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| Chapter XIV.—If Paul had known any mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his constant companion and fellow-traveller, could not have been ignorant of them; neither could the truth have possibly lain hid from him, through whom alone we learn many and most important particulars of the Gospel history.
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Chapter XIV.—If Paul had known any
mysteries unrevealed to the other apostles, Luke, his constant companion and
fellow-traveller, could not have been ignorant of them; neither could the truth
have possibly lain hid from him, through whom alone we learn many and most
important particulars of the Gospel history.
1. But that
this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow-labourer in the
Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as
bound to do so by the truth itself. For he says that when Barnabas, and
John who was called Mark, had parted company from Paul, and sailed to
Cyprus, “we came to Troas;”3539
and
when Paul had beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, “Come
into Macedonia, Paul, and help us,” “immediately,” he
says, “we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, understanding that the
Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them. Therefore, sailing
from Troas, we directed our ship’s course towards
Samothracia.” And then he carefully indicates all the rest of their
journey as far as Philippi, and how they delivered their first address:
“for, sitting down,” he says, “we spake unto the women
who had assembled;”3540
and
certain believed, even a great many. And again does he say, “But we
sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to
Troas, where we abode seven days.”3541
And all
the remaining [details] of his course with Paul he recounts, indicating
with all diligence both places, and cities, and number of days, until
they went up to Jerusalem; and what befell Paul there,3542
how he was sent to Rome in bonds; the name of the centurion who
took him in charge;3543
and the signs of the ships,
and how they made shipwreck;3544
and
the island upon which they escaped, and how they received kindness there,
Paul healing the chief man of that island; and how they sailed from
thence to Puteoli, and from that arrived at Rome; and for what period
they sojourned at Rome. As Luke was present at all these occurrences, he
carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be convicted of
falsehood or boastfulness, because all these [particulars] proved both
that he was senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and that he was
not ignorant of the truth. That he
was not merely a
follower, but also a fellow-labourer of the apostles, but especially of
Paul, Paul has himself declared also in the Epistles, saying:
“Demas hath forsaken me, … and is departed unto
Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with
me.”3545
From this he shows that he was
always attached to and inseparable from him. And again he says, in the
Epistle to the Colossians: “Luke, the beloved physician, greets
you.”3546
But surely if Luke, who
always preached in company with Paul, and is called by him “the
beloved,” and with him performed the work of an evangelist, and was
entrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, learned nothing different from him
(Paul), as has been pointed out from his words, how can these men, who
were never attached to Paul, boast that they have learned hidden and
unspeakable mysteries?
2. But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew,
not only to those who were [employed] with him, but to those that heard
him, he does himself make manifest. For when the bishops and presbyters
who came from Ephesus and the other cities adjoining had assembled in
Miletus, since he was himself hastening to Jerusalem to observe
Pentecost, after testifying many things to them, and declaring what must
happen to him at Jerusalem, he added: “I know that ye shall see my
face no more. Therefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure
from the blood of all. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the
counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, both to yourselves, and to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost has placed you as bishops, to rule the
Church of the Lord,3547
| 3547 In
this very important passage of Scripture, Irenæus manifestly read
Κυρίου instead of
Θεοῦ, which is found
in text. rec. The Codex Bezæ has the same reading; but all the
other most ancient mss.
agree with the received text. | which He has acquired for
Himself through His own blood.”3548
Then,
referring to the evil teachers who should arise, he said: “I know
that after my departure shall grievous wolves come to you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them.” “I have not
shunned,” he says, “to declare unto you all the counsel of
God.” Thus did the apostles simply, and without respect of persons,
deliver to all what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also
does Luke, without respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned
from them, as he has himself testified, saying, “Even as they
delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the Word.”3549
3. Now if any man set Luke aside, as one who did not
know the truth, he will, [by so acting,] manifestly reject that Gospel of
which he claims to be a disciple. For through him we have become
acquainted with very many and important parts of the Gospel; for
instance, the generation of John, the history of Zacharias, the coming of
the angel to Mary, the exclamation of Elisabeth, the descent of the
angels to the shepherds, the words spoken by them, the testimony of Anna
and of Simeon with regard to Christ, and that twelve years of age He was
left behind at Jerusalem; also the baptism of John, the number of the
Lord’s years when He was baptized, and that this occurred in the
fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar. And in His office of teacher this is
what He has said to the rich: “Woe unto you that are rich, for ye
have received your consolation;”3550
and
“Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger; and ye who laugh
now, for ye shall weep;” and, “Woe unto you when all men
shall speak well of you: for so did your fathers to the false
prophets.” All things of the following kind we have known through
Luke alone (and numerous actions of the Lord we have learned through him,
which also all [the Evangelists] notice): the multitude of fishes which
Peter’s companions enclosed, when at the Lord’s command they
cast the nets;3551
the woman who had suffered for
eighteen years, and was healed on the Sabbath-day;3552
the man who had the dropsy, whom the Lord made whole on the
Sabbath, and how He did defend Himself for having performed an act of
healing on that day; how He taught His disciples not to aspire to the
uppermost rooms; how we should invite the poor and feeble, who cannot
recompense us; the man who knocked during the night to obtain loaves, and
did obtain them, because of the urgency of his importunity;3553
how, when [our Lord] was sitting at meat with
a Pharisee, a woman that was a sinner kissed His feet, and anointed them
with ointment, with what the Lord said to Simon on her behalf concerning
the two debtors;3554
also about the parable of that
rich man who stored up the goods which had accrued to him, to whom it was
also said, “In this night they shall demand thy soul from thee;
whose then shall those things be which thou hast prepared?”3555
and similar to this, that of the rich man, who
was clothed in purple and who fared sumptuously, and the indigent
Lazarus;3556
also the answer which He gave to His
disciples when they said, “Increase our faith;”3557
also His conversation with Zaccheus the
publican;3558
also about
the Pharisee and the
publican, who were praying in the temple at the same time;3559
also the ten lepers, whom He cleansed in
the way simultaneously;3560
also how He ordered the lame
and the blind to be gathered to the wedding from the lanes and
streets;3561
also the parable of the judge who feared
not God, whom the widow’s importunity led to avenge her cause;3562
and about the fig-tree in the vineyard which
produced no fruit. There are also many other particulars to be found
mentioned by Luke alone, which are made use of by both Marcion and
Valentinus. And besides all these, [he records] what [Christ] said to His
disciples in the way, after the resurrection, and how they recognised Him
in the breaking of bread.3563
4. It follows then, as of course, that these men must
either receive the rest of his narrative, or else reject these parts
also. For no persons of common sense can permit them to receive some
things recounted by Luke as being true, and to set others aside, as if he
had not known the truth. And if indeed Marcion’s followers reject
these, they will then possess no Gospel; for, curtailing that according
to Luke, as I have said already, they boast in having the Gospel [in what
remains]. But the followers of Valentinus must give up their utterly vain
talk; for they have taken from that [Gospel] many occasions for their own
speculations, to put an evil interpretation upon what he has well said.
If, on the other hand, they feel compelled to receive the remaining
portions also, then, by studying the perfect Gospel, and the doctrine of
the apostles, they will find it necessary to repent, that they may be
saved from the danger [to which they are exposed]. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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