Against Heresies 3.21.1–3.23.8

Irenaeus of Lyons · Against Heresies · ca. 180–190 · Lyons · 22 passages

Latin text: Harvey 1857 (Latin text: Harvey (1857), transcribed from archive.org OCR of the printed volumes; section numbers checked against Stieren (1853)).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885), Irenaeus, Against Heresies.

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Against 3, chapter 21

3.21.1Harvey 2:37

Deus igitur homo factus est, et ipse Dominus salvavit nos, ipse dans Virginis signum. Non ergo vera est quorundam interpretatio, qui ita audent interpretari Scripturam: Ecce adolescentula in ventre habebit, et. pariet filium; quemadmodum Theodotion Ephesius est interpretatus, et Aquila Ponticus, utrique Judei proselyti; quos sectati Ebionei, ex Joseph eum generatum dicunt: tantam dispositionem Dei dissolventes, quantum ad ipsos est; frustrantes prophetarum testimonium, quod operatus est Deus. Prophetatum est quidem, priusquam in Babylonem fieret populi transmigratio, id est, antequam Medi et Pers: acciperent principatum: interpretatum vero in Greco ab ipsis Judeis multum ante tempora adventus Domini nostri, ut nulla relinquatur suspicio, ne forte morem nobis gerentes Judei, haec ita sint interpretati. Qui quidem si cognovissent nos futuros, et usuros his testimoniis que sunt ex Scripturis, nunquam dubitassent ipsi suas comburere Scripturas, quze et reliquas omnes gentes manifestant participare vitae, et eos qui gloriantur domum se esse Jacob et populum Israel exhzreditatos ostendunt a gratia Dei.

God, then, became man, and the Lord himself saved us, himself giving the sign of the virgin. So the interpretation of some is not true, who dare to interpret the Scripture thus: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive in her womb and bear a son,” as Theodotion of Ephesus interpreted it, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. Following them, the Ebionites say that he was begotten of Joseph, undoing, as far as they can, so great a dispensation of God, and frustrating the testimony of the prophets, which God brought about. For it was prophesied before the deportation of the people to Babylon took place, that is, before the Medes and Persians received dominion; and it was translated into Greek by the Jews themselves long before the times of our Lord’s coming, so that no suspicion remains that the Jews perhaps translated it so to humour us. If they had known that we would exist and would use these testimonies from the Scriptures, they would never have hesitated to burn their own Scriptures, which show that all the other nations share in life, and show that those who boast that they are the house of Jacob and the people of Israel are disinherited from the grace of God.

Isa 7:14 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Against Theodotion, Aquila and the Ebionites, who read “young woman” in Isaiah 7:14, Irenaeus defends “virgin,” noting that the Jews themselves translated it before Christ’s coming.

Harvey’s chapter title was removed. Quotation: Isa 7:14 (as rendered by Theodotion and Aquila). The polemical remark about the Jews is Irenaeus’s own.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (editor's chapter title; OCR slip; margin debris; margin debris inside a word; stray mark; stray marks; stray note number): Ostensio, quia Ecce Virgo in utero accipiet, sed non, Ecce adolescentula, sicut quidam tinterpretantur. Devs → Deus; 5salvavit → salvavit; °Theodotion → Theodotion; fieret ! populi 118. ur. transmigratio → fieret populi transmigratio; princi4:11116 patum → principatum; multum **** ante → multum ante.

Topics: Christology, Heresy, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.1 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-1).

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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the ancient Latin translation as printed by Harvey (Cambridge, 1857), from the OCR of the printed edition with slips corrected as logged, in Massuet's section numbering; lines lost in the scan supplied from Stieren's edition (1848–53) where noted; each batch compared afterwards with the public-domain translation in ANF 1 (1885).

3.21.2Harvey 2:37

Privs enim quam Romani possiderent regnum suum, adhuc Macedonibus Asiam possidentibus, Ptolemaeus Lagi filius, cupiens eam bibliothecam, quae a se fabricata esset in Alexandria, omnium hominum dignis conscriptionibus ornare, petiit ab Hierosolymitis in Graecum sermonem interpretatas habere Scripturas eorum. Illi vero, obediebant enim tune adhuc Macedonibus, eos quos habebant perfectiores Scripturarum intellectores, et utriusque loquelae, septuaginta seniores miserunt Ptolemaeo facturos hoc quod ipse voluisset. Ille autem experimentum eorum sumere volens, et metuens ne forte consentientes, eam veritatem quz esset in Scripturis, absconderent per interpretationem, separans eos ab invicem, jussit omnes eandem interpretari Scripturam: et hoc in omnibus libris fecit. Convenientibus autem ipsis in unum apud Ptolemaeum, et comparantibus suas interpretationes, Deus glorificatus est, et Scripture vere divin: creditae sunt, omnibus eadem, et eisdem verbis, et eisdem nominibus, recitantibus ab initio usque ad finem; uti et praesentes gentes cognoscerent, quoniam per aspirationem Dei interpretatae sunt Scripture. Et non esse mirabile Deum hoc in eis operatum, quando in ea captivitate populi que facta est a Nabuchodonosor corruptis Scripturis, et post septuaginta annos Judaeis descendentibus in regionem suam, post deinde temporibus Artaxerxis Persarum regis, inspiravit Hesdree, sacerdoti tribus Levi, praeteritorum prophetarum omnes rememorare sermones, et restituere populo eam legem quie data est per Moysem.

For before the Romans possessed their empire, while the Macedonians still held Asia, Ptolemy son of Lagus, wishing to adorn the library he had built in Alexandria with the worthy writings of all men, asked the people of Jerusalem to have their Scriptures translated into Greek. They — for they were then still subject to the Macedonians — sent to Ptolemy seventy elders, the most skilled they had in the Scriptures and in both languages, to do what he wished. He, wishing to test them, and fearing that they might agree together and conceal by their translation the truth that was in the Scriptures, separated them from one another and ordered all of them to translate the same Scripture; and he did this for all the books. When they came together before Ptolemy and compared their translations, God was glorified, and the Scriptures were believed to be truly divine, since all of them recited the same things, in the same words and the same names, from beginning to end, so that even the Gentiles who were present knew that the Scriptures had been translated by the inspiration of God. And it is not marvellous that God did this in them, since, when the Scriptures had been corrupted in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews after seventy years had returned to their land, afterwards, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, he inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recall all the words of the former prophets and to restore to the people the law given through Moses.

Ezra 7:1 (allusion, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Irenaeus tells how the seventy elders, translating separately for Ptolemy, produced identical versions, as Ezra had once restored the Scriptures by inspiration.

Irenaeus names Ptolemy I, son of Lagus; the Letter of Aristeas places the translation under Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and the separate cells are a later form of the story. Ezra’s restoration of the Scriptures is told in 4 Ezra (2 Esd) 14. Eusebius quotes this passage (Hist. eccl. 5.8.11–15); the reference left in the OCR text was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note inside a word; margin reference inside a word; stray mark; stray number): ab HieEusebius, lib. vit. Hist. Eccl. cap. 32, fragmentum Canonum Paschalium ejusdem rosolymitis → ab Hierosolymitis; Ptolemaeo * facturos → Ptolemaeo facturos; cognoscerent, | quoniam → cognoscerent, quoniam; esse * mirabile → esse mirabile; regis, in0 Kedr.xiv. Spiravit → regis, inspiravit; prophetarum 7 omnes → prophetarum omnes.

Extrabiblical texts: Let. Aris. 9–11 (Letter of Aristeas; allusion); 2 Esd 14:21 (2 Esdras [in the ETH canon]; allusion)

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.2 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-2).

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3.21.3Harvey 2:37

Cum tanta igitur veritate et gratia Dei interpretatae sint Scripture, ex quibus praeparavit et reformavit Deus fidem nostram quze in Filium ejus est, et servavit nobis simplices Scripturas in Egypto, in qua adolevit et domus Jacob effugiens famem, que fuit in Chanaan, in qua et Dominus noster servatus est, effugiens eam persecutionem que erat ab Herode; et hsec earum Scripturarum interpretatio, priusquam Dominus noster descenderet, facta sit, et, antequam Christiani ostenderentur, interpretata sit; (natus est enim Dominus noster circa primum et quadragesimum annum Augusti imperii, multo autem vetustior fuit, Ptolemreus, sub quo interpretatae sunt Scripture) vere impudorati et audaces ostenduntur, qui nunc volunt aliter interpretationes facere, quando ex ipsis Scripturis arguantur a nobis, et in fidem adventus Fili Dei concludantur. Firma est autem, et non ficta, et sola vera, que secundum nos est fides, manifestam ostensionem habens ex his Scripturis, quze interpretatae sunt illo modo quo praediximus; et Ecclesiae annuntiatio sine interpolatione. Etenim Apostoli, cum sint his omnibus vetustiores, consonant praedictae interpretationi, et interpretatio consonat Apostolorum traditioni. Etenim ' Petrus, et Johannes, et Matthaeus, et Paulus, et reliqui deinceps, et horum sectatores, prophetica omnia ita annuntiaverunt, quemadmodum Seniorum interpretatio continet.

