The character of Irenaeus and probable time of his birth.--
His partiality for traditions.--The claim of the Gnostics,
that Christ did not suffer, the origin of the fourth
Gospel.--Irenaeus the writer.
The time when Irenaeus was born is variously stated. In the introduction
to his works against heresies, translated by Alexander Roberts, D.D.,
and the Rev. W. H. Rambaut, A. B., is the following passage on this
subject: "We possess a very scanty account of the personal history of
Irenaeus. It has been generally supposed he was a native of Smyrna, or
some neighboring city in Asia Minor. Harvey, however, thinks that he
was probably born in Syria, and removed in boyhood to Smyrna. He himself
tells us (lib. iii. sec. 3, 4) that he was in early youth acquainted
with Polycarp, the illustrious Bishop of that city. A sort of clue is
thus furnished as to the date of his birth. Dodwell supposes that he was
born as early as A.D. 97, but this is clearly a mistake, and the general
date of his birth is somewhere between A.D. 120 and A.D. 140" (page 18).
Among the many strong and representative men who have impressed their
genius on the Catholic Church, and given to it its distinctive features,
none have equalled Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons. It may in truth be
said he was the father of the church. He assisted at its birth; took
charge of its infancy; planted within its bosom seeds which sprouted and
bore fruit which has been the source of its nourishment and strength for
seventeen hundred years and more. It is enough to say of him, that he
placed in the heart of the church the seed which bore the fruit of the
Inquisition.
From the adoption of Trajan, in A.D. 98 to the death of the Antonines,
in 180, a period of eighty-two years, has been selected by the learned
author of the "Decline and Fall" as the most happy and prosperous
period in the annals of the human race. (Vol. I. page 47.) Had he
omitted the last of the Antonines, under whose reign Justin Martyr and
other good men were put to death, the learned author would have come
nearer the truth of history.
It was the prospect of peace and protection held out under this state of
things that influenced the Christians who had survived the cruelties of
other reigns to once more return to the imperial city. As soon as
they were sufficiently numerous it was natural to adopt some form of
government; but what that form was, we have no means of knowing,
except by the dangerous light of tradition. It must be always fatal to
tradition, where it claims to be important, that contemporaneous history
says nothing about it. It is certain that the uninterrupted repose
of the church to the time of Antoninus Verrus, A.D. 161, gave rise to
disputes among Christians; for when they were relieved from the fears of
an outward enemy, they soon found cause for quarrel among themselves. On
the introduction of the first three Gospels, which happened during
this time, as we shall prove, the character of Christ, or rather his
mysterious birth from the Virgin, gave rise to numberless controversies.
Irenaeus was born at the right time to be thrust into the midst of them,
and as soon as he was able to comprehend anything, his ears were filled
with the disputes of the various contending parties. He was born with a
love of contention planted in him, and had the best school ever de-vised
to cultivate and strengthen it. The character of his mind was bold and
daring, and in support of the cause he espoused, he had no scruples or
shame in resorting to falsehood and forgery. If the end was good, in his
sight, it was all the same to him, whether it was reached by truth or
its opposite. Such, indeed, was the prevailing morality of the age.
Towards his adversaries he was bitter and vindictive, applying to them
low and vile language, such as thieves and robbers. He claimed to look
with contempt upon those who differed from him, and took pleasure in the
repeated use of the word _heretic_. Whether he ever saw Polycarp or not,
and it is no proof he did because he says so, he claimed great advantage
from it, because, as he declares again and again, Polycarp was the
disciple of the Apostle John. He is only one remove from an Apostle, and
for what he states he claimed the weight of Apostolic authority.
We say again, it is very doubtful whether he ever saw Polycarp; and it
is very certain the latter never saw John. The studied dishonesty of
Irenaeus, in attempting to palm off the Presbyter John for the Apostle,
is as dark a piece of knavery as is to be found in the history of a
church which has encouraged such practices from the time it claimed to
be the depository of all the divine wealth left by the Apostles.
Driven to the wall by the sharp logic and superior wisdom of that
class of Christians who were distinguished by the name of Gnostics, his
devious and ingenious mind undertook to cut them off from all claims
as members of a Christian church, by interposing the doctrine of the
Apostolic succession. This step once taken involved the necessity of
repeated forgeries and frauds. Cowardly Peter is to be changed into a
hero,--sent to Rome, where death is certain, and there die a Christian
martyr. John, who had not life and force enough in him to rise above the
masses, and no more knowledge than is wanted to dip a net into the sea,
is to be converted into a fiery spirit, and put forth a book which is to
fall like a thunderbolt on the heads of the heretics. If anything arises
in the course of the debates, which, to ordinary men, would present
difficulties, with Irenaeus they were easily disposed of by tradition.
