Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

THE DEMONSTRATION OF THE

APOSTOLIC PREACHING

1. Knowing, my beloved Marcianus, your desire to walk in godliness, which alone leads man to life eternal, I rejoice with you and make my prayer that you may preserve your faith entire and so be pleasing to God who made you. Would that it were possible for us to be always together, to help each other and to lighten the labor of our earthly life by continual discourse together on the things that profit.⁵⁷⁵⁷This opening section is in the manner of the introductions to each of the five books Against Heresies: in the first of these, of which the Greek is preserved, we have parallels to language used here: καθὼς δύναμις ἡμῖν, and ἐπὶ πολὺ καρποφορήσεις τὰ δἰ ὀλίγων ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν εἰρημένα. But, since at this present time we are parted from one another in the body, yet according to our power we will not fail to speak with you a little by writing, and to show forth in brief the preaching of the truth for the confirmation of your faith.⁵⁸⁵⁸“To shew forth the preaching.” This corresponds to the wording of the title: the ἐπίδειξις, ostensio, or “demonstration” of the Apostolic Preaching. We send you as it were a manual of essentials,⁵⁹⁵⁹Lit. “a more essential remembrancer.” that by little you may attain to much, learning in short space all the members of the body of the truth,⁶⁰⁶⁰ Cf. I, i. 20: ἕν ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν εὶρημένων τῇ ἰδίᾳ _αξει, καὶ προσαρμόσας τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας σωματίῳ. and receiving in brief the 70demonstration of the things of God. So shall it be fruitful to your own salvation, and you shall put to shame all who inculcate falsehood, and bring with all confidence our sound and pure teaching to everyone who desires to understand it. For one is the way leading upwards for all who see, lightened with heavenly light: but many and dark and contrary are the ways of them that see not. This way leads to the kingdom of heaven, uniting man to God: but those ways bring down to death, separating man from God. Wherefore it is needful for you and for all who care for their own salvation to make your course unswerving, firm and sure by means of faith, that you falter not, nor be retarded and detained in material desires, nor turn aside and wander from the right.

Now, since man is a living being compounded of soul and flesh,⁶¹⁶¹Cf. IV. pref. 3: “Homo est autem temperatio animæ et carnis:” V, vi. 1, viii. 1, ix. 1. he must needs exist by both of these: and, whereas from both of them offences come, purity of the flesh is the restraining abstinence from all shameful things and all unrighteous deeds, and purity of the soul is the keeping faith towards God entire, neither adding thereto nor diminishing therefrom. For godliness is obscured and dulled by the soiling and the staining of the flesh, and is broken and polluted and no more entire, if falsehood enter into the soul: but it will keep itself in its beauty and its measure, when truth is constant in the soul⁶²⁶²Or, “spirit.” The Armenian word for “spirit” (πνεῦμα is sometimes used also for “soul” (ψυχή): the context shows that it is so used here. and purity in the flesh. For what 71profit is it to know the truth in words, and to pollute the flesh and perform the works of evil? Or what profit can purity of the flesh bring, if truth be not in the soul? For these rejoice with one another, and are united and allied to bring man face to face with God. Wherefore the Holy Spirit says by David: Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly: that is, the counsel of the nations which know not God: for those are ungodly who worship not the God that truly is. And therefore the Word says to Moses: I am He that is;⁶³⁶³Lit., “I am the Existing One,” as in LXX Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὥν. In III, vi. 2 the words are quoted as spoken by the Father but they that worship not the God that is, these are the ungodly. And hath not stood in the way of sinners: but sinners are those who have the knowledge of God and keep not His commandments; that is, disdainful scorners. And hath not sat in the seat of the pestilential:⁶⁴⁶⁴Here, as usual, the LXX is followed (λοιμῶν). now the pestilential are those who by wicked and perverse doctrines corrupt not themselves only, but others also. For the seat is a symbol of teaching. Such then are all heretics: they sit in the seats of the pestilential, and those are corrupted who receive the venom of their doctrine.

3. Now, that we may not suffer ought of this kind, we must needs hold the rule of the faith without deviation,⁶⁵⁶⁵Cf. I, i. 20: ὁ τὸν κανόνα τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκλινῆ ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατέχωη, ὃν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἴληφε. The Arm. has taken over the Greek word κανών. and do the commandments of God, believing in God and fearing Him as Lord and loving Him as Father. Now this doing is produced 72by faith: for Isaiah says: If ye believe not, neither shall ye understand. And faith is produced by the truth; for faith rests on things that truly are. For in things that are, as they are, we believe; and believing in things that are, as they ever are, we keep firm our confidence in them. Since then faith is the perpetuation of our salvation, we must needs bestow much pains on the maintenance thereof, in order that we may have a true comprehension of the things that are. Now faith occasions this for us; even as the Elders, the disciples of the Apostles,⁶⁶⁶⁶Cf. V, xxxvi. i: “presbyteri apostolorum discipuli.” have handed down to us. First of all it bids us bear in mind that we have received baptism for the remission of sins, in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was incarnate and died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit of God. And that this baptism is the seal of eternal life, and is the new birth unto God, that we should no longer be the sons of mortal men, but of the eternal and perpetual God; and that what is everlasting and continuing is made God;⁶⁷⁶⁷This passage is obscure, and I cannot feel any confidence in my rendering of it. The Armenian translator has probably misunderstood the construction of the Greek: his verbs are all in the infinitive, which suggests that Irenæus is recording what the faith teaches. The words “made God” represent θεοποιεῖσθαι. This word, if not traceable elsewhere in Irenæus, is found in other early writers: e.g. Hippolytus, Philos. x. 34: γέγονας γὰρ θεός . . . ἐθεοποιήθης ἀθάνατος γεννηθείς· οὐ γὰρ πτωχεύει θεὸς καὶ σὲ θεὸν ποιήσας εἰς δόξαν αὺτοῦ. It is frequent in Athanasius; e. g., De Incarn. 54: αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν. In Irenæus the thought finds expression in various forms: see IV, lxiii. 3: “quoniam non ab initio dii facti sumus, sed primo quidem homines, tunc demum dii:” also III, vi. 1. and is over all things that are made, and all things are put under Him; 73and all the things that are put under Him are made His own; for God is not ruler and Lord over the things of another, but over His own;⁶⁸⁶⁸This is a reminiscence of controversy with the heretics who denied that the Good God of the New Testament was the Creator God of the Old Testament: see IV, xxxiv. 2: “non enim aliena sed sua tradidit ei” (of the Father committing all things to the Son); V, ii. 1: “vani autem qui in aliena dicunt Dominum venisse, velut aliena concupiscentem” (where the Arm. enables us to correct the Latin, which has “Deum”). and all things are God’s; and therefore God is Almighty, and all things are of God.

