Si enim sapiens, et probator est; probatori autem subest judiciale, judiciale autem assequitur justitia, ut juste probet; justitia provocat judicium: judicium autem, cum fit cum justitia, transmittet ad sapientiam. Sapientia igitur praecellet Pater super omnem humanam et angelicam sapientiam, quoniam Dominus, et judex, et justus, et dominator super omnes. Est enim et bonus, et misericors, et patiens, et salvat quos oportet: neque bonum ei deficit juste effectum, neque sapientia deminoratur: salvat enim quos debet salvare, et judicat dignos Judicio: neque justum immite ostenditur, praeeunte scilicet et praecedente bonitate.

Marcion himself, then, dividing God into two, calling one good and the other judging, destroys God on both sides. For the judging one, if he is not also good, is not God, because he who lacks goodness is not God; and again the good one, if he is not also judging, will suffer the same as the other and be deprived of being God. And how do they call the Father of all wise, if they do not also assign judgment to him? For if he is wise, he also tests; and judgment belongs to the one who tests; and justice accompanies judgment, so that he may test justly; justice calls forth judgment; and judgment, when it is done with justice, will pass on to wisdom. The Father, then, will excel in wisdom all human and angelic wisdom, because he is Lord and Judge and Just and Ruler over all. For he is also good and merciful and patient, and saves those whom he should; neither does goodness fail him when he acts justly, nor is his wisdom diminished; for he saves those whom he ought to save and judges those worthy of judgment; nor is his justice shown to be harsh, since goodness, of course, goes before and leads the way.

Notes and citation

Summary: Marcion’s division of God into a good God and a just God destroys both; the one God is good, just, and wise together.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; margin debris inside a word; stray mark): alterum quio. see. dem bonum → alterum quidem bonum; non est Deus, ! quia → non est Deus, quia; qui οἷ bonus → qui est bonus; judiciale οἱ assignent → judiciale ei assignent.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.3 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-3).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.4Harvey 2:37

Qui igitur solem suum oriri facit omnibus benigne Deus, et pluit super justos et injustos, judicabit eos, qui ex sequo benignitatem ejus percipientes, non similiter secundum dignationem munerationis ejus conversati sunt; sed in deliciis et luxuriis versati sunt adversus benevolentiam ejus, adhuc et blasphemantes eum, qui tanta beneficia in eos fecerit.

God, then, who kindly makes his sun rise on all and sends rain on the just and the unjust, will judge those who, receiving his kindness equally, have not lived in a way worthy of his bounty, but have spent their lives in pleasures and luxury against his benevolence, and are even blaspheming him who has bestowed such great benefits on them.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Matt 5:45 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God who sends sun and rain on all will judge those who abuse his kindness.

Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. Allusion: Matt 5:45.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.4 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-4).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.5Harvey 2:37

Quibus religiosior Plato ostenditur, qui eundem Deum et justum et bonum confessus est, habentem potestatem omnium, ipsum facientem judicium, sic dicens: Et Deus quidem, quemadmodum et vetus sermo est, initium, et finem, et medietates omnium que sunt habens, recte perficit, secundum naturam circumiens: hunc autem semper consequitur justitia. ultriz in eos, qui deficiunt a lege divina. Et iterum factorem et fabricatorem hujus universitatis bonum ostendit. Bono autem, inquit, nulla unquam de quoquam nascitur invidia: hoc initium et causam fabricationis mundi constituens bonitatem Dei; sed non ignorantiam, nec Aeonem qui erravit, nec labis fructum, nec matrem plorantem et lamentantem, nec alterum Deum vel Patrem.

Plato is shown to be more religious than these, for he confessed that the same God is both just and good, having power over all things and himself carrying out judgment, speaking thus: “And God, as the ancient saying also is, holding the beginning, the end, and the middle of all things that exist, accomplishes them rightly, going round according to nature; and justice always follows him, avenging those who fall away from the divine law.” And again he shows that the maker and fashioner of this universe is good. “In the good,” he says, “no envy ever arises about anything”; thus setting the goodness of God as the beginning and cause of the making of the world, and not ignorance, nor an Aeon who went astray, nor the fruit of a defect, nor a weeping and lamenting Mother, nor another God or Father.

Notes and citation

Summary: Even Plato confessed one God who is both just and good and made the world out of goodness, not from a fallen Aeon.

Quotations: Plato, Laws 4.715e–716a; Timaeus 29e.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; line number; note marker; stray mark): Quinus religiosior → Quibus religiosior; omnium, 4 ipsum → omnium, ipsum; 5Et Deus → Et Deus; tnitium → initium; omnium " que sunt → omnium que sunt; circumtens → circumiens; ZEonem → Aeonem.

Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Leg. 4.715e–716a (Plato (works); quotation); Plato, Tim. 29e (Plato (works); quotation)

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.5 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-5).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.6Harvey 2:37

Juste autem eos mater planget, talium excogitatores et adinventores: digna enim commentiti sunt in capita sua, quoniam mater ipsorum extra Plenitudinem est, id est, extra Dei agnitionem, et collectio eorum abortio facta est informis et sine specie: nihil enim de veritate apprehendit; in vacuum et in umbram decidit; vacua enim doctrina ipsorum et intenebrata: et Horus eam non permisit introire in Pleroma; non enim recepit eos Spiritus in refrigerium. Pater enim ipsorum ignorantiam generans, mortis passiones in eis operatus est. Heec non nos diffamamus, sed ipsi confirmant, ipsi docent, gloriantur in ipsis, altum sentiunt de matre, quam sine patre dicunt genitam, hoc est sine Deo, feminam e femina, quod est ex errantia corruptelam.

Justly, then, will their Mother lament them, the devisers and inventors of such things; for they have invented things that fall back on their own heads, since their Mother is outside the Pleroma, that is, outside the knowledge of God, and their gathering became an abortion, shapeless and without form; for it grasps nothing of the truth; it falls into void and shadow; for their doctrine is empty and darkened; and Horos did not allow her to enter the Pleroma; for the Spirit did not receive them into refreshment. For their father, generating ignorance, worked the passions of death in them. We do not slander them in this: they themselves affirm it, they themselves teach it, they glory in it, they think highly of their Mother, whom they say was born without a father, that is, without God, a female from a female, that is, corruption from error.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Valentinian Mother, outside the Pleroma and born without a father, is an image of their own empty and darkened doctrine.