Since, then, the Scriptures were translated with such great truth and grace of God — the Scriptures from which God prepared and reformed our faith in his Son, and which he preserved unadulterated for us in Egypt, where the house of Jacob too grew up, fleeing the famine in Canaan, and where our Lord also was preserved, fleeing the persecution of Herod — and since this translation of these Scriptures was made before our Lord came down, and was completed before Christians appeared (for our Lord was born about the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus, and Ptolemy, under whom the Scriptures were translated, was much earlier), truly shameless and bold are those who now wish to make other translations, when they are refuted by us from these very Scriptures and are shut up to faith in the coming of the Son of God. But firm, and not fabricated, and the only true faith is ours, having clear proof from these Scriptures, which were translated in the way we have described; and the church’s proclamation is without interpolation. For the apostles, since they are older than all these, agree with the aforesaid translation, and the translation agrees with the tradition of the apostles. For Peter, John, Matthew, Paul, and the rest after them, and their followers, proclaimed all the prophetic things just as the translation of the elders contains them.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Gen 46:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 2:13 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Septuagint, made before Christ, preserves the true Scriptures, and those who now make new translations to evade the proof of Christ are shameless; the apostles agree with it.

Harvey’s heading in mid-section was removed. Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. Allusions: Gen 46:3–4; Matt 2:13–15.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; editor's heading; margin debris; margin reference; running head inside a word; stray mark): Ostensio quoniam. Virgo in utero accipiet, et non adolescentula. Firma → Firma; simplices Scripturas in Gen. Ixvi.3 Egypto → simplices Scripturas in Egypto; effugiens 118. πὶ. eam → effugiens eam; hsec earum Serip9n OR. ΜῊ xxv. turarum → hsec earum Scripturarum; sit; Matt l1. 13 (natus → sit; (natus; circa ! primum → circa primum; et Eccle8180 annuntiatio → et Ecclesiae annuntiatio; et horum Sassectatores → et horum sectatores.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.3 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-3).

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3.21.4Harvey 2:37

Unus enim et idem Spiritus Dei, qui in prophetis quidem preconavit quis et qualis esset adventus Domini, in Senioribus autem interpretatus est bene quz bene prophetata fuerant; ipse et in Apostolis annuntiavit, plenitudinem temporum adoptionis venisse, et proximasse regnum caelorum, et inhabitare intra homines credentes in eum qui ex Virgine natus est Emmanuel. Quemadmodum ipsi testificantur, quoniam priusquam convenisset Joseph cum Maria, manente igitur ea in virginitate, incenta est tn utero habens de Spiritu sancto; et quoniam dixit ei Gabriel Angelus: Spiritus sanctus adveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit te: quapropter quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei; et quoniam Angelus in somnis dixit ad Joseph: Hoc autem factum est, ut adimpleretur quod dictum est ab Esaia Propheta: Ecce virgo in utero concipiet. Seniores autem sic interpretati sunt dixisse Esaiam; Ef adjecit Dominus loqui ad Achaz: Pete tibi signum a Domino Deo tuo in profundum deorsum, aut in altitudinem sursum. Et dixit Achaz: Non petam, et non tentabo Dominum. Et dixit: Non pusillum vobis agonem prabere hominibus, et quemadmodum Dominus prastat agonem? Propter hoc Dominus ipse dabit vobis signum. Ecce, Virgo in ventre accipiet, et pariet. filium, et vocabitis nomen ejus Emmanuel. Butyrum et mel manducabit: priusquam cognoscat aut eligat mala, commutabit bonum: quoniam priusquam cognoscat infans bonum. vel malum, non consentiet nequitie, uti eligat bonum. Diligenter igitur significavit Spiritus sanctus per ea que dicta sunt generationem ejus quae est ex Virgine, et substantiam, quoniam Deus: (Emmanuel enim nomen hoc significat), et manifestat, quoniam homo, in eo quod dicit: Butyrum et mel manducabit; et in eo quod infantem nominat eum, et, priusquam cognoscat bonum et malum: hec enim omnia signa sunt hominis infantis. Quod autem mon consentiet nequitim, ut eligat bonum, proprium hoe est Dei, uti non per hoc quod manducabit butyrum et mel nude solummodo eum hominem intelligeremus, neque rursus per nomen Emmanuel, sine carne eum Deum suspicaremur.

For one and the same Spirit of God, who in the prophets proclaimed what the Lord’s coming would be and of what kind, and in the elders translated well what had been well prophesied, himself also proclaimed in the apostles that the fullness of the times of adoption had come, that the kingdom of heaven had drawn near, and that he dwelt within those who believe in him who was born of the virgin, Emmanuel. As they themselves testify: that before Joseph came together with Mary, while she therefore remained in virginity, “she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit”; and that the angel Gabriel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one who will be born of you will be called the Son of God”; and that the angel said to Joseph in a dream: “Now this took place to fulfil what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb.” And the elders translated Isaiah as having said: “And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, in the depth below or in the height above. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said: Is it a small thing for you to make a contest for men? And how does the Lord make a contest? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey; before he knows or chooses evil, he will exchange it for good; for before the child knows good or evil, he will not consent to wickedness, so as to choose the good.” So the Holy Spirit carefully signified by these words his generation from the virgin, and his substance, that he is God (for the name Emmanuel signifies this); and he shows that he is man by saying, “He shall eat butter and honey,” and by calling him a child, and by “before he knows good and evil”; for all these are signs of a human child. But that “he will not consent to wickedness, so as to choose the good” is proper to God; so that we should not, because he will eat butter and honey, understand him to be merely a man, nor again, because of the name Emmanuel, suppose him to be God without flesh.

Matt 1:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 1:35 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 1:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 1:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:16 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The same Spirit spoke through the prophets, the Septuagint translators and the apostles; Isaiah 7 shows Emmanuel to be both God and man, born of a virgin.

Quotations: Matt 1:18; Luke 1:35; Matt 1:22–23; Isa 7:10–16 (LXX). “Make a contest” renders agonem praebere/praestat (Greek ἀγῶνα παρέχειν, “to weary”); the second clause is translated as the Latin stands.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR read Latin as Greek; column number; margin reference; margin reference and OCR slip; page number and OCR slip; running head; split word; stray mark): c«e- lorum → caelorum; Vir- gine → Virgine; testificantur, LIBIL quoniam → testificantur, quoniam; J oseph → Joseph; manente OR ΠΤ xx igitur → manente igitur; sanctus Matt.1.18 adoeniet → sanctus adveniet; quapropter 1quod Mat. 133 nascetur → quapropter quod nascetur; concipiet. Baal. vit. 10— 2. Seniores → concipiet. Seniores; dizit μ. 217. Achaz → dixit Achaz; Dominum. ΕἾ dizit → Dominum. Et dixit; agonem? | Propter → agonem? Propter; nomen a. 957. ejus → nomen ejus; quzse ^est → quae est.

Topics: Christology, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.4 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-4).

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3.21.5Harvey 2:37

Et in eo quod dicit, Audite domus David, significantis erat, quoniam quem promisit Deus David, de fructu ventris ejus aeternum suscitaturum se Regem, hic est qui ex Virgine, quse fuit de genere David, generatus est. Propter hoc enim et de fructu ventris ejus Regem promisit, quod erat proprium virginis praegnantis; et non de fructu lumborum ejus, nec de fructu renum ejus, quod est proprium viri generantis, et mulieris ex viro conceptionem facientis. Circumscripsit igitur genitalia viri in promissione Scriptura: imo vero nee commemoratur, quoniam non ex voluntate viri erat, qui nascebatur. Statuit autem et confirmavit fructum ventris, ut generationem ejus qui erat futurus ex virgine, pronuntiaret, quemadmodum Elizabeth impleta Spiritu sancto testificata est, dicens ad Mariam: Benedicta tu inter mulieres, et benedictus fructus ventris tui; significante Spiritu sancto audire volentibus, repromissionem quam repromisit Deus, de fructu ventris ejus suscitare Regem, impletam esse in Virginis, hoc est in Maris, partu. Qui igitur transmutant id quod apud Esaiam, Ecce, adolescentula in ventre concipiet, et Joseph filium eum volunt esse, illud transmutent quod est repromissionis, quod apud David positum est, ubi promisit illi Deus, de fructu ventris ejus suscitare cornu Christi? Regis. Sed non intellexerunt: caeterum etiam hoc quoque ausi fuissent demutare.

And in saying, “Hear, O house of David,” he was signifying that the eternal King whom God promised David to raise up from the fruit of his womb is the one who was begotten of the virgin, who was of the line of David. For this reason he promised a King “from the fruit of his womb,” which is proper to a pregnant virgin, and not “from the fruit of his loins” nor “from the fruit of his reins,” which is proper to a man who begets and to a woman who conceives by a man. So in the promise Scripture excluded the man’s generative organs; indeed they are not even mentioned, because he who was born was not of the will of man. But it fixed and confirmed “the fruit of the womb,” to announce the generation of him who was to be from the virgin; as Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, testified, saying to Mary: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” The Holy Spirit signifies to those willing to hear that the promise God made, to raise up a King from the fruit of his womb, was fulfilled in the childbearing of the virgin, that is, of Mary. Let those, then, who alter the text of Isaiah to “Behold, a young woman shall conceive in her womb,” and want him to be Joseph’s son, alter also the promise placed in David, where God promised him to raise up from the fruit of his womb the horn of Christ the King. But they did not understand; otherwise they would have dared to alter this too.

