ST. IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

ST.

IRENAEUS

ON THE

ATONEMENT

TOHN I. HOCHBAN,

SJ.

College

Christ

the

King, Toronto

the

middle

of the

second century

the

Church faced

one of the

gravest crises

in her

history. From

her

earliest days,

course,

she

had struggled

for

survival against external foes—against physical force

the

hands

of her

persecutors.

But

with

the

rise

Gnosticism

she

met

intellectual rival.

The

battle became

one of

ideas, against

domestic enemies who strove

overthrow the foundations

Christian

belief.

The decisive importance

of the

role played

by St.

Irenaeus

this

battle

well known.

contrast with certain unnamed predecessors,

whom

gently criticizes

(at the

same time that, with characteristic

modesty,

calls them "multo nobis meliores"

made

most

thorough study

all the Gnostic systems and fully grasped the import

the

errors they contained.

knew

the

writings

of the

Gnostics,

and he completed his knowledge

their teachings

personal contact

with the heretics themselves;

was perhaps his zeal

this matter that

led Tertullian

refer

to him as

"omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus

explorator."

And the

fruits

of his

researches appear

in the

greatest

of his works, whose title indicates

its

purpose;

it is to be a

"refutation

and overthrowing

knowledge falsely so called."

Adversus

haereses,

IV,

praef.,

2. Unless otherwise stated, all references

St. Irenaeus

are

to the

Adversus haereses.

The

text

this work which

have followed

that

Harvey;

the

divisions, however,

are

those

Massuet

in PG, VII.

While Harvey-

does

not

follow Massuet's divisions,

does list them

in the

margin

of his own

edition.

praef., 2. Cf. A.

Ehrhard (Urkirche

und

Frühkatholizismus [Verlag

der

Buch-

gemeindeí Bonn,

1935],

171),

who

mentions

interesting confirmation

of the

fidelity

St.

Irenaeus

reproducing

the

teaching

of the

Gnostics.

It has

been shown that

the

source

of the

twenty-ninth chapter

of the

first book

of the

Adversus

haereses

is one of the

very

few

original Gnostic fragments that have survived,

the

Apocryphum Joannis.

comparison

of the

passage

in St.

Irenaeus with

the

original makes

clear "dass Irenäus

sich

die

grösste Mühe

gab, den

Inhalt möglichst

Anschluss

an den

Wortlaut seiner

Vorlage zu reproduzieren

Contra Valent.,

5. Cf.

"Selecta Veterum Testimonia

Irenaeo ejusque Scriptis,"

PG, VII, 421.

II,

praef., 2: "...

quapropter quod

sit

detectio

eversio sententiae ipsorum, operis

hujus conscriptionem

ita

titulavimus."

IV, praef., 1:

"Hunc quartum librum,

dilectissime, transmittens tibi operis quod

est de

detectione

eversione falsae

cognitionis...."

praef.:

"... in

hoc libro quinto operis universi,

qui est de

traductione

et eversione falso cognominatae agnitionis...."

525

526

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

The major Gnostic tenets are sufficiently familiar to all; as a preface

to a study of St. Irenaeus' doctrine on the atonement, certain funda-

mental positions, common to the various, otherwise differing, Gnostic

sects may be here briefly set down. In consequence of an oriental

exaggeration of Platonism, the Gnostics regarded matter as intrinsically

evil; most of their doctrines proceed as logical conclusions from this

principle. It accounts, for instance, for the elaborate systems of aeons

which they constructed. These emanations from what they termed

the primary God were felt as necessary to explain the existence of the

visible, material creation, since the thought of the primary God com-

ing into direct contact with matter

was

repugnant to them. Moreover,

most of the Christological errors put forward by the Gnostics can be

explained in the light of the same principle. The idea that God, or at

least a human being in whom there was something divine, should

possess a real, material, human body was regarded as intolerable. To

avoid the difficulty, some separated the aeon, Christ, from the man,

Jesus.

Others, as Marcion and his followers, proposed a more radical

solution, asserting that Christ was a completely celestial

being,

a revela-

tion of the good God of the New Testament, who appeared suddenly on

this earth in the reign of Tiberius, without the antecedent indignity of

human birth; he appeared, indeed, in the form of a man, but His body

was a mere illusion.

Again, in conformity with their contempt of

matter, the Gnostics maintained that man's body, being a material

substance, was incapable of salvation.

In the light of these fundamental Gnostic positions we may, there-

fore,

readily understand the importance which St. Irenaeus attaches to

the demonstration of the true humanity of the Saviour and the unity

of His person. We may likewise understand the reason for his strong

vindication of the participation of the flesh in the fruits of the

redemption.

As the background of St. Irenaeus' doctrine on the atonement, we

propose to consider, first, his teaching on man's original condition in

Paradise, man's fall from that state, and its effects on the rest of man-

kind, and, secondly, his notions on the preparation for the redemption.

The study of his doctrine on the atonement proper will be concluded by

a brief exposition of the fruits of the atonement.

27, 2: "Jesum ... in hominis forma manifestatum "

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

527

MAN'S ORIGINAL

CONDITION

his account of the creation of man, St. Irenaeus adheres closely

the opening chapters of Genesis. Man is a composite creature

consisting of body and soul.

St. Irenaeus was far from assenting to

the

heretics in their contempt for the body of man. Far from being

something base and contemptible, it is the result of a divine

"skill."

uses expressions in this regard which

justify

our belief that he would

have subscribed wholeheartedly to the bard's exclamation, "What a

piece of work is man!" God took slime from the earth, and with an

artistry truly divine fashioned it into a fitting receptacle for the breath

of life. As opposed to the material nature of the body, the soul is

incorporeal.

We use the qualifying phrase, "as opposed to the mate-

rial nature of the body," advisedly, since St. Irenaeus held for a rela-

tive, not an absolute incorporeity of the soul. More than once, it is

true,

he refers to the soul as immortal,

but he does not

assign

the

same reason as for the immortality of the spirit. "But this," he

says,

referring to death,

"befalls

neither the soul; for it is the breath of life:

nor

the spirit, for a spirit is uncompounded and simple, such as cannot

dissolved

and is

itself

the

life

of those who receive it."

Nowhere

does he clearly state the corporeity of the soul, but some of his remarks

appear to lead necessarily to this conclusion. For example, he

says

that

the soul has the form

(figurant)

of the body and is fitted to it as

water to a

vessel.

In a later

passage

says

that, in the parable of

Dives and Lazarus, our Lord taught clearly that souls continue in

existence without passing from body to body, and that they retain the

same bodily form in which they were moulded,

so that they are able

recognize one another in the next world. He demonstrates this

II, 33,

'Αλλ*

¿>s

ίκαστος ήμων

Ίδιον

σώμα . . .

Χαμβάνβι,

ούτως

καΐ Ιδίαν ίχ*ι

φυχήν*

IV,

praef.,

"Homo

est autem temperatio animae et carnis.. .." V, 1, 3: ". . . non

contemplantes

[Ebionitae], quoniam quemadmodum ab initio plasmationis nostrae in

Adam

ea quae fuit a Deo adspiratio vitae unita plasmati animavit

hominem,

et animai

rationabile

ostendit." V, 20,

"... exspectantibus . . . salutem totius hominis, id est

animae

et corporis.. . ." Demonstratio

apostolica^

praedicationis (ed. S. Weber; Freiburg:

Herder,

1917), 2: "Et quia compositum animal est homo ex anima et corpore, per duo

haec

exsistere ei congruit et convenit."

V, 3,

d yàp τήν αρχήν άιτ€δέ£ατο

[ή

σαρξ]

-rì\v

τ'εχνην του

Qeov.

V,7,1.

»V,4,1;V,13,3.

V, 7, 1. "Π, 19,6.

Π,

34, 1.

528

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

from various points in the gospel narrative and concludes that "hereby

it was clearly declared, first that souls continue, next that they pass not

from one body to another; also that they have the figure of a man

(hominis

figurant),

so as both to be known and to remember the things

which are here."

Man was created in the state of original justice. From the first

moment of his existence he possessed sanctifying grace. If these exact

words are wanting in the works of St. Irenaeus, the idea is certainly

there. Adam, we are told, was created to the image and likeness of

God. This is an important point in the soteriological teaching of St.

Irenaeus, since the whole purpose of the Incarnation is summed up by

saying that Christ came to restore what we had lost in Adam, "id est

secundum imaginem et similitudinem esse Dei."

The two concepts,

"image" and "likeness," are clearly distinguished. "If on the other

hand," St. Irenaeus says, "the spirit is wanting to the soul, such a one

is truly an animal man, and as being carnal, will be imperfect; having

indeed the image in his form, but not assuming the likeness by the

spirit."

Man, therefore, in his natural constitution, that is to say,

as a rational animal, is the image of God; the likeness of God is re-

ceived separately through participation in the spirit. Such is the

Saint's constant teaching, and discrepancies in this connection are

only apparent, not real.

From the description we are given of the "spirit" through which

man is made to the likeness of God, we are forced to conclude to its

identity with sanctifying

grace.

In one passage,

"spirit," "likeness,"

and "perfection" are all regarded as correlative concepts. Lack of

Loc. cit. Notwithstanding his doctrine on the relatively corporeal nature of the soul,

St. Irenaeus still appears to imply its spirituality. While strongly vindicating the body's

participation in supernatural gifts, he asserts that this is possible only because the soul

acts as an intermediary, for it is the soul alone that can directly receive the Spirit and His

gifts (V, 6, 1; V, 9, 1). Similarly, St. Irenaeus observes that the soul is immortal by

nature, whereas the body, after its dissolution, will receive immortality as an extrinsic

and gratuitous gift.

III, 18, 1. » V, 6,1.

