Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Why God made man, and chose the fathers, and called us; and what benefit that service which is toward God confers; and why such a law was given to the people. In the beginning, God formed Adam not because he needed man, but so that he might have someone on whom to bestow his benefits. For not only before Adam, but before every created thing, the Word was glorifying his Father, remaining in him; and he himself was glorified by the Father, just as he himself says: "Father, glorify me with the glory I possessed alongside you before the world existed." Nor did he, needing our service, command us to follow him; rather he was assigning salvation to us ourselves. For to follow the Savior is to share in salvation, and to follow the light is to receive the light. Those dwelling within the light are not themselves the source lighting the light — rather they are lit up and made bright by it; they contribute nothing to it themselves, but obtaining its benefit, are made luminous by the light. So too service toward God confers nothing on God, nor does God have need of human obedience; but he himself bestows life and incorruption and eternal glory on those who follow and serve him, granting a benefit to those who serve him because they serve, and to those who follow him because they follow — yet receiving no benefit from them; for he is perfect in riches and without need. But God seeks service from men for this reason: being kind and compassionate, he may confer good on those who continue steadfast in serving him. For to the degree that God is in need of nothing, to that same degree man is in need of communion with God. For this is man's glory, to persevere and remain in the service of God. And for this reason the Lord said to his disciples: "You did not choose me, but I chose you," signifying that it was not they who bestowed glory on him through their following, but that, by attaching themselves to the Son of God, glory was bestowed upon them by him. And again: "I wish that where I am, they also may be, that they may see my glory" — not vainly boasting in this, but wishing his own glory to be shared by his disciples, of whom Isaiah says: "From the east I will bring your offspring, and from the west I will gather you; and I will say to the north, Bring them, and to the south, Do not hold them back; bring my sons from distant lands, and my daughters from earth's farthest reaches, everyone called by my name; for I have prepared them for my glory, and formed and made them." This is why, wherever the carcass is, there also will the eagles be gathered together, sharing in the glory of the Lord, who formed and prepared us for this, that while we are with him we might share in his glory.
So too God from the beginning formed man for his own generosity's sake; but he selected the patriarchs so that they might attain salvation; and he was forming the people beforehand, teaching the untaught to follow God; and he was preparing the prophets on earth in advance, accustoming man to bear his Spirit and to hold fellowship with God — he himself, in truth, standing in need of nothing at all, yet extending his own fellowship to those who need it; and for those pleasing to him, laying out, as a builder lays out a design, the arrangement of salvation; giving guidance by himself to those who could not see in Egypt; giving a most fitting law to those who were restless in the wilderness; offering a worthy inheritance to those who entered the good land; killing the fatted calf and giving the first robe to those who turn back to the Father — composing the human race in many ways toward the harmony of salvation. And for this reason John says in the Apocalypse: "His voice was as the voice of many waters." For truly the many waters are the Spirit of God, since the Father is rich and great. And passing through all these, the Word, without envy, was bestowing benefit on those who were subject to him, writing a law fitting and suited to every condition.
So too he ordained for the people the making of the tabernacle, and the building of the temple, and the choosing of the Levites, as well as sacrifices and offerings, and admonitions, and all the rest of the service of the Law. He himself truly stood in need of not a single one of these things; for he is forever brimming with every good thing, possessing within himself every sweet fragrance and every pleasant exhalation, even before Moses ever lived; but he was instructing a people prone to turn back to idols, through many things — through temporal things leading them to eternal things, through carnal things to spiritual things, through earthly things to heavenly things — just as it was also said to Moses: "You shall make all things according to the pattern of those things which you saw on the mountain" — heavenly characters, and spiritual images, and prefigurations of things to come, just as Paul likewise states: "For they drank from the spiritual rock accompanying them, and that rock was Christ." And again, concerning these things that are in the Law, he adds: "Now all these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our correction, upon whom the end of the ages has come." For through these types they were learning to fear God, and to persevere in obedience to him. And so the Law was to them both discipline and prophecy of things to come. For God, through the natural precepts which he gave to men, implanted in them from the beginning, admonishing them — that is, through the Decalogue (which if anyone does not keep, he has no salvation) — required nothing more of them at first. Just as Moses states in Deuteronomy: "These are the complete words the Lord addressed to the whole gathering of Israel's sons upon the mountain," and he continues, noting that he inscribed them upon two stone tablets and handed them over to him, so that those wishing to follow him might keep the commandments.