Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
How the Lord did not dissolve, but surpassed, what was contained in the Law, for the benefit of his disciples; and how our righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees.
That the Lord did not abolish but broadened and brought to completion the inborn precepts of the Law that render a man righteous — precepts which even before the Law was given were kept by those pleasing to God and justified through faith — is evident from his own sayings. For it was said, he notes, "to those of former times, You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you, whoever looks upon a woman with desire for her has already committed adultery with her within his heart." And again: "It was said, You shall not kill. But I tell you, whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be answerable to judgment." And, "It was said, You shall not swear falsely. But I tell you, swear not at all. Let your speech be simply Yes or No," together with whatever else belongs to this pattern. None of these sayings holds a conflict with or overturning of what came earlier, as Marcion's followers proclaim; rather they show a completion and widening, just as he himself declares: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will find no entry into the kingdom of the heavens." And in what did this surpassing consist? First, that one should place faith not merely in the Father, but now also in his Son once he had appeared; for it is the Son who brings man into fellowship and union with God. Next, that one should not merely speak but also do; for people were accustomed to speak without acting; and that one should refrain not merely from wicked deeds but also from the desires giving rise to them. Now in this he was not instructing contrary to the Law, but rather completing the Law and establishing its just demands firmly within us. It would have run counter to the Law had he directed his disciples to commit the very thing the Law prohibited. But what he did direct — refraining not only from what the Law forbade but also from the desires leading to it — is not, as has been said, opposed to the Law, nor a dissolving of it, but rather its completion, widening, and enrichment.
For the Law, since it was given to servants, instructed the soul through bodily, external things, drawing it, as it were by a chain, to obedience to the commandments, so that man might be trained to serve God; yet it was the Word who liberated the soul, and through the soul instructed that the body too should be purified willingly. When this was done, it was necessary that the chains binding man to God should be removed, but that the decrees of liberty should be extended still further, and that subjection to the King should be increased, lest a man, turning back, should appear unworthy of him who had set him free; and that the piety and obedience which is owed to the father of the household should indeed be the same for both servants and free sons, but that the free should have greater confidence, since the labor of freedom is far weightier and nobler than mere compliance rendered in servitude. And for this reason the Lord, in place of the precept "You shall not commit adultery," forbade even to desire; and in place of "You shall not kill," forbade even to be angry; and in place of tithing, commanded to distribute all that one has to the poor; and to love not only neighbors but even enemies; and to be not merely good givers and sharers, but even generous donors to those who take what is ours without asking. "To him who takes away your tunic," he says, "give up your cloak as well; and from him who takes what is yours, do not demand it back; and as you wish that men should do to you, do also to them" — so that we should not grieve as though unwilling to be defrauded, but rejoice as though giving willingly, showing grace to our neighbors rather than being enslaved to necessity. "If anyone," he says, "forces you to go one mile, go with him two more," so that you may follow not as a slave but go ahead as a free man, showing yourself in all things fit and useful to your neighbor — not looking to their malice, but perfecting your own goodness, conforming yourself to the Father, who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
All these things, then, as we have said before, did not dissolve the Law but fulfilled it, extending and enlarging it in us — as if one were to say, a greater exercise of liberty, and a fuller subjection and affection fixed in us toward our Liberator. For he did not free us for this, that we should depart from him; for no one placed outside the Lord's own goods can procure for himself the nourishments of salvation; but rather, that having received more of his grace, we might love him more. And the more we shall have loved him, the greater the glory we shall receive from him, since we are always in the sight of the Father. Since, then, all the inborn precepts belong equally to us and to those who came before, having taken their start and source among them, while among us they have gained growth and completion. For giving assent to God, following his Word, loving him above everything and one's neighbor as oneself — since man is neighbor to man — together with steering clear of every wicked act, and whatever else falls under this heading, being shared by both, point to one and the same God. And such indeed is our Lord, God's own Word, who first drew servants to God, and afterward set free those who were subject to him, just as he himself says to his disciples: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does; but I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father, I have disclosed to you." For in saying, "No longer do I call you servants," he most clearly signified that it was he himself who first established, through the Law, that servitude toward God which men had, and afterward gave them liberty. And in saying, "For the servant does not know what his lord does," he shows, by his own coming, the ignorance of the servile people. And in calling his disciples friends of God, he plainly shows himself to be the Word of God, whom also Abraham, following willingly and without chains because of the nobility of his faith, became a friend of God. Nor indeed did the Word of God take up friendship with Abraham out of any need, existing from the beginning as perfect; for "before Abraham was, I am," he says; but rather that he might grant to Abraham himself eternal life, being good, since friendship with God is the bestower of immortality upon those who lay hold of it.