On this point, compare the charges of inconsistency levelled at St. Irenaeus by F. R.

Tennant {The Sources of the Doctrines of the Fall and Original Sin [Cambridge,

1903],

285). An analysis and careful examination of the texts alleged by Tennant, disclose

nothing more than a certain looseness of expression on the part of Irenaeus. The charge

of inconsistency can be disproved without great difficulty.

V, 6, 1.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

529

"spirit" is equivalent to absence of "likeness," and therefore the man

who does not possess the likeness of God is imperfect. The truth of

Adam's elevation to a supernatural state and his fall from that state is

a capital one in the doctrine of St. Irenaeus. He develops this point,

above all, indirectly when he treats of the atoning work of Christ, who

restored to humanity what it had lost in Adam.

Together with the strictly supernatural gift of sanctifying grace,

Adam also received certain preternatural gifts. St. Irenaeus furnishes

some interesting information on this doctrine, which was more fully

developed later. He does not ascribe perfect knowledge to Adam, as

do modern theologians, for, he says, Adam was created a child.

this,

St. Irenaeus understands especially a spiritual childhood or im-

maturity, in the sense that at the beginning Adam had not attained

the full degree of perfection of which he was capable.

Adam's

natural felicity appears clearly implied in the description we are given

of the garden: "It excelled in climate, beauty, light, food, plants,

fruits,

waters, and all other things necessary for life, and its name was

Paradise. And so beautiful and good was Paradise."

Furthermore,

pain and sickness were absent, for St. Irenaeus plainly states that these

are the result of the sin of disobedience.

The original integrity of

our first parents is also maintained.

In the Adver sus

haereses,

the

III, 22, 3; IV, 38, 1; Dem., 12.

Cf. IV, 38,1-4, where St. Irenaeus expounds his doctrine that perfection must be the

result of continual progress and growth. The epithets parvulus and puer as applied to

Adam appear to imply also a certain physical and intellectual immaturity. Thus, in the

Demonstratio apostolicae praedicationis, 12, St. Irenaeus writes that while the various

animals were formed in their full force and vigour, man, their master, was as yet a child:

"parvulus erat, quia puer erat et eum necessario decebat accrescere et ita ad statum

perfectionis [pervenire." At the conclusion of the same chapter we read: "Sed homo

parvulus erat, adhuc etiam non habens consilium." Consilium is rendered as "perfect

understanding" in the English translation of the Demonstratio by S. G. Wilson in Patrologia

Orientalis, XII, 668, and as "le parfait usage de ses facultés" by J. Barthoulot, S.J. in his

French translation in Recherches de science religieuse, VI (1916), 377. Père Barthoulot's

translation of the Armenian text together with Tixeront's introduction is also to be found

in Patrologia Orientalis, XII, 749-802. Another pertinent text is III, 22, 2: "... paulo

ante facti [Adam et Eva], non intellectum habebant filiorum generationis, oportebat enim

illos primo adolescere, dehinc sic multiplicari."

Dem., 12.

15, 2: "... propter inobedientiae peccatum subsecuti sunt languores hominibus.

Cf. Ill,

23,3;

Dem.,

17.

Dem., 14.

530

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

onslaught of concupiscence coincides with the loss of the "puerilem

sensum" which occurred after Adam's transgression.

Finally, al-

though mortal by nature,

man was in the beginning endowed with

immortality. While St. Irenaeus, like St. Paul, recurs constantly to

the theme that death is the result of sin, he also states explicitly the

immortality of our first parents: "And He [God] put certain limits to

him [Adam]. If he should keep the commandments of God, he should

remain always as he was, that is, immortal. But if he should not keep

them, he should become mortal and would be resolved to earth from

which his structure had been taken up."

THE FALL

St. Irenaeus is an ardent champion of man's liberty, an endowment

which implies the power of self-determination and free choice. Man

was made free in the beginning and he has always remained free.

Freedom was bestowed that he might act upon God's decree voluntarily

and not by any divine compulsion, "for in God there is no violence."

In fact, free obedience is the only motive assigned for the bestowal of

freedom: "And therefore ... He hath set in man the power of choice . . .

so that on the one side they who have been obedient, may deservedly

keep the good thing which they have, God's gift, but preserved by

themselves: but those who have not obeyed. . . will receive condign

punishment."

It was with good reason, therefore, that God subjected Adam to a

test. A command was issued that man might know he had a Master,

the Lord of all, and that he might merit his reward by a free act of

obedience.

Adam failed the test and sinned. God did not will

man's transgression or the evils that ensued, yet He foresaw and per-

mitted them, because evil can become the source of blessings for man-

III,

23,5.

3,1

". . . quoniam ipse quidem infirmus et natura mortalis.. .."

Dem.,

15.

IV,

37,1.

Loe.

cit.

Dem.y

15: "Sed ne permagna cogitaret homo neve exaltatus gloriare tur, velut ac si

non haberet dominum, [neve] propter datam sibi potestatem et libertatem adversus

creatorem suum Deum peccaret, transgrediens suum modum, et sibi placentes sententias

arrogantiae tueretur adversarius Dei, datae sunt ei leges a Deo, ut cognosceret, quod

dominum habet cunctorum Dominum." IV, 37, 7: ".. .uti et bonitas ostendatur, et

justitia perficiatur ... et tandem aliquando maturus fiat homo, in tantis maturescens ad

videndum et capiendum Deum."

ST.

IRENAEUS

ON THE

ATONEMENT

531

kind.

As a

sick person,

by the

experience

disease

and its

sufferings,

learns

esteem the benefit

good health,

man learns

appreciate

the

joy and

value

communion with

God by the

experience

of its

opposite.

God

allowed Jonas

to be

swallowed

by the

whale,

not

that

he might wholly perish,

but

that

might become even more sub-

missive

to God, the

author

of his

unhoped

for

deliverance.

So, too,

with

sin; God

permitted

it, not

that

man

might perish,

but

that

might conceive

wholesome distrust

himself

and a

knowledge

of his

own weakness

and be

eternally grateful

for his

deliverance beyond

hope

by the

saving work

Christ.

his

description

man's fall,

St.

Irenaeus adheres closely

to the

traditional account

Genesis.

"Man did not

keep this command-

ment

but

became disobedient

to God,

being deceived

by the

angel

who

by reason

of the

many gifts

of God

which

He had

given

to man, was

jealous

of him and

evil-eyed;

so he

destroyed himself

and

made

man a

sinner, persuading

man not to

keep

the

commands

God."

How-

ever,

St.

Irenaeus would

not

have

judge Adam

too

severely,

for

"man

was a

child without perfect understanding,

and for

that reason

was

easily deceived

by the

deceiver."

That

is why the

curse

God

was

directed

not

against

man but

against

the

serpent

and "the

angel that

was

concealed

it."

Adam

was

deceived

by a

love

immortality

and a

desire

to be

God. His

only fault

lay in the

inordinateness

this love

and

desire. Still, despite

all the

mitigating

circumstances mentioned,

St.

Irenaeus does

not

minimize Adam's

guilt.

Zealous defender that

he was of

human freedom

and

subse-

quent responsibility,

he saw no

exception

in the

case

Adam.

Nor

did

regard

unjust

the

punishments

of God,

"justissimus retri-

Adv.

haer.,

loc. cit.

III, 20, 1.

Dem., 16.

Ibid., 12.

Ibid., 16; III, 23, 3.

Johannes Werner

(Der

Paulinismus

des

Irenaeus [Texte

und

Untersuchungen,

VI;

Leipzig,

1889] p. 132),

holds

the

opposite view. According

this author,

St.

Irenaeus

exculpates Adam completely

and

holds

his sin to be not a

personal, free

act but

simply

tragic piece

of bad

luck:

"Auf

listige Weise

ist

Adam verführt worden: hingegen davon,

dass

er mit

Absicht,

mit

Bewusstsein seiner Verantwortlichkeit

das

Gebot Gottes über-

treten habe,

ist

nicht

die

Rede: demnach kann

die

Sünde aber nicht eigentlich

als

freie

Tat

des

Menschen gelten. Nicht durch einen bösen Willen, sondern durch

ein

tragisches

Missgeschick

ist der

Mensch gefallen.

Die

Schuld,

die auf ihm

lastet,

ist

also nicht

eigentlich eine solche,

für die er die

sittliche Verantwortlichkeit trägt, sondern

die ihn als

ein widriges Schicksal betroffen

hat."

532

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

butor,"

that

followed Adam's transgression. That the Saint did not

consider

Adam's action as blameless can also be deduced from his

controversy with Tatian on the salvation of the

first

man. If he be-

lieved

that

Adam was free from guilt, he would certainly have said so

and

closed the discussion. But his whole line of argumentation for

the

salvation of Adam presupposes

that

Adam was guilty. Finally,

although

says

that

Adam disobeyed through carelessness, his act

was nonetheless wicked.

Death

followed as a result of man's disobedience. The term

"death"

has a double signification in St. Irenaeus. In the

first

place,

by this term he understands physical death

and all its implications of

disease, suffering,

etc.

But the word is also taken in a figurative

and

spiritual sense as denoting a voluntary separation from God.

Just as communion with God is described as

life

and light, so

separation

from Him is termed darkness and death.

This separation

entails

the

loss

of all divine

blessings,

and since the good things of

God

are "endless and

eternal,

the privation of

them

is, of course, like-

wise

eternal and endless."

The principle and source of all divine

gifts

is the "spirit," the foundation of divine likeness in man and of his

supernatural

perfection, by whose

loss

man becomes estranged from

God.

The

significant thing about Adam's sin of disobedience is

that

affected not only himself but the whole of mankind. Authors are

divided in their opinions on the doctrine of St. Irenaeus on original sin.