For it is necessary that, things that are made should have the beginning of their making from some great cause; and the beginning of all things is God. For He Himself was not made by any, and by Him all things were made. And therefore it is right first of all to believe that there is One God, the Father, who made and fashioned all things, and made what was not that it should be, and who, containing all things, alone is uncontained.⁶⁹⁶⁹In IV, xxxiv. 2 he quotes, as “Scripture,” the Shepherd of Hermas, Mand.: Πρῶτον πάντων πίστευσον ὅτι εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, ὁ τὰ πάντα κτίσας καὶ καταρτίσας, καὶ ποιήσας ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ πάντα χωρῶν, μόνος δὲ ἀχώρητος ὤν. Cf. also I, xv. 1. Now among all things is this world of ours,⁷⁰⁷⁰IV, xxxiv. 1: “in omnibus autem et nos, et hunc mundum qui est secundum nos:” I, xv. 1: “etenim mundus ex omnibus:” III, xi. 7: “in omnibus ergo est et hæc quæ secundum nos est conditio.” and in the world is man: so then this world also was formed by God.

5. Thus then there is shown forth⁷¹⁷¹Or “shown to be”: cf. V, xviii. 1: “Et sic unus Deus Pater ostenditur (= δείκνυται).” One God, the Father, not made, invisible, creator of all things; above whom there is no other God, and after whom there is no other God. And, since God is rational, 74therefore by (the) Word He created the things that were made;⁷²⁷²God is λογικός, therefore by λόγος He created the world. The play on the words is given by the Armenian, but cannot be given by the English translation. and God is Spirit, and by (the) Spirit He adorned all things: as also the prophet says: By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by his spirit all their power. Since then the Word establishes, that is to say, gives body⁷³⁷³“Gives body:” apparently representing σωματοποιεῖ: cf. I. i. 9, of the Demiurge of Valentinus: ἐξ ἀσωμάτων σωμαποποιἠσαντα. and grants the reality of being, and the Spirit gives order and form to the diversity of the powers; rightly and fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God.⁷⁴⁷⁴III, xxxviii. 2: “Verbo suo confirmans et Sapientia compingens omnia;” IV, xxxii. 2: “qui omnia Verbo fecit et Sapientia adornavit;” 4: “qui Verbo et Sapientia fecit et adaptavit omnia.” On this whole section, see Introd. pp. 44 ff. Well also does Paul His apostle say: One God, the Father, who is over all and through all and in its all. For over all is the Father; and through all is the Son, for through Him all things were made by the Father; and in us all is the Spirit, who cries Abba Father, and fashions man into the likeness of God.⁷⁵⁷⁵V, xviii. i: “Super omnia quidem Pater, et ipse est caput Christi; per omnia autem Verbum, et ipse est caput ecclesiæ; in omnibus autem nobis Spiritus, et ipse est aqua viva quam præstat Dominus,” etc. Cf. Hippol. c. Noet. 14: ὁ ὢν πατὴρ ἐπὶ πάντων, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς διὰ πάντων, τὸ δὲ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐν πᾶσιν. Now the Spirit shows forth the Word, and therefore the prophets announced the Son of God; and the Word utters the Spirit, and therefore is Himself the announcer of the prophets, and leads and draws man to the Father.

This then is the order of the rule of our faith, and the foundation of the building, and the 75stability of our conversation: God, the Father, not made, not material, invisible; one God, the creator of all things: this is the first point⁷⁶⁷⁶Lit. “head:” cf. cc. 7, 100. of our faith. The second point is: The Word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the dispensation of the Father:⁷⁷⁷⁷This is fully worked out in IV, lv. 1–6: the prophets were “members of Christ,” and so each, according to the “member” that he was, declared his portion of prophecy, all together announcing the whole. through whom all things were made; who also at the end of the times, to complete and gather up⁷⁸⁷⁸The same double rendering of ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι (Eph. i. 10) is found in the Arm. version of V, i. 2. all things, was made man among men, visible and tangible,⁷⁹⁷⁹IV, xi. 4: “visibilem et palpabilem;” cf. IV, xiii. 1, where the Arm. shows that the Latin “passibilis” should be corrected to “palpabilis.” in order to abolish death and show forth life and produce a community of union⁸⁰⁸⁰This double rendering occurs in the Arm. of IV, xxxiv. 4 and V, i. 1, where the Latin has simply “communio.” With the whole of this passage compare IV, xxxiv. 4: “qui novissimis temporibus homo in hominibus factus est, ut finem conjungeret principio, id est, hominem Deo.” between God and man. And the third point is: The Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied, and the fathers learned the things of God, and the righteous were led forth into the way of righteousness; and who in the end of the times was poured out in a new way⁸¹⁸¹We have the same words in IV, lv. 6: “in novissimis temporibus nove effusus est in nos.” a upon mankind in all the earth, renewing man unto God.

And for this reason the baptism of our 76regeneration proceeds through these three points: God the Father bestowing on us regeneration through His Son by the Holy Spirit. For as many as carry (in them) the Spirit of God⁸²⁸²IV, xxv. 2: “assuescens hominem portare ejus Spiritum;” xxxiv. 6: “qui portant Spiritum ejus.” are led to the Word, that is to the Son; and the Son brings them to the Father; and the Father causes them to possess incorruption.⁸³⁸³IV, xxxiv. 5: “Spiritu quidem præparante hominem in Filium Dei, Filio autem adducente ad Patrem, Patre autem incorruptelam donante;” V, xxxvi. 2: “per Spiritu quidem ad Filium, per Filium autem ascendere ad Patrem.” Without the Spirit it is not possible to behold the Word of God, nor without the Son can any draw near to the Father for the knowledge of the Father is the Son,⁸⁴⁸⁴IV, xi. 5: “Agnitio enim Patris Filius.” and the knowledge of the Son of God is through the Holy Spirit; and, according to the good pleasure of the Father, the Son ministers and dispenses⁸⁵⁸⁵Lit. “ministerially dispenses.” Cf. V, xviii. i: “Verbum . . . præstat Spiritum omnibus quemadmodum vult Pater” the Spirit to whomsoever the Father wills and as He wills.

