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Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

St Irenaeus of Lyons, tr. Robinson, 1920

Chapter 31

So then He united man with God, and established a community of union1 between God and man; since we could not in any other way2 participate in incorruption, save by His coming among us. For so long as incorruption was invisible and unrevealed, it helped us not at all: therefore it became visible,3 that in all respects we might participate in the reception of incorruption. And, because in the original formation4 of Adam all of us were tied and bound up with death through his disobedience, it was right that through the obedience of Him who was made man for us we should be released from death: and because death reigned over the flesh, it was right that through the flesh it should lose its force and let man go free from its oppression. So the Word was5 made flesh, that, through that very flesh which sin had ruled and dominated, it should lose its force and be no longer in us. And therefore our Lord took that same original formation as (His) entry into flesh, so that He might draw near and contend on behalf of the fathers,6 and conquer by Adam that which by Adam had stricken us down.

Notes

  1. For this double rendering see above c. 6.
  2. III, xx. 1: “Quemadmodum autem adunari possemus incorruptelae et immortalitati, nisi prius incorruptela et immortalitas facta fuisset id quod et nos?” Cf. III, xix. 6: καὶ εἰ μὴ συνηνώθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ θεῷ, οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνήθη μετασχεῖν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας.
  3. Cf. 2 Tim. i. 10: φωτίσαντος ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου.
  4. V, i. 2: τὴν ἀρχαίαν πλάσιν τοῦ ᾿Αδάμ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεκεφαλαιώσατο.
  5. John i. 14.
  6. III, xix. 5: “erat enim homo pro patribus certans:” V, xxi. 1: “Omnia ergo recapitulans, recapitulatus est et adversus inimicum nostrum bellum, provocans et elidens eum qui in initio in Adam captivos duxerat nos” (the Arm. version of this passage suggests the true punctuation). With “pro patribus” comp. Barn. V. 7: ἵνα καὶ τοῖς πατράσιν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἀποδῷ.

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