Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Spirit and Christ

In chapter 17 to deny the heretic claim that "the Christ" descended upon Jesus at baptism, Irenaeus insists that it was the Holy Spirit whom descended upon Christ. In describing Pentecost, Irenaeus comments:

"This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, “And stablish me with Thine
all-governing Spirit;” who also, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord’s ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations."

Jesus and Christ

In a lengthy argument, due to the seriousness of the heresy with which he is dealing, Irenaeus seeks to provide an exhaustive rebuttal of those who would draw a cleavage between the human Jesus and the divine Christ, descending from the Pleroma.

Irenaeus demonstrates that the united NT witness is of the unity of the person of Jesus Christ. One of the most interesting quotes of chapter 16 is the following:

"His only-begotten Word, who is always present with the human race, united to and mingled with His own creation, according to the Father’s pleasure, and who became flesh, is Himself Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us, and rose again on our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of His Father, to raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and to apply the rule of just judgment to all who were made by Him. There is therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus, who came by means of the whole dispensational arrangements [connected with Him], and gathered together all things in Himself. But in every respect, too, He is man, the formation of God; and thus He took up man into Himself, the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in Himself: so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so also in things visible and corporeal He might possess the supremacy, and, taking to Himself the pre-eminence, as well as constituting Himself Head of the Church, He might draw all things to Himself at the proper time."

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Paul and the other apostles

The Marcionites claimed that Paul alone knew the truth about Jesus whilst more contemporary heretics believe that Paul distorted the pure and simple truth of the Gospel. Against this kind of claim Irenaeus affirms:

(1) Paul himself affirms a continuity between himself and the other apostles.
(2) Luke was Paul's close companion and Luke presents a continuity between Paul and the other apostles. Luke also shows that Paul preached the "counsel of God" in public to the church, there was no secret material.

[chapters 13-14]

In chapter 15 Irenaeus tackles the Ebionites, who would deny Paul's status as an apostle. He points to their incoherence of using the Gospel of Luke when Luke himself is the one who in Acts presents Paul as an apostle.

Monday, June 25, 2007

One God continued

In the lengthy chapter 12, Irenaeus continues to deny that there is a higher god above the creator, and points to considerable evidence in the Bible to support his statement.

Against the argument that the apostles were accomodating to the desires of their Jewish audience Irenaeus effectively argues that (i) a similar message was preached to Greek audiences (ii) the fact that they preached the crucified Jesus as Messiah and Son of God indicates that the disciples were not adverse to offending Jewish sensibilities.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Chapters 9-11 Soteriology

One issue that really struck me in these chapters was how, for Irenaeus' salvation involves participating in the life of God.

Chapters 9-11: Christology

How does Christ fit in to Irenaeus' strong monotheism:

Well, on the negative side Irenaeus denies the adoptionist and the docetic Christologies of his opponents, rather he affirms that

(1) "The word of God...was made Jesus Christ...For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech." (ch 9)
(2) "John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father"

Chapters 9-11: Doctrine of God

Irenaeus' main concern in these chapters is to refute the heretic contention that there is another God above the creator of the world. Hence we often read a strong declaration of monotheism expressed in terms such as:

"He, the Father, is the only God and Lord,
who alone is God and ruler of all" (ch 9)

Friday, June 22, 2007

Exegesis?

In chapters 7-8 Irenaeus rebukes the dodgy exegesis of his opponents with some rather suspect ideas of his own, partly because he refuses to accept that Paul could refer to Satan as "the god of this world" without lending credence to the speculation of the heretics.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Apostolic tradition

Irenaeus sees the church as the true guardian of not only the writings but also the teaching and the tradition of the apostles. He illustrates this by indicating the existence of "barbarian" Christians who unable to read the Scriptures, nonetheless hold on to orthodox Christianity. (ch 4) Irenaeus then draws on the tradition to deny heretic speculation regarding the demiurge. (ch 5-6)

Amidst his refutation of the heretics we get a glimpse of Irenaeus' trinitarian theology:

"For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the name, of God—both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is, the Father."

And as he refutes the heretics we have the following prayer:

Wherefore I do also call upon thee, Lord God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of
Jacob and Israel, who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who, through the abundance of Thy mercy, hast had a favour towards us, that we should know Thee, who hast made heaven and earth, who rulest over all, who art the only and the true God, above whom there is none other God; grant, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the governing power of the Holy Spirit; give to every reader of this book to know Thee, that Thou art God alone, to be strengthened in Thee, and to avoid every heretical, and godless, and impious doctrine.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Apostolic Succession

Against the heretics claims to secret knowledge and revelation, Irenaeus points to the public teaching and tradition of the church. Essentially he defends the following sequence:

Jesus--->Apostles--->Bishops

To support his claims he points to:

(1) The apostolic succession in the church of Rome, deriving from Peter and Paul. Of particular significance is our old friend Clement, whom Irenaeus believes to have known the apostles and whose epistle to Corinth he cites.
(2) Polycarp: He is presented as someone who knew the apostles, and who Irenaeus knew personally. Such was Polycarp's authority that on a visit to Rome many "heretics" were converted due to his teaching. [It is from Polycarp that Irenaeus claims to know the story of John fleeing a bath house when the heretic Cerenthius arrived]
(3) The antiquity of the church in Ephesus points to the apostolic tradition.

On Scripture (Book 3)

Irenaeus begins Book 3 by outlining his understanding of Scripture. For him the Written Scripture is linked to the oral proclamation of the Gospel and is granted through the power of the Holy Spirit.

On the Gospels Irenaeus claims that
  • Matthew wrote a "written Gospel among the Hebrews"
  • Peter and Paul were laying the foundations of the Church in Rome.
  • Mark wrote down Peter's preaching
  • Luke wrote down Paul's preaching
  • John wrote his Gospel whilst in Ephesus.

In contrast Heretics downplay the value of the Scriptures and of the apostolic tradition.

[chs 1-2]

Friday, June 08, 2007

The immortality of the Soul

From the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Irenaeus deduces that the soul, although created, is immortal, for "souls continue to exist, that they do not pass from body to body, that they possess the form of a man, so that they may be recognised, and retain the memory of things in this world; moreover, that the gift of prophecy was possessed by Abraham, and that each class of souls] receives a habitation such as it has deserved, even before the judgement."

Nonetheless, the soul is not immortal in its own right, but because it shares in life given to it by God.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Transmigration of Souls

In chapter 33 Irenaeus seeks to refute the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul based on the point that the soul does not remember its existence in other bodies other than its own.

Nonetheless, Irenaeus shares certain common ideas with his opponents which not all Christians would agree with. He definitely sees the soul as distinct from the body and to a certain extent superior to the body. Thus the body is the instrument, although the skilful working of God, is still the "instrument" with the soul being the artist which possesses it and has power over it.

Irenaeus also believes that the number of souls are forordained by God and that when this number is reached, then the end will come.