8. And by the Spirit the Father is called Most High and Almighty and Lord of hosts; that we may learn concerning God that He it is who is creator of heaven and earth and all the world, and maker of angels and men, and Lord of all, through whom all things exist and by whom all things are sustained; merciful, compassionate and very tender, good, just, the God of all, both of Jews and of Gentiles, and of them that believe. To them that believe He is as Father, for in the end of the times He opened up the covenant⁸⁶⁸⁶Cf. c. 91; and III, xi. 5: “testamentum hominibus aperiens;” V, ix. 4: “testamentum evangelii apertum et universo mundo lectum;” xxxiii. i: “apertionem hæreditatis;” cf. III, xviii. 1. of adoption; 77to the Jews as Lord and Lawgiver, for in the intermediate times, when man forgot God and departed and revolted fromh Him, He brought them into subjection by the Law, that they might learn that they had for Lord the maker and creator, who also gives the breath of life, and whom we ought to worship day and night: and to the Gentiles as maker and creator and almighty: and to all alike sustainer and nourisher and king and judge; for none shall escape and be delivered from His judgment, neither Jew nor Gentile, nor believer that has sinned, nor angel: but they who now reject His goodness shall know His power in judgment, according to that which the blessed apostle says: Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance; but according to thy hardness and penitent heart thou treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who shall render to every man according to his works. This is He who is called in the Law the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of the living; although the sublimity and greatness of this God is unspeakable.

9. Now this world is encompassed by seven heavens,⁸⁷⁸⁷   An account of the late Jewish teaching as to the Seven Heavens is given in Mr. H. St John Thackeray’s valuable book St Paul and Contemporary Jewish Thought, pp. 172–179, where three parallel tables of their descriptions will be found. References to them in Christian apocryphal literature are collected in Dr Charles’s Book of the Secrets of Enoch (from the Sclavonic), pp. xliv-xlvii. Hippolytus in his Commentary on Daniel (ed. Achelis, p. 96), referring to εὐλογεῖτε οὐρανοί in the Benedicite, says: τοὺς ἑπτὰ οὐρανοὺς . . . προσκαλούμενοι. Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iv. 25) says: εἵτε ἑπτὰ οὐρανοί, οὕς τινες ἀριθμοῦσιν κατ᾽ ἐπανάβασιν. Origen (c. Cels. vi. 21) likewise mentions the Seven Heavens, but without committing himself to the exact number.
   Irenæus in I, i. 9 refers to the Valentinian teaching which identified the Seven Heavens with angels of varying degrees of power. In our passage he strangely connects the Seven Heavens with the Seven Gifts of the Spirit. We observe two peculiarities in his description. First, that, numbering from above downwards, he reckons the highest as the First Heaven: secondly, that his Seventh, or lowest, is the firmament. Evil is wholly excluded from these heavens: so it is in the Ascension of Isaiah (for which see Introd. p. 41), where however it is found in the firmament, which is not reckoned as one of the heavens.
   The belief in the Seven Heavens soon came to be discredited; and it is curious to find a survival of it, due apparently to Irish influences, in the invocation of the septens cælos in a book of prayers of the seventh or eighth century (Brit. Mus. Reg. 2. A. xx, f. 47 v.). in which dwell powers and angels and 78and angels and archangels, doing service to God, the Almighty and Maker of all things: not as though He was in need, but that they may not be idle and unprofitable and ineffectual.⁸⁸⁸⁸Compare the reason given by Justin Martyr (Dial. 22) for the worship to the Temple: οὐχ ὡς ἐνδεὴς ὤν . . . ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως κἂν κατὰ τοῦτο πρυσέχοντες αὐτῷ μὴ εἰδωλολατρῆτε.. Wherefore also the Spirit of God is manifold in (His) indwelling,⁸⁹⁸⁹Perhaps the text should be emended so as to give “operation” (ἐνέργεια). and in seven forms of service⁹⁰⁹⁰Or “ministrations” (= διακονιῶν in Arm. version of 1 Cor. xii. 5). is He reckoned by the prophet Isaiah, as resting on the Son of God, that is the Word, in His coming as man. The Spirit of God, he says, shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, (the Spirit of knowledge)⁹¹⁹¹Omitted by oversight: cf. c. 59, and III, x. 1, xviii. 2, where the words are correctly given. and of godliness; the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. Now the heaven which is first from above,⁹²⁹²The heavens are enumerated from above, in order to correspond with the prophet’s words and put Wisdom first and Fear of God last. and encompasses the rest, is (that of) wisdom; 79and the second from it, of understanding; and the third, of counsel; and the fourth, reckoned from above, (is that) of might; and the fifth, of knowledge; and the sixth, of godliness; and the seventh, this firmament of ours, is full of the fear of that Spirit which gives light to the heavens. For, as the pattern (of this), Moses received the seven-branched candlestick,⁹³⁹³V, xx. 2: “ecclesia . . . ἑπτάμυχος lucerna.” that shined continually in the holy place; for as a pattern of the heavens he received this service, according to that which the Word spake unto him: Thou shalt make (it) according to all the pattern of the things which thou hast seen in the mount.⁹⁴⁹⁴IV, xxv. 3: “Quoniam facies omnia juxta typum eorum quæ vidisti in monte:” LXX, τὸν δεδειγμένον σοι: the variation may be due to a reminiscence of Acts vii. 44 ὃν ἐωράκει.