Duncker

sees

in the

Adversus

haereses

almost the full development

of the later teaching of St. Augustine,

while Ziegler finds no trace of

IV,

36,6.

IV, 40,

:. . . τον

αμελώ?

μ£ν,

άλλα

κακώς

παραδβξάμενον

τήν

παρακοήν

Άνθρωπον..

Dent.,

15.

III, 23, 3; V, 15, 2; Dem., 17.

V, 27, 2:

κοινωνία

Ò€

Qeod

ζωή καΐ φως . . .

χωρισμό*

5è του

θ&>υ

θάνατος-

καΐ

χωρισμός

φωτός

σκότος.

. . .

Loe. cit.: . . . καί

χωρισμός

$&>ϋ

αποβολή πάντων των

παρ*

αυτού àyadùv.

Loe.

cit.

L. Duncker, Des M. Irenäus Cristologie im Zusammenhang mit dessen anthro-

pologischen

Grundlehren

(Göttingen, 1843), p. 141.

He claims that St. Irenaeus had "die Grundzüge der eigentümlichen Lehreform,

die durch Augustin am konsequentesten und strengsten systematisch ausgebildet worden

ist, bereits vollständig entwickelt" (quoted by G. Ν.

Bonwetsch,

Die

Theologie

des Irenäus

[Gütersloh, 1925], p. 81, note 4).

ST. IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT 533

any such thing.

The truth is to be found somewhere between these

two extremes. St. Irenaeus gives us a broad view of his teaching on

this point when he says: "Nos autem omnes ex ipso

[Adam] :

et quoniam

sumus ex ipso, propterea quoque ipsius haereditavimus appellatio-

nem."

There are texts where he says that in Adam we all sinned;

that Satan made us his captives in Adam.

The reference of death

back to Adam's disobedience is a common one: "And because in the

first created Adam we were all chained and bound to death by his

disobedience, it was necessary and fitting that by the obedience of the

one who became man for us, death should be abolished."

From its

first father the human race inherited not only the natural death of the

body but also the supernatural death of the soul, the loss of divine

life:

"For we were in the bonds of sin and were born by means of sin-

fulness and of those who lived with death."

The Son of God became

man in order that "as by the former generation we inherited death, so

by this generation we might inherit life."

It seems clear from this

text that the death in question, as being opposed to the life brought

by Christ, is to be understood in a spiritual sense. The doctrine of

original sin is presupposed in a text which is a valuable testimony re-

garding the baptism of infants in the early Church. Christ, says St.

Irenaeus, came to save all men, "all, I mean, who through Him are

newborn into God: infants, and little ones, and boys, and youths, and

older men."

In the case of infants, obviously, there can be no ques-

tion of any personal, actual transgression. Their need of "regenera-

tion to God" is tantamount to saying that their souls are defiled by

original sin at birth.

With the loss of the spirit, the principle of all supernatural growth

Ziegler,

Irenäus, Bischof

von

Lyon (Berlin, 1871); cf. F. Stell, "Die Lehre des hl.

Irenäus von der Erlösung und Heiligung,"

Der

Katholik,

XXI (1905), 58.

III, 23,2.

V, 16, 3:

'BF

ßkv

yàp τψ

πρώτψ

ΆΟαμ

προσβκόψαμβν.

. . .

21,

1: "... et elidens [Christus] eum [inimicum

nostrum],

qui, in initio in Adam

captivos duxerat

nos...."

Dem.,

31.

Ibid.,

37.

δ0

V, 1, 3.

II,

22, 4: "Omnes enim venit per semetipsum salvare: omnes

inquam,

qui per eum

renascuntur

Deum,

infantes, et párvulos, et pueros, et juvenes, et seniores." That

the reference is clearly to baptism is evident from another passage where the Saint says:

"... potestatem regenerationis in Deum demandans discipulis, dicebat eis, Euntes docete

omnes gentes baptizantes eos ...." (Ill, 17,1).

534

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

and perfection, man became more and more unrestrained, held his

very kindred in enmity, and passed his time "without fear in all rest-

lessness, and in murder, and in covetousness."

Although man was

born in sin, to suffer and die, and subject to concupiscence, he was still

free.

His freedom was not impaired by the fall. While St. Irenaeus

vindicates man's free will in the strongest possible terms, he also ex-

presses himself in no uncertain language on man's incapacity to work

out his own salvation.

In his insistence on man's freedom, St.

Irenaeus started a line of thought that would be taken up and de-

veloped by the Greek Fathers after him. The reason for his emphasis

on this point

is,

we think, fairly obvious; in no other way could he hope

to counteract the fatalistic determinism of the Gnostics.

St. Irenaeus is careful to point out that man, despite his sinful condi-

tion, had always remained an object of God's tender solicitude, "for,"

he says, "He is the most gracious and merciful Lord and the lover of

mankind."

The history of the human race is the story of God's

goodness and love for His creature, for His plasma. The promise of

redemption was given to Adam immediately after the fall, and the

object of that redemption was to be the whole human race, born as it

was in sin and wedded to death. Mankind was the lost sheep that was

sought out by the Good Shepherd. "The Lord came again to seek the

lost sheep and the lost sheep was man."

THE PREPARATION FOR THE REDEMPTION

St. Irenaeus has several references to the essential imperfection of

man, an imperfection which arises from the very fact of his creature-

hood. It was, indeed, in God's power to bestow perfection on man in

the beginning but man was incapable of grasping or retaining it from

the first; the case resembles that of a mother, who can, no doubt, give

strong food to her child at the very beginning, but the child cannot en-

dure it.

The first man, notwithstanding his supernatural and preter-

natural endowments, was imperfect. True perfection, which, accord-

24, 2.

III, 18, 2: "... impossibile erat ut saluterà perciperet " III, 20, 3: "Dominus

salvabat eos, quia per semetipsos non habebant salvari... non a nobis, sed a Deo est

bonum salutis nostrae.... Hoc, quoniam non a nobis, sed a Dei adjumento habuimus

salvari."

III,

18,6.

Dem.,

33.

IV, 38, 1.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

535

ing to Irenaeus consists in the contemplation of God, must be the

destination

man

and must come as the crowning of a spiritual growth:

God

formed man "in augmentum et incrementum, quemadmodum et

Scriptura

ait: Crescite et multiplicamini."

Man's ultimate destiny,

the

flowering of this "augmentum et

incrementum"

was to be realized

through

the guidance of

God

and the free decision of man, working out

life

of obedience and

love

through the spirit that was in

him.

Good-

ness which is not the result of free choice is valueless.

Such,

then,

was the original plan for mankind in

the

divine economy.

By the entrance of sin into the world, this divine plan was disrupted,

a certain extent frustrated, but not completely destroyed. Through

the

loss

of fellowship with

God

brought about by Adam's disobedience,

man

was wholly incapable of striving towards his destination.

The

operative principle of this striving was the divine πνάμα, the

loss

which rendered all man's efforts fruitless. If man was to be

saved,

this

divine principle, this "likeness of God" had of necessity to be

restored. Even in God's original plan it was necessary that man be

brought into being, "and being made should

grow,

and having grown

should come to manhood, and after manhood should be multiplied,

and

being multiplied should

grow

in strength, and after such growth

should be glorified, and being glorified should see his own Lord."

If, therefore, even in the state of innocence and original justice, man's

perfection

was to be the result of a spiritual progress and growth, it is

not

surprising, granted the fact of the

redemption,

to find St. Irenaeus

even more insistent on the necessity of a period of preparation before

the

destiny of man could be achieved in his fallen condition. Indeed,

mankind

had to undergo various

stages

of training even before the

Incarnation,

that is to say, even before it recovered the participation

the divine Spirit on which communion with God and all perfection

rests.

From

the moment of the

fall,

God had plans for man's salvation to

be wrought by the

Incarnate

Word. Throughout the

preChristian

era,

man

was to be led on by progressive

stages

to true knowledge and life.

IV,

11,1.

IV,

37,

"Quae autem gloria bis qui non studuerunt illud? Quae autem corona

his qui

non

earn,

ut victores in

certamine,

consecuti

sunt?"

III,

18, 2.

IV,38,3.

536

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

There is, says St. Irenaeus, one God and one salvation, but there are

many precepts which form man, and many steps which bring him to

God.

Man's progress and the various periods of training through

which he passed, were conditioned by his nature and destination, and

were dependent on the ever clearer revelation of God by His Son,

culminating in the Incarnation of the latter and the subsequent be-

stowal of the Spirit on the human race. The first stage, following

immediately on the fall, comprised what St. Irenaeus calls the naturalia

legis*

Adam and his immediate descendants could still know God

and order the conduct of their lives according to this knowledge. The

norm for moral action was the natural law written in the heart of man.

During this time, to please God, man had only to observe the precepts

of the natural law; no more was required of him.

However, it is not exact to say, as Harnack does,

that justification

followed on the observance of these precepts. Nor is it true, as some

have maintained,

that the judgment, whereby St. Irenaeus considers

the patriarchs just, militates against his teaching on original sin and

the necessity of redemption. It cannot be denied that St. Irenaeus

does speak of the "naturalia legis, per quae homo justificatur."

Nonetheless, the context seems clearly to indicate that the verb justifi-

care

is here used in a rather loose sense, referring to what Tertullian

calls "naturalis legis justitia,"

since in the phrase that immediately

follows, justification is ascribed to "faith."

Speaking of the justifica-

tion of Abraham, St. Irenaeus, following St. Paul, declares that "credi-

dit Deo, et deputatimi est ei ad justitiam."