Harvey’s chapter title (how by their own rule the Valentinians are shown to be outside the truth) was removed. Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. On the Mother (Achamoth), Horos, and the abortion see 1.4.1 and 2.20.3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (editor's chapter title; line number; margin debris; stray mark; running head inside a word; stray marks): Quemadmodum secundum suam regulam qui a Valentino sunt extra, veritatem ostendantur. Juste → Juste; deciLIB. TI. dit → decidit; GRE svt non permisit ! introire → non permisit introire; in *** refrigerium → in refrigerium; 5passiones → passiones; 5feeminam → feminam.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.6 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-6).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.25.7Harvey 2:37

Nos autem precamur non perseverare eos in fovea, quam ipsi foderunt, sed segregari ab hujusmodi matre, et exire a Bytho, et absistere a vacuo, et umbram derelinquere: et legitime eos generari conversos ad Ecclesiam Dei, et formari Christum in eis, et cognoscere eos fabricatorem et factorem hujus universitatis, solum verum Deum et Dominum omnium. Hee precamur de illis, utilius eos diligentes, quam ipsi semetipsos putant diligere. Quze enim est a nobis dilectio, cum sit vera, salutaris est eis si quidem eam recipiant. Est enim austero medicamini similis, absumens improbiorem ac superfluam vulneris carnem: elationem enim illorum et inflationem evacuat. Quapropter tentantes omni virtute manum porrigere eis, non taedebit nos. Prorogavimus autem super haec que dicta sunt, in sequenti libro Domini sermones inferre, si quos ex his per ipsam Christi doctrinam convincentes, suadere possimus cessare ab ejusmodi errore, et absistere ab ea blasphemia, quz est in fabricatorem ipsorum, qui et solus est Deus, et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Amen.

But we pray that they may not remain in the pit they themselves have dug, but may separate themselves from such a Mother, go out from Bythus, stand away from the void, and leave the shadow behind; and that, converted to the Church of God, they may be lawfully begotten, and Christ may be formed in them, and they may know the fashioner and maker of this universe, the only true God and Lord of all. We pray this for them, loving them more profitably than they think they love themselves. For our love, since it is true, is salutary to them, if only they receive it. It is like a harsh medicine, eating away the proud and excess flesh of a wound; for it empties out their pride and conceit. Therefore we shall not grow weary of trying with all our strength to stretch out our hand to them. In addition to what has been said, we have deferred to the following book bringing forward the words of the Lord, in case, convincing some of them through the very teaching of Christ, we may persuade them to cease from such error and to stand away from the blasphemy against their maker, who is both the only God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ps 7:15 (7:16 LXX) (echo, medium confidence) · Gal 4:19 (allusion, high confidence) · John 17:3 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Irenaeus prays that the heretics may return to the Church and promises to bring forward the Lord’s own words in the next book.

Allusions: Ps 7:15; Gal 4:19; John 17:3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): tentantes ®omni → tentantes omni.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.25.7 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-3-25-7).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 4, chapter 0

4.0.1Harvey 2

Hunc quartum librum, dilectissime, transmittens tibi operis quod est de detectione et eversione false cognitionis, quemadmodum promisimus, per Domini sermones ea quz praediximus confirmabimus, uti et tu, sicut postulasti, undique a nobis accipias occasiones ad confutandos omnes haereticos, et eos omnimodo retusos non longius sinas in erroris procedere profundum, neque ignorantiae praefocari pelago, sed convertens eos in veritatis portum, facias suam percipere salutem.

In sending you, dearest friend, this fourth book of the work on the exposure and overthrow of knowledge falsely so called, we shall, as we promised, confirm by the words of the Lord what we have said before, so that you too, as you asked, may receive from us on every side the means of refuting all the heretics, and, having beaten them back at every point, may not let them go further into the depth of error nor be choked in the sea of ignorance, but may turn them into the harbour of truth and make them obtain their salvation.

1 Tim 6:20 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Irenaeus sends the fourth book, promising to confirm his case from the Lord’s own words so that his friend can refute and convert the heretics.

The title of the whole work (“exposure and overthrow of knowledge falsely so called”) echoes 1 Tim 6:20.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; page number of Massuet; repeated stop; section number and margin debris; OCR slip; stray mark): l. Ηυνο quartum librum, dilectissime, transmittens tibi o. 274. operis → Hunc quartum librum, dilectissime, transmittens tibi operis; cognitionis, M. 397. quemadmodum → cognitionis, quemadmodum; erroris? procedere → erroris procedere; ighorantise → ignorantiae; salutem.. → salutem..

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.0.1 (Harvey 2; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-0-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.0.2Harvey 2

Eum autem qui velit eos convertere, oportet diligenter scire regulas sive argumenta ipsorum. Nec enim possibile est alicui curare quosdam male habentes, qui ignorat passionem eorum qui male valent. Quapropter hi qui ante nos fuerunt, et quidem multo nobis meliores, non tamen satis potuerunt contradicere his qui sunt a Valentino, quia ignorabant regulam ipsorum, quam nos cum omni diligentia in primo libro tibi tradidimus; in quo et ostendimus doctrinam eorum recapitulationem esse omnium hereticorum. Quapropter et in secundo tamquam speculum habuimus eos totius eversionis. Qui enim his contradicunt secundum quod oportet, contradicunt omnibus qui sunt male sententiae; et qui hos evertunt, evertunt omnem heresim.

Whoever wishes to convert them must know their systems or arguments accurately. For no one can cure people who are ill if he does not know the illness of those who are unwell. That is why those before us, though much better men than we, were not able to refute the followers of Valentinus adequately: they did not know their system, which we handed on to you with all care in the first book, in which we also showed that their doctrine is a recapitulation of all the heretics. Therefore in the second book too we had them as a mirror of the whole overthrow. For those who refute these people as they ought refute all who hold evil opinions, and those who overthrow these overthrow every heresy.

Notes and citation

Summary: To convert the heretics one must know their system exactly; refuting the Valentinians refutes every heresy.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): tradidimus; ^in quo → tradidimus; in quo.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.0.2 (Harvey 2; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-0-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.0.3Harvey 2

Super omnes est enim blasphema regula ipsorum, quandoquidem factorem et fabricatorem, qui est unus Deus, secundum quod ostendimus, de labe sive defectione eum emissum dicunt. Blasphemant autem et in Dominum nostrum, abscindentes et dividentes Jesum a Christo, et Christum a Salvatore, et Salvatorem rursum a Verbo, et Verbum ab Unigenito. Et quemadmodum fabricatorem ex labe sive defectione emissum dicunt, sic et Christum et Spiritum sanctum propter labem emissum docuerunt, et Salvatorem ab his Aeonibus qui a labe emissi sunt, fructificationem esse; ut nil sit apud eos sine blasphemia. In eo igitur qui ante hunc est libro ostensa est de his omnibus sententia Apostolorum, quoniam non solum nihil tale senserunt qui ab initio speculatores et ministri fuerunt verbi veritatis; sed et praedicaverunt nobis fugere hujusmodi sententias, Spiritu providentes eos qui seducturi erant simpliciores.