10. Now this God is glorified by His Word⁹⁵⁹⁵On the glorification of the Father by the Son and the Holy Spirit, see Introd. p. 39. who is His Son continually,⁹⁶⁹⁶The meaning is uncertain: the word means “daily, continual, perpetual”; but it is also used as an adverb. The German translations take it in the sense of “eternal” (sein ewiger Sohn). It renders διὰ παντὸς in Lev. xxiv. 2; and that may have been the original Greek in this passage. But even so it is not clear whether it is to be taken with “who is His Son,” or with “is glorified”—For the Eternal Sonship we may compare III, xix. 1: “existens semper apud Patrem;” and IV, xxxiv. 3: “semper cum Patre erat.” and by the Holy Spirit who is the Wisdom of the Father of all: and the power(s) of these, (namely) of the Word and Wisdom, which are called Cherubim and Seraphim,⁹⁷⁹⁷Origen in his Commentary on Romans (III, § 8) interprets the two Cherubim over the mercy-seat as the Son and the Holy Spirit. In De Principiis (I, iii. 4, IV, iii. 26) he gives the same interpretation of the two Seraphim of Isa. vi. 3, saying that he received it from his Hebrew teacher: he adds that the same applies to the two living creatures of Hab. iii. 2 (LXX). Philo (Vit. Mos. iii. 8) had interpreted the two Cherabim as τὰς πρεσβυτάτας καὶ ἀνωτάτω δύο τοῦ ὄντος δυνάμεις, τὴν τε ποιητικὴν καὶ βασιλικήν: the former ὀνομάζεαι θεός, the latter κύριος. This probably paved the way for Orign’s interpretation. with unceasing voices glorify God; and 80 every created thing that is in the heavens offers glory to God the Father of all. He by His Word has created the whole world, and in the world are the angels; and to all the world He has given laws wherein each several thing should abide, and according to that which is determined by God should not pass their bounds, each fulfilling his appointed task.

11. But man He formed with His own hands,⁹⁸⁹⁸Elsewhere Irenæus constantly speaks of the Son and the Spirit as the Hands of God: see Introd. p. 51. taking from the earth that which was purest and finest, and mingling in measure His own power with the earth. For He traced His own form on the formation,⁹⁹⁹⁹Equivalent to plasma or plasmatio. that that which should be seen should be of divine form: for (as) the image of God was man formed and set on the earth. And that he might become living, He breathed on his face the breath of life; that both for the breath and for the formation man should be like unto God. Moreover he was free and self-controlled, being made by God for this end, that he might rule all those things that were upon the earth. And this great created world, prepared by God before the formation of man, was given to man as his place, containing all things within itself.¹⁰⁰¹⁰⁰So both the German tanslations; but they transfer the words so as to link them with “this great created world.” What we seem to want is, “to have all as his own,” if the words can bear that meaning. And there were in this place also with (their) tasks the 81servants of that God who formed all things; and the steward, who was set over all his fellow servants received this place. Now the servants were angels, and the steward was the archangel.¹⁰¹¹⁰¹For this function of angels cf. Papias, as quoted by Andreas in Apocal. c. 34, serm. 12: Ἐνίοις δὲ αὐτῶν (δηλαδὴ τῶν πάλαι θείων ἀγγέλων) καὶ τῆς περὶ τὴν γῆν διακοσμήσεως ἔδωκεν ἄρχειν, καὶ καλῶς ἄρχειν παρηγγύησε.

Now, having made man lord of the earth and all things in it, He secretly appointed him lord also of those who were servants in it. They however were in their perfection; but the lord, that is, man, was (but) small; for he was a child;¹⁰²¹⁰²IV. lxii. 1: νήπιος γὰρ ἦν. and it was necessary that he should grow, and so come to (his) perfection. And, that he might have his nourishment and growth with festive and dainty meats, He prepared him a place better than this world,¹⁰³¹⁰³   That Paradise was in a region outside this world is not quite distinctly stated here, but the opening words of c. 17 seem to support this view. The view of Irenæus, however, is clearly given in V, v. 1: Παῦ οὖν ἐτέθη ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος; ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ δηλονότι, καθὼς γέγραπται (Gen. ii. 8) . . . καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἐξεβλήθη εἰς τάνδε τὸν κόσμον παρακούσας. He goes on to speak of this as the Paradise into which St Paul was caught up (2 Cor. xii. 4). Moreover he identifies it with the resting-place of just men, such as Enoch and Elijah. So in the Apocalypse of Peter the just are dwelling in a μεγιστον χῶρον ἐκτὸς τούτου τοῦ κόσμου. Irenæus is silent as to whether Paradise is in the third heaven. But the Slavonic Secrets of Enoch, referred to above, places it there. In the shorter and apparently more original recension we read as follows (c. 8): “And the men removed me from that place, and brought me to the third heaven, and placed me in the midst of a garden; a place such as was never seen for the goodliness of its appearance. And every tree is beautiful, and every fruit ripe; all kinds of agreeable food springing up with every kind of fragrance. And (there are) four rivers flowing with a sift course; and every kind of thing good, that grows for food,” etc. The Valentinians, according to Irenæus (I, i. 9), placed Paradise ὑπὲρ τρίτον οὐρανόν.
   Comp. the Anaphora in the Liturgy of St Basil (Swainson, p. 80): ἐξώρισας αὐτόν ἐν τῇ δικαιοκρισίᾳ σοῦ, ὁ θεός, ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου εἰς τόνδε τὸν κόσμον.. excelling in air, beauty, light, food, plants, 82fruit, water, and all other necessaries of life, and its name is Paradise. And so fair and good was this Paradise, that the Word of God continually resorted thither, and walked and talked with the man, figuring beforehand the things that should be in the future, (namely) that He should dwell with him and talk with him, and should be with men, teaching them righteousness. But man was a child, not yet having his understanding perfected; wherefore also he was easily led astray by the deceiver.

13. And, whilst man dwelt in Paradise, God brought before him all living things and commanded him to give names to them all; and whatsoever Adam called a living soul, that was its name. And He determined also to make a helper for the man: for thus God said, It is not good for the man to be alone: let us make for him a helper meet for him.¹⁰⁴¹⁰⁴As LXX, κατ᾽ αὐτόν. For among all the other living things there was not found a helper equal and comparable and like to Adam. But God Himself cast a trance upon Adam and made him sleep; and, that work might be accomplished from work, since there was no sleep in Paradise, this was brought upon Adam by the will of God; and God took one of Adam’s ribs and filled up the flesh in its place, and the rib which He took He builded into a woman;¹⁰⁵¹⁰⁵As LXX, ᾠκοδόμησεν . . . εἰς γυναῖκα. and so He brought her to Adam; and he seeing (her) said: This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken from her husband.

