6.6 The Spirit and the Image and Likeness: Haer. 5.8.1 (Gen 1:26)
CHAPTER 6
He conflates the decomposition imagery of Gen 3:19 with the first half of 1 Cor 15:43a, because, for Irenaeus, the dissolution of the flesh only applies to the "natural body." The glorified body, or spiritual body, that was sown into the earth in Gen 3:19 is raised in power in 1 Cor 15:43–44.
6.6
The Spirit and the Image and Likeness: Haer. 5.8.1 (Gen 1:26) Having provided a highly involved exegetical discussion of the resurrection of the flesh, in Haer. 5.8.1 Irenaeus extends this argument with a closer evaluation of the Spirit's function in the resurrection of the faithful. Irenaeus argues the "pledge" (credentes) of the Spirit, mentioned in Eph 1:14, renders the faithful spiritual even in the present dispensation of the divine economy.75 The indwelling of the Spirit occurs in the flesh, not by removing or setting aside the flesh. In this sense the mortal is, even in the present, swallowed up by immortality (2 Cor 5:4). This point explains Paul's argument that the faithful are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit in Rom 8:9. Contrary to the Gnostics, being "spiritual"
(spiritualis) was not characteristic of select individuals temporarily united to a body and soul, but those who, with body and soul, have received the Spirit.
This explains how the faithful who receive the Spirit as a pledge, according to Rom 8:15, are able to cry out "Abba Father" (Abba, Pater) as they groan for their future resurrection when they shall see God face to face (1 Cor 13:12).
This argument is a logical part-whole transition from the present state of the Spirit to the future resurrected life. The pledge of the Spirit in the present
(Eph 1:14, Rom 8:9, 15) is a portion of the "universal grace of the Spirit" (universa
Spiritus gratia) that will be the fullness of the Spirit imparted to the faithful by God the Father at the final consummation (Gen 1:26, 1 Cor 13:12).76 The pledge is a promise for what the faithful will receive in the resurrection when they are rendered, once again, "in the image and likeness of God" (secundum imaginem et similitudinem Dei).77 However, this is not a return to the Edenic state, but a restoration of the similitude to God that finally accomplishes the "perfect will" (perficiet voluntatem) of the Father set forth in the beginning (Gen
1:26). This is one of the few instances where the Spirit, rather than the Son, explicitly accomplishes the fulfillment of Gen 1:26, although the Son must be in view because the Son always executes the will of the Father.78 In this case,
75 Haer. 5.8.1.
76 Haer. 5.8.1. He uses 2 Cor 5:4 to argue implicitly for both positions.
77 Haer. 5.8.1.
78 Orbe, Teología V.1, 376–7.