For their system is blasphemous above all others, since they say that the Maker and Fashioner, who is the one God, as we have shown, was emitted from a defect or falling away. They also blaspheme against our Lord, cutting off and dividing Jesus from Christ, Christ from the Saviour, the Saviour again from the Word, and the Word from the Only-begotten. And as they say the Maker was emitted from a defect or falling away, so they taught that Christ and the Holy Spirit were emitted because of the defect, and that the Saviour is the fruit of those Aeons who were emitted from the defect; so that there is nothing among them without blasphemy. In the book before this, then, the opinion of the apostles on all these matters was shown: not only did those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word of truth hold nothing of the kind, but they also preached to us to flee such opinions, foreseeing by the Spirit those who would lead the simpler astray.

Luke 1:2 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Valentinian system blasphemes the Creator and divides Christ; Book 3 showed that the apostles taught nothing of the kind.

Allusion: Luke 1:2.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; margin reference; OCR slip; stray mark; margin debris inside a word; OCR slip; stray mark): et divi118.1ν. dentes Jesum 8 Christo → et dividentes Jesum a Christo; sic “et Christum → sic et Christum; Aconibus qui ! a labe → Aeonibus qui a labe; ÁÀpostolorum → Apostolorum; ab tnitio Luc. 1.2.? speculatores → ab initio speculatores.

Topics: Heresy, Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.0.3 (Harvey 2; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-0-3).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.0.4Harvey 2

Quemadmodum enim serpens Evam seduxit, promittens ei quod non habebat ipse; sic et hi praetendentes majorem agnitionem et mysteria inenarrabilia, et promittentes eam quam dicunt intra Pleroma esse receptionem, in mortem demergunt sibi credentes, apostatas eos constituentes ab eo qui eos fecit. Et tunc quidem apostata angelus per serpentem inobedientiam hominum operatus, existimavit latere se Dominum: quapropter eandem ei formam et appellationem tribuit Deus. Nunc autem, quoniam novissima sunt tempora, extenditur malum in homines, non solum apostatas eos faciens, sed et blasphemos in plasmatorem instituit multis machinationibus, id est, per omnes haereticos qui praedicti sunt. Hi enim omnes, quamvis ex differentibus locis egrediantur, et differentia doceant, in idem tamen blasphemiae concurrunt propositum, letaliter vulnerantes, docendo blasphemiam in Deum factorem et nutritorem nostrum, et derogando salutem hominis. Homo est autem temperatio anime et carnis, qui secundum similitudinem Dei formatus est, et per manus ejus plasmatus est, hoc est, per Filium et Spiritum sanctum, quibus et dixit: Faciamus hominem. Hoc ergo propositum est ejus qui vitae nostre invidet, incredulos suse salutis efficere homines, et blasphemos in plasmatorem Deum. Quaecunque enim cum gravitate summa dixerint omnes hseretici, in ultimum ad hoc deveniunt, ut blasphement fabricatorem, et contradicant saluti plasmatis Dei, quod quidem est caro: propter quam omnem dispositionem fecisse Filium Dei, multis modis ostendimus, et manifestavimus neminem alium Deum appellari a Scripturis, nisi Patrem omnium, et Filium, et eos qui adoptionem habent.

For as the serpent led Eve astray by promising her what he did not have himself, so these, pretending to greater knowledge and unspeakable mysteries and promising what they call reception within the Pleroma, plunge those who believe them into death, making them apostates from him who made them. And at that time the apostate angel, having brought about man’s disobedience through the serpent, thought he escaped the Lord’s notice; therefore God gave him the same form and name. But now, since the times are the last, evil spreads among human beings, not only making them apostates but also, by many devices, setting them up as blasphemers against their Fashioner, that is, through all the heretics mentioned before. For all of these, though they come out of different places and teach different things, nevertheless run together into the same purpose of blasphemy, wounding mortally by teaching blasphemy against God our Maker and Nourisher and by detracting from the salvation of man. Now man is a blending of soul and flesh, formed after the likeness of God and fashioned by his hands, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, to whom he also said, “Let us make man.” This, then, is the purpose of him who envies our life: to make human beings disbelieve their own salvation and blaspheme God their Fashioner. For whatever all the heretics may say with the utmost solemnity, they come in the end to this: they blaspheme the Maker and deny the salvation of God’s handiwork, which is the flesh, for whose sake, as we have shown in many ways, the Son of God carried out the whole dispensation; and we have made clear that no one else is called God by the Scriptures except the Father of all, and the Son, and those who have the adoption.

Gen 3:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 12:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 1:26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Like the serpent with Eve, the heretics promise secret knowledge and lead people into death, blaspheming the Creator and denying the salvation of the flesh.

The Son and the Spirit as God’s “hands”: a recurring image in Irenaeus. Quotations and allusions: Gen 3:1–5; Rev 12:9; Gen 1:26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (margin debris; margin reference): ei Gen. ri δ. quod → ei quod; hominum Arce. xit. $; operatus → hominum operatus; invidet, b, 275. up.1v. incredulos → invidet, incredulos; dixerint: !.1. omnes → dixerint omnes.

Topics: Heresy, Trinity

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.0.4 (Harvey 2; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-0-4).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 4, chapter 1

4.1.1Harvey 2:146

Cum sit igitur hoc firmum et constans, neminem alterum Deum et Dominum a Spiritu praedicatum, nisi eum qui dominatur omnium Deus, cum Verbo suo, et eos qui adoptionis Spiritum accipiunt, hoc est, eos qui credunt in unum et verum Deum, et Christum Jesum Filium Dei; similiter et Apostolos neminem alium a semetipsis Deum appellasse, aut Dominum cognominasse; multo autem magis Dominum nostrum, qui et nobis praecepit neminem Patrem confiteri, nisi eum qui est in coelis, qui est unus Deus, et unus Pater: manifeste falsa ostenduntur ea qu:e dicunt circumventores et perversissimi sophistae, dicentes naturaliter et Deum et Patrem esse, quem ipsi adinvenerunt; Demiurgum vero naturaliter neque Deum, neque Patrem esse, sed verbo tenus dici, eo quod dominetur conditionis, sicut dicunt perversi grammatici, excogitantes in Deum: et doctrinam quidem Christi praetermittentes, et a semetipsis autem falsa divinantes, adversus universam Dei dispositionem argumentantur. Etenim Aeonas suos, et deos et patres et dominos, adhuc etiam et coelos vocari dicunt, cum Matre sua, quam et terram et Hierusalem appellant, multisque aliis vocabulis eam cognominantes.

