III. Irenaeus’ Personal Creed Then Preponderant Belief of Church
1. IRENAEUS’ “CREED,” AND “CONFERRED” IMMORTALITY
In chapter ten Irenaeus sets forth his personal statement of faith, couched in “sublime simplicity,” which belief he declares to be “the Faith of the Church Throughout the Whole World.” Because of its representative character, as the generally accepted faith of Christians at that time (between A.D. 182 and 188), it is here given in entirety, as essential reading:CFF1 889.3
“[She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father ‘to gather all things in one,’ and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ‘every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess’ to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send ‘spiritual wickedness,’ and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.” CFF1 890.1
This refreshing and illuminating statement of the cardinal truths of Christianity was the direct antithesis and antidote to the Gnostic distortions. Here the Trinity is set forth, with Christ as truly God, becoming “incarnate for our salvation.” The Holy Spirit is presented as the inspirer of the prophets. Then follows the truth of the two advents, the virgin birth, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension, in flesh, of our Lord.CFF1 890.2
And finally Christ’s second advent from Heaven in glory is depicted, to “raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race,” through the resurrection, as the omnipotent Christ returns to “execute just judgment” on all men. The Advent is climaxed with the sending of the “ungodly” “into everlasting fire,” along with the fallen angels, while at the same time Christ confers “immortality on the righteous, and holy” who repented. Thenceforth they are surrounded with “everlasting glory.” This is the manner in which Irenaeus believed all evil and pollution would be removed from the universe, and harmony and righteousness restored. It is in striking harmony with the apostolic teaching. It is definitely Conditionalist.CFF1 890.3
2. IRENAEUS’ STATEMENT NEVER AGAIN TRUE
The significance of this comprehensive creedal statement must not be missed. While this is Irenaeus’ personal confession of faith, it is, he avers, more than that. It is the preponderant belief of the church at large at that time—uttered, be it noted, just before the church had come to the fork in the stream, when the eddying currents of Immortal-Soulism, under Athenagoras and Tertullian (and soon thereafter Origen), began swirling away from the main channel of the original stream, in new and divergent courses.CFF1 891.1
Its time of utterance is therefore of great significance. Never again could it be said that this was the generally accepted view. Thenceforth there was a tangent view, with the Immortal-Soul concept steadily gaining in acceptance. It was consequently the last time that such a general declaration of Conditionalist belief could be made in the Early Church. Irenaeus firmly held that immortality is conferred, not inherent, and is proffered to all men, but bestowed on the righteous only. It is definitely not for the wicked, and not merely for an elite Gnostic clique.CFF1 891.2
3. GNOSTICISM IS BUT CAMOUFLAGED PAGANISM
Irenaeus then turns to the plaguing heresies. Chapter after chapter follows, with telling strokes against the “deviations” of Saturninus and Basilides (chapter twenty-four), and Carpocrates (chapter twenty-five), with all their “deceitful arts and nefarious practices,” and “absurdities” ad nauseum. Special note is taken of the Marcosians (chapter twenty) and their total misconception of redemption (chapter twenty-one). Similar perversions, found in Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and the Nicolaitanes (chapter twenty-six) are noted, as well as those of Cerdo, Marcion, Tatian, the Encratites (chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight), and others (chapters twenty-nine to thirty-one). Such was the sad state of affairs among these fringe groups when Irenaeus battled for truth and grappled with error.CFF1 891.3
Continuing his searching charges in the first thirteen chapters of book two, he comes (in chapter fourteen) to the fundamental point that Gnosticism is derived from paganism, simply with changed terminology—such as that “the Creator formed the world out of previously existing material,” and that God “cannot impart immortality to what is mortal, or bestow incorruption on what is corruptible.” Their systems, he asserts, are “burdened with so great contradictions.” Irenaeus exposes the “folly of the arguments derived ... from numbers, letters, and syllables.” CFF1 892.1
4. MADE INCORRUPTIBLE AND IMMORTAL AT RESURRECTION
Irenaeus refutes the false Gnostic view on the nature and destiny of man, again declaring that immortality and incorruptibility come at the resurrection. He insisted on the oneness of man and the redemption of the whole man:CFF1 892.2
“And then the doctrine concerning the resurrection of bodies which we believe, will emerge true and certain [from their system]; since, [as we hold,] God, when He resuscitates our mortal bodies which preserved righteousness, will render them incorruptible and immortal.” CFF1 892.3
The time of that immortalization is clear. It is at the Second Advent and resurrection.CFF1 892.4
5. ETERNAL CONTINUANCE IS “BESTOWED” AND “IMPARTED.”
In chapter thirty-three Irenaeus exposes the fiction and “Absurdity of the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls.” He says they “never existed in other bodies.” Irenaeus tells of the resurrection of the entire man—how “all those who have been enrolled for life [eternal] shall rise again, having their own bodies, and having also their own souls, and their own spirits, in which they had pleased God.” Irenaeus’ climax comes in chapter thirty-four, where he explicitly declares that “God alone, who is Lord of all, is without beginning and without end,” and therefore “unchangeable.” From Him all things proceed.CFF1 892.5
Moreover, “created things” will, he maintains, “endure as long as God wills that they should have an existence and continuance,” and gives “length of days for ever and ever.” He declares of such, “It is the Father of all who imparts [gives] continuance for ever and ever on those who are saved.” As to the “bestowed” life he adds:CFF1 893.1
“For life does not arise from us, nor from our own nature; but it is bestowed according to the grace of God. And therefore he who shall preserve the life bestowed upon him, and give thanks to Him who imparted it, shall receive also length of days for ever and ever .... But he who shall reject it, and prove himself ungrateful to his Maker, inasmuch as he has been created, and has not recognised Him who bestowed [the gift upon him], deprives himself of the [privilege of] continuance for ever and ever.” CFF1 893.2
6. “PERPETUAL DURATION” IS UNENDING “EXISTENCE.”
His argument is amplified and enforced in section four, where Irenaeus asserts that “the soul herself is not life, but partakes in that life bestowed upon her by God.” And he adds:CFF1 893.3
“When God therefore bestows life and perpetual duration, it comes to pass that even souls which did not previously exist should henceforth endure [for ever], since God has both willed that they should exist, and should continue in existence.” CFF1 893.4
That is the declared basis of “the continued duration of the soul.” CFF1 893.5