Isa 7:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 132:11 (131:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:13 (echo, medium confidence) · Luke 1:42 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 132:17 (131:17 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God promised David a king “from the fruit of his womb,” not “of his loins,” pointing to the birth from a virgin, as Elizabeth confirmed.

Harvey’s chapter title was removed. Quotations and allusions: Isa 7:13; Ps 132:11 (LXX 131:11); John 1:13; Luke 1:42; Ps 132:17 (LXX 131:17).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (editor's chapter title; OCR slip; margin reference): Quid est quod dictum est ad David: De fructu ventris ——— Er in eo → Et in eo; ejus Ps. exxxi 11. seternum → ejus aeternum.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.5 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-5).

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3.21.6Harvey 2:37

Quod autem dixerit Esaias, In profundum deorsum, vel in altitudinem sursum, significantis fuit, quoniam qui descendebat ipse erat et qui ascendebat. Ineo autem quod dixerit: Ipse Dominus dabit signum, id quod erat inopinatum generationis ejus significavit, quod nec factum esset aliter, nisi Deus Dominus omnium Deus ipse dedisset signum in domo David. Quid enim magnum, aut quod signum fieret in eo quod adolescentula concipiens ex viro peperisset, quod evenit omnibus que pariunt mulieribus? Sed quoniam inopinata salus hominibus inciperet fieri, Deo adjuvante, inopinatus et partus Virginis fiebat, Deo dante signum hoc, sed non homine operante illud.

And Isaiah’s saying, “in the depth below or in the height above,” signified that he who descended is the same who ascended. And by saying, “The Lord himself will give a sign,” he signified the unexpectedness of his generation, which would not have come about otherwise than if God, the Lord of all, God himself, had given the sign in the house of David. For what great thing, or what sign, would there be in a young woman conceiving by a man and giving birth — which happens to all women who give birth? But since an unexpected salvation was to begin for human beings with God’s help, the virgin’s childbirth was also unexpected, God giving this sign and not man bringing it about.

Isa 7:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 4:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 7:14 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: A young woman bearing a child by a man would be no sign; the unexpected birth from a virgin, given by God, matches the unexpected salvation.

Allusions: Isa 7:11, 14; Eph 4:10.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (margin debris; margin debris inside a word; margin reference; margin reference and running head; running head inside a word; OCR slip): Esai vi. n. altitudinem → altitudinem; descendebat xphes. iv. 10. LIB n. ipse → descendebat ipse; dixerit: 7086 DoGR.ILxxvi. minus → dixerit: Ipse Dominus; MASS. I In. eignificavit → significavit; concio. sca piens → concipiens; illud. Dan... → illud..

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.6 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-6).

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3.21.7Harvey 2:37

Propter hoc autem et Daniel previdens ejus adventum, lapidem sine manibus abscissum advenisse in hunc mundum. Hoc est enim quod sine manibus significabat, quod non operantibus humanis manibus, hoc est, virorum illorum qui solent lapides caedere, in hunc mundum ejus adventus erat, id est, non operante in eum Joseph, sed sola Maria cooperante dispositioni. Hic enim lapis a terra, et ex virtute et arte constat Dei. Propter hoc autem et Esaias ait: Sic dicit Dominus: Ecce, ego mitto in fundamenta Sion lapidem pretiosum, electum, summum, angularem, honorificum: uti non ex voluntate viri, sed ex voluntate Dei, adventum ejus qui secundum hominem est intelligamus.

For this reason Daniel too, foreseeing his coming, said that a stone cut without hands had come into this world. For this is what “without hands” signified: that his coming into this world was not by the work of human hands, that is, of those men who are accustomed to cut stones; that is, Joseph had no part in it, but Mary alone cooperated with the dispensation. For this stone is from the earth, and it has its being from the power and the skill of God. For this reason Isaiah too says: “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am setting in the foundations of Zion a precious stone, chosen, chief, a cornerstone, honored,” so that we may understand that his coming as man was not from the will of a man but from the will of God.

Dan 2:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Dan 2:45 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 28:16 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:13 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Daniel’s stone cut without hands and Isaiah’s cornerstone show that Christ was born of Mary without Joseph’s part, by God’s will.

Dan 2:34, 45 (the stone cut without hands); Isa 28:16. The closing words echo John 1:13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray digit (note marker); stray mark): in hune mundum → in hunc mundum; a terra, 3et ex → a terra, et ex; intelligamus. ^ → intelligamus..

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.7 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-7).

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3.21.8Harvey 2:37

Propter hoc autem et Moyses ostendens typum, projecit virgam in terram, ut ea incarnata, omnem Aegyptiorum prevaricationem, que insurgebat adversus Dei dispositionem, argueret et absorberet: et ut ipsi Aegyptii testificarentur, quoniam digitus est Dei qui salutem operatur populo, et non Joseph filius. Si enim Joseph filius esset, quemadmodum plus poterat quam Solomon, aut plus quam Jonas habere, aut plus esse David, cum esset ex eadem seminatione generatus, et proles exsistens ipsorum? Ut quid autem et beatum dicebat Petrum, quod eum cognosceret esse Filium Dei vivi?

For this reason Moses too, showing a type, threw his rod upon the ground, so that, having become flesh, it might expose and swallow up all the transgression of the Egyptians that rose up against God’s dispensation; and so that the Egyptians themselves might testify that it is the finger of God that works salvation for the people, and not the son of Joseph. For if he were the son of Joseph, how could he be greater than Solomon, or greater than Jonah, or be greater than David, since he would have been begotten of the same seed and would be their offspring? And why did he also call Peter blessed because he recognized him to be the Son of the living God?

Exod 7:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 7:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 8:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 12:41 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 12:42 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 22:45 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 16:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 16:17 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Moses’ rod that became a serpent, and Christ’s superiority to Solomon, Jonah and David, show that he was not Joseph’s son.

Exod 7:9–12 (the rod; “incarnata”, “having become flesh”, applies the living serpent to the incarnation); Exod 8:19 (the finger of God); Matt 12:41–42 (greater than Jonah, than Solomon); Matt 22:43–45 (David’s Lord); Matt 16:16–17 (Peter called blessed).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR of Æ; margin reference; margin reference (Massuet page); margin reference and OCR slip; margin reference inside a word; note debris; running head; stray marks): Exoivi.9 PropterR hoc → Propter hoc; omnem ZEgyptiorum → omnem Aegyptiorum; argueret et Exod. «11.19. absorberet → argueret et absorberet; ipsi ZEgyptii → ipsi Aegyptii; Si LIB n enim → Si enim; quam Solo6&.riixsix. mon → quam Solomon; cum esset MASS. τ. ex eadem → cum esset ex eadem; ipsorum? τς τη a, Ut quid → ipsorum? Ut quid; cognosceret ** esse → cognosceret esse.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.8 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-8).

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3.21.9Harvey 2:37

Super haec autem nec rex esse posset, si quidem Joseph filius fuisset; nec haeres, secundum Hieremiam. Joseph enim Joacim et Jechoniae filius ostenditur, quemadmodum et Matthaeus generationem ejus exponit. Jechonias autem, et qui ab eo omnes, abdicati sunt a regno, Hieremia dicente sic: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, si factus fuerit. Jechonias filius Joacim, reae Juda, signaculum in manu dextera mea, inde abstraham eum, et tradam eum in manu querentium animam tuam. Et iterum: Inhonoratus est Jechonias, quemadmodum vas quod non est opus, quoniam projectus est in terram, quam non sciebat. Terra audi sermonem Domini: scribe virum hunc abdicatum hominem, quoniam non augebit de semine ejus sedens super thronum David, princeps in Juda. Et iterum Deus ait super Joacim patrem ejus: Propter hoc sic dicit. Dominus super Joacim patrem ejus, regem Judea: Non enim erit ex eo sedens super thronum David; et mortificatum ejus. erit. projectum in astu diei, et in glacie noctis, et respiciam super eum, et super filios ejus, et inferam super eos, et super inhabitantes Hierusalem, super terram Juda,omnia mala, que locutus sum super eos. Qui ergo eum dicunt ex Joseph generatum, et in eo habere spem, abdicatos se faciunt a regno, sub maledictione et increpatione decidentes, que erga Jechoniam et in semen ejus. Propter hoc enim dicta sunt haec de Jechonia, Spiritu presciente ea quae a malis doctoribus dicuntur; uti discant, quoniam ex semine ejus, id est ex Joseph, non erit natus, sed secundum repromissionem Dei de ventre David suscitatur …