Since, then, this is firm and constant, that no other God and Lord was proclaimed by the Spirit except him who rules over all as God, together with his Word, and those who receive the Spirit of adoption, that is, those who believe in the one and true God and in Christ Jesus the Son of God; and likewise that the apostles called no one else God on their own account nor named anyone else Lord; and much more our Lord, who also commanded us to confess no one as Father except him who is in heaven, who is the one God and the one Father: then what these deceivers and most perverse sophists say is clearly shown to be false, when they say that the being they themselves invented is by nature both God and Father, but that the Demiurge is by nature neither God nor Father but is called so in name only, because he rules over creation, as these perverse grammarians say, devising things against God. Passing over the teaching of Christ and divining falsehoods of their own, they argue against the whole dispensation of God. For they say that their Aeons are called gods and fathers and lords, and even heavens, together with their Mother, whom they also call earth and Jerusalem, giving her many other names besides.

Ps 82:6 (81:6 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 8:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 23:9 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Scripture and Christ himself name only the one God as Father, so the Valentinian claim that the Creator is God in name only is false.

Harvey’s chapter title (that the Lord knew only one God and Father) was removed. “Those who receive the Spirit of adoption” are called gods in Ps 82:6 (cited in the margin). Allusions: Ps 82:6 (LXX 81:6); Rom 8:15; Matt 23:9.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; editor's chapter title; line number; margin debris inside a word; margin reference; note marker): Ostensio quoniam Dominus unum solum Deum et Patrem cognoscebat. Cum → Cum; dominatur Ps.ixxxi.6. omnium → dominatur omnium; 4excogitantes → excogitantes; przetermitc. 276. tentes → praetermittentes; /Eonas → Aeonas; 5et patres → et patres.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.1.1 (Harvey 2:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-1-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.1.2Harvey 2:146–147

Cui autem non sit manifestum, quoniam si Dominus multos patres scisset et deos, non praecepisset discipulis suis unum scire Deum, et hunc eundem solum vocare Patrem? Sed potius distinxit eos qui sunt verbo tenus dii, ab eo qui sit vere Deus, ut non errent secundum doctrinam ejus, neque alterum pro altero audiant. Si autem nobis quidem precepit unum vocare Patrem et Deum, ipse autem interdum alteros confitetur patres et deos eodem modo, alia quidem praecipiens videbitur discipulis, alia vero ipse faciens. Non est autem hoc magistri boni, sed seductoris et invidi. Et Apostoli autem secundum eos transgressores ostenduntur praecepti, Demiurgum Deum et Dominum et Patrem confitentes, quemadmodum ostendimus, si non hic solus est Deus et Pater. Jesus ergo transgressionis auctor et magister erit eis, qui praecepit unum vocari Patrem, imponens eis necessitatem Demiurgum confiteri suum Patrem, quemadmodum ostensum est.

To whom is it not plain that, if the Lord had known many fathers and gods, he would not have commanded his disciples to know one God and to call him alone Father? Rather, he distinguished those who are gods in name only from him who is truly God, so that they might not go astray about his teaching or understand one in place of another. But if he commanded us to call one Father and God, while he himself at times confessed other fathers and gods in the same way, he will appear to command one thing to his disciples and to do another himself. That is not the mark of a good teacher but of a deceiver and an envious one. And the apostles, on their view, are shown to be transgressors of the commandment, confessing the Demiurge as God and Lord and Father, as we have shown, if he is not alone God and Father. Jesus, then, will be for them the author and teacher of transgression, since he commanded that one be called Father, laying on them the necessity of confessing the Demiurge as their Father, as has been shown.

John 10:35 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 23:9 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: If Christ had known many gods he would not have taught his disciples to call one alone Father; the heretics make him and the apostles transgressors.

Harvey’s footnotes and running head, printed in the middle of the section, were removed. Allusion: John 10:35 (gods in name only).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's footnotes and running head leaked into the text; OCR slip; margin reference inside a word): hune → hunc; disJoh.x.3. tinxit → distinxit; ut 1 See p. 21, n. 5. dore perversissims sophista, 147. 3 grammatici, Mythologians, Pan6 terram, 1. 46, and 368, n. 2. UNUS DEUS PATER. 147 non errent → ut non errent; priecipiens → praecipiens.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.1.2 (Harvey 2:146–147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-1-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 4, chapter 2

4.2.1Harvey 2:147

Moyses igitur recapitulationem universae legis, quam acceperat a Demiurgo, in Deuteronomio faciens, sic ait: Attende calum, et loquar: et audiat terra verba ex ore meo. Rursum David adjutorium suum dicens a Domino fieri: Adjutorium, inquit, meum a Domino, qui fecit celum et terram. Et Esaias confitetur a Deo, qui fecit coelum et terram et dominatur eorum, fieri sermones: Audi, inquit, colum, et auribus percipe terra, quoniam Dominus locutus est. Et iterum: Sic ait Dominus Deus qui fecit colum, et affixit illud; qui confirmavit terram, et que in ea sunt: et qui dat afflatum populo, qui est super eam, et spiritum his qui calcant illam.

Moses, then, making in Deuteronomy a recapitulation of the whole law which he had received from the Demiurge, says this: “Give heed, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.” Again David, saying that his help comes from the Lord: “My help,” he says, “is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” And Isaiah confesses that the words come from God, who made heaven and earth and rules over them: “Hear, O heaven,” he says, “and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.” And again: “Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven and fixed it; who established the earth and what is in it; and who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who tread on it.”

Deut 32:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 121:2 (120:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 1:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 42:5 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Moses, David, and Isaiah all speak of the God who made heaven and earth.

Harvey’s chapter title (on “I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth”) was removed. Quotations: Deut 32:1; Ps 121:2 (LXX 120:2); Isa 1:2; Isa 42:5.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; editor's chapter title; small capitals; stray mark): Questio de eo quid sit, confiteor tibi Pater Domine cali et terre. Movsrs → Moyses; <Attende → Attende; Rursum ' David → Rursum David; ἘΠῚ Esaias → Et Esaias; affazit tllud → affixit illud.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.1 (Harvey 2:147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.2Harvey 2:147–148

Rursum Dominus noster Jesus Christus eundem hunc Patrem suum confitetur, in eo quod dicit: Confiteor tibi Pater, Domine caeli et terrae. Quem Patrem volunt nos audire hi, qui sunt Pandorae perversissimi sophistae? Utrumne Bythum, quem a semetipsis finxerunt; an Matrem eorum; an Unigenitum? An quem Marcionitae vel ceteri adinvenerunt Deum? (quem quidem non esse Deum, per multa demonstravimus) an, quod est verum, fabricatorem caeli et terre? quem et prophetie praedicaverunt, quem et Christus suum Patrem confitetur, quem et lex annuntiat, dicens: Audi Israel Dominus Deus tuus unus est.

