4.2 Creation and the Narrative of the Apostolic Tradition: Haer. 3.3.3: (Gen 1:1, Gen 2:7)
Reading Genesis From Creation To Incarnation in the concluding portion of the Haer. 3. These Christological references are found within networks of texts that support the activity of one God and Father administering creation by means of the Son. While Irenaeus uses several chiasms in the second part of his work, his argumentation culminates in Haer. 3.23.1–8 that is a highly organized chiasm arranged around the contents of Gen 3 and related intertexts. His exegesis continues to use a variety of intertextual strategies including: narratival and structural arrangements, catchwords or verbal connections, typological relationships, prosopological interpretations, and illustrative application of texts. In each case, Irenaeus reads the creation texts in continuity with the rest of the scriptural witness and, in varying ways, exhibits the theological continuity between creation and the Christ event.
4.2
Creation and the Narrative of the Apostolic Tradition: Haer. 3.3.3:
(Gen 1:1, Gen 2:7) His first allusion to Gen 1–3 surfaces in Haer. 3.3.2–3, where Irenaeus mentions a letter written by Clement from the church at Rome to the church at Corinth.
The contents of this section have been highly scrutinized because it contains an early succession list.4 Irenaeus appeals to this letter from Clement, commonly known as 1Clement, because it predates the teaching proliferated by the Gnostic teachers. In contrast to the Gnostic teaching, Irenaeus reports this letter urged the church at Corinth to declare the tradition received from the apostles. His summary of the contents of the letter is a condensation of the apostolic tradition with a telescoped summary of the narrative of the divine history focused on the nature and acts of God the Father including: creation of the world, creation of humankind, the Flood, the Exodus, the giving of the law, the prophets and the judgment of Satan.5 These events correspond to a set
Haer. 3.15.3, Gen 2:16–17, Gen 3:6, Gen 3:15 and Gen 3:19 in Haer. 3.20.2, and Gen 3:22 in Haer.
3.21.4. All of these echoes were too vague for any meaningful analysis.
4 Haer. 3.3.3. For a discussion of this succession list see: Allen Brent, "How Irenaeus Has
Misled the Archaeologists," in Irenaeus: Life, Scripture, Legacy, ed. P. Foster and S. Parvis
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 35–52. Antonio M Javierre, "In ecclesia": Ireneo, Adv haer 3, 3,
2," in Comunione interecclesiale collegialité—primato ecumenismo (Rome: LAS: 1972) 221–317;
L. Abramowski, "Irenaeus, Adv Haer III 3,2: ecclesia Romana and omnis ecclesia; and ibid.
3,3: Anacletus of Rome." JTS 28: (1977), 101–104; P. Nautin, "Irénée, Adv haer, III 3,2: Eglise de
Rome ou église universelle?," RHR (1957) 151: 37–78.
5 This account of salvation history is related to his rule of faith that is found in various forms throughout Haer. 3 including: Haer. 3.4.2, Haer. 3.15.3 and Haer. 3.16.6. The narratival character
CHAPTER 4
of observable scriptural allusions and echoes including: Gen 1:1, Gen 2:7, Gen 6:17, Gen 12:1, Exod 3:10, Exod 3:4, Ex 20:1, Isa 6:8, Matt 25:41.6 The chart below delineates these references so that the intertextual narratival arrangement is apparent:
One God almighty Unum Deum omnipotentem Maker of heaven and earth Factorem caeli et terrae Gen 1:1
Fashioner of man Plasmatorem hominis Gen 2:7 who brought on the flood and called Abraham qui induxerit cataclysmum et aduocauerit Abraham Gen 6:17, Gen 12:1 who led the people out of the land of Egypt qui eduxerit populum de terra Aegypti Ex 3:10 who conversed with Moses qui coloctus sit Moysi Ex 3:4 who gave the law and sent the prophets Ex 20:1, Isa 6:8, Jer 1:7, Ezek 2:37 who prepared the fire for the devil and his angels qui legem disposuerit et prophetas miserit qui ignem praeparauerit diabolo et angelis eius Matt 25:41
This narratival arrangement draws predominately from the Old Testament, and the references to God as the Creator of the world and Adam serve as the initial sequences to introduce the divine activity in the later events.8 In his arrangement the verbs in Gen 1:1 and Gen 2:7, unlike the rest of the summary, function as gerunds, or verbal nouns or titles, that identify the nature of God as "Maker" (Factorem) of all things, and "Fashioner" (Plasmatorem) of man.
This is distinct from the indirect summaries in the other instances that use the relative qualifier "who" (qui) to begin a new line describing the successive acts of God the Father throughout salvation history. Rather than identifying the nature of God, they generally summarize God's acts in history with particular of the regula, however, is debated. See: Paul Blowers, "The Regula Fidei and the Narrative
Character of Early Christian Faith," ProE 6.2 (1997): 199–228; Nathan MacDonald, "Israel and the Old Testament Story in Irenaeus' Presentation of the Rule of Faith," JTI 3.2 (2009): 281–98.
6 Haer. 3.3.3.
7 The reference to the calling of the prophets could refer back to Deut 18, but the general examples of God calling the prophets are found throughout the narratives of the Major and Minor
Prophets.
8 Wingren, Man and the Incarnation, 7.