Besides this, he could not even be king if he had been the son of Joseph, nor heir, according to Jeremiah. For Joseph is shown to be the son of Joachim and Jeconiah, as Matthew too sets out his genealogy. But Jeconiah, and all who came from him, were disinherited from the kingdom, as Jeremiah says: “As I live, says the Lord, if Jeconiah son of Joachim, king of Judah, should become a signet on my right hand, I will pull him off from there and hand him over into the hand of those who seek your life.” And again: “Jeconiah is dishonored, like a vessel that is of no use, because he has been cast out into a land that he did not know. Earth, hear the word of the Lord: write down this man as a disinherited man, for none of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, a ruler in Judah.” And again God says concerning Joachim his father: “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Joachim his father, king of Judea: There shall be none from him sitting on the throne of David; and his corpse shall be cast out in the heat of the day and in the frost of the night; and I will look upon him and upon his sons, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, upon the land of Judah, all the evils that I have spoken against them.” So those who say that he was begotten of Joseph, and that they have their hope in him, make themselves disinherited from the kingdom, falling under the curse and rebuke that were spoken against Jeconiah and against his seed. For this is why these things were said about Jeconiah: the Spirit foreknew what is said by the evil teachers, so that they may learn that he would not be born of his seed, that is, of Joseph, but that according to God’s promise from the womb of David is raised up …

Matt 1:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 1:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 22:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 22:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 22:28 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 22:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 22:30 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 36:30 (43:30 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 36:31 (43:31 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Joseph descends from the disinherited Jeconiah, so a Christ born of Joseph could be neither king nor heir; he comes from David by God’s promise.

Jer 22:24–25, 28–30 (LXX form, “Jeconiah son of Joachim”); Jer 36:30–31 (Joachim/Jehoiakim; LXX Jer 43:30–31); Matt 1:11–12 (the genealogy). The scan’s OCR lost the end of the section after “is raised up”; in the Latin tradition it continues, roughly, “an eternal King, who recapitulates all things in himself”. Harvey’s chapter title and note debris were removed. “reae Juda” is translated “king of Judah” and “mortificatum ejus” as “his corpse”, by sense of the OCR.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note debris and running head; the rest of the sentence was lost in the OCR; OCR slip; OCR slip; margin number; OCR slips; editor's chapter title; OCR slip; margin reference; margin reference inside a word; margin reference; split word; stray letters; OCR slip): Ostensio quoniam, si Joseph filius fuisset Dominus, non rex esse potuisset. r.21 — Super hsc → Super haec; si quidem J oseph Matt. xxil.45. filius → si quidem Joseph filius; nec hsres → nec haeres; Joseph enim utm Joacim et Jechonige filius → Joseph enim Joacim et Jechoniae filius; et Matwa. 1.12, thaeus → et Matthaeus; ἘΠῚ iterum: 3.250. Inhonoratus → Et iterum: Inhonoratus; opus, » Jer, xxil. 98 quoniam → opus, quoniam; patrem Je Jer, xxvi ejus → patrem ejus; patrem jus, regem → patrem ejus, regem; ea quz ἃ malis → ea quae a malis; suscitatur 3 quod, naeds no alteration, as proαὐτοῦ, i. e. cadaver. 120 RECAPITULANTUR OMNIA → suscitatur ….

Topics: Christology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.9 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-9).

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3.21.10Harvey 2:37

Quemadmodum per inobedientiam unius hominis introitum peccatum habuit, et per peccatum mors obtinuit; sic et per obedientiam unius hominis justitia introducta vitam fructificet his, qui olim mortui erant, hominibus. Et quemadmodum protoplastus ille Adam de rudi terra, et de adhuc virgine, (nondum enim pluerat Deus, et homo non erat operatus terram) habuit substantiam, et plasmatus est manu Dei, id est, Verbo Dei, omnia enim per ipsum facta sunt, et sumsit Dominus limum a terra, et plasmavit hominem: ita recapitulans in se Adam ipse Verbum exsistens, ex Maria que adhuc erat Virgo, recte accipiebat generationem Adae recapitulationis. Si igitur primus Adam habuit patrem hominem, et ex semine viri natus est; merito dicerent, et secundum Adam ex Joseph esse generatum. Si autem ille de terra quidem sumtus est, et Verbo Dei plasmatus est, oportebat id ipsum Verbum recapitulationem Adae in semetipsum faciens, ejusdem generationis habere similitudinem. Quare igitur non iterum sumsit limum Deus, sed ex Maria operatus est plasmationem fieri? Ut non alia plasmatio fieret, neque alia esset plasmatio que salvaretur, sed eadem ipsa recapitularetur, servata similitudine.

Just as through the disobedience of one man sin made its entrance, and through sin death prevailed, so too through the obedience of one man righteousness has been brought in, so that it may make life bear fruit in those human beings who were once dead. And just as that first-formed Adam had his substance from untilled and still virgin earth (“for God had not yet sent rain, and man had not worked the ground”), and was formed by the hand of God, that is, by the Word of God — for “all things were made through him,” and “the Lord took mud from the earth and formed man” — so he who is himself the Word, recapitulating Adam in himself, rightly received from Mary, who was still a virgin, the birth that is the recapitulation of Adam. If, then, the first Adam had a man for his father and was born of a man’s seed, they would be right to say that the second Adam too was begotten of Joseph. But if the former was taken from the earth and formed by the Word of God, it was fitting that this same Word, making the recapitulation of Adam in himself, should have the likeness of the same birth. Why, then, did God not take mud again, but brought it about that the formation should be made from Mary? So that no other formation should come into being, nor should there be another handiwork that is saved, but that the very same one should be recapitulated, the likeness being preserved.

Rom 5:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: As Adam was formed from virgin earth by the Word, Christ the Word was born of the virgin Mary to recapitulate the same Adam.

Rom 5:12, 19; Gen 2:5; John 1:3; Gen 2:7. A stray “fin.” at the start (margin debris) was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note debris; OCR slip; margin reference; margin reference inside a word; stray digits; OCR slips; stray margin marks; stray mark): fin.,,, Quemadmodum → Quemadmodum; nondum enim.4.. pluerat Deus, σὲ homo mon erat → nondum enim pluerat Deus, et homo non erat; substanJohi3 — tiam → substantiam; omnia enim Gen.1.7. per ipsum → omnia enim per ipsum; generationem Ad: recapitulationis → generationem Adae recapitulationis; Sr igitur → Si igitur; recapitulationem Adee → recapitulationem Adae; generationis 1 See p. ror, n. δ. a Catena on S. Luke. Bibl. Royale, habere → generationis habere; plasmationem fieri* Ut → plasmationem fieri? Ut; similitudine. — → similitudine..

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.10 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-21-10).

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Against 3, chapter 22

3.22.1Harvey 2:37

Errant igitur qui dicunt, eum nihil ex Virgine accepisse, ut abjiciant carnis hereditatem, abjiciant autem et similitudinem. Si enim ille quidem de terra, et manu et artificio Dei, plasmationem et substantiam habuit, hic autem non manu et artificio Dei; jam non servavit similitudinem hominis, qui factus est secundum imaginem ipsius et similitudinem, et inconstans artificium videbitur, non habens circa quod ostendat sapientiam suam. Hoc autem dicere est, et putative apparuisse eum, et tanquam hominem, eum non esset homo: et factum eum hominem, nihil assumentem de homine. Si enim non accepit ab homine substantiam carnis, neque homo factus est, neque Filius Hominis: et si hoc non factus est quod nos eramus, non magnum faciebat quod passus est et sustinuit. Nos autem quoniam corpus sumus de terra acceptum, et anima accipiens a Deo spiritum, omnis quicunque confitebitur. Hoc itaque factum est Verbum Dei, suum plasma semetipsum recapitulans: et propter hoc Filium Hominis se confitetur, et beatificat mites, quoniam ipsi hereditabunt terram. Et Apostolus autem Paulus in epistola que est ad Galatas, manifeste ait: Misit Deus Filium suum, factum de muliere. Et rursus in ea que est ad Romanos: De Filio autem, inquit, ejus, qui factus est ex semine David secundum carnem, qui predestinatus est Filius Dei in virtute, secundum Spiritum sanctificationis, ex resurrectione mortuorum, Jesu Christi Domini nostri.

Those, then, are in error who say that he received nothing from the virgin, so that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh and cast away the likeness as well. For if the first man had his formation and substance from the earth and by the hand and workmanship of God, but this one not by the hand and workmanship of God, then he did not preserve the likeness of the man who was made after his image and likeness, and the workmanship will appear inconsistent, having nothing in which to show its wisdom. But this amounts to saying that he appeared only in seeming, as a man when he was not a man, and that he was made man while taking nothing from man. For if he did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being, he was made neither man nor Son of Man; and if he was not made what we were, it was no great thing that he suffered and endured. But that we are a body taken from the earth and a soul receiving spirit from God, everyone will confess. This, then, is what the Word of God was made, recapitulating his own handiwork in himself; and for this reason he confesses himself the Son of Man and blesses the meek, “because they shall inherit the earth.” And the apostle Paul also says plainly in the letter to the Galatians: “God sent his Son, made of a woman.” And again in the letter to the Romans: “Concerning his Son,” he says, “who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestined Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Gen 1:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 5:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 4:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:4 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who say Christ took nothing from the virgin destroy his likeness to Adam; Scripture says he was made of a woman and of David’s seed according to the flesh.