That the righteousness

of Abraham is not independent of the redemption by Christ, is abun-

dantly clear from another passage. In prophetic vision Abraham

foresaw the day of the Lord's coming and the ordering of His passion

and rejoiced exceedingly, for he knew that it would be through Christ

that the salvation of all believers would one day be accomplished.

IV, 9, 3.

IV, 13, 1.

IV, 15, 1: "Nam Deus primo quidem per naturalia praecepta, quae ab initio infixa

dedit hominibus, admonens eos, id est per Decalogum, (quae si quis non fecerit, non habet

salutem) nihil plus ab eis exquisivit."

A. Harnack, History of Dogma, trans, from 3d German ed. by Neil Buchanan (Boston:

Little, Brown, and Company, 1889), II, 306.

J. Werner, op. cit., pp. 135-36; Harnack, loc. cit.

IV 13,1.

Adversus Judaeos, 2 (PL, II, 638).

IV, 13,1.

IV, 8,1.

IV, 5, 5.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

537

It is evident, says St. Irenaeus, that those who, like Abraham, be-

lieved, were freed from their bonds by the Lord and received life from

Him.

Christ, we are told, came to save not only those who believed

in Him at the time of Tiberius Caesar, but all men who from the

beginning feared and loved God, who lived in peace and justice with

their neighbours, and who desired to see Christ and hear His voice.

Apart from their relation to original sin, it is difficult to see what

sense the above passages could have. The texts speak of people who,

like Abraham, had faith, loved and feared God, lived in peace with their

neighbours; so there can be no question of actual sin. What need,

therefore, could there be of "justification," of "loosing of bonds/' of

"giving life," if it was not the inherited sin of Adam that St. Irenaeus

had in mind? The above statements are intelligible only in the light

of St. Paul's teaching in the Epistle to the Romans. We might indicate

a further confirmation of the fact that the righteousness of the just of

the Old Testament cannot be understood in an absolute sense and in-

dependently of that imparted by Christ. Although St. Irenaeus

ascribes divine sonship and immortality to the just of the ancient dis-

pensation,

these gifts were fully bestowed only when Christ descended

into hell after His death.

During the first period of preparation for the coming of Christ,

just men who, like the patriarchs, loved God and refrained from in-

justice towards their neighbours, had no need to be exhorted with the

strict letter of the law; the law of righteousness was written in their

hearts.

But the vast majority of men, wandering far from God, fell

into the sorriest condition. When righteousness and love of God fell

IV, 8, 2.

IV, 22, 2.

IV, 41, 3: "Cum enim converterentur et poenitentiam agerent et quiescerent a

malitia, filii poterant esse Dei, et haereditatem consequi incorruptelae quae ab

eo praestatur.

IV, 27, 2: "Et propter hoc Dominum in ea quae sunt sub terra descendisse, evan-

gelizantem et illis adventum suum, remissione peccatorum exsistente his qui credunt in

eum. Crediderunt au tern in eum . .. jus ti et prophetae et patriarchae: quibus similiter

ut nobis remisit peccata.... Omnes enim homines egent gloria Dei, justificantur autem

non a semetipsis, sed a Domini adventu, qui intendunt lumen ejus."

IV, 16,

3 :

"Quare igitur patribus non disposuit Dominus testamentum? Quia lex

non est posita justis

;

justi autem patres virtu tern decalogi conscriptam habentes in cordibus

et animabus suis, diligentes scilicet Deum qui fecit eos, et abstinentes erga proximum ab

injustitiae: propter quod non fuit necesse admoneri eos correptoriis Uteris, quia habe-

bant in semetipsis justitiam Legis."

538

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

iato oblivion among the chosen people in Egypt, God led them forth

that they might once again become His followers and disciples.

To accomplish this, He gave them a written law, the decalogue, which

contained nothing else than the moral law of nature which had fallen

into desuetude. But when they made to themselves a golden calf and

turned their minds back to Egypt, the land of exile and slavery, God

gave them the ceremonial law, as being a form of training most suited

to their present condition. This ceremonial law, a "yoke of slavery,"

as St. Irenaeus terms it,

which comprised numberless external pre-

cepts,

was designed as a pedagogic means of preserving the Jews from

idolatry.

When God commanded His people to construct the taber-

nacle, to build the temple, to choose lévites, to offer sacrifices, to

observe various ceremonial precepts, it was not because He stood in

need of any such things. He was schooling them to persevere and

serve Him, leading them on by the typical to the true, by the temporal

to the eternal, by the carnal to the spiritual, by the earthly to the

heavenly.

Thus, concludes St. Irenaeus, by types they learned to

fear God and to continue in obedience to Him.

The New Testament, originating with the Incarnation of the Son,

differs from the Old as the law of freedom differs from the law of bond-

age.

With the a'dvent of Christ, men received the "testamentum liber-

tatis"

and divine adoption.

The moral law of Moses, the decalogue,

which had been disfigured and blunted by what St. Irenaeus calls the

Loc.

cit.

iv, 15, 1.

Loc.

cit.

IV, 14,

3 :

"Sic autem et populo tabernaculi factionem, et aedificationem templi,

et Levitarum electionem, sacrificia quoque et oblationes, et monitiones, et reliquam omnem

legis statuebat deservitionem. Ipse quidem nullius horum est indigens ... facilem autem

ad idola revertí populum erudiebat, per multas vocationem praestruens eos perseverare,

et servire Deo, per ea quae erant secunda, ad prima vocans; hoc est, per typica, ad vera;

et per temporalia, ad aeterna; et per carnalia, ad spiritalia; et per terrena, ad coelestia... ."

We might ask ourselves whether in the view of St. Irenaeus, the just of the Old

Testament had only the infused created gifts but not the substantial indwelling of the

Holy Spirit or, consequently, the divine adoption in the strict sense of the word. It should

be noted at the outset that St. Irenaeus does ascribe divine adoption to the just of the

ancient dispensation, for he says that those who did penance and desisted from evil "could

be the sons of God" (cf. note 73 supra). It would seem that this adoption is to be under-

stood strictly of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, since St. Irenaeus continues with the

observation that the just of the Old Testament could also attain to the inheritance of

immortality (loc.

cit.),

and elsewhere he speaks of the Holy Spirit as the "arrha incor-

ruptelae" (III, 24,1). However, the important thing to remember is that, in the teaching

of St. Irenaeus, sonship in the Old Testament is not independent of that brought by Christ.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

539

"watered-down tradition of the elders,"

was restored to its purity and

given a fuller clarification.

The "particularia legis," that is, the

precepts of the law of bondage, were abolished. But Christ Himself

and His apostles avoided every infraction of the ceremonial law, in

order to show that it, too, had a divine origin. Since it was figurative

and typical, its purpose was fulfilled with the coming of Him whom it

foreshadowed.

As the New Testament is vastly superior to the Old, since the means

of grace and salvation are more abundant, so a far higher degree of

perfection is demanded of those under the new dispensation.

Simi-

larly, their infidelity will be punished with greater severity.

And

truly, the covenant under which we live is indeed new: "Quid igitur

novi Dominus attulit veniens? cognoscite quoniam omnem novitatem

attulit semetipsum afferens."

THE REDEMPTION

As is well known, such development as the dogma of the redemption

underwent during the patristic age was along two main lines, depend-

ing on the phase of salvation stressed. Following the lead of St.

Paul, the Latins and particularly St. Augustine, insisted on the medici-

nal character of divine grace, and, as a consequence, emphasized the

atoning value and efficacy of Christ's death, by which grace was re-

stored. This is what later theologians were to label the realist or

moral theory of redemption. The Greek Fathers, on the contrary,

consistently with their conception of grace as an elevation to a superior

life,

as a deification, used similar expressions in their teaching on the

IV, 12,1. 82IV, 13,1.

This whole question of the decalogue and the ceremonial law of bondage in relation

to the New Testament is summed up as follows: "... decalogi quidem verba ipse per

* semetipsum omnibus similiter Dominus locutus est: et ideo similiter permanent apud nos,

extensionem et augmentum, sed non dissolutionem accipientiaper carnalem ejus adventum.

Servitutis autem praecepta separatim per Moysem praecepit populo, apta illorum eru-

ditioni, sive castigationi. . .. Haec ergo quae in servitutem, et in signum data sunt illis,

circumscripsit novo libertatis testamento. Quae autem naturalia, et liberalia, et commu-

nia omnium, auxit et dilatavit, sine invidia largiter donans hominibus per adoptionem,

Patrem scire Deum, et diligere eum ex toto corde, et sine adversatione sequi ejus Verbum,

non tantum abstinentes a malis operationibus, sed etiam a concupiscentiis earum. Auxit

autem etiam timorem: filios enim plus timere oportet quam servos, et majorem dilectionem

habere in Patrem."

IV, 11,4. ^ IV, 28, 1-2. * IV, 34,1.

540

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

atonement. The death of the Saviour, although not losing its sig-

nificance entirely, is relegated to a secondary

place.

In this scheme, it

is the Incarnation which is all important. Human nature, by its con-

tact with the divinity in the person of the Logos, was deified. A similar

elevation and deification would be wrought in those individuals who

became united to Christ by faith in Him and adherence to His teach-

ing. On this foundation, a theory of the atonement was elaborated

which has come to be known as physical or mystical. While this

doctrine was held by none of the Greek Fathers in its rigid and absolute

form, it constituted the general framework in which the speculations

of tnany of them were carried on.

Where, we might ask ourselves, does St. Irenaeus stand with respect

to these two theories? A careful reading of the Adver sus

haereses

and the

Demonstratio apostolicae praedicationis

makes it evident that

both trends are present. It seems to us, however, that an undue stress

has been laid on the Saint's mystical theory of the atonement. The

other side of his teaching has, for the most part, been passed over in

silence. Thus Johannes Werner asserts that St. Irenaeus, contrary to

the teaching of St. Paul, maintains that the Incarnation of the Word,

not Christ's offering on the cross, is the cause of the redemption.