14. And Adam and Eve—for that is the name of the woman— were naked, and were not ashamed;¹⁰⁶¹⁰⁶Cf. III, xxxii. 1. for there was in them an innocent and childlike mind, and it was not possible for them to conceive and understand anything of that which by wickedness through lusts and shameful desires is born in the soul. For they were at that time entire, preserving their own nature; since they had the breath of life which was breathed on their creation: and, while this breath remains in its place and power, it has no comprehension and understanding of things that are base. And therefore they were not ashamed, kissing and embracing each other in purity after the manner of children.

15. But, lest man should conceive thoughts too high, and be exalted and uplifted, as though he had no lord, because of the authority and freedom granted to him, and so should transgress against his maker God, overpassing his measure, and entertain selfish imaginings of pride in opposition to God; a law was given to him by God, in order that he might perceive that he had as lord the Lord of all. And He set him certain limitations, so that, if he should keep the commandment of God, he should ever remain such as he was, that is to say, immortal; but, if he should not keep it, he should become mortal and be dissolved to earth from whence his formation had been taken. Now the commandment was this: Of every tree that is in the Paradise thou shalt freely eat; but of that tree alone from which is the knowledge of good 84and evil, of it thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou eatest, thou shalt surely die.

16. This commandment the man kept not, but was disobedient to God, being led astray by the angel who, for the great gifts of God which He had given to man, was envious and jealous of him,¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁷IV, lxvi. 2; ἔκτοτε γὰρ ἀποστάτης ὁ ἀγγελος οὗτος καὶ ἐχθρός. ἀφ᾽ ὅτε ἐζήλωσε τὸ πλάσμα τοῦ θεοῦ: V, xxiv. 4: “Invidens homini, apostata a divina factus est lege: invidia enim aliena est a Deo.” Cf. Wisd. ii. 24: φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. and both brought himself to nought and made man sinful, persuading him to disobey the commandment of God. So the angel, becoming by his falsehood the author and originator of sin, himself was struck down, having offended against God, and man he caused to be cast out from Paradise. And, because through the guidance of his disposition he apostatized and departed from God, he was called Satan, according to the Hebrew word; that is, Apostate:¹⁰⁸¹⁰⁸V, xxi. 2: “Satana enim verbum Hebraicum apostatam significat.” Cf. Just. Mart. Dial. 103. a but he is also called Slanderer. Now God cursed the serpent which carried and conveyed the Slanderer; and this malediction came on the beast himself and on the angel hidden and concealed in him, even on Satan; and man He put away from His presence, removing him and making him to dwell on the way to Paradise¹⁰⁹¹⁰⁹Cf. Gen. iii. 24: κατῴκισεν αὐτὸν ἀπέναντι τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς. Perhaps “the way” comes from “the way of the tree of life” in the same verse. at that time; because Paradise receiveth not the sinful.

17. And when they were put out of Paradise, Adam and his wife. Eve fell into many troubles of anxious grief, going about with sorrow and toil 85and lamentation in this world. For under the beams of this sun man tilled the earth, and it put forth thorns and thistles, the punishment of sin. Then was fulfilled that which was written: Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; and after him she bare Abel. Now the apostate angel, who led man into disobedience and made him sinful and caused his expulsion from Paradise, not content with the first evil, wrought a second on the brothers; for filling Cain with his spirit he made him a fratricide. And so Abel died, slain by his brother; signifying thenceforth that certain should be persecuted and oppressed and slain, the unrighteous slaying and persecuting the righteous. And upon this God was angered yet more, and cursed Cain; and it came to pass that everyone of that race in successive generations was made like to the begetter. And God raised up another son to Adam, instead of Abel who was slain.

18. And for a very long while wickedness extended and spread, and reached and laid hold upon the whole race of mankind, until a very small seed of righteousness remained among them and illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind; and they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants. And the angels brought as presents to their wives teachings of wickedness,¹¹⁰¹¹⁰This is from the Book of Enoch, to which Irenæus also refers in IV, xxvii. 2. Enoch vii. 1: καὶ ἐδίδαξαν αὐτὰς φαρμακείας καὶ ἐπαοιδὰς καὶ ῥιζοτυμίας, καὶ τὰς βυτάνας ἐδήλωσαν αὐταῖς: viii. 1: ψέλια καὶ κόσμους καὶ στίβεις καὶ τὸ καλλιβλέφαρον καὶ παντοίους λίθους ἐκλεκτοὺς καὶ τὰ βαφικά. Tertullian makes use of the same passage: De cultu fem. i. 2, ii. 10 (ut Enoch refert). in that they brought 86them the virtues of roots and herbs, dyeing in colors and cosmetics, the discovery of rare substances, love-potions, aversions, amours, concupiscence, constraints of love, spells of bewitchment, and all sorcery and idolatry hateful to God; by the entry of which things into the world evil extended and spread, while righteousness was diminished and enfeebled.

19. Until judgment came upon the world from God by means of a flood, in the tenth generation from the first-formed (man); Noah alone being found righteous. And he for his righteousness was himself delivered, and his wife and his three sons, and the three wives of his sons, being shut up in the ark. And when destruction came upon all, both man and also animals, that were upon the earth, that which was preserved in the ark escaped. Now the three sons of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japheth, from whom again the race was multiplied: for these were the beginning of mankind after the flood.

