Why Irenaeus wrote the fourth Gospel in the name of John.--
He shows that the Gospels could not be less than four, and
proves the doctrine of the incarnation by the Old Testament
and the Synoptics.--The author of the epistles attributed to
St. John.
The zeal of Irenaeus against his adversaries had carried him so far in
support of the doctrine of the incarnation that he ventured upon a
new Gospel, under the name and authority of an Apostle. Without
the authority of some one of the Apostles to sustain him, of what
consequence would the opinion of one man be, on a question which
involved the substance and essence of Christianity? Nothing would be
easier than to publish a fourth Gospel in the name of-some one among the
disciples. They were all dead a hundred years or more, and the time and
place of their death no one knew.
But why did Irenaeus select the name of John? It was his policy to
select from among the twelve the one who had been the least conspicuous
during his life, so that what was said or done by him in Judea at one
time should not conflict with something else claimed to have been done
at the same time somewhere else. The one that said and did nothing in
his own country might be claimed to have said and done a great deal in
another. If the proof adduced to prove that John, the son of Zebedee,
was not the John of Ephesus, and that Irenaeus was engaged in making a
false substitute, we have gone a great way to show that he himself was
the author of the fourth Gospel. To be sure, John's presence in Asia was
required for the Apostolic succession; but the man who brought him there
for that purpose would be most likely to use his name in all other cases
when it might prove useful.
The book against Heresies was written between A. D. 182 and A. D. 188,
so that about eight years elapsed between the appearance of the Gospel
and the one against the heretics. In the mean time, no doubt the
Gospel had been attacked from more quarters than one, so that it became
necessary that the writer should come to its defence. The book against
Heresies is nothing more than a supplement to the Gospel, and the writer
had in view its defence as much, if not more, than he had the heresies
of the Gnostics.
No better evidence could be given of the violence with which the fourth
Gospel was attacked, when it first appeared, than the character of the
defence made to sustain it. That it was something new in the time of
Irenaeus is evident from the fact that he is called upon and employed
his genius to defend it. He is not called upon to defend either of the
other Gospels, because whatever doubts there may have been as to them,
the time for discussion had long passed away. But the fourth Gospel was
something new; it had not gone through that fermentation in the minds of
men which always follows the introduction of some new idea or principle,
but was undergoing that process at the time Irenaeus wrote in its
defence. If this Gospel had been written by John, it would have been,
at the time Irenaeus wrote, nearly one hundred years old, and its claims
settled years before he was born. The very arguments he brings to its
support are proofs that it is a fraud. He proves that it is genuine
because it is a necessity--just as pillars are necessary to the support
of a portico. In his mode of argument he proves that a falsehood may be
exposed by the poverty and weakness of the arguments which are relied
upon for its support.
Irenaeus proves not only that the appearance of the fourth Gospel was
something new, but that the doctrines it contained were unheard of
before. He says: "It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more
or fewer in number than they are; for since there are four zones of the
world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the church is
scattered throughout all the world, and the pillar and ground of the
church is the Gospel and the Spirit of life, it is fitting that she
should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and
vivifying men afresh." (Book III. chap. 2, sec. 8.) On this subject,
after drawing many illustrations from the Gospels in proof of his
position, he concludes as follows: "These things being so, all
who destroy the form of the Gospel are _vain, unlearned_, and also
_audacious_: those (I mean) who represent the aspects of the Gospel as
being more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other hand, fewer."
(Book III. chap. 2, sec. 9.)
The fourth Gospel was written with no other purpose than to prove the
incarnation, and that purpose is so persistently kept up in every line
and verse, from the beginning to the end, that if we strike out this,
and the miracles which are mere supports of the main idea, there is
nothing left. And so with the third book against Heresies--it has but
one theme. The writer sets out with the Logos idea of this Gospel,
which is never lost sight of. He finds proof in the traditions of the
church--in every page of the Old Testament--in the Synoptics, as well
as in the fourth Gospel; and as we read his misapplication of words and
sentences, we would conclude that he was a lunatic if we did not know
he was something else. He has no quarrel with the first three Gospels,
because he can see nothing in them that does not furnish proof of what
is taught in the fourth; and in the language which makes most against
his dogmas, he sees the clearest proof of their truth.
