Let’s Begin at the Beginning

For the way of all those who see is single and upward, illuminated by the heavenly light, but the ways of those who do not see are many, dark, and divergent; the one leads to the kingdom of heaven uniting man to God, while the others lead down to death, separating man from God.

On the Apostolic Preaching, St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus begins his Demonstration with a preface, his note to Marcianus as to why he is writing to him. He is writing a “summary memorandum,” so that Marcianus may “understand all the members of the body of truth…and that you may confound all those who hold false opinions and…deliver our sound and irreproachable word in all boldness.”

I think this idea of a personal letter should not be lost, or glossed over. Like many of the apostle Paul’s epistles, this letter is written to a specific person (in many of Paul’s, a specific church community), going through specific experiences, in a specific cultural and historic context.

The large portion of this preface (which is, in total not more than a couple hundred words) is dedicated to the wholeness, and holiness, of the body and soul:

…holiness of the body is the abstention from all shameful things and from all lawless deeds, while holiness of soul is to keep the faith in God whole, neither adding nor subtracting from it.

For what use is it to know the truth in words, only to defile the body and perform evil deeds? Or what profit indeed can come from holiness of body, if truth is not in the soul?

The body and the soul rejoice together, joining forces to lead man to the presence of God. Here, we see Irenaeus’s purpose: know the truth, abstain from lawless deeds.

…faith is established on things truly real, that we may believe what really is, as it is, and believing what really is, as it is, we may always keep our conviction of it firm.

This so much reminds me of something I wrote several weeks ago; I will just summarize it here.

Perhaps the closest thing we get to a Biblical definition of faith is in Hebrews:

Hebrews 11: 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith isn’t something floating in the air. It has substance; it offers evidence. Faith is something you trust, but cannot prove – and faith is living in accordance with this. Some people describe faith as belief in the unbelievable. This is not only wrong, it is the opposite of right. Faith is belief in that which is most believable, of primary importance. It doesn’t get more real, more true, than this.

I really like something that C.S. Lewis said:

You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.

That is faith: the thing which you know you will not choose to see through.

As Irenaeus writes, faith is established on things truly real – the most real. Not fluffy clouds, not made up in my head. It is that on which I build my foundation for how I live my life. That’s as real as it gets.

Since, then, the conserver of our salvation is faith, it is necessary to take great care of it, that we may have a true comprehension of what it is.

This is Irenaeus’s purpose with this letter to Marcianus: have the right faith, and live the right way.

Irenaeus begins by looking at God and man, and the faith received from the apostles. This faith exhorts us to remember that we have received baptism for the remission of sins; this baptism is the seal for eternal life.

All things have come into being from some origin, and that origin is God. There is one God, the Father – uncreated, invisible, Creator of all.

And as God is verbal, therefore He made created things by the Word; and God is Spirit, so that He adorned all things by the Spirit.

This identifies the order of faith: first, God the Father; second, the Word of God, the Son of God; and, third, the Holy Spirit through whom the prophets prophesied. Without the Spirit, one cannot see the Word of God, and without the Son, one cannot approach the Father.

God fashioned man in His image and breathed in him the breath of life. He appointed man as lord of the earth, and of everything in it. As for the other creatures…

…they were in their full development, while the lord, that is the man, was very little, since he was an infant, and it was necessary for him to reach full development by growing in this way.

God prepared for this man the perfect place for his development, a place “better than this earth.” In everything it excelled – air, food, plants, water. It was Paradise. God would walk and talk with the man, speaking with him to teach him righteousness.

But the man was a young child, not yet having a perfect deliberation, and because of this he was easily deceived by the seducer.

Man gave names to all the animals, but as nothing suitable was found for man as a helper, God fashioned a woman. They were as children in Paradise, naked and not ashamed.

Yet, all of this authority could lead to conceit, delusions of grandeur in the man – as if he had no Lord. Therefore, a law was given to him, such that he might know that he has a Lord of all over him.

And He placed certain limits upon him. so that, if he should keep the commandment of God, he would remain always as he was, that is, immortal.

Man did not keep this commandment, deceived by the angel called Satan, who was jealous of man because of the many gifts God gave him. This led to man’s downfall, and Adam and Eve fell into many misfortunes. Cain – also deceived by this apostate angel – would kill Abel:

[This killing] signifying that thenceforth some would be persecuted, oppressed and killed, while the unjust would kill and persecute the righteous.

From here to Noah, and his sons Cham, Sem, and Japeth. On Cham was a curse, because he mocked his father. The other two were blessed: first Sem (leading to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), then Japeth (leading to the Gentiles).

So, in the order that each was blessed, in that same order, through their descendants, each receives the fruit of the blessing.

Men spoke with one tongue, and chose to build a tower, a “contriving a device” by which to ascend to the heavens. God divided their languages, causing them to discontinue this work. They scattered abroad, each according to his language.

And therefore three races of men occupied the earth: one of them was under the curse, while two were under the blessing.

Fast forward a bit to Moses, specifically the Passover, or Pascha:

He saved the sons of Israel from this, revealing in a mystery the Passion of Christ, by the slaughtering of a spotless lamb and by its blood given to be smeared on the houses of the Hebrews as a guard of invulnerability.

As I come to explore more and more views about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, I come to appreciate more and more the statement by C.S. Lewis, that this event “somehow” made us right with God.

The spotless lamb was “slaughtered,” indicating that the spotless Lamb had to suffer a gruesome death – in fact, the most gruesome death devised by the Roman world. Further, the lamb’s blood made the Hebrews invulnerable, and, by extension, the Lamb’s blood made those in Him invulnerable. Invulnerable to what? In simplest terms, if I extend the example from Egypt, to death.

Let’s extend the example a little further: when did Israel see salvation? Was it when they crossed the Red Sea, or was it forty years later, when entering the promised land? And what of the journey in between? Many are called, but few are chosen – in this case, only two of the multitude that were called were also chosen: Joshua and Caleb.

In any case, Christ’s death and resurrection “somehow” made us right with God. There are so many “somehows” in this event, and, as I have mentioned elsewhere, these “somehows” were never codified or reconciled by council, at least not to my knowledge. I will conclude this diversion with a thought: every time I hear one or another polemic about how “my” tradition has a corner on just what this “somehow” means, and your tradition has it wrong…well, I don’t see it. The “somehow” in this event is a rather large tent, and in faith we walk into it.

Returning to Irenaeus…he continues with Moses, the Decalogue, Joshua and Caleb, the diversion for forty years, and, finally, entering the promised land – without Moses.

Conclusion

Hither the prophets were sent from God; by the Holy Spirit they admonished the people and returned them to the God of the Patriarchs…

These prophets were heralds of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and according to the flesh from the seed of David. This Son of God was before all creation, and was revealed to all the world at the close of the age as man.

This is the apostolic preaching of the Old Testament Scriptures – of course, I provide only an overview of the depth of Irenaeus’s teaching.

Next will come the salvation wrought by the Son of God.