20. Now of these one fell under a curse, and the two (others) inherited a blessing by reason of their works. For the younger of them,¹¹¹¹¹¹The Armenian corresponds to the Greek ὁ νεώτερος (Gen. ix. 24). As there were three sons of Noah, the comparative causes difficulty. Origen took it as a superlative: for in later Greek (as in French) the comparative with the article is used as a superlative. He went on to argue that as Ham was not the youngest son of Noah, the word “son” was used for grandson, and that “Noah knew what his grandson (Canaan) had done to him”: hence the curse falls on Canaan. This accorded with a tradition given him by his Hebrew teacher (Comm. in Gen. ix. 18; Lomm. viii, p. 65). The trouble arose from the fact that “the curse of Ham” was not pronounced on Ham, but on his son Canaan. Justin Martyr (Dial. 139) says that Noah cursed his son’s son; “for the prophetic Spirit would not curse his son, who had been blessed together with the other sons by God.” who was called Ham, having mocked his father, and having been 87condemned of the sin of impiety because of his outrage and unrighteousness against his father, received a curse; and all the posterity that came of him he involved in the curse; whence it came about that his whole race after him were accursed, and in sins they increased and multiplied. But Shem and Japheth, his brothers, because of their piety towards their father obtained a blessing. Now the curse of Ham, wherewith his father Noah cursed him, is this: Cursed be Ham the child;¹¹²¹¹²Irenæus makes no difficulty about speaking of “the curse of Ham.” It is clear that he had a text of the LXX, which enabled him to do so. The Hebrew of Gen. ix. 25 gives us: “Cursed be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” The LXX has: Ἐπικατάρατος Χανάαν · παῖς οἰκέτης ἔσται τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς αὐτοῦ. But some MSS (E and some cursives) read Χάμ for Χανάαν. When παῖς was taken with the preceding word, Χὰμ παῖς was no doubt intended to mean “the child of Ham,” i.e. Canaan: it might however be understood as “Ham the child.” So here the Armenian translator does not give the genitive case of Ham, but the nominative: and it would seem that he rightly interprets the meaning of Irenæus. a servant shall he be unto his brethren. This having come upon his race, he begat many descendants upon the earth, (even) for fourteen generations, growing up in a wild condition; and then his race was cut off by God, being delivered up to judgment. For the Canaanites and Hittites and Peresites and Hivites and Amorites and Jebusites and Gergasites and Sodomites, the Arabians also and the dwellers in Phœnicia, all the Egyptians and the Libyans,¹¹³¹¹³Irenæus seems to have drawn on Acts ii. 9–11 to amplify his list. are of the posterity of Ham, who have fallen under the curse; for the curse is of long duration over the ungodly.

And even as the curse passed on, so also the blessing passed on to the race of him who was 88blessed, to each in his own order. For first of them was Shem blessed in these words: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and Ham¹¹⁴¹¹⁴The LXX reads Canaan, but one cursive has Ham. shall be his servant. The power of the blessing lies in this, that the God and Lord of all should be to Shem a peculiar possession of worship. And the blessing extended and reached unto Abraham, who was reckoned as descended in the tenth generation from the race of Shem: and therefore the Father and God of all was pleased to be called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; because the blessing of Shem reached out and attached itself to Abraham. Now the blessing of Japheth is on this wise: God shall enlarge unto Japheth, and he shall dwell in the house of Shem, and Ham¹¹⁵¹¹⁵Here again the LXX reads Canaan, though E and other MSS. have Ham. The Arm. here has “he shall bless” for “he shall dwell”; but this is a slip, as appears from below. shall be his servant. That is to say: In the end of the ages he blossomed forth, at the appearing of the Lord, through the calling of the Gentiles, when God enlarged unto them the calling; and their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. The enlarging, then, is the calling from among the Gentiles, that is to say, the Church.¹¹⁶¹¹⁶“The calling of the Gentiles,” or, as we have it also here, “the calling from among the Gentiles,” recurs in cc. 28, 41 bis, 42, 89, 91. I have noted it in the Armenian version of IV, xxxiv. 12, where however we find in the Greek ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία, and in the Latin ea quæ ex gentibus est ecclesia. I do not remember to have met with it elsewhere in the writings of Irenæus, or in any earlier writer. In the fragments of Hippolytus on Gen. xlix (ed. Achelis, pp. 59 ff.) ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν κλῆσις is found several times, and more than once ἐκκλησία occurs as a various reading. It is not found, however, in the corresponding comments in The Blessings of Jacob (Texte u. Unters. xxxviii. 1). And he dwells in the house 89of Shem; that is, in the inheritance of the fathers, receiving in Christ Jesus the right of the firstborn. So in the rank in which each was blessed, in that same order through his posterity he received the fruit of the blessing.¹¹⁷¹¹⁷With all the above cf. Just. M. Dial. 139.

22. Now after the Flood God made a covenant with all the world, even with every living thing of animals and of men, that He would no more destroy with a flood all that grew upon the earth. And He set them a sign (saying): When the sky shall be covered with a cloud, the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant, and will no more destroy by water every moving thing upon the earth. And He changed the food of men, giving them leave to eat flesh: for from Adam the first-formed until the Flood men ate only of seeds and the fruit of trees, and to eat flesh was not permitted to them. But since the three sons of Noah were the beginning of a race of men, God blessed them for multiplication and increase; saying: Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth and rule it; and the fear and dread of you shall be upon every living thing of animals and upon all the fowls of the air; and they shall be to you for meat, even as the green herb: but the flesh with the blood of life ye shall not eat: for your blood also will I require at the hand of all beasts and at the hand of man. Whoso sheddeth a man’s blood, in return for his blood shall it be shed.¹¹⁸¹¹⁸These last words are so quoted in V, xiv. 1. The LXX continues: ὅτι ἐν εἰκόνι θεοῦ ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον. This Irenæus paraphrases; cf. c. 11: “for (as) the image of God was man formed and set on the earth.” That “the image of God is the Son” may be a reminiscence of Col. i. 15. For He made man the 90image of God; and the image of God is the Son, after whose image man was made: and for this cause He appeared in the end of the times that He might show the image (to be) like unto Himself.¹¹⁹¹¹⁹V, xvi. 1: τκὴνεἰόνα ἔδειξεν ἀληθῶς, αὐπός τοῦτο γενόμενος ὅπερ ἦν ἡ εἰκὼν αὐτοῦ: where see the context. According to this covenant the race of man multiplied, springing up from the seed of the three. And upon the earth was one lip, that is to say one language.

23. And they arose and came from the land of the east; and, as they went through the land, they chanced upon the land of Shinar, which was exceeding broad; where they took in hand to build a tower. They sought means thereby to go up to heaven, and be able to leave their work as a memorial to those men who should come after them. And the building was made with burnt bricks and bitumen: and the boldness of their audacity went forward, as they were all of one mind and consent, and by means of one speech they served the purpose of their desires. But that the work should advance no further, God divided their tongues, that they should longer be able to understand one another. And so they were scattered and planted out, and took possession of the world, and dwelt in groups and companies each according to his language: whence came the diverse tribes and various languages upon the earth. So then, whereas three races of men took possession of the earth, and one of them was under the curse, and two under the blessing, the blessing first of all came to Shem, whose 91race dwelt in the east and held the land of the Chaldeans.

