Irenaeus: Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

32. Whence then is the substance of the first formed (man)? From the Will and the Wisdom of God, and from the virgin earth. ^[1] 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 flesh ^[2] and there should be that which was written in the beginning, ^[3] man after the image and likeness of God.