As an example of his mode of interpretation, and turning the plain sense
of words from their proper meaning to proofs that Christ was God in the
flesh, we will give his explanation of the prophecy of Isaiah, which
relates to his birth from a virgin: "Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son; and ye
shall call his name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat: before he
knows or chooses out things that are evil, He shall exchange them for
what is good; for before the child knows good or evil, He shall not
consent to evil, that he may choose that which is good." Here follow the
comments: "Carefully, then, has the holy Ghost pointed out, by what has
been said--His birth from a virgin and His essence, for he is God (for
the name of Emmanuel indicates this). And he shows that he is a man when
he says, 'Butter and honey shall he eat;' and in that he terms him a
child also, in saying, 'before he knows good from evil;' for these are
all tokens of a human infant. But that he 'will not consent to evil that
he may choose what is good,' this is proper to God; that by the fact,
that He shall eat butter and honey, we would understand that He is a
mere man only--nor on the other hand from the name Emmanuel, should
suspect him to be Christ without flesh." (Book ill. ch. 21, sec. 4.)
That is, Christ is in the flesh, because he is to eat butter and honey;
and he is God, because he knows how to distinguish between good and
evil; and as a consequence, the divine and human nature are united in
his person, and he is the incarnate God. We have shown in another part
of this work that the prophecy of Isaiah had nothing to do with a future
Christ, but was meant as a measure of time, governed by the period of
gestation.
Again: "'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I
make thine enemies Thy footstool.' Here (the Scripture) represents to
us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of
the heathen, and subjected to Him all his enemies. Since, therefore, the
Father is truly Lord, and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has
fitly designated them by the title of Lord. And again, referring to the
destruction of the Sodomites, the Scripture says, 'Then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of
heaven.' For it here points out that the Son, who had also been talking
with Abraham, had received power to judge the Sodomites for their
wickedness. And this (text following) does declare the same truth: 'Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom is
a right sceptre. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity:
therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee.' For the Spirit designates
both [of them] by the name of God--both Him who is anointed as Son, and
Him who does anoint, that is, the Father. And again: 'God stood in the
congregation of the gods, He judges among the gods.' He (here) refers
to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but
these are the church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God--that
is, the Son Himself--has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks:
'The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth.' Who
is meant by God? He of whom He has said, 'God shall come openly, our
God, and shall not keep silence;' that is, the Son, who came manifested
to men, who said, 'I have openly appeared to those who seek me not.'"
(Book ill. chap. 6, sec. 1.)
"And again, when the Son speaks to Moses, He says, 'I am come down to
deliver this people.' For it is He who descended and ascended for the
salvatipn of men. Therefore God has been declared through the Son, who
is in the Father, and has the Father in Himself--He who is, the Father
bearing witness to the Son, and the Son announcing the Father." (Book
III. chap. 6, sec. 2.)
He quotes many passages from the Gospel of Matthew to prove his
doctrine. "But Matthew says, that the Magi, coming from the East,
exclaimed, 'For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to
worship Him;' and that, having been led by the star into the house of
Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by those gifts which they offered, who
it was that was worshipped: myrrh, because it was He who should die and
be buried for the mortal human race; gold, because He was a king, 'of
whose kingdom is no end;' and frankincense, because He was God, who also
'was made known in Judea,' and was 'declared to those who sought
Him not.'" (Book III. chap. 9, sec. 2.) "And then, (speaking of His)
baptism, Matthew says: 'The heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit
of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' For Christ _did not
at that descend upon Jesus_, neither was Christ one and Jesus another:
but the Word of God--who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven
and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did
also take upon Him _flesh_, and was anointed by the Spirit from the
Father--was made Jesus Christ." (Book III. chap. 9, sec. 3.)
The following is proof derived from Luke. "As Zacharias, also,
recovering from the state of dumbness which he had suffered on account
of unbelief, having been filled with a new spirit, did bless God in
a new manner. For all things had entered upon a new phase, the Word
arranging after a new manner the advent in the flesh, that He might win
back to God that human nature (_hominem_) which had departed from God."
(Book III. chap. 10, sec. 2.)