Again, our Lord Jesus Christ confesses this same one as his Father, when he says: “I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.” Which Father do these most perverse sophists of Pandora want us to hear? Bythus, whom they invented for themselves, or their Mother, or the Only-begotten? Or him whom the Marcionites or the others have invented as God? (whom we have shown by many proofs not to be God) or, what is true, the maker of heaven and earth, whom the prophets also proclaimed, whom Christ confesses as his Father, whom the law also announces, saying: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.”

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Matt 11:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 6:4 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Father whom Christ confesses as Lord of heaven and earth is the Creator, not Bythus or the Gnostic Mother.

Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. Also a fragment of Harvey’s note was removed. “Sophists of Pandora”: a mocking allusion to the myth of Pandora. Quotations: Matt 11:25; Deut 6:4.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note leaked into the text; OCR slip): coli et terre → caeli et terrae; Pandorsz → Pandorae; Deus 1 Deo. Gr. Do35 LXX. ἡμῶν. → Deus.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.2 (Harvey 2:147–148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.3Harvey 2:148

Quoniam autem Moysi literae verba sint Christi, ipse ait ad Judaeos, quemadmodum Johannes in Evangelio commemoratus est: Si credidissetis Moysi, credidissetis et mihi: de me enim ille scripsit. Si autem illius literis non creditis, neque meis sermonibus credetis. Manifestissime significans Moysi literas suos esse sermones. Ergo si Moysi, et reliquorum sine dubio prophetarum sermones ipsius sunt, quemadmodum demonstravimus. Et iterum ipse Dominus ostendit Abraham dixisse diviti de his omnibus, qui adhuc erant in vita: Si Moysi et prophetis non obediunt, nec si quis a mortuis resurgens ad illos eat, credent ei.

That the writings of Moses are the words of Christ he himself says to the Jews, as John recorded in the Gospel: “If you had believed Moses, you would also have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, neither will you believe my words.” He shows most plainly that the writings of Moses are his own words. If, then, those of Moses, so without doubt the words of the other prophets are his, as we have shown. And again the Lord himself shows Abraham saying to the rich man about all who were still alive: “If they do not obey Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead and goes to them.”

John 5:46 (quotation, high confidence) · John 5:47 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 16:31 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ said that Moses wrote of him, so the writings of Moses and the prophets are Christ’s own words.

Harvey’s chapter titles (that the legislation through Moses is the words of Christ; the parable of the rich man and Lazarus) were removed. Quotations: John 5:46–47; Luke 16:31.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; stray mark; editor's chapter titles; OCR slip; margin debris): Ostensio quod per Moysem legisdatio sermones sint Christi. | Expositio parabole Divitis et pauperis Lazan. Quonram → Quoniam; ad o. 27. Judaeos → ad Judaeos; ef mihi → et mihi; St autem tllius literis non creditis, ! neque → Si autem illius literis non creditis, neque.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.3 (Harvey 2:148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-3).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.4Harvey 2:148–149

Non autem fabulam retulit nobis pauperis et divitis; sed primum quidem docuit neminem oportere deliciis uti, neque in secularibus oblectamentis et multis epulis degentes, servire suis voluptatibus, et oblivisci Deum. Erat enim, inquit, dives, qui vestiebatur purpuram et byssum, et delectabatur epulis splendidis.

He did not tell us a mere story of a poor man and a rich man; but first he taught that no one should live in luxury, nor, spending life in worldly delights and many feasts, be a slave to his pleasures and forget God. “For there was,” he says, “a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and delighted in splendid feasts.”

Luke 16:19 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The parable of the rich man and Lazarus first teaches that no one should live in luxury and forget God.

Quotation: Luke 16:19.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): rat enim → Erat enim; et * delectabatur → et delectabatur.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.4 (Harvey 2:148–149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-4).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.5Harvey 2:149

De talibus autem et per Esaiam dixit Spiritus: Cum citharis, et tympanis, et psalteriis, et tibiis vinum bibunt: opera autem Dei non intuentur, et opera manuum ejus non considerant. Ne ergo in eandem poenam cum his veniamus, finem eorum ostendit Dominus; simul significans, quod obedientes Moysi et prophetis crederent in eum quem ipsi praedicassent Dei Filium, qui resurrexit a mortuis, et vitam nobis donat, et demonstrat ex una substantia esse omnia, id est Abraham, et Moysem, et prophetas, etiam ipsum Dominum qui resurrexit a mortuis, in quem credunt et multi qui sunt ex circumcisione, qui et Moysem et prophetas audiunt praedicantes adventum Filii Dei. Qui autem spernunt, ab altera substantia eos esse dicunt, neque primogenitum mortuorum sciunt; separatim Christum intelligentes, tamquam impassibilem perseverantem, et separatim eum qui passus est Jesum.

Of such people the Spirit also spoke through Isaiah: “They drink wine with harps and drums and psalteries and flutes, but they do not look to the works of God, nor consider the works of his hands.” So that we may not come into the same punishment as they, the Lord showed their end, signifying at the same time that those who obeyed Moses and the prophets would believe in him whom they had proclaimed, the Son of God, who rose from the dead and gives us life; and he shows that all are of one substance, that is, Abraham and Moses and the prophets, and also the Lord himself, who rose from the dead, in whom many of the circumcision also believe, who hear Moses and the prophets proclaiming the coming of the Son of God. But those who scorn them say that these are of another substance, and they do not know the firstborn from the dead, understanding Christ separately, as remaining impassible, and separately Jesus who suffered.

Isa 5:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:18 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The parable shows that Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and the risen Lord belong together, against those who separate the impassible Christ from the suffering Jesus.

Quotation and allusion: Isa 5:12; Col 1:18. The separation of an impassible Christ from the suffering Jesus is the Valentinian view (see 3.16).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; line number and margin debris; margin reference): De Emi v.i? talibus → De talibus; einum → vinum; 5spernunt, ab altera.. 1£ substantia → spernunt, ab altera substantia.

Topics: Christology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.5 (Harvey 2:149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-5).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.6Harvey 2:149–150

Non enim a Patre accipiunt cognoscere Filium, nec a Filio discunt Patrem, manifeste et sine parabolis eum Deum, qui est vere, docente. Neque, inquit, juraveritis in totum, neque in calum, quoniam thronus est Dei: neque in terram, quoniam scabellum est pedum ejus: neque per Hierusalem, quoniam civitas est magni regis. Haec enim in fabricatorem manifeste dicta sunt, quemadmodum et Esaias ait: Colum mihi sedes est, terra suppedaneum pedum meorum. Et praeter hunc alius non est Deus; csterum a Domino neque Deus, neque magnus rex diceretur: hujusmodi enim nec comparationem, nec ullam recipit superlationem. Qui enim super se habet aliquem superiorem, et sub alterius potestate est, hic neque Deus neque magnus rex dici potest.

