4.4 Salvation from Creation to Incarnation: Haer. 3.18.1,7
CHAPTER 4
4.4
Salvation from Creation to Incarnation: Haer. 3.18.1,7 The second part of Haer. 3 is a protracted reflection on the incarnation, and in the present chapter, the soteriological implications are a particular point of emphasis. Donovan identifies a chiastic structure in Haer. 3.18.1–7 centering on a discussion of martyrdom in Haer. 3.18.5.25 The bookends (Haer. 3.18.1–2 and Haer. 3.18.7) are structurally linked contain common allusions to the work of God in Gen 1–2. In both cases, an Adam-Christ typology informs his intertextual allusions, and both summarize the soteriological implications of the incarnation. In Haer. 3.18.1–2 he combines John 1:14, Eph 1:10, and Gen 1:26, while in Haer. 3.18.7 he conflates Gen 2:5 and Rom 5–6. These intertextual relationships are fashioned through a variety of verbal associations that work in harmony with a prevailing Adam-Christ typology.
4.4.1
The Preexistence of the Son: Haer. 3.18.1 (Gen 1:26) The initial section of Haer. 3.18.1, begins with a reference to the work of Christ in John 1:2–3, John 1:10, and John 1:14 in attempts to prove the preexistence of the Son with the Father and his continued administration of creation through time.26 He unites the preexistence and incarnation of the Son that affects the recovery of the original creative form fashioned in the image and likeness of God. Specifically, his language reflects the binding of the imagery of John 1:14,
Eph 1:10, and Gen 1:26 in a successive soteriological summary of the effects of the incarnation. Irenaeus argues that the Word became incarnate and was
25 Donovan's chiastic structure is identified as follows: A. Necessity of incarnation (Haer.
III.18.1–2); B. Paul on the reality of Christ's redemptive suffering, death, and resurrection
(Haer. III.18.2–3); C. Christ's teaching on his suffering and that of his disciples (Haer.
III.18.4); D. If Christ did not suffer but flew away from Jesus, by what right did he exhort disciples to follow him? (Haer. III.18.5); E. Suffering of the Martyr's: differing views (Haer.
III.18.5); D′. If Christ's suffering was not real, by what right did he exhort disciples to follow him? (Haer. III.18.6); C′. Paul teaches that Christ was a man who by his obedience redeemed human disobedience (Haer. III.18.6); B′. Christ teaches that he claimed the strong man, freed the weak and gave salvation to the work of his hands destroying sin
(Haer. III.18.6); A′. Necessity of incarnation (Haer. III.18.7). Donovan, One Right Reading,
83. Donovan does not explicitly combine Haer. 3.18.1–2, as I have here, but the themes and content are parallel and they should be understood as a structural unit.
26 There may be an echo of the original creation of Adam in Gen 2:7 in the reference to the Word of God becoming "united to his own formation" (unitum suo plasmati), but it is not clear enough for discussion. This phrase is, however, particularly common and parallel examples are found throughout Haer. 3 see: Haer. 3.10.4, Haer. 3.16.6, Haer. 3.18.1, 6–7,
Haer. 3.19.3, and Haer. 3.21.9–10.
Reading Genesis From Creation To Incarnation made man (John 1:14) and, as a result, he recapitulated humanity in himself
(Eph 1:10) as a summary of salvation. The effect of the Son's incarnation (John 1:14) and recapitulation (Eph 1:10) is accomplishing salvation and recovering of what was lost in Adam: "to be according to the image and likeness of God"
(id est secundum imaginem et similitudinem esse Dei, Gen 1:26).27 Gen 1:26, in this instance, is interpreted anthropologically and eschatologically as the logical soteriological conclusion of Christ's incarnation and recapitulation. The intention of God to make humanity in the image and likeness of God is finally realized in and through the incarnation. There is an obvious echo of the fall in Gen 3:1–6, which Grant suggests expresses the loss of both the image of God in Adam's disobedience, but Behr is right that the image is never lost.28 The echo is allusive, and the passage is focused on the eschatological implications of Gen 1:26 pointing toward the recovery of both the image and likeness in Christ.
Thus, an Adam-Christ typology, which gives attention to the anthropological and soteriological implications of the work of Christ, unites the imagery of these passages. These texts do not contain parallel catchwords, but their imagery is understood in a progressive relationship according to the work of Christ.
4.4.2
Salvation and the Obedience of Christ: Haer. 3.18.7 (Gen 2:5) The discussion of Gen 1–3 and the incarnation resurfaces in Haer. 3.18.7, where Irenaeus concludes the whole chiastic structure of Haer. 3.18.1–7.
He argues that Christ, who was both God and man, could have vanquished the enemy and possessed salvation securely.29 The Bishop of Lyons remarks that unless humanity is joined to God, humankind could never partake of incorruptibility.30 While there are a number of texts cited in this section, he specifically harmonizes Gen 2:5 with Rom 5:12 and Rom 5:19 to argue that the destruction of sin and death could only be accomplished through God assuming the same substance formed from the dust in Gen 2:5.
Irenaeus uses the same "as . . . so" (ὥσπερ . . . οὕτως) framework as Paul in Rom 5:12 and 5:19, but extends the asymmetrical relationship with positive symmetry connecting the parallel births of Adam and Christ. Following
27 Haer. 3.18.1.
28 Grant, Irenaeus, 52; Behr, Anthropology, 90. See discussion of Image and Likeness in Haer.
5.16.2.
29 It is still worth noting that this emphasis on obedience, observed by Wingren, acknowledges the union of the physical and ethical aspects of salvation. Wingren, Man and the Incarnation, 27–8.
30 There is a close relationship between the use of Gen 2:5 and related intertexts in this section with Epid 30–34a and Haer. 3.21.10.