Against Heresies, Book V

Book V

• Against Heresies V.1 — 1. For in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His own…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.2 — 1. And vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another’s property; in order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by another, to…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.3 — 1. The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being uplifted, he might fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.4 — 1. Those persons who feign the existence of another Father beyond the Creator, and who term him the good God, do deceive themselves; for they introduce him as a feeble, worthless, and negligent being, not to say…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.5 — 1. [In order to learn] that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened period, as long as it was God’s good pleasure that they should flourish, let [these heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will find that…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.6 — 1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not [merely] a…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.7 — 1. In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh, and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and the opening in His side (now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.8 — 1. But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms “an…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.9 — 1. Among the other [truths] proclaimed by the apostle, there is also this one, “That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” This is [the passage] which is adduced by all the heretics in support of their…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.10 — 1. This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that we may not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. “But thou, being a wild olive-tree,” he says, “hast been grafted into the good…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.11 — 1. [The apostle], foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who do dishonestly pervert his…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.12 — 1. For as the flesh is capable of corruption, so is it also of incorruption; and as it is of death, so is it also of life. These two do mutually give way to each other; and both cannot remain in the same place, but…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.13 — 1. Let our opponents—that is, they who speak against their own salvation—inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow’s dead son, who was being carried out [to burial] near the…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.14 — 1. And inasmuch as the apostle has not pronounced against the very substance of flesh and blood, that it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the same apostle has everywhere adopted the term “flesh and blood” with…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.15 — Proofs of the resurrection from Isaiah and Ezekiel; the same God who created us will also raise us up. 1. Now, that He who at the beginning created man, did promise him a second birth after his dissolution into…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.16 — 1. And since Adam was moulded from this earth to which we belong, the Scripture tells us that God said to him, “In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat thy bread, until thou turnest again to the dust from whence thou…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.17 — 1. Now this being is the Creator (Demiurgus), who is, in respect of His love, the Father; but in respect of His power, He is Lord; and in respect of His wisdom, our Maker and Fashioner; by transgressing whose…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.18 — 1. And such or so important a dispensation He did not bring about by means of the creations of others, but by His own; neither by those things which were created out of ignorance and defect, but by those which had…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.19 — 1. That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.20 — 1. Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.21 — 1. He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.22 — 1. Thus then does the Lord plainly show that it was the true Lord and the one God who had been set forth by the law; for Him whom the law proclaimed as God, the same did Christ point out as the Father, whom also it…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.23 — 1. He had indeed been already accustomed to lie against God, for the purpose of leading men astray. For at the beginning, when God had given to man a variety of things for food, while He commanded him not to eat of…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.24 — 1. As therefore the devil lied at the beginning, so did he also in the end, when he said, “All these are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give them.” For it is not he who has appointed the kingdoms of…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.25 — The fraud, pride, and tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist, as described by Daniel and Paul. 1. And not only by the particulars already mentioned, but also by means of the events which shall occur in the time of…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.26 — 1. In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord’s disciples what shall happen in the last times, and concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire which now rules…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.27 — The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation from the divine being. The eternal punishment of unbelievers. 1. If the Father, then, does not exercise judgment, [it follows] that judgment does not…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.28 — The distinction to be made between the righteous and the wicked. The future apostasy in the time of Antichrist, and the end of the world. 1. Inasmuch, then, as in this world (αἰῶνι) some persons betake themselves to…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.29 — 1. In the previous books I have set forth the causes for which God permitted these things to be made, and have pointed out that all such have been created for the benefit of that human nature which is saved, ripening…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.30 — 1. Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.31 — 1. Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the pre-arranged plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of the methods by which they are disciplined beforehand for incorruption,…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.32 — 1. Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons] are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God’s dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and of…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.33 — 1. For this reason, when about to undergo His sufferings, that He might declare to Abraham and those with him the glad tidings of the inheritance being thrown open, [Christ], after He had given thanks while holding…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.34 — 1. Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.35 — 1. If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize [prophecies] of this kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very expressions [in…vatican.va
• Against Heresies V.36 — 1. For since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment (plantationem), that they vanish not away among non-existent things, but progress among those which have an actual existence. For neither is…vatican.va