For they do not receive from the Father the knowledge of the Son, nor do they learn the Father from the Son, who teaches plainly and without parables the one who is truly God. “Do not swear at all,” he says, “neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” For these words are plainly spoken of the Maker, as Isaiah also says: “Heaven is my seat, the earth the footstool of my feet.” And besides him there is no other God; otherwise he would not be called by the Lord either God or the great King; for such a one admits neither comparison nor anyone above him. For one who has someone above him and is under another’s power cannot be called either God or great King.

Matt 11:27 (echo, medium confidence) · Matt 5:34 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:35 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 66:1 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ calls heaven God’s throne and Jerusalem the city of the great King, words that refer to the Creator, above whom there is no other God.

Harvey’s chapter title (that heaven and earth will pass away) and margin debris were removed. Quotations: Matt 5:34–35; Isa 66:1.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (margin debris and editor's chapter title; margin debris; OCR slip; margin reference; OCR slip; stray mark; stray mark; OCR slip): Non enim ἃ 118. 1Υ. Patre → Non enim a Patre; Patrem, ΘῈ ἐν. manifeste et sine parabolis ' eum Deum, qui est vere, docente. ü. 5 Ostensio quoniam calum quidem et terra transient, Doo.s7&. 1. Neae, inquit, Juraveritis → Patrem, manifeste et sine parabolis eum Deum, qui est vere, docente. Neque, inquit, juraveritis; pedum" ejus → pedum ejus; magni regis. _ Heec → magni regis. Haec; pedum Essi. xv. 1. meorum. ἘΠῚ preter → pedum meorum. Et praeter.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.6 (Harvey 2:149–150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-6).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.7Harvey 2:150

Sed nec per ironiam quidem heec dicta esse, poterunt dicere, cum convincantur ab ipsis dictis, quoniam in veritate dicta sunt. Etenim veritas erat ipse qui loquebatur, et vere vindicabat suam domum, projiciens ex ea nummularios, qui et emebant et vendebant, dicens eis: Scriptum est, Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur; vos autem fecistis eam speluncam latronum. Et quam causam habuit hoc facere et dicere, et domum suam vindicare, si alterum Deum annuntiabat? sed ut ostenderet transgressores paterne Legis; neque enim domum incusabat, neque legem reprehendebat, quam venerat adimplere; sed eos qui non bene utebantur domo, et eos qui legem transgrediebantur, arguebat. Et ideo Scribe et Pharisaei, qui coeperant a temporibus legis contemnere Deum, nec Verbum ejus receperunt, id est, non crediderunt Christo, de quibus Esaias ait: Principes tui dicto-inaudientes sunt, socii furum, diligentes munera, sectantes retributionem, pupillis non judicantes, et judicium viduarum non attendentes. Et Hieremias autem similiter: Qui prosunt, inquit, populo meo, me nesciebant: filii insensati et imprudentes sunt, sapientes sunt in malefaciendo, bene autem facere non cognoverunt.

Nor will they be able to say that these things were said ironically, since they are refuted by the words themselves, which show that they were said in truth. For he who spoke was himself the Truth, and he truly vindicated his own house, driving out of it the moneychangers who bought and sold, and saying to them: “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.” And what reason had he to do and say this, and to vindicate his house, if he was proclaiming another God? It was to show up the transgressors of his Father’s law; for he did not accuse the house, nor find fault with the law, which he had come to fulfil, but he rebuked those who were using the house wrongly and those who transgressed the law. And therefore the scribes and Pharisees, who from the times of the law had begun to despise God, did not receive his Word either, that is, did not believe in Christ. Of them Isaiah says: “Your princes are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, chasing after rewards, not judging for the orphans, and not attending to the cause of widows.” And Jeremiah likewise: “Those who rule my people,” he says, “did not know me; they are foolish and senseless children; they are wise in doing evil, but they have not known how to do good.”

John 14:6 (echo, medium confidence) · Matt 21:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 21:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 56:7 (quotation, medium confidence) · Jer 7:11 (quotation, medium confidence) · Matt 5:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 1:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 4:22 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ cleansed the temple as his Father’s house, rebuking not the law but those who broke it.

Quotations and allusions: John 14:6; Matt 21:12–13; Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11; Matt 5:17; Isa 1:23; Jer 4:22.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; note marker; line number; margin reference): 3ab ipsis → ab ipsis; latronun → latronum; quam wa. v. i7. venerat → quam venerat; Pharissi → Pharisaei; tus 4 indicto-audientes sunt, socii. furwm → tui dicto-inaudientes sunt, socii furum.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.7 (Harvey 2:150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-7).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.2.8Harvey 2:150–151

Quotquot autem timebant Deum, et solliciti erant circa legem ejus, ipsi accucurrerunt Christo, et salvati sunt omnes: Ite enim inquit discipulis, ad oves que perierunt domus Israel. Et Samarite autem, inquit, cum mansisset Dominus apud eos biduo, multo plures crediderunt propter sermones ejus, et mulieri dicebant, Jam non propter tuam loquelam credimus: ipsi enim audivimus, et scimus quoniam hic est vere Salvator mundi. Et Paulus autem ait: Et sic omnis Israel salvabitur. Sed et legem paedagogum nostrum in Christum Jesum dixit. Non ergo quorundam infidelitatem legi adscribant: non enim lex prohibebat eos credere in Filium Dei, sed et adhortabatur, dicens, non aliter salvari homines ab antiqua serpentis plaga, nisi credant in eum, qui secundum similitudinem carnis peccati in ligno martyrii exaltatur a terra, et omnia trahit ad se, et vivificat mortuos.

But as many as feared God and were concerned about his law ran to Christ, and all were saved. For he said to his disciples: “Go to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel.” And the Samaritans, it says, when the Lord had stayed with them two days, many more believed because of his words, and said to the woman: “We no longer believe because of what you said; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.” And Paul says: “And so all Israel will be saved.” But he also called the law our tutor to Christ Jesus. Let them not, then, ascribe the unbelief of certain people to the law; for the law did not forbid them to believe in the Son of God, but even exhorted them, saying that people are not saved from the ancient wound of the serpent in any other way than by believing in him who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth on the tree of witness, draws all things to himself, and gives life to the dead.

Matt 10:6 (quotation, high confidence) · John 4:40 (allusion, high confidence) · John 4:42 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 3:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Num 21:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 3:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 8:3 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:32 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who feared God and his law came to Christ; the law did not forbid faith in the Son of God but pointed to him, lifted up like the bronze serpent.