Christ redeemed man, not by the offering of His body and blood, but

by the very fact that He possessed them.

Similarly, Ritschl has

maintained that St. Irenaeus, in full agreement with his predecessors,

sees in Christ only the role of teacher and exemplar.

Ritschl is

followed by Beuzart.

A recent work by Dr. Theophil Tschipke,

0. P., asserts that St. Irenaeus taught a "mystico-physical theory of

redemption and grace."

The trouble with a statement like that is,

J. Werner, op. cit., p. 177: "Der eigentliche Grund der Heilsteilnahme des Fleisches

ist nicht die Aufopferung, sondern die Fleischwerdung Christi" (italics mine).

Loe. cit. Werner quotes St. Irenaeus to this effect: "... quoniam per carnem domini

nostri et sanguinem ejus nos salvati sumus," and adds the explanatory remark: "d.h.

nicht dadurch, dass er sie für uns dahingab, sondern weil er sie besass .. ." (italics mine).

Α.

Ritschl,

Die

Lehre

von der

Rechtfertigung

und Versöhnung (3rd ed., Bonn, 1889),

1, 7, cited by F. Vernet, "Irénée, saint," DTC, VII, 2470.

P. Beuzart, Essai sur la théologie d

Irénée, (Paris, 1908), pp. 93, 102, 104, 148, cited

by Vernet, loe. cit.

Theophil Tschipke, O.P., Die Menschheit Christi als Heilsorgan der Gottheit (Freiburger

Theologische Studien, LII-IV; Freiburg i. Br., 1940), p. 25. It is only just to point out

that Dr. Tschipke's statement is somewhat modified in the two following sentences:

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

541

not that it is untrue—Irenaeus did indeed teach such a theory—but

that it

misleading. One is led to conclude that this is the only theory

to be found in Irenaeus, and this conclusion is false. We hope to show

presently that the realist theory of the atonement is not only not ab-

sent from the works of Irenaeus, but is very much in evidence.

In the teaching of St. Irenaeus on the redemption two points are

very pronounced. They are (1) the solidarity of the human race

with its head, Adam, and its resultant fall, and (2) the solidarity of that

same human race with its new head, Christ, and its subsequent restora-

tion. St. Irenaeus develops the parallelism between Adam and Christ

in considerable detail. It was necessary that Christ, in His role of

Redeemer, be not only a man, but a man possessing the same flesh as

those who perished in Adam and whom He came to save.

The salva-

tion of men in Christ is the exact counterpart of their fall in Adam;

Adam's disobedience is offset by Christ's obedience.

Just as the body

of Adam was drawn from virgin soil, so Christ owes His human origin

to a virgin.

Those Gnostics who claim that St. Joseph was the father

of Jesus in the ordinary meaning of that word, might have reason on

their side if they could point to a human father of Adam.

As Adam

was tempted by Satan in the garden and was overcome, so Christ was

tempted in the desert and vanquished His assailant.

It was on the

sixth day of creation that Adam disobeyed and died a spiritual death;

it was on the sixth day of the week that Christ consummated His

obedience by His physical death on Calvary.

A similar parallelism

is drawn between Eve and the Blessed Virgin: "Maria virgo obediens

invenitur.. . Eva vero inobediens: non obaudivit enim, adhuc cum

esset virgo."

"[Eva] inobediens facta, et sibi et universo generi

"Unsere Fehler und unsere Schuld sind im Erlöser grundsätzlich bereits durch die Tatsache

seiner gottmenschlichen Existenz ausgetilgt. Die ganze Menschheit erfährt ihre Ver-

göttlichung grundlegend

bereits

durch die Menschwerdung des Logos"

(loc.

cit.

;

italics mine).

III, 21,10; cf. V, 14, 2. « Loc. cit.

Loc. cit.: "Et quemadmodum protoplastus ille Adam de rudi terra, et de adhuc

virgine ... plasmatus est manu Dei... ita... Verbum ... ex Maria quae adhuc erat

Virgo, recte accipiebat generationem Adae recapitulationis." Drawing his inspiration

from this text, Hugo Koch has written a most venomous little book against the perpetual

virginity of our Lady (Virgo Eva—Virgo Maria [Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte, XXV],

Berlin u. Leipzig, 1937). This book is a sequel to an earlier work of the same author:

Adhuc Virgo (Beiträge zur historische Theologie, fase. 2, Tübingen, 1929).

Loc.

cit.

21,

23,

III,

22, 4.

542

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

humano causa facta est mortis: sic et Maria... obediens, et sibi et

universo generi humano causa facta est salutis."

"Sic autem et

Evae inobedientiae nodus solutionem accepit per obedientiam Mariae.

Quod enim alligavit virgo Eva per incredulitatem, hoc virgo Maria

solvit per fidem."

100

Intimately connected with the teaching of St. Irenaeus on the

Saviour as the new Adam, is his doctrine of "recapitulation." The

word is employed in different contexts and takes on various meanings,

but as applied to Christ in His role of Redeemer, the fundamental

notion is that our Lord, as the second Adam, sums up the whole of

humanity in Himself as a closed unit. In virtue of this union and

solidarity, Christ, by the Spirit which had been lost and which He

possessed in its fulness, permeated and sanctified the entire human

race,

by His life vivified it, and by His obedience "annulled the old

disobedience."

101

All this was possible only because Christ became

an organic part of that unity which is the human race; this is the

reason why St. Irenaeus is so vigorous in his denunciation of the

Docetae and so insistent on the true humanity of the Saviour. The

Incarnation posited the indispensable foundation for the reconciliation

of humanity to God, in that a new head of the human race with a

human nature similar to that of Adam, once again possessed the

Spirit. Stoll makes the important observation—and we feel that he is

justified—that, for Irenaeus, the important thing about Christ in His

redemptive role is, not that He was God, but that He was a man who

possessed the Spirit.

102

However, since this condition could be verified

only in the hypothesis of the Incarnation, the divinity of Christ is

also of the utmost importance.

103

From what has been said thus far, we might be tempted to conclude

that, for St. Irenaeus, the atonement was effected by the very fact of

the Incarnation; but this is not

so.

It is true that the Incarnation has

redemptive implications in the divine plan, but the work of salvation

is not completed in the Incarnation; it is merely made possible. The

Loc.

cit.

Loc.

cit.

Dem.,

37.

102

F. Stoll, "Die Lehre des hl. Irenäus von der Erlösung und Heiligung,"

Der

Katholik,

XXXI (1905), 195.

103

In this connection,

might mention the text

where

St. Irenaeus says that God could

have taken dust and created a new man and imparted the Spirit to him, but then it would

not be

our

flesh

that would be saved. Cf. Ill, 21,10.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

543

full realization of the atonement takes place through the whole life

of Christ. Relevant passages in St. Irenaeus to demonstrate this

point are those in which the Saint says that, in order to bestow divine

adoption on us, our Lord had to pass through all stages of human

experience.

Thus,

it became the Mediator between God and man, by His relationship to

both, to bring both to friendship and concord, and present man to God while He

revealed God to man. For in what way could we be partakers of the adoption of

sons,

unless we had received from Him through the Son that fellowship which

refers to

Himself,

unless His Word, having been made flesh, had entered into

communion with us? Wherefore also He passed through every stage of life,

restoring to all communion with God.

104

Elsewhere the same principle is given fuller expression,

105

and leads

St. Irenaeus to the remarkable conclusion that our Lord had reached

the age of fifty years in order that He might sanctify old age.

106

When St. Irenaeus considers the life of Christ in general, it is summed

up in the word "obedience." "For as by one man's disobedience sin

entered and death prevailed through sin; so also by the obedience of

one man should righteousness be brought in, and bear the fruit of life

to those who in times past were dead."

107

The soteriological import of

Christ's obedience rests on the fact that through it righteousness was

again introduced into the world. This righteousness in man, which is

imparted through the Spirit, is the sum total of Christ's redemptive

work. All the expressions that St. Irenaeus uses in connection with

the motives of the advent of Christ—expressions like "ut et homo

fieret particeps Dei,"

108

"ut et homo fieret filius Dei,"

109

"ut quod

perdideramus in Adam . .. hoc in Christo reciperemus,"

110

"ut finem

conjungeret principio, id est, hominem Deo,"

111

"ut pretiosus homo

fiat Patri,"

112

"ut in vitam veniant Dei,"

113

and others—are all

104

III, 18, 7.

105

II,

22, 4: "Ideo per omnem venit aetatem, et infantibus infans factus, sanctificans

infantes: in parvulis parvulus, sanctificans nane ipsam habentes aetatem, simul et

exemplum illis pietatis effectue, et

justitiae,

et subjectionis

in juvenibus

juvenis,

exemplum

juvenibus fiens, et sanctificans Domino. Sic et senior in senioribus, ut sit perfectus

magister in omnibus, non solum secundum expositionem veritatis, sed et secundum

aetatem, sanctificans simul et seniores, exemplum ipsis quoque fiens...."

106

II,

22, 5-6.

107

III, 21,10; cf. also III, 18, 6.

™

IV,

28, 2.

109

III, 10, 2.

110

III, 18, 1.

111

IV, 20, 4.

112

16, 2.

lls

IV, 22, 1.

544

THEOLOGICAL

STUDIES

reducible to the restoration of the Spirit to

mankind.

For it is through

the

Spirit that "man becomes a partaker of God," that he "becomes

the

son of God, " that he receives "what he had lost in Adam," etc.