Harvey’s chapter title was removed. The argument is against those (Valentinians and others) who held that Christ passed through Mary without taking flesh from her. Quotations: Matt 5:5; Gal 4:4; Rom 1:3–4.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip (Greek letter for Latin a); margin debris; margin reference; page number of Massuet in the text; OCR slip; stray marks; OCR slip): anima accipiens ἃ Deo → anima accipiens a Deo; hoe Μ. 310. non → hoc non; plasma 81}. semetipsum → plasma semetipsum; terram. mate. v.5. Et → terram. Et; Misi? Deus → Misit Deus; rursus Gat iv. 4 in → rursus in; qui Rom.i.3, 4. factus → qui factus; secundum | Spiritum | sanctificationis, en resurrectione → secundum Spiritum sanctificationis, ex resurrectione.

Topics: Christology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.22.1 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-22-1).

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3.22.2Harvey 2:37

Caeterum supervacua est in Mariam descensio ejus. Quid enim in eam descendebat, si nihil incipiebat sumere ab ea? Aut si nihil sumsisset ex Maria, nunquam eas que a terra erant percepisset escas, per quas id quod a terra sumtum est nutritur corpus: nec quadriginta diebus, quemadmodum Moyses et Helias, jejunans esurisset corpus ejus, suam quaerens escam: sed nec Johannes discipulus ejus de eo scribens dixisset, Jesus autem fatigatus in itinere sedebat: nec David praeclamasset in eum, Et super dolorem vulnerum meorum apposuerunt: nec lacrymasset super Lazarum: nec sudasset globos sanguinis: nec dixisset, Tristis est anima mea: nec percusso latere exisset sanguis et aqua. Hsec enim omnia signa carnis, que a terra sumta est, quam in se recapitulatus est, suum plasma salvans.

Superfluous, besides, is his descent into Mary. For why did he descend into her, if he was to take nothing from her? Or if he had taken nothing from Mary, he would never have taken the foods that come from the earth, by which the body taken from the earth is nourished; nor would his body have hungered after fasting forty days, like Moses and Elijah, seeking its own food; nor would his disciple John have written of him, “But Jesus, wearied from the journey, was sitting down”; nor would David have proclaimed of him beforehand, “And they added to the pain of my wounds”; nor would he have wept over Lazarus; nor sweated drops of blood; nor said, “My soul is sorrowful”; nor would blood and water have come out when his side was pierced. For all these are signs of the flesh taken from the earth, which he recapitulated in himself, saving his own handiwork.

Matt 4:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 34:28 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Kgs 19:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 4:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 69:26 (68:27 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 11:35 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 22:44 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:38 (quotation, high confidence) · John 19:34 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ’s hunger, weariness, tears, bloody sweat, sorrow, and the blood and water from his side prove he took real flesh from Mary.

Harvey’s notes (on Epiphanius, Ancoratus 31, and the Clermont manuscript) were removed from the end of the text. Quotations and allusions: Matt 4:2; Exod 34:28; 1 Kgs 19:8; John 4:6; Ps 69:26 (LXX 68:27); John 11:35; Luke 22:44; Matt 26:38; John 19:34.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's notes leaked into the text; OCR slip; line number; margin reference; margin reference and debris; margin reference; OCR slip): Cseterum → Caeterum; Jo.iv.€. Johannes → Johannes; itinere 5sedebat → itinere sedebat; eulnerum → vulnerum; lacrymasset Joh. xi.35. Super → lacrymasset super; nec dixisset, n.... Matt xxvi. ° quod Tristis → nec dixisset, Tristis; exisset. sanguis Soh. xix.» οὗ aqua. → exisset sanguis et aqua.; in Ancoratu, ὃ 31, «ubi citaturus verba ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ Luce de sudore Christi sanguineo, λας 4 CLERM. sumptum nutriretur. sua prafatur: Keira: ἐν τῷ κατὰ Aov5 CLERM. sedit. → .

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.22.2 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-22-2).

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3.22.3Harvey 2:37

Quare Lucas Lucas genealogiam, que est a generatione Domini nostri usque ad Adam, septuaginta duas generationes habere ostendit, finem conjungens initio, et significans quoniam ipse est, qui omnes gentes exinde ab Adam dispersas, et universas linguas, et generationem hominum cum ipso Adam in semetipso recapitulatus est. Unde et a Paulo typus futuri dictus est ipse Adam: quoniam futuram circa Filium Dei humani generis dispositionem in semetipsum fabricator omnium Verbum praeformaverat, praedestinante Deo primum animalem hominem, videlicet ut a spiritali salvaretur. Cum enim preexisteret salvans, oportebat et quod salvaretur fieri, uti non vacuum sit salvans.

Therefore Luke shows that the genealogy which runs from the generation of our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations, joining the end to the beginning and signifying that it is he who recapitulated in himself all the nations dispersed from Adam onward, and all languages, and the generation of human beings together with Adam himself. Hence Adam himself was also called by Paul “a type of the one who was to come,” because the Word, the maker of all things, had formed beforehand in himself the future dispensation of the human race concerning the Son of God, God predestining the first, animal man, namely so that he might be saved by the spiritual one. For since the Saviour already existed, what was to be saved also had to come into being, so that the Saviour should not be in vain.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Luke 3:23–38 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:46 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Luke’s seventy-two generations from Christ back to Adam show Christ summing up all nations in himself; Adam was a type of the one to come.

Debris at the start of the section (apparently from Harvey’s margin or title) was removed. Luke’s genealogy has seventy-two (or seventy-seven) names depending on the count and the manuscripts; Irenaeus links the number to the seventy-two nations of Gen 10. Quotations and allusions: Luke 3:23–38; Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:45–46.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; margin or title debris; stray Greek letter): a Domino inchoans genealogiam, in Adam — xi retulit: e quot sint ab Adam usque ad Dominum PnRorrrR hoc Lucas → Lucas; quoniam Ὁ ipse → quoniam ipse; videlicet ut 8. spiritali → videlicet ut a spiritali.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.22.3 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-22-3).

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3.22.4Harvey 2:37

Consequenter autem et Maria virgo obediens invenitur, dicens: Ecce ancilla tua Domine, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Eva vero inobediens: non obaudivit enim, adhuc cum esset virgo. Quemadmodum illa virum quidem habens Adam, virgo tamen adhue exsistens (erant enim utrique nudi in Paradiso, et non confundebantur, quoniam paulo ante facti, non intellectum habebant filiorum generationis; oportebat enim illos primo adolescere, dehinc sic multiplicari) inobediens facta, et sibi, et universo generi humano causa facta est mortis: sic et Maria habens praedestinatum virum, et tamen virgo, obediens, et sibi et universo generi humano causa facta est salutis. Et propter hoc Lex eam quae desponsata erat viro, licet virgo sit adhue, uxorem ejus qui desponsaverat vocat, eam quze est a Maria in Evam recirculationem significans: quia non aliter quod colligatum est solveretur, nisi ips compagines alligationis reflectantur retrorsus; ut prima conjunctiones solvantur per secundas, secunde rursus liberent primas. Et evenit primam quidem compaginem a secunda colligatione solvere, secundam vero colligationem prime solutionis habere locum. Et propter hoc Dominus dicebat primos quidem novissimos futuros et novissimos primos. Et propheta autem hoc idem significat, dicens: Pro patribus. nati sunt tibi filii. Primogenitus enim mortuorum natus Dominus, et in sinum suum recipiens pristinos patres, regeneravit eos in vitam Dei, ipse initium viventium factus, quoniam Adam initium morientium factus est. Propter hoc et Lucas initium generationis a Domino inchoans in Adam retulit, significans quoniam non illi hunc, sed hic illos in Evangelium. vitae regeneravit. Sic autem et Eve inobedientiae nodus solutionem accepit per obedientiam Mariae. Quod enim alligavit virgo Eva per incredulitatem, hoc virgo Maria solvit per fidem.

Correspondingly, the virgin Mary is found obedient, saying, “Behold your handmaid, Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey while she was still a virgin. Just as she, who had Adam for a husband and yet was still a virgin (for they were both naked in Paradise and were not ashamed, because, having been made a little before, they had no understanding of begetting children; for they had first to grow up and then to multiply), became disobedient and was made the cause of death both for herself and for the whole human race, so also Mary, having a husband destined for her and yet a virgin, by obeying was made the cause of salvation both for herself and for the whole human race. And for this reason the law calls a woman betrothed to a man the wife of the one who betrothed her, though she is still a virgin, signifying the circling back from Mary to Eve. For what has been tied together could not be untied unless the joints of the binding were turned back in reverse, so that the first knots are untied by the second, and the second in turn free the first. And so it happens that the first bond is untied by the second tying, while the second tying takes the place of an untying of the first. For this reason the Lord said that the first will be last and the last first. And the prophet signifies the same, saying, “In place of fathers, sons have been born to you.” For the Lord, born the firstborn of the dead and receiving the ancient fathers into his bosom, regenerated them into the life of God, he himself having become the beginning of the living, as Adam became the beginning of the dying. For this reason Luke too, beginning the genealogy from the Lord, carried it back to Adam, signifying that it was not they who regenerated him, but he who regenerated them into the gospel of life. So also the knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve bound through unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed through faith.

