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.

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.

Polycarp and virtue

In chapter 2 Polycarp exhorts his readers towards virtue, once again weaving many NT passages into his text. What is particularly significant is the way in which he sees Christian virtue as part and parcel of Christian life and is thus able to affirm that God will raise us from the dead "if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing". It is probably anachronistic to read the faith x works dillemma into this text, but it stands as an expression of the classical Christian teaching that without holiness one cannot see the Father.

In Chapter 3 Polycarp is self-depreciating, emphasising that he is nothing compared to "the blessed and glorified Paul."

In chapters 4 and 5 the exhortations continue, once again following NT themes.