While

every

act of Christ in His role of Recapitulator has a salutary

effect on mankind, St. Irenaeus mentions two acts as being particu-

larly significant in this respect; they are the temptation of Christ and

His

death.

The temptation of Christ in the desert is the exact counter-

part

of the

first

temptation in the garden.

114

The detailed antithesis

of even the most insignificant incidents in the two accounts, is highly

characteristic of St. Irenaeus' treatment of the recapitulation theory.

sum up in Himself and to recapitulate "that ancient and primary

enmity against the serpent,"

115

our Lord fasted forty

days

give

His

opponent

an opportunity of attacking Him; for, as it was by means of

food that Satan won his

first

victory, so by the same means he would

go down to defeat. When Christ repulsed the

first

attack of His

adversary, then it was that "the corruption of man which occurred in

Paradise was done

away

with."

116

Nothing daunted, Satan made a

second attempt "concealing falsehood under the

guise

of Scripture as

is done by all the heretics."

117

When Christ refused to

yield

to the

sin of presumption, He again confuted His adversary, and "therefore

the

pride of reason which was in the serpent, was put to nought by the

humility which was in the Man."

118

Finally, when Satan was repulsed

the

third time and utterly vanquished, "that infringement of God's

commandment

which had occurred in Adam was done

away

with by

means of the precept of the law which the Son of man observed, not

transgressing the commandment of God."

119

By virtue of his initial

victory in the garden, Satan bound man with the bonds of sin and

slavery

and held him captive. But by His triumph in the desert,

114

This question is treated in V, 21, 23.

115

V, 21, 2.

116

Loc. cit. The Latin of this

passage

is not too clear. "Quae ergo fuit in Paradiso

repletio hominis per duplicem gustationem, dissoluta est per earn, quae fuit in hoc mundo,

indigentiam." In rendering the phrase "Quae ergo fuit in Paradiso repletio hominis" by

"the

corruption

which occurred in Paradise," we are

following

the suggestion of Harvey

who thinks there can be "no doubt but that the translator read

αναπλήρωσα

for

άναιήρωσι*,

vitiatio.

Ita

vocat

excessum

edendo

is Grabe's forced solution.

Αέλυται

suits the one,

but not so

well

the other term; and

indigentiam

in the sequel is not the correlative term

repletio,

but to

duplicem

gustationem"

Harvey, op. cit., II, 382, note 4.

117

Loc. cit.

118

Loc. cit.

119

Loc. cit.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

545

Christ bound the tempter with his own chains and man was set free.

120

St. Irenaeus concludes his treatment of this point as follows: "And

justly indeed is he led captive, who had led men unjustly into bondage;

while man, who had been led captive in times past, was rescued from

the grasp of his possessor, according to the tender mercy of God. .. ."

121

The apparently exaggerated utterances that St. Irenaeus uses in his

exposition of this episode in our Lord's life, are understandable only

when put into the framework of the entire Irenaean system. The

salvation of mankind was to be imparted through the communication

of the Spirit which Christ acquired by the obedience of His whole

life and death. But insofar as the temptation in Paradise was the

cause of the loss of the Spirit for Adam and his posterity, the "re-

capitulative' ' significance of the temptation of the Saviour could only

be presented as St. Irenaeus does, in fact, present it. That this does

not detract from the paramount atoning value of Christ's death, we

shall now proceed to show.

Harnack is quite right in his observation that "as regards the history

of Jesus, he [Irenaeus] has been taught by Paul not to stop at the

Incarnation, but to view the work of salvation as only completed by

the sufferings and death of Christ.. . ."

122

While the atoning value of

Christ's passion and death is mentioned many times and in different

contexts, St. Irenaeus does not work out a strict theory of his own on

this point. Perhaps the reason for this is that the fact of the cruci-

fixion and death was generally admitted by the Gnostics. What they

denied was the reference of the Gospel narratives to "one Christ."

That God should suffer, they considered impious and a contradiction;

they distinguished, therefore, in the person of Christ, between Jesus,

a man capable of suffering, and a divine aeon. Hence in his discussions

with them, Irenaeus could, and for the most part did, confine himself

to the vindication of the unity of the Saviour, because from this the

reality of the suffering and death of Christ in the scriptural sense

would naturally follow. For Irenaeus the significance of the passion

and death of our Lord for the redemption of mankind was an incontest-

able tenet of Catholic

belief.

This is shown by the fact that on more

than one occasion fundamental dogmas, which the Gnostics denied,

120

21,

121

Loc.

cit.

122

Harnack,

op.

cit.,

II,

242,

note.

546

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

are referred to this point. For example, to disprove the Marcionite

contention of a twofold God of the Old and New Testaments, St.

Irenaeus has recourse to the passion and death of our Lord, where the

unity of God is made manifest. Christ, he says, "rectifying that dis-

obedience which had occurred by reason of a tree, through that

obedience which was [wrought out] upon a tree," showed that one and

the same Father was concerned in the estrangement and the recon-

ciliation.

123

Because here and in similar passages a subsidiary function

of the passion and death is stressed, we are not justified in calling in

question their primary purpose in the theology of St. Irenaeus. As a

matter of fact, before he could, in a strange context, compare the

manner of Christ's death with that of Adam's fall, the soteriological

implication of that death had to be acknowledged. Parallels of this

kind are a natural consequence of the recapitulation theory, and the

fact that they are adduced as proofs seems to indicate a certain con-

viction on this point.

Nowhere is the dependence of St. Irenaeus on St. Paul more manifest

than in his treatment of the passion and death of Christ. The climax

of Christ's redemptive work is expressed in language that is genuinely

Pauline: ". . . the mighty Word and very man, redeeming us by His

own blood, in a manner consonant with reason, gave Himself as a

ransom for those who had been led into captivity."

124

The sufferings

of the passion are not something merely adventitious to the Incarna-

tion, but form an essential part of the whole redemptive plan. St.

Irenaeus points out the dependence of the Incarnation on the passion

when he observes that, in the preaching of the Apostles, "the Son of

God came to endure suffering."

125

There are passages in the Adver sus

haereses

where the expressions "incarnatus est" and "passus est" are

practically synonymous.

126

In explaining the motives of the Saviour's

suffering and death, St. Irenaeus has recourse to the same formulae he

had used in expounding the reasons for the Incarnation. Just as he

had said that the Word became incarnate for us, so he teaches that it

was for our sakes that Christ suffered,

127

for us that He shed His

blood,

128

for us that He died.

129

Christ underwent the passion to bring

123

16, 3.

124

1, 1.

125

Dem.

86.

126

Cf. I, 9, 3; III, 18, 3.

9, 3.

128

III, 16, 9. '

129

Zoe.

c*7.;

cf. Ill, 20,4.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

547

us to the knowledge of the Father,

130

to unite us to God,

131

to reconcile

us to God,

132

to ransom us by His blood,

133

to end our exile and restore

us to our inheritance.

134

The destruction of death and the bestowal

of immortality—capital points in the Irenaean system—are referred

to the passion. "And the Lord indeed," he says, "by His passion

destroyed death, and dispersed error, and put an end to corruption,

and destroyed ignorance, while He manifested life and revealed truth,

and bestowed the gift of incorruption."

135

The shedding of the blood of Christ is regarded as "recapitulationem

effusionis sanguinis ab initio omnium justc^rum et prophetarum."

136

The salvine implication of this shedding of blood is maintained in the

same context when St. Irenaeus speaks of Christ as "salvans in seme-

tipso in fine quod perierat in principio in Adam."

137

Dominating the whole exposition of the Saviour's passion and death

is the cross. The cross is the sign of the kingdom of Christ;

138

it is the

ladder joining earth to heaven.

139

Christ took the handwriting that

recorded our debt to God and "fastened it to the cross, so that as by

means of a tree we were made debtors to God, so also by means of a

tree

may obtain the remission of our debt."

140

The cross of Christ is

death and damnation to those who nailed Him to it, but to those who

believe in Him it is salvation and life.

141

The sacrificial character of the death of Christ is not only taught

by implication, but explicitly stated. St. Irenaeus speaks of Abraham

as being ready to offer his only and beloved son as a sacrifice to God "in

order that God also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed His

own beloved and only-begotten Son, as a sacrifice for our redemp-

tion."

142

That the offering on Calvary is a true sacrifice is clearly

implied in those texts in which the priesthood of Christ is vindicated.

The vision described by St. John in the first chapter of the Apocalypse

(1:12-17) is referred to "the priestly and glorious advent of the Lord's

kingdom."

143

Elsewhere it is pointed out that our Lord came, not to

destroy, but to fulfill the law "by performing the office of the high

priest, propitiating God for men . .. and Himself suffering death, that

130

II,

20,3.

131

Loc.

cit.

132

III,

16,9.

133

Loc.

cit.

134

IV,

135

II,

20,

136

14,

137

Loc.

cit.

138

J9ew., 56.

139

Ibid.,

45.

140

17,3. ™TV,

28,

142

IV,

143

IV,

20,

11.

548

THEOLOGICAL

STUDIES

exiled man might go forth from condemnation, and might return

without fear to his own inheritance.

,,144

A Syriac fragment refers to

Christ as "in sacerdotibus princeps sacerdotum."

145

We have pointed out above the attitude of Werner and others in

their

interpretation of the Irenaean teaching on the atonement. We

are now in a position to judge that interpretation at its true worth.

While

we have not by any means adduced all the

passages

in which

Irenaeus

discusses the soteriological import of the passion and death

of Christ, we feel that we have

given

a sufficient exposition of his

doctrine

on this point to show that the contentions of Werner and the

others we have mentioned are without foundation. Far from losing

sight of the significance of Christ's death, St. Irenaeus appears to place

it on the same

level

as the Incarnation. It is precisely here that the

difficulty lies, because it is practically impossible

determine

which

of the two the atonement is ultimately ascribed.