Luke 1:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:28 (echo, medium confidence) · Deut 22:23 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 19:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 45:16 (44:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 3:23–38 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Mary’s obedience undid Eve’s disobedience: as the virgin Eve bound the knot by unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed it by faith.

Mary as the new Eve: translated as written. “The law” refers to Deut 22:23–24, which calls a betrothed virgin the wife of her betrothed. Quotations and allusions: Luke 1:38; Gen 2:25; Gen 1:28; Matt 19:30; Ps 45:16 (LXX 44:17); Col 1:18; Luke 3:23–38.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and margin debris; margin debris; margin debris inside a word; margin debris; OCR slip; margin reference; margin reference inside a word; margin reference inside a word; OCR slip): Ecce tue. 1. 33. ancilla → Ecce ancilla; Paradiso, δέ non confundeGen. ii. ss. bantur → Paradiso, et non confundebantur; generi 118. 11. humano → generi humano; eam que GR. desponsata → eam quae desponsata; qui Mass IIL desponsaverat → qui desponsaverat; recirculaGen. 817, tionem → recirculationem; solveraet 31. tur → solveretur; solutionis Matt. xix.90, habere → solutionis habere; quidem o. se. novissimos → quidem novissimos; tibi füü. 8 Primogenitus → tibi filii. Primogenitus; facetus → factus.

Topics: Christology, Marriage

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.22.4 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-22-4).

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Against 3, chapter 23

3.23.1Harvey 2:37

Necesse ergo fuit, Dominum ad perditam ovem venientem, et tantae dispositionis recapitulationem facientem, et suum plasma requirentem, illum ipsum hominem salvare, qui factus fuerat secundum imaginem et similitudinem ejus, id est, Adam adimplentem tempora ejus condemnationis, que facta fuerat propter inobedientiam, qua Pater posuit in sua potestate: quoniam et omnis dispositio salutis, quze circa hominem fuit, secundum placitum fiebat Patris, uti non vinceretur Deus, neque infirmaretur ars ejus. — Si enim qui factus fuerat a Deo homo ut viveret, hic amittens vitam laesus a serpente qui depravaverat eum, jam non reverteretur ad vitam, sed in totum projectus esset morti, victus esset Deus, et superasset serpentis nequitia voluntatem Dei. Sed quoniam Deus invictus et magnanimis est, magnanimem quidem se exhibuit ad correptionem hominis et probationem omnium, quemadmodum praediximus; per secundum autem hominem alligavit fortem, et diripuit ejus vasa, et evacuavit mortem vivificans eum hominem qui fuerat mortificatus. Primum enim possessionis ejus vas Ádam factus est, quem et tenebat sub sua potestate, hoc est, praevaricationem inique inferens ei, et per * occasionem immortalitatis mortificationem faciens in eum. — Etenim promittens futuros eos tanquam deos, quod ei non est omnino possibile, mortem fecit in eis: unde et juste a Deo recaptivatus, qui hominem captivum duxerat; solutus est autem condemnationis vinculis, qui captivus ductus fuerat homo.

It was necessary, therefore, that the Lord, coming to the lost sheep, making the recapitulation of so great a dispensation and seeking his own handiwork, should save that very man who had been made after his image and likeness, that is, Adam, fulfilling the times of his condemnation incurred through disobedience, times which the Father set in his own authority; for the whole dispensation of salvation concerning man took place according to the good pleasure of the Father, so that God should not be overcome nor his art weakened. For if the man made by God to live, having lost life when he was injured by the serpent that corrupted him, were no longer to return to life but were wholly cast away to death, God would have been overcome, and the serpent’s wickedness would have prevailed over the will of God. But since God is invincible and magnanimous, he showed himself magnanimous for the correction of man and the testing of all, as we said before; and through the second man he bound the strong one, plundered his goods, and abolished death, bringing to life the man who had been put to death. For Adam became the first vessel of his possession, whom he held under his power, that is, by wickedly bringing transgression upon him and, under the pretext of immortality, bringing death upon him. For by promising that they would be like gods, which is not at all in his power, he brought death on them. Hence he who had taken man captive was justly taken captive in turn by God, and man, who had been taken captive, was set free from the chains of condemnation.

Luke 15:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 1:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 12:29 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 4:8 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ had to save Adam himself, or the serpent would have defeated God; the captor was taken captive and man was set free.

Harvey’s chapter title was removed. Chapter 23 is directed against Tatian, who denied that Adam was saved (see 3.23.8). Quotations and allusions: Luke 15:4–6; Gen 1:26; Acts 1:7; Matt 12:29; Gen 3:5; Eph 4:8 / Ps 68:18.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip (Greek letter for Latin a); line number; hyphenated word; margin debris; margin reference inside a word): Adam 9adim- plentem → Adam adimplentem; propter 1B. Π|. inobedientiam → propter inobedientiam; omnis ΟἿ. Ill. dispositio → omnis dispositio; placitum MASS UL fiebat → placitum fiebat; fuerat ἃ Deo homo → fuerat a Deo homo; vitam 1:08118 18 serpente → vitam laesus a serpente; alliMatt. xit. 39. gavit → alligavit; promitcen. ui. δ. tens → promittens.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.1 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-1).

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3.23.2Harvey 2:37

Hic est autem Adam, si oportet verum dicere, primiformis ille homo, de quo Scriptura ait dixisse Dominum: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram; nos autem omnes ex ipso: et quoniam sumus ex ipso, propterea quoque ipsius haereditavimus appellationem. Cum autem salvetur homo, oportet salvari eum qui prior formatus est homo. Quoniam nimis irrationabile est, illum quidem, qui vehementer ab inimico l:esus est, et prior captivitatem passus est, dicere non eripi ab eo qui vicerit inimicum, ereptos vero filios ejus, quos in eadem captivitate generavit. Nec victus quidem adhuc parebit inimicus, ipsis veteribus spoliis manentibus apud eum. Quemadmodum si hostes expugnaverint quosdam, et vinctos duxerint captivos, et multo tempore in servitute possederint eos, ita ut generent apud eos; et aliquis dolens pro his qui servi facti sunt, eosdem hostes expugnet: non tamen juste faciet, si filios quidem eorum qui captivi ducti sunt, liberet de potestate eorum qui in servitutem deduxerant patres eorum, ipsos vero qui captivitatem sustinuerunt subjectos relinquat inimicis, propter quos et ultionem fecit; consecutis libertatem filiis ex causa paternae vindicationis, sed non relictis ipsis patribus, qui ipsam captivitatem sustinuerunt. Neque enim infirmus est Deus neque injustus, qui opitulatus est homini et in suam libertatem restauravit eum.

Now this Adam, if one must tell the truth, is that first-formed man of whom Scripture says that the Lord said, “Let us make man after our image and likeness”; and we are all from him, and because we are from him, we have also inherited his name. When man is saved, then, the man who was formed first must be saved. For it is altogether unreasonable to say that he who was grievously injured by the enemy and was the first to suffer captivity is not rescued by him who conquered the enemy, while his children, whom he begot in that same captivity, are rescued. Nor would the enemy yet appear conquered if the old spoils themselves remained with him. It is as if enemies conquered certain people, led them away bound as captives, and held them in slavery a long time, so that they had children among them; and someone grieved for those who had become slaves conquered those same enemies: he would not act justly if he freed the children of the captives from the power of those who had enslaved their fathers, but left the captives themselves subject to the enemy, though it was on their account that he took vengeance, the children obtaining freedom by reason of the vindication of their fathers’ cause, while the fathers who endured the captivity itself were not left behind. For God is neither weak nor unjust, who helped man and restored him to his own freedom.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Gen 1:26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Adam, the first-formed man, must be saved along with his descendants, as a just liberator would free the captives themselves and not only their children.

Harvey’s note on the Syriac and the manuscripts was removed from the text. Quotation: Gen 1:26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note leaked into the text; OCR slip; margin debris; margin debris inside a word; stray mark): primiformis Cf," 134 ille → primiformis ille; nostram; nos autem omnes ex ipso: ef quoniam → nostram; nos autem omnes ex ipso: et quoniam; adhuc ^ parebit inimicus, ipsis Syriac, corre4 est, MSS., but GRADE erat, Lis. 111. veteribus → adhuc parebit inimicus, ipsis veteribus; hostes GR 111. expugnaverint → hostes expugnaverint; multo MAS. s. tempore → multo tempore; deduxe¢. so». rant → deduxerant; et * ultionem → et ultionem; consecuM. 221. tis → consecutis.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.2 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-2).

