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EarlyChurch.org.uk: Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 115 - c. 202)

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Synopsis

Irenaeus was born in Smyrna in Asia Minor, where he studied under bishop Polycarp, who in turn had been a disciple of Apostle John.[1] Leaving Asia Minor for Rome he joined the school of Justin Martyr before being made bishop of Lyons in Southern Gaul in about AD 178.[2] In contrast to Justin - whose writings he used and respected[3] - Irenaeus rejected the philosophical approach to Christianity, which for him as a child of the Church "rested on revelation, tradition, and on the power of the Holy Spirit."[4] Despite this he did not abandon philosophy completely and many of his works are indebted to it.[5] Other sources of his teaching include Theophilus and Ignatius of Antioch.[6]

His saw his main ministry in the refutation of Gnosticism and to this end he wrote his major work Against Heresies, in which also sought to expound and defend the catholic faith.[7] Faced with difficult passages from the Old Testament he applied a Christological hermeneutic[8] and answered the objections of the heretics from the Scriptures themselves. Central to his refutation of the Gnostics was the Genesis account of the Creation and the fall. He held that Adam and Eve were created as children,[9] with the intention that they grow in grace through willing submission until they reach the point when they would be ready to receive the Spirit of adoption.[10] An archangel was assigned to look after Adam and Eve in the Garden,[11] but Adam

...disobeyed God, being misled by the angel, who becoming jealous of God’s many favours which he had bestowed on man, both ruined himself and made man a sinner, persuading him to disobey God’s command.[12]

Being mere children they were not truly responsible for the fall, the blame for which is laid at the Devil’s door.[13] By claiming that it was Adam who was deceived by the serpent Irenaeus has subtly altered the biblical account.[14] He adds to the account by informing us that the angel fell when he tempted man. Adam’s "disobedience is the source of the general sinfulness and mortality of mankind, as also of their enslavement to the Devil".[15] Irenaeus, taking up Paul’s Adam-Christ parallel centred his theology around the Recapitulation[16] of all things in Christ. What Adam lost for mankind, Christ becoming a man, won back.[17]

Rob Bradshaw, Webmaster

References

[ 1] Mary T. Clark, "Irenaeus," Everett Ferguson, ed., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. New York: Garland Press, 1990. pp. 471-472; Norris, 57.

[ 2] Richard A. Norris, God And World In Early Christian Theology: A Study in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen. (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1966), 57.

[ 3] W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1984. p. 244.

[ 4] Frend, Rise, 244: "He was interested in philosophy only insofar as it could help one to penetrate more deeply into what one believed."

[ 5] Clark, "Irenaeus," p.473.

[ 6] ANF, Vol. 1, 311.

[ 7] David S. Dockery, Biblical Interpretation Then And Now. Contemporary Hermeneutics In The Light Of The Early Church. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992. p.69; John Lawson, The Biblical Theology of St. Irenaeus. (London: Epworth Press, 1948. p.85.

[ 8] "The man was a babe. He had not yet the perfect use of his faculties. Hence he was easily deceived by the seducer." Irenaeus, Demonstration, 12; cf. Heresies 3.22.4, 4.38.1-4; 4.39.1 (ANF, Vol. 1, 455, 521-522, 522); Theophilus of Antioch, Autolycus 2.2 (ANF, Vol. 2, 94).; Clement of Alexandria, Protrepsis. 11.111.1.

[ 9] Irenaeus, Heresies, 4.37.1; 4.38.3 (ANF, Vol. 1, 518-519, 521-522).

[ 10] Irenaeus, Demonstration, 12.

[ 11] Irenaeus, Demonstration, 16.

[ 12] Irenaeus, Heresies 5.16.2; 4.40.3 (ANF, Vol. 1, 544, 524).

[ 13] The apostle Paul writes that it was Eve who was deceived, not Adam in 1 Tim. 2:14.

[ 14] J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, rev., 1960. (San Francisco: Harper, 1978), 171.

[ 15] Cf. Eph. 1:10; Irenaeus, Heresies, 3.18.1; 5.29.2 (ANF, Vol. 1, 501, 558).

[ 16] Irenaeus, Heresies, 5.21.1; 5.21.3 (ANF, Vol. 1, 548-549, 550).

[ 17] Irenaeus, Heresies 2.9.2 (ANF, Vol. 1, 369).

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