While

St. Irenaeus

holds strongly to both these ideas, he did not succeed in fitting the two

together. If his doctrine on this point is somewhat lacking in per-

spective, and if his ideas in this regard are not clearly ordered and

rigidly

systematized, one thing at least is certain. According to him,

the

atonement meant the repairing of the havoc wrought in our nature

by sin; it meant the reconciliation and union of man with God by the

communication

of the Spirit, and for this the

Incarnation,

life, passion,

and

death of the Saviour were necessary.

THE

FRUITS ΟΓ THE REDEMPTION

The

dualism of the Gnostics influenced the speculations of these

heretics in their treatment of all the fundamental dogmas of Christian-

ity. This is abundantly clear in their teachings on God and on Christ;

it is equally evident in their ideas on the redemption. According to

them

the redemption may, in summary fashion, be put down as the

liberation and separation of the spiritual element in man from the

material. In this

view,

salvation is above all a division, a rending

asunder. St. Irenaeus maintains a position which is directly opposed

this; for him the redemption is essentially an atonement. Here

the

master idea is unity, a thought, which, according to St. Irenaeus, is

uppermost in the redemptive work of Christ and the results it achieved.

144

IV,

8,2.

146

Fragment

XXX in

Harvey, op.

cit.,

II, 461.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

549

The immutability of God, His transcendence and absolute

self-

sufficiency are points which we find frequently stressed in the Adver sus

haereses. God is ever one and the same; He has no need of our

service, of our sacrifices.

146

In all these things God profits nothing;

rather it is we who are the beneficiaries. This idea is well phrased

in a remarkably fine passage:

Nor did He stand in need of our service when He ordered us to follow Him;

but He thus bestowed salvation upon us. For to follow the Savior is to be par-

taker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. But those who are in

light do not themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it:

they do certainly contribute nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they are

illumined by the light. Thus, also, service rendered to God does indeed profit

God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He grants to those who

follow and serve Him, life and incorruption and eternal glory, bestowing benefit

upon those who serve Him, because they do serve Him, and on His followers be-

cause they do follow Him; but he does not receive any benefit from them: for He

is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. But for this reason does God demand

service from men, in order that, since He is good and merciful, He may benefit

those who continue in his service. For, as much as God is in want of nothing,

so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory

of man, to continue and remain permanently in God's service. Wherefore also

did the Lord say to His disciples, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen

you";

indicating that they did not glorify Him; but that, in following the Son of

God, they were glorified by Him.

147

There is one phrase in the above citation to which we should like to

draw particular attention: "In quantum enim Deus nullius indiget,

in tantum homo indiget Dei communione." A proportion is here

expressed between God's absolute self-sufficiency and man's absolute

need of union with Him. The reason for this need is variously stated.

Placed outside the reach of God's benefits which accrue from union

with Him, man has not the power to procure for himself the means of

salvation.

148

Nor can man, unless he be united to God, ever become

a sharer in incorruption and immortality.

149

Now, union with God is precisely one of the main results of the

redemption. It is stated as one of the motives of the Incarnation, for

the Word was made man "ut finem conjungeret principio, id est,

hominem Deo."

150

When the Son of God destroyed the power of sin

146

IV, 38,1; cr. IV, 14,1; 17, 5.

147

IV, 14,1.

148

IV, 13, 3.

149

III, 18, 7.

IV, 20, 4.

550

THEOLOGICAL

STUDIES

and

bestowed salvation on His

creature,

He "caused man to cling to,

and

to become one with,

God."

161

While the precise

nature

of this

union

is somewhat

obscure,

it would not be too difficult to show

that

St.

Irenaeus

regards it as objective and

interior.

There is evidently

question of a personal

union

καθ*

ύπόστασι,ν;

it is not a substantial

unity,

and therefore St.

Irenaeus

is far from

endorsing

any

pantheistic

views.

152

Yet, from the various expressions which he uses in describ-

ing

this

union,

it is evident

that

his words

cannot

be adequately

interpreted

in terms of a moral

union,

or a merely external "bei

Gott

sein."

153

Christ,

according to St.

Irenaeus,

"leads man

into

fellowship

[communionem]

and

union

[unitatem]

with

God."

154

This

"communio

Dei"

signifies any

dynamic

relation

in virtue of

which

man

participates

the excellence of God, His life, His glory, and especially His im-

mortality.

155

While

union

with

God

in this world is not final—it can

lost

through

sin—it is

life

and light and the source of

man's

highest

perfection.

156

St.

Irenaeus

postpones

the full possession of salvation to

future life, yet even now, the man who is

united

God,

possesses

the

essential

constituent

of salvation, for

communion

with God

will

one

day find its

complete

fruition in

the

eternal

beatitude

the

beatific

vision:

"Vita

autem

hominis

visio

Dei."

157

Thus

far

there

has been question only of the

union

of the faithful

with

God

the

Father.

In the passages we have

considered,

when

Ire-

naeus

speaks of

God,

understands

God the

Father,

whom, like St.

Paul,

he calls simply öeos, even when the Son and the Holy Spirit are

mentioned in the same context. If man's greatest good is to be united

to God, the first step toward that union is to be made like the Son,

"qui propter suam dilectionem factus est quod sumus nos, uti nos

perficeret quod et ipse."

158

The only way to the Father is through the

™

III, 18, 7.

152

F. Stoll (op. cit.y p. 351) has this to say with regard to the charge of pantheism in

Irenaeus;

"Seine Lehre ist pantheistisch, soweit jede vernünftige Theologie den Zu-

sammenhang zwischen Gott und Mensch wahren muss, will sie sich nicht in vage und

religiös unfruchtbare Spekulationen verlieren."

153

P. Gächter, S.J., "Unsere Einheit mit Christus nach dem hl. Irenäus," Zeitschrift

für

katholische

Theologie, LVIII (1934), 506.

154

IV,

13, 1.

155

V, 1, 1.

15e

V,27,2.

157

IV,

20, 7.

158

praef.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

551

Son, for it is only by means of the visible Word that man can enter into

communion with the invisible Father.

169

By becoming like the Son

through union with Him, man, by that very fact, becomes similar to

the Father; he becomes "pretiosus Patri."

160

If, therefore, we are to

reach our final destiny, we must of necessity be united to Christ. This

is the reason why St. Irenaeus is so insistent on our need of union with

our Lord: "Nos autem indigemus ejus quae est ad eum communionis.

Et propterea benigne effudit semetipsum ut nos colligeret in sinum

Patris."

161

As the Father revealed His Son to man, so the Son leads

man back to the Father.

162

To be united to Christ is to be one with

life;

for Christ is the "vivificans Verbum,"

163

and the "Verbum incor-

ruptionis";

164

He is the "antidotum vitae,"

165

and the "princeps vitae

Dei."

166

Therefore, even as the Father, the Son too grants eternal life

to men.

167

To participate in the glorious resurrection on the last day,

union with Christ is essential; for "resurrectio ... ipse Dominus

noster est, quemadmodum ipse ait: Ego sum resurrectio et vita."

168

If the way to the Father is through Christ, union with Christ is

effected by the operation of the Holy Spirit, who, once again, dwells in

man as a result of the atonement. In His human nature, Christ

possessed the fulness of the Spirit, and in this way, says St. Irenaeus,

the Spirit "became accustomed" to take up His abode in mankind and

to dwell once again in God's creatures, "voluntatem Patris operans

in ipsis, et renovans eos a vetustate in novitatem Christi."

169

The work of the redemption, in the teaching of St. Irenaeus, was not

complete until the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost: "Wherefore

the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to

God."

170

He then goes on to point out that just as a mass of dough

or a loaf of bread cannot be formed into a unity from dry wheat without

water, so neither can we "being many, be made one in Christ Jesus

without the water from heaven."

171

Not only is the "Holy Spirit

the source of our unity with each other and with Christ, but He is also

the interior principle from which flows the meritorious efficacy of our

159

16,2.

160

V, 16,1.

161

V, 2, 1.

162

III,

13, 2.

16S

8, 3.

III,

19, 1.

165

Loc.

cit.

IV,

24, 1.

167

IV,

23,2.

168

IV, 5, 2

™

III, 17, 1.

170

III, 17, 2.

171

Loc.

cit.

552 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

good works. Similarly, the faithful who, before the advent of the

Spirit, were a dry tree, could never have brought forth living fruit

without the heavenly water from above.

172

The need that man has of the Spirit emerges very clearly in a passage

where St. Irenaeus, with his characteristic love of simile, explains

the union of man with the Spirit of God in terms of a wild olive branch

that is grafted on to a fruit-bearing olive tree.

173

If the wild olive

branch takes kindly to the graft, it brings forth fruit and is transformed

into a good olive tree, "planted, as it were, in the garden of a king."

174

In a similar manner, men who have received the Spirit of God, bring

forth spiritual fruit and are "planted in the paradise of God."

175

If,

on the contrary, the wild olive branch retains its former condition and

does not bear fruit, it is cut off and cast into the fire. In the same way,

those who cast out the Spirit and follow the things of the flesh, shall

never inherit the kingdom of God. Finally, although by his union

with the Spirit, man possesses within himself a principle of super-

natural activity, his own nature is not thereby changed:

But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the substance of its wood,

but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name, being now not a

wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is called so; so also, when man is grafted

in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance

of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit of his works, and receives another

name, showing that he has become changed for the better, being not now [mere]

flesh and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such.

176

The Holy Spirit, who is the proper "communicatio Christi," the

pledge of immortality, and the means of our ascent to God, is communi-

cated through the Church.

