Irenaeus of Lyons

## Who Was Irenaeus of Lyons?

Irenaeus of Lyons was a bishop in Gaul, modern France, in the late second century. He grew up in Smyrna and heard Polycarp preach, and Polycarp had learned from the apostle John. That makes Irenaeus a third-generation link to the apostles.

In AD 177 a violent persecution struck the churches of Lyons and Vienne. The aged bishop Pothinus died in prison. Irenaeus, then an elder, became the next bishop. He spent his life defending the faith against Gnostic teachers.

## Major Works

Against Heresies, five books written around AD 180. Its full title is The Detection and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called, taken from 1 Timothy 6:20.

Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, also called the Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching. It was lost for centuries until an Armenian copy turned up in 1904.

## Against Heresies

Book 1 describes the Gnostic systems in detail, especially that of Valentinus. Irenaeus reasoned that exposing their teachings in plain view would refute them. Books 2 through 5 answer them from reason, from the apostles’ teaching, from the words of Jesus, and from the resurrection.

Irenaeus defended the goodness of creation. The God who made the world is the same Father of Jesus Christ. He also taught that Christ “recapitulated” humanity. Christ went back over every stage of human life and succeeded where Adam failed.

## Apostolic Tradition

The Gnostics claimed secret teachings passed down privately. Irenaeus answered that the apostles taught openly and handed the churches to known successors. In book 3, chapter 3, he lists the bishops of Rome from Linus to Eleutherus, the bishop in his own day.

If the apostles had secret truths, Irenaeus argued, they would have given them to the men they trusted with the churches. The public teaching of those churches agreed.

## Fight Against Heresy

Irenaeus also defended the four Gospels. In book 3, chapter 11, he argues there are four Gospels, no more and no fewer. This is one of the earliest clear statements of the fourfold Gospel.

Book 1 also records that the Gnostic Cainites used a Gospel of Judas. That text was rediscovered in the 1970s and published in 2006.

## Unity of Faith

Irenaeus wrote that the church, though scattered through the whole world, believes the same things as if it had one soul and one heart. He saw the Rule of Faith, taught to every new believer, as what held the churches together in one faith.

In Proof of the Apostolic Preaching chapter 18, he also recounts the angels who sinned with the daughters of men in Genesis 6. He says their children were called giants and that the angels taught people evil arts.

## How to Read Irenaeus Today

Start with Proof of the Apostolic Preaching. It has 100 short chapters and reads in about 2 hours. John Behr’s translation, On the Apostolic Preaching (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press), is clear and inexpensive.

Then read Against Heresies book 3. It covers tradition, the Gospels, and Christ.

Against Heresies is free in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1.

## About the Author

CK Quarterman is a USAF veteran, independent author, and publisher at CKQbooks. He writes the Malaterrestrials nonfiction series, which examines evil earthbound non‑human intelligences through Scripture and history, along with the Watchers’ Universe and Sons of the Flood fiction series. Find his books at ckqbooks.com.

Truth · History · Scripture