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| Chapter XXX.—Absurdity of their styling themselves spiritual, while the Demiurge is declared to be animal. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XXX.—Absurdity of their
styling themselves spiritual, while the Demiurge is declared to be animal.
1. Such
being the state of the case, these infatuated men declare that they rise
above the Creator (Demiurge); and, inasmuch as they proclaim themselves
superior to that God who made and adorned the heavens, and the earth, and
all things that are in them, and maintain that they themselves are
spiritual, while they are in fact shamefully carnal on account of their
so great impiety,—affirming that He, who has made His angels3245 spirits, and is clothed with light as with a
garment, and holds the circle3246 of the
earth, as it were, in His hand, in whose sight its inhabitants are
counted as grasshoppers, and who is the Creator and Lord of all spiritual
substance, is of an animal nature,—they do beyond doubt and
verily betray their own madness; and, as if truly struck with thunder,
even more than those giants who are spoken of in [heathen] fables, they
lift up their opinions against God, inflated by a vain presumption and
unstable glory,—men for whose purgation all the hellebore3247
3247 Irenæus was evidently
familiar with Horace; comp. Ars. Poet., 300. | on earth
would not suffice, so that they should get rid of their intense
folly.
2. The superior person is to be proved by his deeds. In
what way, then, can they show themselves superior to the Creator (that I
too, through the necessity of the argument in hand, may come down to the
level of their impiety, instituting a comparison between God and foolish
men, and, by descending to their argument, may often refute them by their
own doctrines; but in thus acting may God be merciful to me, for I
venture on these statements, not with the view of comparing Him to them,
but of convicting and overthrowing their insane opinions)—they,
for whom many foolish persons entertain so great an admiration, as if,
forsooth, they could learn from them something more precious than the
truth itself! That expression of Scripture, “Seek, and ye shall
find,”3248 they interpret as spoken
with this view, that they should discover themselves to be above the
Creator, styling themselves greater and better than God, and calling
themselves spiritual, but the Creator animal; and [affirming] that for
this reason they rise upwards above God, for that
they enter
in within the Pleroma, while He remains in the intermediate place. Let
them, then, prove themselves by their deeds superior to the Creator; for
the superior person ought to be proved not by what is said, but by what
has a real existence.
3. What work, then, will they point to as having been
accomplished through themselves by the Saviour, or by their Mother,
either greater, or more glorious, or more adorned with wisdom, than those
which have been produced by Him who was the disposer of all around us?
What heavens have they established? what earth have they founded? what
stars have they called into existence? or what lights of heaven have they
caused to shine? within what circles, moreover, have they confined them?
or, what rains, or frosts, or snows, each suited to the season, and to
every special climate, have they brought upon the earth? And again, in
opposition to these, what heat or dryness have they set over against
them? or, what rivers have they made to flow? what fountains have they
brought forth? with what flowers and trees have they adorned this
sublunary world? or, what multitude of animals have they formed, some
rational, and others irrational, but all adorned with beauty? And who can
enumerate one by one all the remaining objects which have been
constituted by the power of God, and are governed by His wisdom? or who
can search out the greatness of that God who made them? And what can be
told of those existences which are above heaven, and which do not pass
away, such as Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, and Powers
innumerable? Against what one of these works, then, do they set
themselves in opposition? What have they similar to show, as having been
made through themselves, or by themselves, since even they too are the
Workmanship and creatures of this [Creator]? For whether the Saviour or
their Mother (to use their own expressions, proving them false by means
of the very terms they themselves employ) used this Being, as they
maintain, to make an image of those things which are within the Pleroma,
and of all those beings which she saw waiting upon the Saviour, she used
him (the Demiurge) as being [in a sense] superior to herself, and better
fitted to accomplish her purpose through his instrumentality; for she
would by no means form the images of such important beings through means
of an inferior, but by a superior, agent.
4. For, [be it observed,] they themselves, according to
their own declarations, were then existing, as a spiritual conception, in
consequence of the contemplation of those beings who were arranged as
satellites around Pandora. And they indeed continued useless, the Mother
accomplishing nothing through their instrumentality,3249
3249 The punctuation is here doubtful. With
Massuet and Stieren we expunge “vel” from the text.
| —an idle conception, owing their being to the Saviour, and
fit for nothing, for not a thing appears to have been done by them. But
the God who, according to them, was produced, while, as they argue,
inferior to themselves (for they maintain that he is of an animal
nature), was nevertheless the active agent in all things, efficient, and
fit for the work to be done, so that by him the images of all things were
made; and not only were these things which are seen formed by him, but
also all things invisible, Angels, Archangels, Dominations, Powers, and
Virtues,—[by him, I say,] as being the superior, and capable of
ministering to her desire. But it seems that the Mother made nothing
whatever through their instrumentality, as indeed they themselves
acknowledge; so that one may justly reckon them as having been an
abortion produced by the painful travail of their Mother. For no
accoucheurs performed their office upon her, and therefore they were cast
forth as an abortion, useful for nothing, and formed to accomplish no
work of the Mother. And yet they describe themselves as being superior to
Him by whom so vast and admirable works have been accomplished and
arranged, although by their own reasoning they are found to be so
wretchedly inferior!