24. In process of tithe, that is to say, in the tenth generation after the Flood, Abraham appeared,¹²⁰¹²⁰Lit. “was found” (= εὑρέθη). seeking for the God who by the blessing of his ancestor was due and proper to him.¹²¹¹²¹This is explained by the comment above (c. 21) on the blessing of Shem, which did not say “Blessed be Shem,” but “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem”; meaning that God “should be to Shem a peculiar possession of worship.” And when, urged by the eagerness of his spirit, he went all about the world, searching where God is, and failed to find out; God took pity on him who alone was silently seeking Him; and He appeared unto Abraham, making Himself known by the Word, as by a beam of light. For He spake with him from heaven, and said unto him: Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house; and come into the land that I will show thee, (Acts vii. 3) and there dwell. And he believed the heavenly voice, being then of ripe age, even seventy¹²²¹²²Heb. and LXX: “seventy and five.” years old, and having a wife; and together with her he went forth from Mesopotamia, taking with him Lot, the son of his brother who was dead. And when he came into the land which now is called Judæa, in which at that time dwelt seven tribes descended from Ham, God appeared unto him in a vision and said: To thee will I give this land, and to thy seed after thee, for an everlasting possession, and (He said) that his seed should be a stranger in a land not their own, and should be evil-entreated there, being afflicted and 92in bondage four hundred years; and in the fourth generation should return unto the place that was promised to Abraham; and that God would judge that race which had brought his seed into bondage. And, that Abraham might know as well the multitude as the glory of his seed, God brought him forth abroad by night, and said: Look upon the heaven, and behold the stars of the heaven, if thou be able to number them: so shall thy seed be. And when God saw the undoubting and unwavering certainty of his spirit, He bare witness unto him by the Holy Spirit, saying in the Scripture: (Rom. iv. 3) And Abraham believed, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And he was uncircumcised when this witness was borne; and, that the excellency of his faith should be made known by a sign, He gave him circumcision, a seal of the righteousness¹²³¹²³The Arm. has “uncircumcision” for “righteousness” by an oversight. of that faith which he had in uncircumcision. And after this there was born to him a son, Isaac, from Sarah who was barren, according to the promise of God; and him he circumcised, according to that which God had covenanted with him. And of Isaac was Jacob born; and on this wise the original blessing of Shem reached to Abraham, and from Abraham to Isaac, and from Isaac to Jacob, the inheritance of the Spirit being imparted to them: for He was called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Jacob begat twelve sons, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel were named.

And when famine had come upon all the 93earth, it chanced that in Egypt alone there was food; and Jacob with all his seed removed and dwelt in Egypt: and the number of all that migrated was threescore and fifteen souls: and in four hundred years, as the oracle had declared beforehand, they became six hundred and sixty thousand. And, because they were grievously afflicted and oppressed through evil bondage, and sighed and groaned unto God, the God of their fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; He brought them out of Egypt by the hand of Moses and Aaron, smiting the Egyptians with ten plagues, and in the last plague sending a destroying angel and slaying their first-born, both of man and of beast wherefrom He saved the children of Israel, revealing in a mystery the sufferings of Christ by the sacrifice of a lamb without spot, and giving its blood to be smeared on the houses of the Hebrews as a sure precaution. And the name of this mystery is Passion,¹²⁴¹²⁴The same interpretation of Pascha, as if from πάσχειν, is found in IV, xx. i: “cujus et diem passionis non ignoravit, sed figuratim prænuntiavit eum, Pascha nominans. the source of deliverance. And dividing the Red Sea, He brought the children of Israel with all security to the wilderness; and as to the pursuing Egyptians, who followed them and entered into the sea, they were all overwhelmed; this judgment of God coming upon those who had iniquitously oppressed the seed of Abraham.

26. And in the wilderness Moses received the Law from God, the Ten Words on tables of stone, written with the finger of God (now the finger of 94God is that which is stretched forth from the Father in the Holy Spirit);¹²⁵¹²⁵“The finger of God” (Luke xi. 20) appears as “the Spirit of God” in Matt. xii. 28. Cf. Barn. xiv. 3; and Clem. Hom. Xi. 22, xvi. 12, quoted in Introd. p. 53 n. i. and the commandments and ordinances which he delivered to the children of Israel to observe. And the tabernacle of witness he constructed by the command of God, the visible form on earth of those things which are spiritual and invisible in the heavens, and a figure of the form of the Church, and a prophecy of things to come: in which also were the vessels and the altars of sacrifice and the ark in which he placed the tables (of the Law). And he appointed as priests Aaron and his sons, assigning the priesthood to all their tribe: and they were of the seed of Levi. Moreover this whole tribe he summoned by the word of God to accomplish the work of service in the temple of God, and gave them the Levitical law, (to shew) what and what manner of men they ought to be who are continually employed in performing the service of the temple of God.

27. And when they were near to the land, which God had promised to Abraham and his seed, Moses chose a man from every tribe, and sent them to search out the land and the cities therein and the dwellers in the cities. At that time God revealed to him the Name which alone is able to save them that believe thereon; and Moses changed the name of Oshea the son of Nun, one of them that were sent, and named him Jesus:¹²⁶¹²⁶Num. xiii. 16: καὶ ἐπωνόμασεν Μωυσῆς τὸν Αὑσὴ υἱὸν Ναυὴ Ἰησοῦν. Justin Martyr (Dial. 75, 113) has much to say on this change of name. Cf. Barn. xii. 8 f. and so he 95sent them forth with the power of the Name, believing that he should receive them back safe and sound through the guidance of the Name which came to pass.¹²⁷¹²⁷Probably this represents ὃ ἐγένετο. Compare the brief clauses “and this came to pass” (c. 67), and “as indeed they have become” (c. 72); III, vi. 4: “quod et erat.” But it might be rendered, in conjunction with the Name, “which was (given them)”: so the German translations take it. Now when they had gone and searched and enquired, they returned bringing with them a bunch of grapes; and some of the twelve who were sent cast the whole multitude into fear and dismay, saying that the cities were exceeding great and walled, and the sons of the giants dwelt therein, so that it was (not) possible for them to take the land. And thereupon it fell out that all the multitude wept, failing to believe that it was God who should grant them power and subjugate all to them. And they spake evil also of the land, as not being good, and as though it were not worth while to undergo the danger for the sake of such a land. But two of the twelve, Jesus the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, rent their clothes for the evil that was done, and besought the people not to be disheartened nor lose their courage; for God had given all into their hands, and the land was exceeding good. And when they believed not, but the people still continued in the same unbelief, God changed and altered their way, that they should wander desolate and sore smitten in the desert. And according to the days that they were in going and returning who had spied out the land—and these were forty in number—setting a 96year for a day, He kept them in the wilderness for the space of forty years; and none of those who were full grown and had understanding counted He worthy to enter into the land because of their unbelief, save only the two who had testified of the inheritance, Jesus the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and those who were quite young and knew not the right hand and the left. So all the unbelieving multitude perished and were consumed in the wilderness, receiving one by one the due reward of their want of faith: but the children, growing up in the course of forty years, filled up the number of the dead.