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3.23.3Harvey 2:37

Propter hoc et in initio transgressionis Ads, sicut enarrat Scriptura, non ipsum maledixit Adam, sed terram in operibus ejus, quemadmodum ex veteribus quidam ait: Quoniam quidem transtulit Deus maledictum in terram, ut non perseveraret in homine." Condemnationem autem transgressionis accepit homo tedia et terrenum laborem, et manducare panem in sudore vultus sui, et converti in terram, ex qua assumtus est; similiter autem et mulier taedia, et labores, et gemitus, et tristitias partus, et servitium, id est, ut serviret. viro suo: ut neque maledicti a Deo in totum perirent, neque sine increpatione perseverantes Deum contemnerent. Omnis autem maledictio decurrit in serpentem, qui seduxerat eos. Et dixit, inquit, Deus serpenti: Quoniam fecisti hoc, maledictus tu ab omnibus pecoribus, et ab omnibus bestiis terra. Hoc idem autem et Dominus in Evangelio, his qui a sinistris inveniuntur, ait: Abite maledicti in ignem aeternum, quem praparavit Pater meus diabolo et angelis ejus; significans quoniam non homini principaliter praeparatus est aeternus ignis, sed ei qui seduxit et offendere fecit hominem, et, inquam, qui princeps apostasiae est, Tprincipi abscessionis, et his angelis qui apostatae facti sunt cum eo: quem quidem juste percipient etiam hi qui similiter ut illi sine pcenitentia et sine regressu in malitise perseverant operibus.

For this reason too, at the beginning of Adam’s transgression, as Scripture relates, he did not curse Adam himself but the ground in his works, as one of the ancients says: “God transferred the curse to the ground, so that it might not remain on man.” As the condemnation of his transgression man received weariness and earthly toil, to eat bread in the sweat of his face, and to return to the earth from which he was taken; and likewise the woman received weariness, toils, groaning, the pains of childbirth, and servitude, that is, that she should serve her husband: so that, cursed by God, they would neither perish entirely, nor, continuing without rebuke, despise God. But the whole curse ran down upon the serpent that had led them astray. “And God,” it says, “said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle and above all the beasts of the earth.” The Lord too says the same in the Gospel to those found on the left: “Depart, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father prepared for the devil and his angels,” signifying that the eternal fire was not prepared principally for man, but for him who led man astray and made him stumble, him, I say, who is the chief of the apostasy, and for the angels who became apostates with him. Yet those too will justly receive it who, like them, persevere in works of wickedness without repentance and without turning back.

Gen 3:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:41 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God cursed the ground and the serpent, not Adam; the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, though the unrepentant share it.

“One of the ancients”: an earlier writer not otherwise identified (often thought to be an elder of Asia). The words “Tprincipi abscessionis” in the Latin appear to be a doublet (“chief of the defection”) and are rendered once. Quotations and allusions: Gen 3:17–19, 16, 14; Matt 25:41.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; line number; stray marks): quidam ait: ** Quoniam → quidam ait: Quoniam; Ht dizit → Et dixit; οἱ ab omnibus bestiis → et ab omnibus bestiis; in $gnem eternum, 5quem → in ignem aeternum, quem.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.3 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-3).

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3.23.4Harvey 2:37

Quemadmodum Cain, cum accepisset consilium a Deo, uti quiesceret in eo quod non recte divisisset eam quae erga fratrem erat communicationem, sed cum zelo et malitia suspicatus est posse dominari ejus, non solum non acquievit, sed et adjecit peccatum super peccatum, manifestans sententiam suam per operationem suam. Quod enim cogitavit hoc et operatus est, dominatus est et interfecit eum, subjiciente Deo justum injusto, ut ille quidem ex iis quze passus est justus ostendatur; hic vero per ea quz commisit, detegeretur injustus. Et ne sic quidem mitigatus est, nec quievit super factum malum; sed interrogatus ubi esset frater ejus, Nescio, ait; numquid. custos fratris mei sum ego? extendens et multiplicans malum per responsionem. Etenim si malum est occidere fratrem, multo pejus sic audacter et irreverenter respondere omnia scienti Deo, quasi possit frustrari eum. Propter hoc et ipse maledictionem portavit, quoniam a se peccatum attulit, non reveritus Deum, neque confusus in parricidio.

Just so Cain: when he had received counsel from God to be quiet, because he had not rightly divided the share that was owed to his brother, but with envy and malice thought he could dominate him, not only did he not acquiesce, but he added sin to sin, showing his intention by his action. For what he planned, he also did: he dominated and killed him, God subjecting the just to the unjust, so that the one might be shown just by what he suffered and the other exposed as unjust by what he committed. And not even so was he softened or did he stop at the evil deed; but when asked where his brother was, he said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”, extending and multiplying the evil by his answer. For if it is evil to kill a brother, it is much worse to answer God, who knows all things, so boldly and irreverently, as if he could deceive him. For this reason he himself bore a curse, because he brought the sin of his own accord, not revering God nor ashamed of the murder of his kin.

Gen 4:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 4:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 4:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 4:11 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Cain, unlike Adam, ignored God’s warning, killed his brother, and answered God insolently, and so was himself cursed.

“Murder of his kin”: Latin parricidium. Quotations and allusions: Gen 4:7 (LXX: “if you offered rightly but did not divide rightly”), 4:8–9, 4:11.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line number; margin reference; stray marks; small capitals; stray mark): QuEMADMODUM Cain, cum accepisset consilium a ! Deo → Quemadmodum Cain, cum accepisset consilium a Deo; qu: erga Gen. tv. 7, fratrem erat communicationem, sed cum zelo et malitia suspicatus "* est → quae erga fratrem erat communicationem, sed cum zelo et malitia suspicatus est; 5sententiam → sententiam; 5a se → a se.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.4 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-4).

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3.23.5Harvey 2:37

Circa Adam autem nihil tale factum est, sed omnia in contrarium. Ab altero enim seductus sub occasione immortalitatis, statim timore corripitur et absconditur: non quasi possit effugere Deum, sed confusus, quoniam transgressus preceptum ejus indignus est venire in conspectum et colloquium Dei. Timor autem Domini initium intelligentie; intellectus vero transgressionis fecit poenitentiam: pcenitentibus autem largitur benignitatem svam Deus. Etenim per succinctorium in facto ostendit suam poenitentiam, foliis ficulneis semetipsum contegens, exsistentibus et aliis foliis multis, que minus corpus ejus vexare potuissent: condignum tamen inobedientie amictum fecit, conterritus timore Dei; et retundens petulantem carnis impetum, quoniam indolem et puerilem amiserat sensum, et in cogitationem pejorum venerat, frenum continentiae sibi et uxori suze circumdedit, timens Deum et adventum ejus exspectans, et velut tale quid significans: Quoniam, inquit, eam quam habui a Spiritu sanctitatis stolam amisi per inobedientiam, et nunc cognosco quod sim dignus tali tegumento, quod delectationem quidem nullam praestat, mordet autem et pungit corpus. Et hoc videlicet semper habuisset indumentum, humilians semetipsum, nisi Dominus qui est misericors tunicas pelliceas pro foliis ficulneis induisset eos. Propter hoc autem et interrogat eos, uti ad mulierem veniret accusatio; et illam rursus interrogat, uti ad serpentem transmitteret causam. Dixit enim quod fuerat factum: Serpens, ait, seduxit me, et manducavi. Serpentem vero non interrogavit; Sciebat enim eum principem transgressionis factum; sed maledictum primo immisit in eum, uti secunda increpatione veniret. in hominem. Eum enim odivit Deus, qui seduxit hominem; ei vero qui seductus est, sensim paulatimque misertus est.

With Adam, however, nothing of the kind happened, but everything was the opposite. For, led astray by another under the pretext of immortality, he is at once seized with fear and hides, not as if he could escape God, but ashamed because, having transgressed his command, he is unworthy to come into the sight and conversation of God. Now “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding”; and the understanding of his transgression produced repentance, and to those who repent God grants his kindness. For he showed his repentance in his act through the girdle, covering himself with fig leaves, though there were many other leaves that would have chafed his body less; yet, terrified by the fear of God, he made himself a garment fitting his disobedience. And checking the wanton impulse of the flesh, since he had lost his childlike disposition and mind and had come to think of worse things, he put a bridle of self-control around himself and his wife, fearing God and awaiting his coming, and as it were signifying something like this: “Since I have lost through disobedience the robe of holiness which I had from the Spirit, I now acknowledge that I deserve such a covering, which gives no pleasure but bites and pricks the body.” And he would surely have kept this clothing always, humbling himself, had not the Lord, who is merciful, clothed them in tunics of skin instead of fig leaves. For this reason also he questions them, so that the accusation might come to the woman; and he questions her in turn, so that she might pass the cause on to the serpent. For she told what had happened: “The serpent deceived me,” she said, “and I ate.” But he did not question the serpent, for he knew that it had been the chief author of the transgression; but he first laid the curse on it, so that the rebuke might come on man in second place. For God hated the one who led man astray, but on the one who was led astray he took pity gradually, little by little.

Gen 3:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Prov 9:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:13 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Adam, unlike Cain, feared God and showed repentance by his rough covering of fig leaves, and God had mercy on him.

