XXXVI.
True [4858] knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," [4859] the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," [4860] he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, [4861] who go into matters of which they have no perception. [4862] For the truth is unsophisticated (aschematistos); and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," [4863] as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." [4864] For this is the affinity [4865] of the apostolical teaching and the most holy "faith delivered unto us," [4866] which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not "giving heed to endless genealogies," [4867] but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.
[4858] This extract and the next three were discovered in the year 1715 by [Christopher Matthew] Pfaff, a learned Lutheran, in the Royal Library at Turin. The mss. from which they were taken were neither catalogued nor classified, and have now disappeared from the collection. It is impossible to say with any degree of probability from what treatises of our author these four fragments have been culled. For a full account of their history, see Stieren's edition of Irenæus, vol. ii. p. 381. [But, in all candor, let Pfaff himself be heard. His little work is full of learning, and I have long possessed it as a treasure to which I often recur. Pfaff's Irenæi Fragmenta was published at The Hague, 1715.]
[4859] 1 Cor. ii. 14.
[4860] 1 Pet. ii. 3.
[4861] 1 Tim. vi. 4, 5.
[4862] Col. ii. 18.
[4863] Rom. x. 8; Deut. xxx. 14.
[4864] Phil. iii. 10.
[4865] Harvey's conjectural emendation, epiploke for epiloge, has been adopted here.
[4866] Jude 3.
[4867] 1 Tim. i. 4.
XXXVII.
Those who have become acquainted with the secondary (i.e., under Christ) constitutions of the apostles, [4868] are aware that the Lord instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration of] Malachi the prophet. For, "from the rising of the sun even to the setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;" [4869] as John also declares in the Apocalypse: "The incense is the prayers of the saints." [4870] Then again, Paul exhorts us "to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." [4871] And again, "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips." [4872] Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; [4873] but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God "in spirit and in truth." [4874] And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes [4875] may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom.
[4868] tais deuterais ton apostolon diataxesi. Harvey thinks that these words imply, "the formal constitution, which the apostles, acting under the impulse of the Spirit, though still in a secondary capacity, gave to the Church."
[4869] Mal. i. 11.
[4870] Rev. v. 8. The same view of the eucharistic oblation, etc., is found in book iv. chap. xvii.: as also in Justin Martyr; see Trypho, cap. xli. supra in this volume.
[4871] Rom. xii. 1.
[4872] Heb. xiii. 15.
[4873] Col. ii. 14.
[4874] John iv. 24.
[4875] Harvey explains this word antitupon as meaning an "exact counterpart." He refers to the word where it occurs in Contra Hæreses, lib. i. chap. xxiv. (p. 349, this vol.) as confirmatory of his view.