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Irenaeus: Against Heresies, Books I–V
ANF historical edition · Edition commentary
Against Heresies: Book IV — Translator and historical edition notes
[The reader who marvels at the tedious recitals must note this (1) as proof of the author’s practical wisdom, and (2) as evidence of his fidelity in what he exhibits.]
Luke i. 2 .
2 Tim. ii. 23 .
[The solemnity of the apostolic testimonies against the crop of tares that was to spring up receives great illustration from Irenæus. 1 John ii. 18 .]
[ 2 Pet. ii. 19 .]
[ Rev. xii. 9 . A little essay, Messias and Anti-Messias , by the Rev. C. I. Black, London (Masters, 1847), is commended to those who need light on this very mysterious subject.]
Gen. i. 26 .
See iii. 6, 1.
[St. John xvii. 3 .]
Matt. xxiii. 9 .
Deut. xxxii. 1 .
Ps. cxxiv. 8 .
Isa. i. 2 .
Isa. xlii. 5 .
Matt. xi. 25 ; Luke x. 21 .
Deut. vi. 4 .
John v. 46, 47 .
Luke xvi. 31 .
Luke xvi. 19 .
Isa. v. 12 .
Matt. v. 34 .
Isa. lxvi. 1 .
Matt. xxi. 13 .
Isa. i. 23 .
Jer. iv. 22 .
Matt. x. 6 .
John iv. 41 .
Rom. xi. 26 .
Gal. iii. 24 .
Num. xxi. 8 .
This passage is quoted by Augustine, in his treatise on original sin, written to oppose Pelagius (lib. i. c. ii.), about 400 A.D.
John xii. 32 , John iii. 14 .
1 Cor. vii. 31 .
Ps. cii. 25–28 . The cause of the difference in the numbering of the Psalms is that the Septuagint embraces in one psalm—the ninth—the two which form the ninth and tenth in the Hebrew text.
Isa. li. 6 .
Matt. v. 35 .
[ Jer. vii. 4 . One of the most powerful arguments in all Scripture is contained in the first twelve verses of this chapter, and it rebukes an inveterate superstition of the human heart. Comp. Rev. ii. 5 , and the message to Rome, Rom. xi. 21 .]
Isa. xxvii. 6 .
Luke xvi. 16 .
2 Sam. v. 7 , where David is described as taking the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites.
The text fluctuates between “legis dationem” and “legis dationis.” We have followed the latter.
Isa. i. 8 .
Mal. iv. 1 .
Matt. iii. 11 , etc.
Ps. xlix. 12 .
Eph. ii. 7 .
Isa. xliii. 10 , etc.
Isa. xii. 4 .
Matt. xxii. 29 .
Matt. xxii. 29 , etc.; Ex. iii. 6 .
In the Septuagint and Vulgate versions, this story constitutes the fourteenth chapter of the book of Daniel. It is not extant in Hebrew, and has therefore been removed to the Apocrypha, in the Anglican canon [the Greek and St. Jerome’s] of Scripture, under the title of “Bel and the Dragon.”
John xi. 25 .
Ps. xlv. 16 .
John viii. 56 .
Rom. iv. 3 .
Phil. ii. 15 .
Gen. xxii. 6 .
John viii. 56 .
Gen. xiv. 22 .
Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke x. 22 .
Not now to be found in Mark’s Gospel.
Photius, 125, makes mention of Justin Martyr’s work, λόγοι κατὰ Μαρκίωνος . See also Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History , book iv. c. 18, where this passage of Irenæus is quoted. [The vast importance of Justin’s startling remark is that it hinges on the words of Christ Himself, concerning His antecedents and notes as set forth in the Scriptures, St. John v. 30–39 .]
[A most emphatic and pregnant text which Irenæus here expounds with great beauty. The reference (St. Matt. xi. 27 ) seems to have been inadvertently omitted in this place where the repetition is desirable.]
The ordinary text reads cognoscunt , i.e., do know; but Harvey thinks it should be the future— cognoscent .
Mark i. 24 .
Matt. iv. 3 ; Luke iv. 3 .
Singula , which with Massuet we here understand in the sense of singularia .
Some, instead of significantibus , read signantibus , “stamping it as true.”
Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke x. 22 . Harvey observes here, that “it is remarkable that this text, having been correctly quoted a short time previously in accordance with the received Greek text, ᾧ ἐὰν βούλητας ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι , the translator now not only uses the single verb revelaverit , but says pointedly that it was so written by the venerable author.” It is probable, therefore, that the previous passage has been made to harmonize with the received text by a later hand; with which, however, the Syriac form agrees.
Gen. xvii. 17 .
The text has oculorum , probably by mistake for populorum .
Luke ii. 29 , etc.
Luke ii. 8 .
Luke i. 46 .
Gen. xv. 5 .
Matt. iii. 9 .
Rom. iv. 12 ; Gal. iv. 28 .
Matt. v. 14 .