“Tree of witness” (Latin lignum martyrii) means the cross. The reference to the serpent recalls the bronze serpent of Num 21:8–9 and John 3:14. Quotations and allusions: Matt 10:6; John 4:40–42; Rom 11:26; Gal 3:24; Rom 8:3; John 12:32.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray stop): Deum, οὐ solliciti erant circa legem ejus, ipei accucurrerunt → Deum, et solliciti erant circa legem ejus, ipsi accucurrerunt; omnes: 776, enim → omnes: Ite enim; crediderunt. propter → crediderunt propter; ἘΠ Paulus → Et Paulus; pxdagogum nostrum in? Christum → paedagogum nostrum in Christum.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.2.8 (Harvey 2:150–151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-2-8).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 4, chapter 3

4.3.1Harvey 2:151

Quoniam malignantes dicunt: si enim ccelum thronus Dei est, et terra suppedaneum ejus, dictum est autem praeterire coelum et terram, hisque praetereuntibus 5oportere etiam hunc Deum, qui super sedeat, praeterire; et ideo non hunc esse Deum qui sit super omnia; primo quidem nesciunt quid sit coelum thronus, et terra suppedaneum. Nec enim sciunt quid sit Deus, sed putant eum more hominis sedere, et contineri, non autem continere. Sed et praeteritionem coeli et terrse ignorant; Paulus autem non ignoravit, dicens: Praterit enim figura hujus mundi. Deinde quaestionem ipsorum solvit David. Figura enim hujus mundi praetereunte, non solum Deum ait perseverare, sed et servos ejus, in centesimo primo psalmo dicens ita: Initio terram tu fundasti Domine, et opera manuum tuarum sunt coli. Ipsi peribunt; tu autem perseverabis, et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent, et sicut cooperimentum mutabis eos, et mutabuntur. Tu autem idem es, et anni tui non deficient. Filii servorum tuorum inhabitabunt, et semen eorum in eternum dirigetur; manifeste ostendens quie sint quze praetereunt, et quis est qui semper perseverat, Deus cum servis suis. Et Esaias autem similiter: Allevate, inquit, oculos vestros in caelum, et attendite in terram deorsum, quoniam caelum sicut fumus confirmatum est, terra autem sicut. vestimentum veterascet: qui autem inhabitant in eis, quemadmodum hac, morientur. Salutare autem meum in aternum erit, justitia. autem mea non deficiet.

As to their malicious claim: “If heaven is God’s throne and earth his footstool, and it is said that heaven and earth will pass away, then when they pass away this God who sits on them must also pass away; and therefore he is not the God who is over all.” First, they do not know what is meant by heaven being his throne and earth his footstool. For they do not know what God is, but think that he sits like a man and is contained, not that he contains. They are also ignorant of the passing away of heaven and earth; but Paul was not ignorant of it when he said: “For the form of this world is passing away.” Next, David solves their question. For he says that, when the form of this world passes away, not only God endures but also his servants, saying thus in the hundred and first psalm: “In the beginning you founded the earth, O Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure, and all of them will grow old like a garment, and like a covering you will change them, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not fail. The children of your servants will dwell, and their seed will be directed for ever.” He shows plainly what things pass away and who it is who always endures: God with his servants. And Isaiah likewise: “Lift up,” he says, “your eyes to heaven, and look on the earth below; for the heaven has been established like smoke, and the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in them will die like these. But my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not fail.”

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Isa 66:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 24:35 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 7:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 102:25 (101:26 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 102:26 (101:27 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 102:27 (101:28 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 102:28 (101:29 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 51:6 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God is not contained by heaven and earth; when they pass away he and his servants endure, as David and Isaiah say.

Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. Psalm 102 is the 101st in the Greek and Latin numbering Irenaeus uses. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:31; Ps 102:25–28 (LXX 101:26–29); Isa 51:6.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; margin reference; margin debris; margin reference; stray mark): Paulus autem 119 ry.i.a. non → Paulus autem non; Deinde Mass. iv. quaestionem → Deinde quaestionem; fundasti Ps zi 95,99 Domine → fundasti Domine; cooperimentum ®mutabis → cooperimentum mutabis; idem? es → idem es; Filit → Filii; AJlevate, inquit, oculos gs. n. c. vestros → Allevate, inquit, oculos vestros.

Topics: Heresy, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.3.1 (Harvey 2:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-3-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

Against 4, chapter 4

4.4.1Harvey 2:151–152

Adhuc et de Hierusalem, et de Domino audent dicere, quoniam si esset magni Regis civitas, non derelinqueretur. Simile autem est, si quis diceret, quoniam si esset stipula conditio Dei, nunquam a frumento derelinqueretur: et sarmenta vineae, si a Deo facta essent, nunquam a botris destituta abscinderentur. Quemadmodum autem heec non propter se principaliter facta sunt, sed propter crescentem in eis fructum, quo maturo facto et ablato, derelinquuntur, et e medio auferuntur qu:» jam non sunt utilia ad fructificationem: sic et Hierosolyma, qu» jugum in se servitutis. portaverat, in quo domitus est homo, qui antea non subjiciebatur Deo cum mors regnabat, et domitus habilis factus est ad libertatem, adveniente fructu libertatis, et aucto et demesso et in horreum recepto, et apportatis ab ea his qui fructificare possunt, et in omni mundo disseminatis. Quemadmodum Esaias ait: Filii Jacob germinabunt, et florebit Israel, et fructu ejus adimplebitur universa terra. In universa enim terra fructu disseminato, merito derelicta est, et de medio ablata est, que aliquando quidem fructificaverat bene: ex ipsa enim secundum carnem Christus fructificatus est, et Apostoli; nune autem jam utilis non est ad fructificationem. Quaecunque enim temporale initium habent, necesse est ea et finem habere temporalem.

Further, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they dare to say that if it were the city of the great King it would not be abandoned. That is like saying that if straw were God’s creation it would never be separated from the wheat, and that the vine shoots, if they were made by God, would never be cut off stripped of their clusters. But as these were not made principally for their own sake but for the sake of the fruit growing on them, and when that is ripe and taken away they are left behind, and those no longer useful for bearing fruit are removed; so too Jerusalem, which had carried in itself the yoke of slavery by which man was tamed (he who before was not subject to God when death reigned, and, once tamed, was made fit for freedom): when the fruit of freedom came, grew, was reaped, and was gathered into the barn, and those able to bear fruit were carried out of it and sown in all the world (as Isaiah says, “The children of Jacob will sprout, and Israel will blossom, and the whole earth will be filled with his fruit”), then, the fruit having been sown in all the earth, it was rightly abandoned and removed, which once had borne fruit well. For from it, according to the flesh, Christ was produced as fruit, and the apostles; but now it is no longer useful for bearing fruit. For whatever has a beginning in time must also have an end in time.

Matt 5:35 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:14 (echo, medium confidence) · Isa 27:6 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Jerusalem, like the stalk after harvest, was abandoned once its fruit, Christ and the apostles, had been gathered and sown throughout the world.