He had traditions for all emergencies, and when his adversaries dared
dispute him, he stands ready to silence them by abuse. He says: "But,
again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from
the Apostles, (and) which is preserved by means of the successions of
Presbyters in the churches, they object to tradition, saying that they
themselves are wiser not merely than the Presbyters, but even than the
Apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth. It comes
to this, therefore, that these men do now consent neither to Scripture
nor to tradition. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal,
my very dear friend, endeavoring like slippery serpents to escape at all
points." (Irenaeus, Vol. I. book iii. page 260.)
He brings often and repeated charges against his enemies for forgeries,
and at the same time makes more himself than all of them put together.
In the disputes about the twofold nature of Christ as he appears in the
Synoptics, and as will be fully explained hereafter, the Gnostics had
the advantage in the argument. If Christ the God descended upon the man
Christ at the baptism in the Jordan, it left him at the crucifixion.
Then, say the Gnostics, there _is no atonement_, for the Son of God did
not shed his blood. No other man, in that or any other age, could meet
the crisis but Irenaeus; and the result is the fourth Gospel.
The time when this Gospel first appeared as a historical fact, has been
so thoroughly sifted by late writers on that subject, that it will only
be necessary here to notice some of the prominent reasons why its date
is fixed after the middle of the second century. All allusions, or
pretended allusions, found in the writings of the fathers, on inspection
will be found to be the work of those who have attempted to poison the
fountains of history. Papias lived near the age of John, and if John had
written he must have known and spoken about it, as he speaks of Matthew
and Mark; but he says nothing about John or Luke. He was Bishop of
Heliopolis A. D. 165, and informs us that it was his habit to inquire of
those who were the followers of the elders, what was said by them: what
was said by Andrew and Peter or Philip; what by Thomas, James, John,
Matthew, or any other of the disciples of the Lord. (Eusebius, Ecc.
Hist., book iii. chap. 39.)
The Apology of Justin to the emperor was written some time between the
years A. D. 130 and A. D. 160. The precise time is not known, and there
is some uncertainty about it. In his Apology, Justin makes thirty-five
distinct allusions to Matthew, eighteen to Luke, and five to Mark, and
if he says anything which points to John at all, on examination it will
appear that the allusions are found elsewhere, in writings anterior to
Justin. "For Christ said, 'Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven.'" This, it is claimed, is taken from the
fourth Gospel, which must have been in existence when Justin wrote. The
language in the Gospel is, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John iii. 3.)
This language, imputed to Christ, was drawn from a common source--from
the Gospel according to the Hebrews, as has been fully proven, and so in
every other instance where the writer seems to allude to the Gospel of
John.
The new ideas concerning Christ found in this Gospel had not yet dawned
upon the world when Justin wrote, for on that subject he had not got
beyond what was contained in the Synoptics; or, to speak with greater
accuracy, his Logos idea was that of Philo, which differed from that of
John.
An examination of this subject by the most learned and careful writers,
proves that there is no reliable evidence that the fourth Gospel was in
existence before A. D. 175, when a direct reference is made to it in
the Clementine homilies, a production written in praise of Peter against
Marcion. The language quoted is unmistakably the language of John.
Tatian, who wrote between A. D. 160 and A. D. 185, quotes from the
fourth Gospel: "And this is what was said, Darkness does not comprehend
the light; the Logos is the light of God." In the nineteenth chapter
we read: "All things were made by him, and without him not a thing was
made." These were quotations from John without his being named as the
author; but Theophilus of Antioch, who wrote about A. D. 176, especially
ascribes the Gospel to him. "In the second book of this treatise
addressed to Antolycus, he says: 'Whence the holy Scriptures teach us,
and all who carried in them a holy spirit, of whom John says, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.'" It may be claimed as an
historic fact, that the fourth Gospel was extant in A. D. 175, and that
all efforts to give it an early date spring from uncertain data: obscure
allusions and doubtful inferences altogether too vague and unreliable to
satisfy the mind in pursuit of truth.