Many citations of a like nature are taken from Luke and Mark to prove
the _Logos_ doctrine of John's Gospel. Irenaeus even brings John upon
the stand to prove the doctrine of an incarnate Christ! which John
himself was the first to communicate. "John, the disciple of the Lord,
preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to
remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men,
and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an
offset of that 'knowledge' falsely so called, that he might confound
them, and persuade them that there is but one God, who made all things
by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but
the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was,
forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another."... "The disciple of
the Lord, therefore, desiring to put an end to all such doctrines, and
to establish the rule of truth in the church, that there is one Almighty
God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and invisible;
showing at the same time, that by the _Word_, through whom God made
the creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the
creation: thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel: 'In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'" (Bopkm.
chap. 11, sec. 1.)
He makes many references to John, and sums up his complaints against the
Gnostics in the following words: "But according to the opinion of no one
of the heretics was the Word of God made flesh. For if any one carefully
examines the systems of them all, he will find that the Word of God is
brought in by all of them as not having become _incarnate (sine carne)_
and _impassible_, as is also the Christ from above." (Book III. chap,
in, sec. 3.) The writer cites many passages from the epistle of Peter,
all confirming the _Logos_ doctrines of John.
The following is the heading of chap. xxii. book III.: "_Christ assumed
actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin_." In this chapter the
doctrine of the incarnation is elaborately argued, and proof supplied
from many quarters; but as there is a great sameness in the argument
throughout, it would only tire the reader to pursue the subject any
further.
The third book against Heresies contains twenty-five chapters, which are
extended through one hundred and seventeen pages, and throughout there
is but one idea presented, and the proof offered in its support; and
from the first to the last, there is a studied effort to turn the plain
import of biblical passages from their true meaning into the support of
the doctrines in the fourth Gospel. Thus this father of the church, in
about seven years after this Gospel appeared, came to its defence, and
for that purpose wrote a book, which must have cost him much time and
study, for in its way it is a work of great research, and required an
intimate acquaintance with the Old and New Testaments, and the writings
of the Gnostics, which were numerous in his day. From the zeal which
is shown throughout, it is evident that the writer had some personal
interest in the subject, and that he was defending his own doctrines,
and not those of St. John or any one else.
We do not detect in the work against Heresies the lofty and sublime
tone of the Gospel, and, from the nature of the subject, it could not
be expected. He is engaged in an attempt to impose on the world, and
as what he declares to be the work of an Apostle has no foundation
in truth, nor the doctrines it teaches, he struggles like a man in
a morass, who is compelled to seize upon anything to keep him from
sinking. No doubt he was pressed hard by his adversaries, and he seems
in his defence of the fourth Gospel like a gored bull with a pack at his
front and heels. We can detect the keen lance of his adversary, piercing
him to the quick, in the repeated cry of Antichrist, which is the
favorite weapon when hard pressed by his enemies.
As he fights all his battles in the name of St. John, hear him exclaim,
in the first and second epistles, which he falsely ascribes to the
Apostle: "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard
that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists; whereby
we know that it is the last time. Who is a liar but he that denieth that
Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the
Son." (1 John ii. 18, 22.) "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesseth that' Jesus Christ is come in the _flesh_, is of
God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh, is not of God. And this is that _spirit_ of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in
the world." (1 John iv. 2, 3.) "For many deceivers are entered into the
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the _flesh_. This
is a deceiver, and an Antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not
those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the
Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2
John 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.)
The spirit that dictated the foregoing denunciations of those who
disbelieved the dogma of Christ incarnate, also gave birth to what
follows: "But again, those who assert that he was simply a mere man,
begotten by Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience,
are in a state of death; having been not as yet joined to the Word
of God the Father, nor receiving liberty through the Son, as He does
himself declare: 'If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed.' But, being ignorant of Him who from the Virgin is Emmanuel,
they are deprived of His gift, which is eternal life; and not receiving
the incorruptible Word, they remain in mortal flesh, and are debtors
to death, not obtaining the antidote of life. To whom the Word says,
mentioning His own gift of grace: 'I said, ye are all the sons of the
Highest, and gods; but ye shall die like men.' He speaks undoubtedly
these words to those who have not received the gift of adoption, but
who despise _the incarnation_ of the pure generation of the Word of
God, defraud human nature of promotion into God, and prove themselves
ungrateful to the Word of God, who became _flesh_ for them." (Book iii.
chap. 19, sec. I.)