177

For, says St. Irenaeus, quoting the

words of St. Paul (I Cor. 12:28), in the Church God has placed apostles,

prophets, and teachers and other instruments through which the Spirit

operates. AH those, therefore, who through their perverse opinions

and infamous behavior are not members of Christ's Church have no

share in the Spirit and consequently deprive themselves of super-

natural life:

178

For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of

God is, there is the Church and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those,

172

Loc.

cit.

173

10 in

tolo.

10, 1.

175

Loc.

cit.

10,

177

III, 24, 1.

178

Loc.

cit.

St. IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT

553

therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life from the

mother's breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from

the body of Christ; but they dig for themselves broken cisterns out of earthly

trenches, and drink putrid water out of the mire....

Another important result of the redemption, according to St.

Irenaeus, is the salvation, not only of man's soul but also of his body.

He was compelled to emphasize this point because of a well-known

Gnostic error. The heretics, consistently with their contempt for

matter and by a perverse interpretation of the Pauline text, "quia caro

et sanguis regnum Dei possidere non possunt" (I Cor. 15:50), main-

tained that the material element in man could not be saved. The

opinion of St. Irenaeus in this matter

grounded, as he expressly states,

in the traditional teaching of the Church.

180

If flesh is not capable of

salvation, man is not redeemed, because flesh is an essential con-

stituent of his nature: "Homo est autem temperatio animae et

carnis "

181

In the mind of St. Irenaeus, an honor which is fleeting and transitory

is no honor at all. An ephemeral glory, be it prolonged throughout

a lifetime, is no real benefit; to be such, it must be everlasting.

This principle is later applied to the healing narratives of the Gospel;

For what was His object in healing [different] portions of the flesh, and restoring

them to their original condition, if those parts were not in a position to obtain

salvation? For if it was a temporary benefit He conferred, He granted nothing of

importance to those who were the objects of His healing. Or how can they main-

tain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life which flows from Him, when it

received healing from Him? For life is brought about through healing, and in-

corruption through life. He, therefore, who confers healing, the same does also

confer life; and He who gives life, also surrounds His own handiwork with incor-

ruption.

183

In his teaching on the salvation of the flesh and the resurrection of

the body, St. Irenaeus depends directly on St. Paul, but he has recourse

to scriptural arguments drawn from other sacred books as well. The

179

Loc.

cit.

180

20,1.

181

IV,

praef.,

182

II,

7, 1-2: "Quandoquidem et apud homines qui sunt temporales, nulla gratia est

ejus honoris, qui celeriter praeterit, sed ejus qui plurimum quantum potest persévérât.

Quae autem statim ut facta sunt exterminante, in contumeliam magis eorum

qui

putantur

honorari facta esse juste dicentur.... O vanae gloriae honor, qui statim praeterit, et

jam non apparet!"

188

12,6.

554

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

possibility of the resurrection presents no difficulty whatever to St.

Irenaeus. The trouble with the Gnostics, according to him, was that

they were so preoccupied with the weakness of the flesh, that they lost

sight completely of the power of God. To be sure, the body is weak;

184

but it is precisely in weakness and infirmity that the power of God is

made manifest:

But that He is powerful in all these respects, we ought to perceive from our

origin, inasmuch as God, taking dust from the earth, formed man. And surely

it is much more difficult and incredible, from non-existent bones, and nerves, and

veins,

and the rest of man's organization, to bring it about that all this should be,

and to make man an animated and rational creature, than to reintegrate again

that which had been created and then afterwards decomposed into earth.... For

He who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was not, just when

He pleased, shall much more reinstate again those who had a former existence,

when it is His will that they should inherit the life granted by Him.

185

The salvation and resurrection of the flesh is put into close relation

with the Eucharist. The notion that our bodies, which have been

nourished by the body and blood of Christ, should be excluded from

life and destined to everlasting corruption, St. Irenaeus regards as

preposterous.

186

Just as a grain of wheat which is deposited in the

earth and becomes decomposed grows and increases and through the

wisdom of God serves as food for man, and "having received the Word

of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ,"

so also "our bodies being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth,

and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time,

the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even

the Father, who freely.gives to this mortal immortality, and to this

corruptible incorruption, because the strength of God is made perfect

in weakness."

187

Further proofs of the salvation and resurrection of the flesh are

drawn from the fact that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit

and members of Christ. Recalling the Apostle's words to the Corin-

thians, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the

Spirit of God dwells in you?" (I Cor. 3:16), St. Irenaeus points out that

the expression "temple of God" has reference to the body. In support

184

II,

33,

4; II,

28,

186

IV, 18,5.

185

3, 2.

2, 3.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT 555

of this he appeals to the words of our Lord

Himself,

who expressly calls

His body a temple (John 2:19-22). Furthermore, our bodies are the

members of Christ. In direct, vigorous language St. Irenaeus leaves

no doubt as to the meaning of St. Paul on this point:

'Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take

the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?' (I Cor. 6:15). He

speaks these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of

such a nature could have nothing to do with a harlot: but he declares 'our body,'

that is, the flesh, which continues in sanctity and purity, to be 'the members of

Christ'; but that when it becomes one with a harlot, it becomes the members of a

harlot. And for this reason he said, 'If anyone defile the temple of God, him will

God destroy'

{ibid.,

3:17). How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege

that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members

of Christ, do not partake of salvation, but are reduced to perdition?

188

All those who are members of the body of Christ, will naturally

share in the fortunes of Christ. Thus, the sufferings and persecutions

which began in Abel, which were foretold by the prophets and accom-

plished in Christ, are continued in us, "conséquente corpore suum

caput."

189

But herein lies the guarantee of our resurrection, because

"... ut quemadmodum caput resurrexit a mortuis, sic et reliquum

corpus . . . resurgat. . . · Multae enim mansiones apud Patrem,

quoniam et multa membra in corpore."

190

So conscious was St. Irenaeus of the union of Christ and the faithful

and so insistent on the consequent similarity of the lot of the Head and

the members, that, on one occasion at least, he was led into a rather

serious blunder through over-emphasis of this point. The error we

refer to is the postponement of the enjoyment of the beatific vision

until after the resurrection,

191

an opinion which emerged intermittently

during the first twelve centuries and was finally condemned by Pope

Benedict XII.

192

The few novel and singular opinions proposed by St. Irenaeus can

be readily condoned,

193

for they detract very little from his work as a

whole. The Church alone is infallible and she has yet to canonize

188

6, 2.

189

IV,

34, 4.

III, 19, 3.

191

31,

™

Const.,

Benedictos Deus

{DB,

530).

193

Compare the opinion just mentioned of the postponement of beatitude until after

the resurrection; his teaching on the age of Christ and the duration of His public Ufe, on

the spirituality of the soul and on the millenium.

556

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

every single affirmation of even her greatest doctors. That a few

errors should have found their way into a work of the proportions of

the Adversus

haereses

is understandable. When we recall that it was

written at the dawn of Catholic theology and that its author was a

pioneer in the field, the wonder

that errors are so infrequent. Speak-

ing of the writings of St. Irenaeus, Hitchcock, with characteristic

English understatement, observes that "when we have separated the

transitory from the abiding, the dross from the pure ore, the gains are

not small."

194

Indeed, they are not small; they are large enough to

have confounded the enemies of the Church, to have inspired Christians

with a love of their faith and a loyalty to its teaching, to have acquired

for their author the admiration and respect of succeeding ages,

195

and

to have won for him the title of "Father of Catholic Theology."

CONCLUSION

While it is true to say that reading the Adversus

haereses

is very

much like exploring a vast tract of virgin forest,

196

it is also true that

treasures, rich and varied, are to be had there for the seeking. We

have seen the Saint describe the first man issuing from the hand of God,

created in the divine image and likeness and destined to supernatural

glory. In the treatment of the havoc wrought by the sin of Adam and

the promise of a Redeemer, we found the doctrine of original sin

clearly contained. This point of doctrine is all the more remarkable

when we consider a few of the rather serious difficulties arising from the

teaching of some of the later Greek Fathers on this question. Perfec-

tion in man, we saw, was to be the result of a continuous progress and

growth. We noted the progressive, pedagogic stages through which

man was led under the Old Testament in preparation for the coming

of the Redeemer. The redemption, we saw, was effected by the whole

life and death of Christ. We indicated the importance of the latter in

Christ's redeeming work and showed, as a consequence, that the realist

194

F. R. Montgomery Hitchcock, Irenaeus of Lugdunum: A Study of his Teaching

(Cambridge, 1914) p. 346.

195

Cf. Selecta veterum testimonia de Irenaeo ejus que scriptis, PG, VII, 419-430; F. R.

Montgomery Hitchcock, "Irenaeus of Lugdunum," The Expository Times, XLIV

(1932-33), 170.

196

A. d'Alès, S.J., "La doctrine de la récapitulation en saint Irénée,"

Rech,

de sc. relig.,

XVI (1916), 185.

ST.

IRENAEUS ON THE ATONEMENT 557

theory of the redemption is not, as has been maintained by Werner and

others, absent from the teaching of St. Irenaeus on the atonement.

The principal result of Christ's redeeming work was, we saw, the re-

union of God and His creature. Through the restoration of the Spirit,

man could once again achieve his final end, the vision of God, for, says

St. Irenaeus, they who are saved "ascend through the Spirit to the Son,

and through the Son to the Father."

197

Even in this present life, by

reason of''the Spirit that Christ poured out upon us and Who dwells

within

us,

have the pledge of eternal life

"If therefore at the present

time,

having the earnest, we cry, 'Abba, Father/ what shall it be

when, on rising again, we behold Him face to face; and when all the

members shall burst out in a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying

Him Who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal

Ufe?"

198

197

36,

198

V, 8, 1.