Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Against those who say that he received nothing from Mary.
If, then, that first Adam had a human father and came from the seed of a man, one might reasonably claim that he too, mirroring Adam, was fathered by Joseph. Yet if that first Adam was truly drawn from the earth and shaped by God's Word, it was fitting that this same Word, in carrying out the recapitulation of Adam within himself, should preserve a like manner of generation. Why, then, did God not once more take up clay, but instead carry out the forming through Mary? So that there would not exist a second, different formation, nor a different formed being needing salvation, but that the very identical one would be recapitulated, its likeness kept intact. Those, then, err who claim he took nothing at all from the Virgin, aiming thereby to discard the inheritance of the flesh and, with it, discard the likeness as well. For if the first man had his forming and substance from earth, by God's hand and skill, while this one lacked that same origin from God's hand and skill, then he would no longer have kept the likeness of man, who was fashioned according to God's own image and likeness, and God's handiwork would appear self-contradictory, having nothing left through which to display his wisdom. To claim this, moreover, amounts to saying he merely seemed to be man, appearing as one though not truly a man, and that he became man while taking on nothing whatsoever from man. For unless flesh's substance came to him from man, he was neither truly made man nor truly a Son of Man; and unless he was fashioned as we ourselves are, whatever he suffered and endured amounts to nothing of consequence. Yet we are a body drawn from the earth, together with a soul that receives spirit from God — a fact everyone will grant. This, then, is what the Word of God became: recapitulating within himself his own handiwork; and it is for this reason that he calls himself Son of Man, and declares the meek blessed, because they will inherit the earth. The apostle Paul, too, in writing to the Galatians, states plainly: God sent forth his Son, born of a woman. And again, in writing to the Romans, concerning his Son he says: descended from David's seed according to the flesh, marked out beforehand as Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, through resurrection from among the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Otherwise his descent into Mary would have served no purpose. For what reason would he have entered into her at all, if he intended to take nothing whatsoever from her? And had he taken nothing from Mary, he would never have partaken of the foods drawn from the earth, by which an earth-drawn body is sustained; nor would his body have grown hungry after a forty-day fast, as happened with Moses and Elijah, seeking its rightful nourishment; nor would his disciple John, in recording him, have written that Jesus grew weary from his travels; nor would David have cried out concerning him, They have added to the anguish of my wounds; nor would he have shed tears over Lazarus; nor would he have sweated great drops of blood; nor would he have said, My soul is overcome with sorrow; nor, when a spear opened his side, would blood and water have flowed out. For every one of these is a mark of flesh, drawn from the earth, which he recapitulated within himself, thereby saving his own handiwork.