Against Heresies: Book V

WE COULD NOT HAVE LEARNED THE THINGS OF GOD IN ANY OTHER WAY UNLESS OUR MASTER: existing as the Word, had become man. No other being could reveal the things of the Father to us, except His own true Word. Who else “knew the mind of the Lord” or “has become His counselor?” We could only have learned by seeing our Teacher and hearing His voice with our own ears so that by imitating His works and doing His words we could have communion with Him, gaining growth from the perfect One, who is before all creation.

We—who were recently created by the only best and good Being, the one who has the gift of immortality, having been formed in His likeness (predestined, according to the Father's foresight, that we, who previously did not exist, might come into being), and made the first-fruits of creation—have received the blessings of salvation in the times known beforehand, according to the service of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty Word, and true man, who redeemed us by His own blood in a reasonable manner, giving Himself as a redemption for those who had been taken captive.

Although the apostasy unjustly ruled over us, despite us being naturally the property of the all-powerful God, it alienated us unnaturally, making us its disciples. The Word of God, powerful and just in all things, rightly opposed that apostasy and reclaimed His property, not by force, as the apostasy initially seized dominion over us by greedily taking what was not its own, but through persuasion, as fitting for a God who counsels and does not resort to force to achieve His desires, so that neither justice would be violated nor God's ancient creation be destroyed.

Since the Lord has redeemed us through His own blood, exchanging His soul for our souls and His flesh for our flesh, and has poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man—truly and enduringly granting us immortality through communion with God—all the doctrines of the heretics are overturned.

THOSE WHO ARGUE THAT HE ONLY APPEARED AS THOUGH IN MERE APPEARANCE ARE INDEED MISTAKEN: These events happened in actual reality, not just in appearance. If He merely seemed human without actually being human, the Holy Spirit couldn't have rested upon Him, as this did happen, and the Spirit is invisible. In that case, He wouldn't have been truthful, for He wouldn't be what He appeared to be. I've already noted that Abraham and the other prophets saw Him in a prophetic way, foretelling in visions what was to come. If such a being has now appeared outwardly different from His real essence, then a prophetic vision has been given to people, and we must anticipate another advent where He will truly be as He was seen in prophecy. I've also demonstrated that claiming He only appeared outwardly without receiving anything from Mary is the same. He wouldn't have genuinely possessed flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless He embodied the ancient form of Adam. Therefore, the followers of Valentinus are mistaken in their teaching, as they seek to exclude the flesh from salvation and disregard what God has created.

THE EBIONITES ARE ALSO MISGUIDED: as they do not accept by faith the union of God and man into their soul. They remain stuck in the old ways of natural birth, not understanding that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her.

Consequently, what was conceived is holy, the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who brought about the incarnation and revealed a new type of generation. Just as through the first generation we inherited death, through this new generation we might inherit life.

Thus, they reject the mixture of heavenly wine, wishing it to be merely worldly water, not accepting God to unite with Him. They remain in the state of Adam, who was defeated and expelled from Paradise, failing to realize that at the beginning, when Adam was formed, the breath of life from God animated man and made him rational by uniting with what was created. Similarly, at the end of times, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God united with the ancient substance of Adam’s formation, made man living and complete, capable of receiving the perfect Father.

As we all died in the natural Adam, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive. Adam never escaped God’s hands, to whom the Father said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” For this reason, in the last times, not by the flesh's will, nor by man's will, but by the Father's good pleasure, His hands formed a living man so that Adam might be recreated after the image and likeness of God.