Against Heresies: Book IV

A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLE OF THIS KIND: who truly receives the Spirit of God—present with humanity from the beginning across all of God's plans, announcing future events, revealing current ones, and narrating past ones—"judges all people, but is judged by no one." For he judges the Gentiles, who "serve the creature more than the Creator," and waste all their efforts on vanity with a corrupt mind. He also judges the Jews, who do not accept the word of liberty and refuse to embrace freedom, even though they have a Deliverer with them.

They claim to serve God, who needs nothing, at an inappropriate time with observances beyond the law, yet do not recognize the coming of Christ, which He fulfilled for the salvation of humanity, nor are they willing to understand that all the prophets announced His two comings: the first, in which He became a man subject to suffering, knowing what it is to bear infirmity, rode on a donkey's colt, was a stone rejected by the builders, was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and destroyed Amalek by the stretching forth of His hands; while He gathered the scattered children from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold, remembered His own who had previously fallen asleep, and came down to deliver them.

The second coming will be on the clouds, bringing a day that burns like a furnace, striking the earth with the word of His mouth, and slaying the impious with the breath of His lips, with a fan in His hands to clean His floor, gathering the wheat into His barn, but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire.

2. Furthermore, he should also examine the doctrine of Marcion, asking how he believes there are two gods, separated from each other by an infinite distance. Or how can he be good if he draws away men who do not belong to him from the one who made them and calls them into his own kingdom? And why is his goodness, which does not save everyone, flawed? Also, why does he seem to be good with respect to men but most unjust toward the one who made men, since he takes away his possessions? Moreover, how could the Lord, with any justice, if He belonged to another father, have acknowledged the bread to be His body, while He took it from that creation to which we belong, and declared the mixed cup to be His blood? And why did He call Himself the Son of man if He had not experienced the birth that belongs to a human being? How, too, could He forgive us those sins for which we are accountable to our Maker and God? And how, again, assuming He was not flesh but only appeared to be a man, could He have been crucified, and could blood and water have flowed from His pierced side? What body, moreover, was it that those who buried Him placed in the tomb? And what was it that rose again from the dead?

THIS SPIRITUAL MAN WILL ALSO JUDGE ALL THE FOLLOWERS OF VALENTINUS BECAUSE THEY INDEED CONFESS WITH THEIR WORDS ONE GOD THE FATHER: acknowledging that everything comes from Him. Yet, they claim that the One who created all things is the result of a fall or defect. They also confess with their words one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but in their doctrine assign a separate origin to the Only-begotten, another to the Word, another to Christ, and yet another to the Saviour. They claim these beings are said in Scripture to be one, yet they argue that each should be understood to exist separately and have its own unique origin. It appears, then, that they have acknowledged the unity of God only with their words, while their true beliefs and understanding have deviated from this unity into a belief in many deities. This will be evident when Christ examines the doctrines they have invented. They say He was born after the Pleroma of the Æons, following a fall or defect, and that they came into existence due to the suffering experienced by Sophia. Their own special prophet, Homer, whom they have listened to while creating such doctrines, will himself reprove them with his words: “Hateful to me that man as Hades’ gates, who thinks one thing while saying another.”

THIS SPIRITUAL MAN WILL ALSO JUDGE THE USELESS SPEECHES OF THE PERVERSE GNOSTICS BY SHOWING THAT THEY ARE FOLLOWERS OF SIMON MAGUS:

He will also judge the Ebionites; for how can they be saved unless it was God who worked out their salvation on earth? Or how can humans become part of God unless God first became human? And how can a man escape the cycle of death unless through a new beginning, given in a wonderful and unexpected way (as a sign of salvation) by God—specifically, that regeneration which comes from the virgin through faith? Or how can they receive adoption from God if they remain in the kind of generation naturally possessed by humans in this world? And how could He (Christ) have been greater than Solomon, or greater than Jonah, or the Lord of David if He were of the same substance as they were? Furthermore, how could He have overcome the one stronger than men, who not only defeated humanity but also held them under his power, and liberated those who had been conquered, unless He had been greater than the man who had been vanquished? But who else is superior to and more exalted than the man created in the likeness of God, except the Son of God, after whose image humanity was created? For this reason, in these last days, He demonstrated this likeness; the Son of God became man, taking His own initial creation into His nature, as I have shown in the previous book.

5. He will also judge those who describe Christ as having become man only in human opinion. For how can they think they are having a real discussion when their Master was just an imaginary being? Or how can they receive anything steadfast from Him if He was merely imagined and not a reality? And how can these people truly partake in salvation if He, in whom they claim to believe, showed Himself as just an imaginary being? Everything connected with these people is unreal and lacks truth; and, in these circumstances, it might be questioned whether they, perhaps, are not men but mere dumb animals, presenting, in most cases, simply a shadow of humanity.

