Irenaeus: Against Heresies, Books I–V

Rev. v. 6 .

Rev. xix. 11–17 .

Hos. i. 2, 3 .

Acts xv. 14 .

1 Cor. vii. 14 . [But Hosea himself says ( Hos. xii. 10 ), “I have used similitudes;” and this history may be fairly referred to prophetic vision. Dr. Pusey, in his Minor Prophets, in loc. , argues against this view, however; and his reasons deserve consideration.]

Hos. i. 6–9 .

Rom. ix. 25, 26 .

The text is here uncertain; and while the general meaning of the sentence is plain, its syntax is confused and obscure.

Irenæus seems here to have written “three” for “two” from a lapse of memory.

Matt. xxi. 31 .

Gal. iii. 5–9 ; Gen. xii. 3 .

Massuet would cancel these words.

Rom. ix. 10–13 ; Gen. xxv. 23 .

Rom. ix. 13 ; Mal. i. 2 .

Gen. xxv. 26 .

Rev. vi. 2 .

John xix. 15 .

Ps. ii. 8 .

The text of this sentence is in great confusion, and we can give only a doubtful translation.

[Leah’s eyes were weak , according to the LXX.; and Irenæus infers that Rachel’s were “beautiful exceedingly.” Canticles, i. 15.]

Isa. iv. 4 .

John xiii. 5 .

This spurious quotation has been introduced before. See book iii. 20. 4.

Eph. iv. 9 .

So Harvey understands the obscure Latin text, “id quod erat inoperatum conditionis.”

Matt. xiii. 17 .

Rom. iii. 30 .

John iv. 35 , etc.

Matt. i. 20 , etc.

Luke iv. 18 .

Isa. lxi. 1 .

Acts viii. 27 ; Isa. liii. 7 .

Acts ii. 41 , Acts iv. 4 .

1 Cor. xv. 10 .

[A clear note of recognition on the part of our author, that St. Paul’s mission was world-wide, while St. Peter’s was limited.]

Eph. i. 21 .

Phil. ii. 8 .

Matt. iii. 9 .

Eph. ii. 20 .

[Note, the Gentile Church was the old religion and was Catholic; in Christ it became Catholic again: the Mosaic system was a parenthetical thing of fifteen hundred years only. Such is the luminous and clarifying scheme of Irenæus, expounding St. Paul ( Gal. iii. 14–20 ). Inferences: (1) They who speak as if the Mosaic system covered the whole Old Testament darken the divine counsels. (2) The God of Scripture was never the God of the Jews only.]

Gen. xxxviii. 28 , etc.

John iv. 37 .

1 Cor. iii. 7 .

Jer. ix. 2 . [A “ remote dwelling-place” rather ( σταθμὸν ἔσχατον according to LXX.) to square with the argument.]

[The touching words which conclude the former paragraph are illustrated by the noble sentence which begins this paragraph. The childlike spirit of these Fathers recognises Christ everywhere, in the Old Testament , prefigured by countless images and tokens in paternal and legal (ceremonial) forms.]

Matt. xiii. 44 .

Matt. xiii. 38 .

Harvey cancels “non,” and reads the sentence interrogatively.

Dan. xii. 4, 7 .

Jer. xxiii. 20 .

The Latin is “a multis justis,” corresponding to the Greek version of the Hebrew text. If the translation be supposed as corresponding to the Hebrew comparative, the English equivalent will be, “and above (more than) many righteous.”

Dan. xii. 3 .

The text and punctuation are here in great uncertainty, and very different views of both are taken by the editors.

Luke xxiv. 26, 47 . [The walk to Emmaus is the fountain-head of Scriptural exposition, and the forty days ( Acts i. 3 ) is the river that came forth like that which went out of Eden. Sirach iv. 31 .]

Matt. xiii. 52 . [I must express my delight in the great principle of exposition here unfolded. The Old Scriptures are a night-bound wilderness, till Christ rises and illuminates them, glorying alike hill and dale, and, as this author supposes, every shrub and flower, also, making the smallest leaf with its dewdrops glitter like the rainbow.]

Lev. x. 1, 2 .

Num. xvi. 33 .

1 Kings xiv. 10 .

Susanna 56 .

Ibid. ver. 52, etc.; Ex. xxiii. 7 .

Matt. xxiv. 48 , etc.; Luke xii. 45 .

[Contrast this spirit of a primitive Father, with the state of things which Wiclif rose up to purify, five hundred years ago.]

Num. xvi. 15 .

1 Sam. xii. 3 .

2 Cor. ii. 17 .

2 Cor. vii. 2 .

Isa. lx. 17 .

Matt. xxiv. 45, 46 .

1 Cor. xii. 28 .

[Note the limitation; not the succession only, but with it (1) pure morality and holiness and (2) unadulterated testimony. No catholicity apart from these.]

Polycarp, Papias, Pothinus, and others, have been suggested as probably here referred to, but the point is involved in utter uncertainty. [Surely this testimony is a precious intimation of the apostle’s meaning ( Rom. ii. 12–16 ), and the whole chapter is radiant with the purity of the Gospel.]