The fall of Jerusalem and the end of its role are stated as Irenaeus sees them; translated as written. Quotations and allusions: Matt 5:35; Rom 5:14, 17; Isa 27:6.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; line number; OCR slip; margin debris; running head; small capitals): Apnvc → Adhuc; Dei, 8. nunquam → Dei, nunquam; subjiciebatur IV. Deo → subjiciebatur Deo; Fults Jacob germinabunt, et floriet → Filii Jacob germinabunt, et florebit; 3Quszecunque → Quaecunque.

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.4.1 (Harvey 2:151–152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-4-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.4.2Harvey 2:152

Quoniam igitur a Moyse lex inchoavit, consequenter in Johannem desivit, ad impletionem ejus advenerat Christus: et propter hoc Lex et Prophetae apud eos usque ad Johannem. Et Hierusalem itaque inchoans a David, et adimplens tempora sua, legisdationis finem oportuit habere, manifestato novo Testamento; omnia enim mensura et ordine Deus facit, et nihil non mensum apud eum, quoniam nec incompositum. Et bene, qui dixit ipsum immensum Patrem in Filio mensuratum: mensura enim Patris Filius, quoniam et capit eum. Quoniam autem temporalis erat illorum administratio, Esaias ait; Derelinquetur filia Sion sicut autem haec derelinquentur? Nonne cum fructus aufertur, et derelinquentur folia sola quz jam fructificare non possunt?

Since, then, the law began from Moses, it ended, consequently, with John; Christ had come to fulfil it; and for this reason “the law and the prophets” were with them “until John.” And so Jerusalem too, beginning from David and fulfilling its own times, had to have an end of its legislation when the new covenant was revealed. For God does all things by measure and order, and nothing with him is unmeasured, because nothing is out of order. And well did he speak who said that the immeasurable Father is himself measured in the Son; for the Son is the measure of the Father, since he also contains him. That their administration was temporary, Isaiah says: “The daughter of Zion will be left like … these things be left? Will it not be when the fruit is taken away and only the leaves are left, which can no longer bear fruit?

Luke 16:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 1:8 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The law ran from Moses to John and Jerusalem’s legislation ended with the new covenant, for God does all things by measure; the Son is the Father’s measure.

The OCR lost a line in the Isaiah quotation (ANF: “a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. And when shall”). “He who said”: an earlier writer, not identified. Quotations: Luke 16:16 (Matt 11:13); Isa 1:8.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; margin debris; stray mark; stray marks; OCR slip): *“Quonram → Quoniam; Leae οἱ Propheta → Lex et Prophetae; non mensum Pama. | apud eum → non mensum apud eum; ipsum ™? ×! 3» immensum → ipsum immensum; JDerelinquetur → Derelinquetur; derelinquentur?* → derelinquentur?.

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.4.2 (Harvey 2:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-4-2).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

4.4.3Harvey 2:152–154

Et quid de Hierusalem dicimus, quandoquidem et figuram mundi universi oporteat praeterire, adveniente tempore przeteritionis ipsius, ut fructus quidem in horreum colligatur, palese autem derelictae comburantur? Dies enim Domini quasi clibanus ardens, et erunt stipula omnes peccatores, qui faciunt injusta, et comburet eos dies veniens. Quis est autem hic Dominus, qui talem importat diem, Johannes Baptisator significat, dicens de Christo: Ipse vos baptizabit in Spiritu sancto et igni; palam habens in manu ejus ad emundandam aream suam, et fructum congregabit in horreum, paleas autem comburet igni inextinguibili. Non ergo alius est, qui frumentum facit, et alius qui paleas; sed unus et idem, et judicans ea, id est separans. Sed frumentum quidem et pale, inanimalia et irrationabilia exsistentia, naturaliter talia facta sunt: homo vero rationabilis, et secundum hoc similis Deo, liber in arbitrio factus et suze potestatis, ipse sibi causa est ut aliquando quidem frumentum aliquando autem palea fiat. Quapropter et juste condemnabitur, quoniam rationabilis factus amisit veram rationem, et irrationabiliter vivens, adversatus est justitiae Dei, tradens se omni terreno spiritui, et omnibus serviens voluptatibus; quemadmodum propheta ait: Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit, comparatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis factus est illis.

And why speak of Jerusalem, since even the form of the whole world must pass away when the time of its passing comes, so that the fruit may be gathered into the barn and the chaff left behind may be burned? “For the day of the Lord comes like a burning furnace, and all sinners who do unjust things will be stubble, and the coming day will burn them.” Who this Lord is who brings such a day, John the Baptist signifies when he says of Christ: “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, having his winnowing fan in his hand to cleanse his threshing floor; and he will gather his fruit into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So it is not one who makes the wheat and another the chaff, but one and the same, who also judges them, that is, separates them. But wheat and chaff, being inanimate and irrational, were made such by nature; whereas man, being rational and in this respect like God, made free in his choice and his own master, is himself the cause of his becoming at one time wheat and at another chaff. Therefore he will also be justly condemned, because, though made rational, he lost true reason, and living irrationally opposed the justice of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit and serving all pleasures; as the prophet says: “Man, when he was in honour, did not understand; he was compared to senseless cattle and became like them.”

1 Cor 7:31 (echo, medium confidence) · Mal 4:1 (3:19 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:20 (48:21 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The one Lord who makes both wheat and chaff will separate them; man, being free, is himself the cause of becoming wheat or chaff.

A chapter title of Harvey (that Christ brings the day like a burning furnace) and note debris were removed from the middle of the section. Free will: translated as written. Quotations: Mal 4:1 (LXX 3:19); Matt 3:11–12; Ps 49:12, 20 (LXX 48:13, 21).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; editor's chapter title; margin debris; margin reference; margin reference inside a word; OCR slip; note debris and running head; stray mark): universi ! oporteat → universi oporteat; omnes? peccatores → omnes peccatores; Ostensio quoniam, Christus est, qui superinducit diem velut. clibanum ardentem. → ; Baptisator significat, dicens de Christo: /pse vos baptiMatt, ut 11. sabit in Spiritu sancto et igni; palam habens in manu ejus ad ὌΝ emundandam → Baptisator significat, dicens de Christo: Ipse vos baptizabit in Spiritu sancto et igni; palam habens in manu ejus ad emundandam; alius est, qui lymam nuncupavit. Nam sub AbraLIB. IV. vil. frumentum → alius est, qui frumentum; judicans MASSIV. ea → judicans ea; quidem wm. s» frumentum → quidem frumentum; justitizs → justitiae; quem&dmodum → quemadmodum; intellextt → intellexit; illis. Ps. xlvul. 21. → illis..

Topics: Eschatology, Ethics

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 4.4.3 (Harvey 2:152–154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-24-1/#p-4-4-3).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).