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Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies
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Chapter III.—Texts of Holy Scripture used by these heretics to support their opinions.
Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions.
Chapter IX.—Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics.
Chapter X.—Unity of the faith of the Church throughout the whole world.
Chapter XI.—The opinions of Valentinus, with those of his disciples and others.
Chapter XII.—The doctrines of the followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus.
Chapter XIII.—The deceitful arts and nefarious practices of Marcus.
Chapter XIV.—The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting letters and syllables.
Chapter XVI.—Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians.
Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis.
Chapter XXI.—The views of redemption entertained by these heretics.
Chapter XXII.—Deviations of heretics from the truth.
Chapter XXIII.—Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander.
Chapter XXIV.—Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides.
Chapter XXV.—Doctrines of Carpocrates.
Chapter XXVI.—Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes.
Chapter XXVII.—Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion.
Chapter XXVIII.—Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and others.
Chapter XXX.—Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians.
Chapter XXXI.—Doctrines of the Cainites.
Chapter I.—There is but one God: the impossibility of its being otherwise.
Chapter IV.—The absurdity of the supposed vacuum and defect of the heretics is demonstrated.
Chapter VI.—The angels and the Creator of the world could not have been ignorant of the Supreme God.
Chapter VII.—Created things are not the images of those Æons who are within the Pleroma.
Chapter VIII.—Created things are not a shadow of the Pleroma.
Chapter XIII.—The first order of production maintained by the heretics is altogether indefensible.
Chapter XV.—No account can be given of these productions.
Chapter XXI.—The twelve apostles were not a type of the Æons.
Chapter XXIII.—The woman who suffered from an issue of blood was no type of the suffering Æon.
Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.
Chapter XXVI.—“Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.”
Chapter XXVII.—Proper mode of interpreting parables and obscure passages of Scripture.
Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the views of the heretics as to the future destiny of the soul and body.
Chapter XXXI.—Recapitulation and application of the foregoing arguments.
Chapter XXXII.—Further exposure of the wicked and blasphemous doctrines of the heretics.
Chapter XXXIII.—Absurdity of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.
Chapter II.—The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition.
Chapter X.—Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles.
Chapter XXII.—Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin.
Chapter I.—The Lord acknowledged but one God and Father.
Chapter IX.—There is but one author, and one end to both covenants.
Chapter XVIII.—Concerning sacrifices and oblations, and those who truly offer them.
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent.
Chapter XXXVIII.—Why man was not made perfect from the beginning.
1. As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,” 51 2 Cor. iv. 4. and maintaining that there is indeed one god of this world, but another who is beyond all principality, and beginning, and power, we are not to blame if they, who give out that they do themselves know mysteries beyond God, know not how to read Paul. For if any one read the passage thus—according to Paul’s custom, as I show elsewhere, and by many examples, that he uses transposition of words—“In whom God,” then pointing it off, and making a slight interval, and at the same time read also the rest [of the sentence] in one [clause], “hath blinded the minds of them of this world that believe not,” he shall find out the true [sense]; that it is contained in the expression, “God hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world.” And this is shown by means of the little interval [between the clause]. For Paul does not say, “the God of this world,” as if recognising any other beyond Him; but he confessed God as indeed God. And he says, “the unbelievers of this world,” because they shall not inherit the future age of incorruption. I shall show from Paul himself, how it is that God has blinded the minds of them that believe not, in the course of this work, that we may not just at present distract our mind from the matter in hand, [by wandering] at large.
2. From many other instances also, we may discover that the apostle frequently uses a transposed order in his sentences, due to the rapidity of his discourses, and the impetus of the Spirit which is in him. An example occurs in the [Epistle] to the Galatians, where he expresses himself as follows: “Wherefore then the law of works? 52 This is according to the reading of the old Italic version, for it is not so read in any of our existing manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. It was added, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.” 53 Gal. iii. 19. For the order of the words runs thus: “Wherefore then the law of works? Ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator, it was added until the seed should come to whom the promise was made,”— man thus asking the question, and the Spirit making answer. And again, in the Second to the Thessalonians, speaking of Antichrist, he says, “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ 54 This world is not found in the second quotation of this passage immediately following. shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him 55 This world is not found in the second quotation of this passage immediately following. with the presence of his coming; [even him] whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.” 56 2 Thess. ii. 8. Now in these [sentences] the order of the words is this: “And then shall be revealed that wicked, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the presence of His coming.” For he does not mean that the coming of the Lord is after the working of Satan; but the coming of the wicked one, whom we also call Antichrist. If, then, one does not attend to the [proper] reading [of the passage], and if he do not exhibit the intervals of breathing as they occur, there shall be not only incongruities, but also, when reading, he will utter blasphemy, as if the advent of the Lord could take place according to the working of Satan. So therefore, in such passages, the hyperbaton must be exhibited by the reading, and the apostle’s meaning following on, preserved; and thus we do not read in that passage, “the god of this world,” but, “God,” whom we do truly call God; and we hear [it declared of] the unbelieving and the blinded of this world, that they shall not inherit the world of life which is to come.