HE WILL ALSO JUDGE FALSE PROPHETS: who, without having received the gift of prophecy from God and lacking the fear of God, pretend to utter prophecies for the sake of vanity, personal gain, or under the influence of a wicked spirit, while they lie against God.

HE WILL ALSO JUDGE THOSE WHO CAUSE DIVISIONS: who lack the love of God, and who seek their own personal gain rather than the unity of the Church. These people, for trivial reasons or any reason they come up with, tear apart and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and, as much as they can, destroy it—people who talk about peace while causing conflict and who, in reality, focus on insignificant details but ignore major issues. No reform they achieve can be significant enough to outweigh the harm caused by their division. He will also judge all those who are outside the truth, meaning those who are outside the Church; but no one will judge him. For everything is consistent with him: he has complete faith in one God Almighty, from whom all things come; and in the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom all things exist, and in the plans associated with Him, through which the Son of God became man; and a solid belief in the Spirit of God, who provides us with the knowledge of the truth and has shown the plans of the Father and the Son, by which He dwells with every generation of people, according to the will of the Father.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE IS FOUND IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE APOSTLES AND THE ANCIENT STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH THROUGHOUT THE WORLD: It is shown in the unique expression of the body of Christ through the succession of bishops, who have passed down the Church that exists everywhere and has reached us, preserved without altering the Scriptures. This entails a comprehensive system of doctrine, receiving neither additions nor reductions in the truths it upholds. It involves reading God's word without distortion and offering a lawful and careful explanation in line with the Scriptures, free from danger and blasphemy. Above all, it includes the supreme gift of love, which is more valuable than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and surpasses all other gifts of God.

THE CHURCH: because of the love it cherishes towards God, continually sends many martyrs to the Father everywhere. Meanwhile, others not only lack such examples among themselves, but even claim that bearing witness in this way is unnecessary. They argue that their doctrines alone serve as the true testimony for Christ. Occasionally, one or two individuals among them, since the Lord appeared on earth, have endured the reproach associated with His name alongside our martyrs, and have accompanied them in death, almost as if they have been granted mercy as a kind of retinue.

The Church alone purely bears the reproach for those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake and endure various punishments and death because of their love for God and their confession of His Son. Even though weakened at times, the Church quickly grows its members and becomes whole again, like Lot’s wife who was turned into a pillar of salt. Thus, the Church experiences something similar to that of the ancient prophets, as the Lord says, “For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In this way, the Church suffers persecution from those who do not accept the word of God, yet the same spirit that rested on these ancient prophets also rests on the Church.

10. Indeed, the prophets, along with other things they predicted, also foretold that all those on whom the Spirit of God would rest, who would obey the word of the Father and serve Him to the best of their ability, would suffer persecution and be stoned and killed. The prophets foreshadowed these events in themselves because of their love for God and for His word. Since they were members of Christ, each one took their place and delivered the prophecy assigned to them; all of them together, even though they were many, represented just one, proclaiming the things related to one. Just as the functioning of the entire body is shown through our members, while the figure of a complete man is not displayed by one member but through all of them together, so did all the prophets foreshadow the one Christ. Each of them, in their specific role as a member, fulfilled the established purpose and foreshadowed in advance that particular aspect of Christ's work which was connected with their role.

11. Some of them, seeing Him in glory, saw His glorious life at the Father’s right hand; others saw Him coming on the clouds as the Son of man; and those who declared about Him, “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,” indicated His second coming, about which He Himself says, “Do you think that when the Son of man comes, He will find faith on the earth?” Paul also refers to this event when he says, “If it is a righteous thing with God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels, and in a flame of fire.” Others, speaking of Him as a judge, and referring to the day of the Lord as if it were a burning furnace, who “gathers the wheat into His barn but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,” were accustomed to warn those who were unbelieving, concerning whom also the Lord Himself declares, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels.” And the apostle in the same way says of them, “Who shall be punished with everlasting death from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in those who believe in Him.” There are also some who declare, “You are fairer than the children of men;” and, “God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows;” and, “Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Most Mighty, with Your beauty and Your fairness, and go forward and proceed prosperously; and rule because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.” And whatever other things of a similar nature are spoken regarding Him, these indicated the beauty and splendor that exist in His kingdom, along with the transcendent and pre-eminent exaltation belonging to all who are under His rule, so that those who hear might desire to be found there, doing such things as are pleasing to God.

AGAIN: there are those who say, “He is a man, and who shall know him?” and, “I went to the prophetess, and she bore a son, and His name is called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God;” and those who proclaimed Him as Immanuel, born of the Virgin, demonstrated the union of the Word of God with His creation, declaring that the Word should become flesh, and the Son of God the Son of man (the pure One purely opening that pure womb which regenerates men unto God, and which He Himself made pure); and having become this which we also are, He is nevertheless the Mighty God, and possesses a generation which cannot be declared.

