Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
What knowledge of God the Apostles had, who handed down the Gospel to us.
This, then, has already been shown plainly here, and will be shown still more plainly further on: that no one else, neither the prophets nor the Apostles nor the Lord Christ himself, confessed in his own person any other Lord or God, but only and above all the true God and Lord — the prophets and the Apostles confessing the Father and the Son, and naming and confessing no other; and the Lord himself passed down to his followers that the Father by himself is God and Lord, the one solitary sovereign and master of everything that exists. It is right that we hold to their testimony just as it stands, seeing we are truly their followers. For Matthew the Apostle, aware that it is a single, identical God who pledged to Abraham that his descendants would multiply like the stars filling the heavens, and who through his Son Christ Jesus summoned us out of stone-worship into knowledge of himself — so that a people once excluded might be counted a people, and those once unloved might be counted beloved — tells of John, forerunner of Christ, that to those priding themselves on fleshly ancestry, though their minds were crowded with every sort of malice, he proclaimed a turning-away from wickedness, saying: brood of serpents, who alerted you to run from the anger soon to come? Produce, then, fruit fitting for that turning-away; and do not tell yourselves, we have Abraham as father. For I say to you, God has power to raise up, out of these very stones, offspring for Abraham. He was, then, urging on them that turning-away born of wickedness, yet he was not proclaiming some different God apart from the one who had pledged himself to Abraham — this forerunner of Christ, of whom Matthew speaks again, and Luke as well: for this is the one spoken of through the prophet by the Lord: a voice shouting out in the desert, make ready the road for the Lord, level out the paths belonging to our God. Every ravine will be raised up, every mountain and hill brought low, the twisted places straightened, and the jagged roads smoothed over; and every living creature will witness God's deliverance."
There exists, then, one and the same God, Father of our Lord, who both pledged through the prophets to send his herald ahead of him, and who caused his own salvation — namely, his own Word — to be seen and shown openly to all flesh, taking on flesh himself so as to be revealed to everyone as their King. For it belonged to the judge to look upon those under judgment and to recognize those by whom he was to be judged; and it belonged to the giver of honor to recognize those attaining that honor. Speaking again of the messenger, Matthew records that a messenger of the Lord appeared to Joseph while dreaming — and he himself explains which "Lord" is meant, namely so that the word spoken by the Lord through the prophet should be fulfilled: Out of Egypt have I summoned my son. And further: behold, a maiden shall carry in her womb and bring forth a son, whose name men will call Emmanuel — a name whose meaning, translated, is "God among us." Concerning this Emmanuel, born of the Virgin, David declared: turn not away the face of your anointed one. The Lord gave David a faithful oath and will not go back on it: of your own bodily offspring I will place one upon your throne. And elsewhere: God has made himself known in Judea; his dwelling is founded in peace, his abode in Zion. There is, then, but a single God, proclaimed by the prophets and made known through the gospel — this same Son, sprung from David's bodily line — that is, from the Virgin descended from David — and Emmanuel; concerning whose star Balaam too foretold that a star would climb up out of Jacob, and a ruler would rise up in Israel. Luke also notes that, as crowds streamed to him for washing, John preached repentance to them — this too Luke records. Chapter 10. Concerning the gifts the Magi brought to our Lord. Matthew records that the Magi, arriving from the East, declared: we have caught sight of his star while still in the East, and have journeyed here to bow before him; and that, guided by the star into the dwelling, to the line of Jacob, to Emmanuel, they revealed through their offerings whom it was they worshiped: myrrh, since he was destined to die and be laid in a tomb on behalf of mortal humanity; gold, since he was a King whose reign has no end; and incense, since he was God, made known both in Judea and revealed to those who had not sought him out. Matthew further records, at the moment of his washing, that the heavens opened and he beheld God's Spirit coming down upon him like a dove, and a voice sounded from heaven, saying: this is my cherished Son, with whom I am greatly pleased. It was not, then, that some separate Christ descended into Jesus, nor that Christ and Jesus were two distinct beings; rather the Word of God — the Savior of all and governor of both heaven and earth — that same one being Jesus, as already shown — this very one took on flesh, was anointed by the Father with the Spirit, and became Jesus Christ; exactly as Isaiah likewise states: a branch shall spring up from the stock of Jesse, and a bloom shall rise from his root, and God's Spirit shall settle upon him — the spirit of wisdom and comprehension, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, and the spirit of fear of God shall fill him full. He shall not render judgment by outward appearance nor rebuke merely by hearsay, but shall judge the humble with righteousness and rebuke the powerful of the earth. And Isaiah again, foretelling both his anointing and its purpose, states: the Lord's Spirit rests upon me, for he has anointed me; he has dispatched me to bring good tidings to the humble, to mend the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives and sight restored to the blind, to declare the Lord's welcome year and the day of requital, to console every mourner. Insofar, then, as God's Word had become man, sprung from Jesse's stock and a descendant of Abraham, in that respect God's Spirit settled upon him and he was anointed to bring good tidings to the humble; but insofar as he was God, he did not render judgment by outward appearance nor rebuke merely by hearsay — having no need of any witness concerning humanity, since he himself already knew what lay within a person. And he summoned to himself every mourner, and by his own gift loosed them from their fetters — fetters of which Solomon states that each man is held fast by the ropes of his own transgressions. God's Spirit thus came down upon him, sent by him who had pledged through the prophets to anoint him, so that we, drawing from the fullness of that anointing, might attain salvation. So indeed Matthew relates it.