1 Sam. xviii.

2 Sam. xi. 27 .

2 Sam. xii. 1 , etc.

1 Kings viii. 27 .

1 Kings iv. 34 .

1 Kings x. 1 .

1 Kings xi. 1 .

[ 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20 .]

Rom. iii. 23 . [Another testimony to the mercy of God in the judgment of the unevangelized. There must have been some reason for the secrecy with which “that presbyter’s” name is guarded. Irenæus may have scrupled to draw the wrath of the Gnostics upon any name but his own.]

Rom. iii. 23 . [Another testimony to the mercy of God in the judgment of the unevangelized. There must have been some reason for the secrecy with which “that presbyter’s” name is guarded. Irenæus may have scrupled to draw the wrath of the Gnostics upon any name but his own.]

Rom. xi. 17, 21 .

Ex. xxxii. 6 .

1 Cor. x. 1 , etc.

Matt. xx. 16 .

Matt. xxv. 41 .

1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 .

Matt. xviii. 8, 9 .

1 Cor. v. 11 .

Eph. v. 6, 7 .

1 Cor. v. 6 .

Rom. i. 18 .

Luke xviii. 7, 8 .

2 Thess. i. 6–10 .

Ps. xxxiv. 16 .

Matt. xxvi. 24 .

Matt. x. 15 .

[ Eph. v. 4 . Even from the εὐτραπελία which might signify a bon-mot, literally, and which certainly is not “scurrility,” unless the apostle was ironical, reflecting on jokes with heathen considered “good.”]

Matt. xxv. 41 .

Matt. xxv. 34 .

2 Cor. ii. 15, 16 .

Num. xiv. 30 .

[ Jon. iv. 11 . The tenderness of our author constantly asserts itself, as in this reference to children.]

1 Cor. xiv. 20 .

Ex. ix. 35 .

Matt. xiii. 11–16 ; Isa. vi. 10 .

2 Cor. iv. 4 .

Rom. i. 28 .

2 Thess. ii. 11 .

Ex. iii. 19 .

Ex. iii. 22 , Ex. xi. 2 . [Our English translation “borrow” is a gratuitous injury to the text. As “King of kings” the Lord enjoins a just tax, which any earthly sovereign might have imposed uprightly. Our author argues well.]

Ex. i. 13, 14 .

This perplexed sentence is pointed by Harvey interrogatively, but we prefer the above.

[A touching tribute to the imperial law, at a moment when Christians were “dying daily” and “as sheep for the slaughter.” So powerfully worked the divine command, Luke vi. 29 .]

Matt. vii. 5 .

This is, if he inveighs against the Israelites for spoiling the Egyptians; the former being a type of the Christian Church in relation to the Gentiles.

Matt. vii. 1, 2 .

Luke iii. 11 .

Matt. xxv. 35, 36 .

Matt. vi. 3 .

As Harvey remarks, this is “a strange translation for ἐκλίπητε ” of the text. rec. , and he adds that “possibly the translator read ἐκτράπητε .”

Luke xvi. 9 .

We here follow the punctuation of Massuet in preference to that of Harvey.

[The Fathers regarded the whole Mosaic system, and the history of the faithful under it, as one great allegory. In everything they saw “similitudes,” as we do in the Faery Queen of Spenser, or the Pilgrim’s Progress . The ancients may have carried this principle too far, but as a principle it receives countenance from our Lord Himself and His apostles. To us there is often a barren bush, where the Fathers saw a bush that burned with fire.]

See Rev. xv. , Rev. xvi.

[Thus far we have a most edifying instruction. The reader will be less edified with what follows, but it is a very striking example of what is written: “to the pure all things are pure.” Tit. i. 15 .]

Gen. xix. 33 .

Gen. xix. 35 .

“Id est duæ synagogæ,” referring to the Jews and Gentiles. Some regard the words as a marginal gloss which has crept into the text.

Gen. xix. 31, 32 .

Deut. xxxii. 6 , LXX. [Let us reflect that this effort to spiritualize this awful passage in the history of Lot is an innocent but unsuccessful attempt to imitate St. Paul’s allegory, Gal. iv. 24 .]

Matt. xi. 19 .

Ps. iii. 6 .

Jer. xxxi. 26 .

Comp. Clem. Rom., chap. xi. Josephus ( Antiq. , i. 11, 4) testifies that he had himself seen this pillar.

The Latin is “per naturalia,” which words, according to Harvey, correspond to δἰ ἐμμηνοῤῥοίας . There is a poem entitled Sodoma preserved among the works of Tertullian and Cyprian which contains the following lines:— “Dicitur et vivens, alio jam corpore, sexus Munificos solito dispungere sanguine menses.”

Matt. v. 13 .

The poem just referred to also says in reference to this pillar:— “Ipsaque imago sibi formam sine corpore servans Durat adhuc, et enim nuda statione sub æthram Nec pluviis dilapsa situ, nec diruta ventis. Quin etiam si quis mutilaverit advena formam, Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera complet.” [That a pillar of salt is still to be seen in