John xiv. 6, 7 .
Gen. xviii. 1 .
Ex. iii. 7, 8 .
Massuet here observes, that the fathers called the Holy Spirit the similitude of the Son.
Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke x. 22 .
Rom. iv. 3 .
Matt. viii. 11 .
Luke xiii. 28 .
Harvey prefers the singular— “ hypocrite .”
Luke xiii. 15, 16 .
The text here is rather uncertain. Harvey’s conjectural reading of et jam for etiam has been followed.
Luke vi. 3, 4 .
This clause is differently quoted by Antonius Melissa and John Damascenus, thus: Πᾶς βασιλεὺς δίκαιος ἱερατικὴν ἔχει τάξιν , i.e., Every righteous king possesses a priestly order . Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 . [And with St. Peter’s testimony to the priesthood of the laity, compare the same under the law. Ex. xix. 6 . The Western Church has recognised the “Episcopate ab extra ” of sovereigns; while, in the East, it has grown into Cæsaropapism .]
Deut. xxxiii. 9 .
Num. xviii. 20 .
Deut. xviii. 1 .
Phil. iv. 17 .
Literally, “the Lord’s Levitical substance”— Domini Leviticam substantiam .
Literally, “to take food from seeds.”
Matt. x. 10 .
Num. xv. 32 , etc.
Matt. iii. 10 .
1 Cor. iii. 17 .
Matt. xiii. 52 .
Matt. xxiii. 34 .
Ps. xcvi. 1 .
Isa. xlii. 10 , quoted from memory.
Jer. xxxi. 31 .
Matt. xii. 6 .
John i. 50 .
These words of Scripture are quoted by memory from Phil. iii. 12 , 1 Cor. iv. 4 , and 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10 . It is remarkable that the second is incorporated with the preceding in a similar way, in the ancient Italic version known as the St. Germain copy.
Matt. v. 8 .
Isa. xxv. 9 .
1 Pet. i. 8 .
Rom. viii. 15 .
This is in accordance with Harvey’s text— “Maturescere profectum salutis.” Grabe, however, reads, “Maturescere prefectum salutis;” making this equivalent to “ad prefectam salutem.” In most mss . “profectum” and “prefectum” would be written alike. The same word (“profectus”) occurs again almost immediately, with an evident reference to and comparison with this clause.
2 Tim. iii. 7 .
Matt. xv. 3, 4 .
Another variation from the textus receptus borne out by the Codex Bezæ, and some ancient versions.
Ex. xx. 12 , LXX.
John v. 39, 40 .
John v. 46 .
See Gen. xviii. 13 and Gen. xxxi. 11 , etc. There is an allusion here to a favourite notion among the Fathers, derived from Philo the Jew, that the name Israel was compounded from the three Hebrew words אִישׁ רָאָה אֵל , i.e., “the man seeing God.”
Ex. iii. 4 , etc.
Feuardent infers with great probability from this passage, that Irenæus, like Tertullian and others of the Fathers, connected the word Pascha with πάσχειν , to suffer . [The LXX. constantly giving colour to early Christian ideas in this manner, they concluded, perhaps, that such coincidences were designed. The LXX. were credited with a sort of inspiration, as we learn from our author.]
Latin, “et extremitatem temporum.”
Deut. xvi. 5, 6 .
The Latin is, “lætifici oculi ejus a vino,” the Hebrew method of indicating comparison being evidently imitated.
Gen. xlix. 10–12 , LXX.
Deut. xxxii. 6 .
Deut. xxviii. 66 . Tertullian, Cyprian, and other early Fathers, agree with Irenæus in his exposition of this text.
Deut. xxxii. 6 . “Owned thee,” i.e., following the meaning of the Hebrew, “owned thee by generation.”
Matt. xiii. 17 .
Gen. i. 28 .
Matt. xxv. 21 , etc.
Ps. xxxv. 9 .
Or, “all those who were in the way of David ”— omnes qui erant in viâ David, in dolore animæ cognoverunt suum regem .
Matt. xxi. 8 .
The Latin text is ambiguous: “dominabantur eorum, quibus ratio non constabat.” The rendering may be, “and ruled over those things with respect to which it was not right that they should do so.”
Matt. xxi. 16 ; Ps. viii. 3 .
Isa. i. 22 .
Matt. xv. 3 .
Rom. xiii. 10 .
1 Cor. xiii. 13 .
1 Cor. xiii. 2 .
Matt. xxiii. 2–4 .
Isa. xxix. 13 .
Rom. x. 3, 4 .
Ex. iii. 7, 8 .
Matt. xix. 17, 18 , etc.
Harvey here remarks: “In a theological point of view, it should be observed, that no saving merit is ascribed to almsgiving: it is spoken of here as the negation of the vice of covetousness, which is wholly inconsistent with the state of salvation to which we are called.”
Luke xix. 8 .
That is, as Harvey observes, the natural man , as described in Rom. ii. 27 .