Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Men will truly be raised up, and the world will not be utterly destroyed; but there shall be various dwelling-places for the saints, according to each one's worth, and all things shall be made subject to God the Father, and so God shall be all in all.
For since these are true men, their planting must also be true — meaning that it does not pass away into what does not exist, but goes forward in what does exist. For neither the substance nor the material of the created order is destroyed (for he who established it is true and steadfast), but "the fashion of this world passeth away" — that is, the state of things in which the transgression occurred, since man has grown old in it. And for this reason this present fashion has been made temporal, God having foreknown all things; and, as we have shown in the book preceding this one, we have also shown, so far as we were able, the reason for the temporal character of the world's formation. But when this fashion passes away, and man is renewed and flourishes in incorruption in such a way that he can no longer grow old, then there shall come to be a heaven made new and an earth made new, in which the man now renewed will abide without end, forever holding intimate fellowship with God there. And since these realities will remain unceasingly, without any end, Isaiah speaks in this way: "For just as the heaven I am making anew, and the earth made new, abide continually before me — thus, declares the Lord, your offspring and your name shall stand firm." And as the presbyters relate it, those judged deserving of a home among the heavens shall journey there; some others will take delight in the pleasures of paradise; and yet others will hold the glory of the city — for in every place the Savior shall be seen, and to the degree that they are worthy, so shall they see him. They say there is this distinction of dwelling between those who bore fruit a hundredfold, and those a sixtyfold, and those a thirtyfold: the first will be carried up to dwell among the heavens, the second will make his home in paradise, and the third will settle in the city; and that this is why the Lord said that there are many dwelling-places with the Father. For all things belong to God, who assigns a fitting dwelling to all — as his Word says, that a portion is allotted by the Father to all, to each according to what he is worthy of, or shall be found worthy of. And this is the wedding hall, in which shall recline those who are invited and feast at the marriage feast. The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, say that this is the order and the arrangement of those who are being saved, and that they progress by these degrees, rising by way of the Spirit toward the Son, and by way of the Son toward the Father — with the Son, at the close, handing his finished work over to the Father, just as the Apostle likewise states: "For it is necessary that he reign, till the moment he has placed every enemy beneath his feet; death, the final enemy, will be brought to nothing." For during the era of that kingdom, the just man dwelling on earth will lose all memory of dying. Yet when it states that "everything has been placed beneath him," it is obvious this excludes the one who placed everything beneath him. And once everything has been made subject to him, the Son too will then submit himself to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may become everything to everyone. John, then, foresaw with clarity the resurrection of the just as first in order, together with their inheritance of the kingdom here on earth; and the prophets prophesied in agreement with this. For the Lord also taught this, promising that he would drink of the new mixture of the cup with his disciples in the kingdom. And the Apostle, too, in the Epistle to the Romans, declares that it is God the Father who is shown, who formed man and promised to the patriarchs the inheritance of the earth, who brought it forth in the resurrection of the just, and fulfills his promises in the kingdom of his Son — thereafter bestowing, as a father, those things "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man." For there is one Son, who accomplished the will of the Father; and there is one human race, within which the hidden purposes of God reach their fulfillment — purposes that the angels long to gaze upon, yet cannot fathom the depth of God's wisdom, whereby his own handiwork, shaped and joined into a single body together with the Son, comes to its perfection: so that the Word, the offspring first brought forth, may come down into what was fashioned, that is, into the creature, and be held within it; and that the creature, reciprocally, may hold the Word within itself and rise up toward him, passing beyond the angels, and come to bear the likeness and image of God. Here ends the fifth book of the blessed martyr Irenaeus.