28. When the forty years were fulfilled, the people drew near to the Jordan, and were assembled and arrayed over against Jericho. Here Moses gathered the people together, and summed up all afresh, proclaiming the mighty works of God even unto that day, fashioning and preparing those that had grown up in the wilderness to fear God and keep His commandments, imposing on them as it were a new legislation, adding to that which was made before. And this was called Deuteronomy:¹²⁸¹²⁸Cf. the Greek fragment attributed to Irenæus, Harvey II, p. 487, where we have ἀνακεφαλαιούμενος: this fragment, however, is now shown to be from Hippolytus On the Blessings of Moses (Texte u. Unters. N. F. XI, 1a, p. 49). Cf. also IV, ii. 1: “Moyses igitur recapitulationem universæ legis . . . in Deuteronomio faciens.” and in it were written many prophecies concerning our Lord Jesus Christ and concerning the people, and also concerning the calling of the Gentiles and concerning the kingdom.

29. And, when Moses had finished his course, 97it was said to him by God: Get thee up into the mountain, and die: for thou shalt not bring in my people into the land. So he died according to the word of the Lord; and Jesus the son of Nun succeeded him. He divided the Jordan and made the people to pass over into the land; and, when he had overthrown and destroyed the seven races that dwelt therein, he assigned to the people the temporal Jerusalem,¹²⁹¹²⁹Or “this present Jerusalem”: perhaps representing τὴν νῦν Ἰερουσαλήμ (Gal. iv. 25). wherein David was king, and Solomon his son, who builded the temple to the name of God, according to the likeness of the tabernacle which had been made by Moses after the pattern of the heavenly and spiritual things.

Hither were the prophets sent by God through the Holy Spirit; and they instructed the people and turned them to the God of their fathers, the Almighty; and they became heralds of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, declaring that from the posterity of David His flesh should blossom forth; that after the flesh He might be the son of David, who was the son of Abraham by a long succession; but according to the spirit Son of God, pre-existing¹³⁰¹³⁰Cf. c. 51. with the Father, begotten before all the creation of the world, and at the end of the times appearing to all the world as man, the Word of God gathering up in Himself all things that are in heaven and that are on earth.

So then He united man with God, and established a community of union¹³¹¹³¹For this double rendering see above c. 6. between God 98and man; since we could not in any other way¹³²¹³²III, xx. 1: “Quemadmodum autem adunari possemus incorruptelæ et immortalitati, nisi prius incorruptela et immortalitas facta fuisset id quod et nos?” Cf. III, xix. 6: καὶ εἰ μἡ συνηνώθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ θεῷ, οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνήθη μετασχεῖν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας. participate in incorruption, save by His coming among us. For so long as incorruption was invisible and unrevealed, it helped us not at all therefore it became visible,¹³³¹³³Cf. 2 Tim. i. 10: φωτίσαντος ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. that in all respects we might participate in the reception of incorruption. And, because in the original formation¹³⁴¹³⁴V, i. 2: τὴν ἀρχαίαν πλάσιντοῦ Ἀδάμ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεκεφαλαιώσατο of Adam all of us were tied and bound up with death through his disobedience, it was right that through the obedience of Him who was made man for us we should be released from death: and because death reigned over the flesh, it was right that through the flesh it should lose its force and let man go free from its oppression. So the Word was made flesh, that, through that very flesh which sin had ruled and dominated, it should lose its force and be no longer in us. And therefore our Lord took that same original formation as (His) entry into flesh, so that He might draw near and contend on behalf of the fathers,¹³⁵¹³⁵III, xix. 5: “erat enim homo pro patribus certans:” V, xxi. 1: “Omnia ergo recapitulans, recapitulatus est et adversus inimicum nostrum hellum, provocans et elidens eum qui in initio in Adam captivos duxerat nos” (the Arm. version of this passage suggests the true punctuation). With “pro patribus” comp. Barn. V. 7: ἵνα καὶ τοῖς πατράσιν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἀποδῷ. and conquer by Adam that which by Adam had stricken us down.

32. Whence then is the substance of the first formed (man)? From the Will and the Wisdom 99of God, and from the virgin earth.¹³⁶¹³⁶Almost the same words are here used as in III, xxx. 1.: “Et quemadmodum protoplastus ille Adam de rudi terra et de adhuc virgine—nondum enim pluerat Deus, et homo non erat operatus terram—habuit substantiam et plasmatus est manu Dei, id est, Verbo Dei—omnia enim per ipsum facta sunt—et sumpsit Dominus limum a terra et plasmavit hominem: ita recapitulans in se Adam ipse Verbum existens ex Maria, quæ adhuc erat virgo, recte accipiebat generationem Adæ recapitulationis.” Cf. III, xix. 6: also Ephraim’s Commentary on the Diatessaron (Mœsinger, p. 21): “In Virginis conceptione disce quod qui sine conjugio Adamum ex virginea terra protulit, is etiam Adamum secundum in utero virginis formaverit.” Cf. also Tertullian, De carne Christi, 17; Firmicus Maternus, De errore prof. relig., 25. For God had not sent rain, the Scripture says, upon the earth, before man was made; and there was no man to till the earth. From this, then, whilst it was still virgin, God took dust of the earth and formed the man, the beginning of mankind. So then the Lord, summing up afresh this man, took the same dispensation of entry into flesh, being born from the Virgin by the Will and the Wisdom of God; that He also should show forth the likeness of Adam’s entry into flesh¹³⁷¹³⁷III, xxxi. 1: τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνῳ τῆς γεννήσεως ἔχειν ὁμοιότητα. and there should be that which was written in the beginning,¹³⁸