Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
WHAT IS THE DOCTRINE OF CERINTHUS. A certain Cerinthus, moreover, taught in Asia that the world was made not by the first God, but by a power quite separate and distant from that Sovereignty which is above all things, and ignorant of the God who is above all. He held that Jesus was not born of a virgin, since this seemed impossible to him, but that he was the son of Joseph and Mary, just like all other men, though he surpassed all in righteousness, prudence, and wisdom. And after his baptism, Christ descended upon him from that Sovereignty which is above all things, in the form of a dove; and then he proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles; but at the end Christ flew away again from Jesus; Jesus then underwent suffering and rose up again, [while Christ, being spiritual, remained incapable of suffering]. WHAT IS THE DOCTRINE OF THE EBIONITES. Those known as Ebionites concur that the world was fashioned by God, yet they hold views concerning the Lord unlike those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use only the Gospel according to Matthew and reject the apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the Law. As for the prophetic writings, they labor to expound them with excessive curiosity; and they practice circumcision and persevere in those customs that belong to the Law and to the Jewish way of life, so much so that they even worship toward Jerusalem as though it were the house of God. WHAT ARE THE WORKS OF THE NICOLAITANS. The Nicolaitans, moreover, have as their teacher Nicolaus, one of the seven whom the apostles were the first to appoint to the diaconate; these live without restraint. Their true character is most fully shown in the Apocalypse of John, which teaches that there is no distinction between committing adultery and eating food sacrificed to idols. For this reason the word was also spoken concerning them: 'But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.' [Note: other testimony traces their origin to a certain Thebutis, from among the Essenes, who arose after the death of St. James and was the father of this sect, the first sect bearing the Christian name. They are certainly Judaizers; all their writings, then, concern the Law and Judaism — hence also the well-known question about the Gospel according to the Hebrews...]