5. It is as if there were two iron tools, or
instruments, the one of which was continually in the workman’s
hands and in constant use, and by the use of which he made whatever he
pleased, and displayed his art and skill, but the other of which remained
idle and useless, never being called into operation, the workman never
appearing to make anything by it, and making no use of it in any of his
labours; and then one should maintain that this useless, and idle, and
unemployed tool was superior in nature and value to that which the
artisan employed in his work, and by means of which he acquired his
reputation. Such a man, if any such were found, would justly be regarded
as imbecile, and not in his right mind. And so should those be judged of
who speak of themselves as being spiritual and superior, and of the
Creator as possessed of an animal nature, and maintain that for this
reason they will ascend on high, and penetrate within the Pleroma to
their own husbands (for, according to their own statements, they are
themselves feminine), but that God [the Creator] is of an inferior
nature, and therefore remains in the intermediate place, while all the
time they bring forward no proofs of these assertions: for the better man
is shown by his works, and all works have been accomplished by the
Creator; but they, having nothing worthy of reason to point to as having
been produced by themselves, are
labouring under the
greatest and most incurable madness.
6. If, however,
they labour to maintain that, while all material things, such as the
heaven, and the whole world which exists below it, were indeed formed by
the Demiurge, yet all things of a more spiritual nature than these,
—those, namely, which are above the heavens, such as
Principalities, Powers, Angels, Archangels, Dominations, Virtues,—
were produced by a spiritual process of birth (which they declare
themselves to be), then, in the first place, we prove from the
authoritative Scriptures3250
3250
Or, “the Scriptures of the Lord;” but the words
“dominicis scripturis” probably here represent the Greek
κυρίων γραφῶν, and are to be
rendered as above. | that all the things which have been
mentioned, visible and invisible, have been made by one God. For these
men are not more to be depended on than the Scriptures; nor ought we to
give up the declarations of the Lord, Moses, and the rest of the
prophets, who have proclaimed the truth, and give credit to them, who do
indeed utter nothing of a sensible nature, but rave about untenable
opinions. And, in the next place, if those things which are above the
heavens were really made through their instrumentality, then let them
inform us what is the nature of things invisible, recount the number of
the Angels, and the ranks of the Archangels, reveal the mysteries of the
Thrones, and teach us the differences between the Dominations,
Principalities, Powers, and Virtues. But they can say nothing respecting
them; therefore these beings were not made by them. If, on the other
hand, these were made by the Creator, as was really the case, and are of
a spiritual and holy character, then it follows that He who produced
spiritual beings is not Himself of an animal nature, and thus their
fearful system of blasphemy is overthrown.
7. For that there are spiritual
creatures in the heavens, all the Scriptures loudly proclaim; and Paul
expressly testifies that there are spiritual things when he declares that
he was caught up into the third heaven,3251
and again, that he was carried away to paradise, and heard unspeakable
words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. But what did that profit
him, either his entrance into paradise or his assumption into the third
heaven, since all these things are still but under the power of the
Demiurge, if, as some venture to maintain, he had already begun3252
3252 “Inciperet
fieri;” perhaps for “futurus esset,” was to
be. | to be a spectator and a hearer of those mysteries
which are affirmed to be above the Demiurge? For if it is true that he
was becoming acquainted with that order of things which is above the
Demiurge, he would by no means have remained in the regions of the
Demiurge, and that so as not even thoroughly to explore even these (for,
according to their manner of speaking, there still lay before him four
heavens,3253
3253 “Quartum
cœlum;” there still being, according to their theory of seven
heavens, a fourth beyond that to which St. Paul had
penetrated. | if he were to approach the Demiurge, and thus
behold the whole seven lying beneath him); but he might have been
admitted, perhaps, into the intermediate place, that is, into the
presence of the Mother, that he might receive instruction from her as to
the things within the Pleroma. For that inner man which was in him, and
spoke in him, as they say, though invisible, could have attained not only
to the third heaven, but even as far as the presence of their Mother. For
if they maintain that they themselves, that is, their [inner] man, at
once ascends above the Demiurge, and departs to the Mother, much more
must this have occurred to the [inner] man of the apostle; for the
Demiurge would not have hindered him, being, as they assert, himself
already subject to the Saviour. But if he had tried to hinder him, the
effort would have gone for nothing. For it is not possible that he should
prove stronger than the providence of the Father, and that when the inner
man is said to be invisible even to the Demiurge. But since he (Paul) has
described that assumption of himself up to the third heaven as something
great and pre-eminent, it cannot be that these men ascend above the
seventh heaven, for they are certainly not superior to the apostle. If
they do maintain that they are more excellent than he, let them prove
themselves so by their works, for they have never pretended to anything
like [what he describes as occurring to himself]. And for this reason he
added, “Whether in the body, or whether out of the body, God
knoweth,”3254 that
the body might neither be thought to be a partaker in that vision,3255
3255 This is an exceedingly
obscure and difficult sentence. Grabe and some of the later editors read,
“uti neque non corpus,” thus making Irenæus affirm
that the body did participate in the vision. But Massuet contends
strenuously that this is contrary to the author’s purpose, as
wishing to maintain, against a possible exception of the Valentinians,
that Paul then witnessed spiritual realities, and by omitting this
“non” before “corpus,” makes Irenæus deny that
the body was a partaker in the vision. The point can only be doubtfully
decided, but Massuet’s ingenious note inclines us to his side of
the question. | as if it could have participated in those
things which it had seen and heard; nor, again, that any one should say
that he was not carried higher on account of the weight of the body; but
it is therefore thus far permitted even without the body to behold
spiritual mysteries which are the operations of God, who made the heavens
and the earth, and formed man, and placed him in paradise, so that those
should be spectators of them who, like the apostle, have reached a high
degree of perfection in the love of God.