And there are also some of them who say, “The Lord has spoken in Zion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem;” and, “In Judah is God known;”— these indicated His coming which took place in Judea. Those who declare that “God comes from the south, and from a mountain thick with foliage,” announced His coming at Bethlehem, as I have pointed out in the previous book. From that place, also, He who rules and feeds the people of His Father has come.

Those who declare that at His coming “the lame man shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall speak plainly, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear,” and that “the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, shall be strengthened,” and that “the dead which are in the grave shall arise,” and that He Himself “shall take upon Him our weaknesses, and bear our sorrows,”— all these proclaimed those works of healing which were accomplished by Him.

SOME OF THEM ALSO PREDICTED THAT AS A WEAK AND INGLORIOUS MAN: one who knew what it was to bear infirmity, sitting on the foal of a donkey, He would come to Jerusalem. They said He would give His back to be whipped, and His cheeks to be struck; that He would be led like a sheep to the slaughter; that vinegar and gall would be given Him to drink; that He would be forsaken by His friends and closest companions; that He would stretch out His hands all day long; that He would be mocked and maligned by those who saw Him; that His garments would be divided, and lots cast for His clothing; and that He would be brought down to the dust of death, along with many other similar things.

They prophesied His coming in the form of a man as He entered Jerusalem, where through His suffering and crucifixion, He endured all these foretold events. Others, when they said, “The holy Lord remembered His own dead ones who slept in the dust, and came down to them to raise them up, that He might save them,” provided us with the reason for which He suffered all these things. Those who said, “In that day, says the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and there shall be darkness over the earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,” clearly announced the darkening of the sun that happened from the sixth hour onward at the time of His crucifixion, and that following this event, their festival days according to the law and their songs would turn into grief and lamentation when they were handed over to the Gentiles.

Jeremiah further clarifies this when he speaks about Jerusalem: “She who has borne [seven] languishes; her soul has grown weary; her sun has gone down while it was still noon; she has been confounded and suffered disgrace: the remainder of them I will give to the sword in the sight of their enemies.”

THOSE WHO SPOKE OF HIM HAVING SLEPT AND RISEN AGAIN BECAUSE THE LORD SUSTAINED HIM: and who instructed the rulers of heaven to open the everlasting doors so that the King of glory might enter, were proclaiming His resurrection from the dead through the Father’s power and His ascent into heaven. And when they said, “His going forth is from the height of heaven, and His returning even to the highest heaven; and no one can hide from His heat,” they were announcing the truth of His return to the place from which He came, and that no one can escape His righteous judgment.

And those who said, “The Lord has reigned; let the people be enraged: He who sits upon the cherubim; let the earth be moved,” were predicting the wrath from all nations that came upon those who believed in Him after His ascension, causing the whole earth to rise against the Church; and also foretelling that when He comes from heaven with His mighty angels, the whole earth shall be shaken, as He Himself declares, “There shall be a great earthquake, such as has not been from the beginning.” And again, when one says, “Whoever is judged, let him stand opposite; and whoever is justified, let him draw near to the servant of God;” and, “Woe unto you, for you shall become old like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up;” and, “All flesh shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in the highest,” it is indicated that, after His passion and ascension, God shall bring down under His feet all who were opposed to Him, and He shall be exalted above all, and no one can be justified or compared to Him.

AND THOSE AMONG THEM WHO DECLARE THAT GOD WOULD ESTABLISH A NEW COVENANT WITH PEOPLE: not like the one He made with the ancestors at Mount Horeb, and would give people a new heart and a new spirit; and again, "And do not remember the things of old: behold, I make new things which shall now arise, and you shall know it; and I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in a dry land, to give drink to my chosen people, my people whom I have acquired, that they may show forth my praise,"—clearly announced the freedom which characterizes the new covenant, and the new wine which is put into new bottles, meaning the faith which is in Christ, by which He has proclaimed the way of righteousness that arises in the desert, and the streams of the Holy Spirit in a dry land, to give water to the chosen people of God, whom He has acquired, that they might show forth His praise, but not that they might blaspheme Him who made these things, that is, God.

And all those other points I've shown the prophets to have made through such a long series of Scriptures, whoever is truly spiritual will interpret by explaining, for each of the spoken things, what specific part of the Lord's plan they refer to, and by showing the entire system of the Son of God's work. This person always knows the same God and continually acknowledges the same Word of God, even though He has only now been revealed to us. They also always acknowledge the same Spirit of God, even though He has been poured out on us in a new way in these last times, understanding that He moves from the creation of the world to its end upon humanity. From among these, those who believe God and follow His word receive the salvation that comes from Him. On the other hand, those who turn away from Him, disregard His commands, dishonor the One who made them through their actions, and blaspheme against the One who nurtures them through their beliefs, bring upon themselves the most righteous judgment. Therefore, the spiritual person examines and tests everything, but is not judged by anyone: they neither blaspheme their Father, disregard His plans, criticize the ancestors, nor dishonor the prophets by claiming they were sent by a different God than the one they worship, or that their prophecies came from various sources.