Against Heresies: Book I

SOME MEN HAVE SET ASIDE THE TRUTH AND BRING IN DECEPTIVE WORDS AND USELESS GENEALOGIES: which, as the apostle says, "create questions rather than godly edification in faith." Through their cleverly constructed arguments, they mislead and capture the minds of the inexperienced. I felt compelled, my dear friend, to write this treatise to expose and counteract their schemes. These men distort the oracles of God and prove themselves to be poor interpreters of the good word of revelation. They also undermine the faith of many by leading them away under the guise of superior knowledge, from Him who founded and adorned the universe, as if they had something more excellent and sublime to reveal than the God who created the heaven and the earth and all that is in them. With attractive and plausible words, they cunningly entice the simple-minded to explore their system, but in doing so, they clumsily lead them into destruction while initiating them into blasphemous and impious opinions about the Demiurge. These simple-minded individuals are unable to distinguish falsehood from truth.

ERROR IS NEVER PRESENTED IN ITS OBVIOUS UGLINESS: because if it were exposed like that, it would be immediately recognized. Instead, it is cleverly disguised in an attractive form to make it appear to the inexperienced (as ridiculous as it may seem) more true than the truth itself. Someone much wiser than I am has aptly said, regarding this matter, “A clever imitation in glass may seem to shame a precious jewel like the emerald (which is highly valued by some), unless it is examined by someone capable of testing and revealing the fake. Or, likewise, what inexperienced person can easily spot brass when it is mixed with silver?” Therefore, to prevent anyone from being misled, like sheep by wolves, because they do not recognize the true nature of these men—since they outwardly wear sheep's clothing (against whom the Lord has warned us to be cautious), and because their language resembles ours while their beliefs differ greatly—I feel it is my duty (after reading some of the so-called Commentaries of the followers of Valentinus and becoming familiar with their doctrines through personal encounters with some of them) to reveal to you, my friend, these shocking and deep mysteries that not everyone can understand, because not all have sufficiently cleared their minds. I do this so that you, gaining knowledge of these things, may explain them to everyone you know and urge them to avoid such madness and blasphemy against Christ. I plan, as best as I can, briefly and clearly to present the views of those who are now spreading heresy. I specifically refer to the disciples of Ptolemæus, whose teachings are like a branch from the school of Valentinus. I will also attempt, with my limited skill, to provide the means to refute them by showing how absurd and inconsistent with the truth their claims are. It's not that I am skilled in writing or eloquence, but my sense of duty compels me to share with you and all your companions these doctrines, which have been concealed until now, but are finally, through the goodness of God, being uncovered. “For there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be made known.”

YOU WILL NOT EXPECT FROM ME: who am living among the Celts and usually use a barbarous dialect, any display of rhetoric, which I have never learned, or any excellence of composition, which I have never practiced, or any beauty and persuasiveness of style, to which I do not claim. But you will accept kindly what I similarly write to you simply, truthfully, and in my own plain way; while you yourself (being more capable than I am) will expand on those ideas of which I send you only the foundational principles; and in your comprehensive understanding, will fully develop the points on which I briefly touch, so as to powerfully present to your companions those things I have mentioned in weakness. In conclusion, as I (to satisfy your long-held desire for information regarding the beliefs of these people) have spared no effort not only to make these doctrines known to you but also to provide the means of showing their falsity, so you, according to the grace given to you by the Lord, shall prove to be a sincere and effective minister to others, so that men may no longer be led astray by the plausible system of these heretics, which I now proceed to describe.