8. This Being,
therefore, also made spiritual things, of which, as far as to the third
heaven, the apostle was made a spectator, and heard unspeakable
words which it is not possible for a man to utter, inasmuch as
they are spiritual; and He Himself bestows3256
3256 “Præstat dignis:” here a
very ambiguous expression. | [gifts] on the worthy as
inclination prompts Him, for paradise is His; and He is truly the Spirit
of God, and not an animal Demiurge, otherwise He should never have
created spiritual things. But if He really is of an animal nature, then
let them inform us by whom spiritual things were made. They have no proof
which they can give that this was done by means of the travail of their
Mother, which they declare themselves to be. For, not to speak of
spiritual things, these men cannot create even a fly, or a gnat, or any
other small and insignificant animal, without observing that law by which
from the beginning animals have been and are naturally produced by God
—through the deposition of seed in those that are of the same
species. Nor was anything formed by the Mother alone; [for] they say that
this Demiurge was produced by her, and that he was the Lord (the
author) of all creation. And they maintain that he who is the Creator and
Lord of all that has been made is of an animal nature, while they assert
that they themselves are spiritual,—they who are neither the
authors nor lords of any one work, not only of those things which are
extraneous to them, but not even of their own bodies! Moreover, these
men, who call themselves spiritual, and superior to the Creator, do often
suffer much bodily pain, sorely against their will.
9. Justly, therefore, do we convict them of having
departed far and wide from the truth. For if the Saviour formed the
things which have been made, by means of him (the Demiurge), he is proved
in that case not to be inferior but superior to them, since he is found
to have been the former even of themselves; for they, too, have a place
among created things. How, then, can it be argued that these men indeed
are spiritual, but that he by whom they were created is of an animal
nature? Or, again, if (which is indeed the only true supposition, as I
have shown by numerous arguments of the very clearest nature) He (the
Creator) made all things freely, and by His own power, and arranged and
finished them, and His will is the substance3257
3257 That is, as Massuet notes, all things
derive not only their existence, but their qualities, from
His will. Harvey proposes to read causa instead of
substantia, but the change seems needless. | of all
things, then He is discovered to be the one only God who created all
things, who alone is Omnipotent, and who is the only Father rounding and
forming all things, visible and invisible, such as may be perceived by
our senses and such as cannot, heavenly and earthly, “by the word
of His power;”3258 and He has fitted and
arranged all things by His wisdom, while He contains all things, but He
Himself can be contained by no one: He is the Former, He the Builder, He
the Discoverer, He the Creator, He the Lord of all; and there is no one
besides Him, or above Him, neither has He any mother, as they falsely
ascribe to Him; nor is there a second God, as Marcion has imagined; nor
is there a Pleroma of thirty Æons, which has been shown a vain
supposition; nor is there any such being as Bythus or Proarche; nor are
there a series of heavens; nor is there a virginal light,3259
3259 That is, Barbelos:
comp. i. 29, 1. | nor an unnameable Æon, nor, in fact, any one
of those things which are madly dreamt of by these, and by all the
heretics. But there is one only God, the Creator—He who is above
every Principality, and Power, and Dominion, and Virtue: He is Father, He
is God, He the Founder, He the Maker, He the Creator, who made those
things by Himself, that is, through His Word and His Wisdom—
heaven and earth, and the seas, and all things that are in them: He is
just; He is good; He it is who formed man, who planted paradise, who made
the world, who gave rise to the flood, who saved Noah; He is the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the
living: He it is whom the law proclaims, whom the prophets preach, whom
Christ reveals, whom the apostles make known3260
3260 “Tradunt;” literally, hand
down. | to us, and in whom the Church believes. He is the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: through His Word, who is His Son,
through Him He is revealed and manifested to all to whom He is revealed;
for those [only] know Him to whom the Son has revealed Him. But the Son,
eternally co-existing with the Father, from of old, yea, from the
beginning, always reveals the Father to Angels, Archangels, Powers,
Virtues, and all to whom He wills that God should be revealed.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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