Quotations and allusions: Gen 3:8–10; Prov 9:10 (or Ps 111:10); Gen 3:7, 21, 11–13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): Crrca → Circa; Zsmor → Timor; ἘΠῚ hoc → Et hoc; seduait → seduxit.

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.5 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-5).

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3.23.6Harvey 2:37

Quapropter et ejecit eum de Paradiso, et a ligno vite longe transtulit: non invidens ei lignum vitae, quemadmodum audent quidam dicere; sed miserans ejus, ut non perseveraret semper transgressor; neque immortale esset quod esset circa eum peccatum, et malum interminabile et insanabile. Prohibuit autem ejus transgressionem, interponens mortem, et cessare faciens peccatum, finem inferens ei per carnis resolutionem, que fieret in terra; uti cessans aliquando homo vivere peccato, et moriens ei, inciperet vivere Deo.

Therefore he also cast him out of Paradise and removed him far from the tree of life, not because he begrudged him the tree of life, as some dare to say, but out of pity for him, so that he would not remain a transgressor for ever, and the sin that clung to him would not be immortal, an evil without end and incurable. He checked his transgression by interposing death and making sin cease, putting an end to it through the dissolution of the flesh which would take place in the earth, so that man, ceasing at last to live to sin and dying to it, might begin to live to God.

Gen 3:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:22 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 6:10 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God expelled Adam from Paradise and the tree of life out of mercy, so that death would put an end to sin.

Harvey’s notes (on Philo, Simon Magus, and Marcion) were removed from the text. Allusions: Gen 3:23–24, 22; Rom 6:2, 10–11.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's notes leaked into the text; OCR slip; note marker; stray Greek): et εἰ ejecit → et ejecit; sed 2 Quod quamvis fructus ficulneus suaderim, virus istud omnino hausit a muavior ceteris est, at folia duriora. PHiLo, — ligni serpentis primogenito, sicut a S. Qu. in Ignatio appellatur, Simone Mago. CL. 3 δὲ Marcion id, quod hic reprehen— audet, omitting abbreviaditur, asserere ausus fuit, uti facile credi— tion. AR. quemadmodum quidam dicunt. M. 9992. miserans → sed miserans; inferens 7 ei → inferens ei; cirea → circa.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.6 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-6).

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3.23.7Harvey 2:37

Quapropter inimicitiam posuit inter serpentem et mulierem, et semen ejus, observantes invicem: illo quidem cui morderetur planta, et potente calcare caput inimici; altero vero mordente, et occidente, et interpediente ingressus hominis, quoadusque venit semen praedestinatum calcare caput ejus, quod fuit partus Mariae, de quo ait propheta: Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem; significans quia illud quod erigeretur et dilataretur adversus hominem peccatum, et frigidum reddebat eum, evacuaretur cum regnante morte, et conculcaretur ab eo in novissimis temporibus insiliens humano generi leo, hoc est, Antichristus; et draconem illum serpentem vetustum alligans, et subjiciens potestati hominis, qui fuerat victus, ad calcandam omnem ejus virtutem. — Victus autem erat Adam, ablata ab eo omni vita: propter hoc victo rursus inimico recepit vitam Adam; novissima autem inimica evacuatur mors, quz primum possederat hominem. Quapropter liberato homine, fiet quod scriptum est, Absorpta est mors in victoria. Ubi est mors victoria tua? Ubi est mors aculeus tuus? Quod non poterit juste dici, si non ille liberatus fuerit, cui primum dominata est mors. Illius enim salus, evacuatio est mortis. Domino igitur vivificante hominem, id est Adam, evacuata est et mors.

For this reason he put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed, watching each other: the one, whose sole would be bitten, being able to tread on the enemy’s head; the other biting, killing, and hindering the steps of man, until the predestined seed should come to tread on his head, which was Mary’s offspring, of whom the prophet says: “You will walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon.” He signifies that the sin which rose up and spread against man and made him cold would be abolished together with death that reigned, and that the lion, that is, the Antichrist, leaping upon the human race in the last times, would be trampled by him; and that he would bind the dragon, that ancient serpent, and subject him to the power of man, who had been conquered, so as to trample all his might. Now Adam had been conquered, all life having been taken from him; for this reason, when the enemy was conquered in turn, Adam received life again; and the last enemy, death, is abolished, which first had possessed man. Therefore, when man has been set free, what is written will come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” This could not justly be said if that man over whom death first ruled were not set free. For his salvation is the abolition of death. When, then, the Lord gives life to man, that is, to Adam, death too is done away.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Gen 3:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 91:13 (90:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 20:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 10:19 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:26 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:54 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:55 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The seed of the woman, Mary’s son, treads on the serpent; when Adam receives life again, death, the last enemy, is abolished.

Harvey’s chapter title and notes were removed. Words lost in the scan of Harvey's edition are supplied from Stieren's edition. Quotations and allusions: Gen 3:15; Ps 91:13 (LXX 90:13); Rev 20:2; Luke 10:19; 1 Cor 15:26, 54–55.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Harvey's note leaked into the text; OCR slip; editor's chapter title; small capitals; margin debris; margin reference; margin reference inside a word; stray mark): Quid est quod a propheta, dictum est, Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis. QUAPROPTER → Quapropter; mulierem, cen. 11. 15. et semen → mulierem, et semen; Marise → Mariae; calcandam omLuc. x. 19. nem → calcandam omnem; Adam; xovis1Cor. xv. 96. sima autem → Adam; novissima autem; homine, "οί quod scriptum est, A bsorpta → homine, fiet quod scriptum est, Absorpta; liberatus Per invidiam prohibuit Adamum αὖ Lip. fuerit → liberatus fuerit; evacuatio xxxvilxxxvii. e. ee.. 1 GR il. est mortis → evacuatio est mortis; id est ! Adam → id est Adam.

Topics: Christology, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.7 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-7).

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3.23.8Harvey 2:37

Mentiuntur ergo omnes qui contradicunt ejus saluti, semper seipsos excludentes a vita, in eo quod non credant inventam ovem quie perierat. Si autem illa non est inventa, adhuc possidetur in perditione omnis hominis generatio. Mendax ergo is qui prior hane sententiam, imo hanc ignorantiam et caecitatem induxit, Tatianus: connexio quidem factus omnium hereticorum, quemadmodum ostendimus; hoc autem a semetipso adinvenit, uti novum aliquid preter reliquos inferens, vacuum loquens, vacuos a fide auditores sibi praepararet, affectans magister haberi, tentans et subinde uti hujusmodi a Paulo assidue dictis: Quoniam in Adam omnes morimur; ignorans autem, quoniam ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundavit gratia. Ostenso ergo hoc manifeste, erubescant omnes qui ab eo sunt, et concertant de Adam, quasi magnum aliquid lucrentur, si ille non salvetur: quando magis nihil proficiant, quemadmodum et serpens nihil profecit suadens homini, nisi illud quod eum transgressorem ostendit, initium et materiam apostasiae suse habens hominem; Deum autem non vidit. Sic et hi qui contradicunt saluti Adae, nihil proficiunt, nisi hoc, quod semetipsos haereticos et apostatas faciunt veritatis, et advocatos se serpentis et mortis ostendunt.

All, then, who deny his salvation are liars, always shutting themselves out of life, in that they do not believe that the sheep which was lost has been found. But if it has not been found, the whole race of mankind is still held in perdition. A liar, then, is the man who first introduced this opinion, or rather this ignorance and blindness: Tatian. He became, as we have shown, a junction of all the heretics; but this he invented by himself, so that, bringing in something new beyond the rest and speaking emptiness, he might gather hearers empty of faith, wanting to be thought a teacher, and attempting now and then to use such sayings as are often spoken by Paul: “For in Adam we all die,” but not knowing that “where sin abounded, grace superabounded.” Since this has been plainly shown, let all who come from him blush, who dispute about Adam as if they would gain something great if he were not saved; when they gain nothing at all, just as the serpent gained nothing by persuading man, except that it showed him a transgressor, having man as the beginning and material of its own apostasy; but God it did not see. So also those who deny the salvation of Adam gain nothing, except that they make themselves heretics and apostates from the truth and show themselves advocates of the serpent and of death.

Luke 15:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:20 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Tatian, who first denied Adam’s salvation, is a liar; those who follow him make themselves advocates of the serpent and of death.

On Tatian see 1.28.1. “But God it did not see”: Latin “Deum autem non vidit”; the sense may be “did not overcome God” (vicit), the reading of other editions. Quotations and allusions: Luke 15:4–6; 1 Cor 15:22; Rom 5:20.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; margin debris; margin reference; note marker; small capitals; stray mark): MaeNTIUNTUR → Mentiuntur; semper Lu.xv.4 seipsos → semper seipsos; induxit, 2Tatianus: → induxit, Tatianus:; vacuos a c. 966. fide → vacuos a fide; tentans 1cor. xv.22. et subinde → tentans et subinde; in Bom.v.2. Adam → in Adam; «bi abundavit → ubi abundavit; non $vidit → non vidit.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Irenaeus, Haer. 3.23.8 (Harvey 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/irenaeus-adversus-haereses/3-21-1/#p-3-23-8).

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