Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
What the treasure buried in the field is, and that only the Church reads the Scriptures correctly. This, then, is the treasure buried in the field — namely, buried in this present world (since the field stands for the world) — and buried within the Scriptures lies the treasure, Christ, seeing that he was pointed to through figures and parables. So this element, bound up with what pertains to man, could not be grasped before the fulfillment of the things destined to be fulfilled arrived — that is, before Christ's arrival. And for that reason the prophet Daniel was told: "Close up the words and seal the scroll until the season of the fulfillment, until many gain understanding and knowledge is made complete. Once the scattering has run its course, they will know all these matters." Jeremiah likewise states: "In the final days these things will be grasped." For any prophecy, before its fulfillment arrives, remains puzzling and unclear to men. But once the season comes and what was foretold takes place, the prophecies then receive their plain and settled interpretation. This is why, when the Law is read among the Jews in the present age, it comes across like an idle tale, since they lack the interpretation of everything bound up with the arrival of the Son of God pertaining to man. Yet when it is read among Christians, it is a treasure — buried in a field, yet uncovered and made clear through Christ's cross — enriching the minds of men, displaying God's wisdom, laying bare his purposes concerning humanity, foreshadowing Christ's kingdom, announcing beforehand the inheritance belonging to holy Jerusalem, and declaring that a man who loves God will progress until he even beholds God and listens to his speech, and that from hearing his word he will be glorified to such a degree that others will not be able to look directly at his glorious face — just as Daniel stated: "Those with understanding will gleam like the splendor of the sky, and like the stars, forever and beyond," as we have already demonstrated, for anyone who reads the Scriptures. For in this way the Lord enters into his glory, and the release of sins is proclaimed in his name across the whole world. And the disciple will be brought to completeness, becoming like a householder who draws from his storehouse both fresh and long-kept things. For this reason it is right to obey those elders within the Church who trace their line from the Apostles, as we have shown — men who, alongside the line of bishops, have received the certain gift of truth by the Father's kind will; but the rest, who break away from that original line and gather wherever they please, ought to be regarded with suspicion, whether as heretics of corrupt purpose, or as schismatics swollen with pride and self-satisfaction, or yet again as hypocrites acting for profit and empty glory. All of these have drifted away from the truth. And the heretics, carrying unauthorized fire to God's altar — meaning foreign doctrines — will be consumed by fire descending from above, just like Nadab and Abihu. But those who set themselves against the truth and stir others up against God's Church stay below in the world, swallowed into the earth's chasm, like the company of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And those who fracture and tear apart the Church's unity will suffer from God the very punishment given to Jeroboam.