Book 2: Exposing Heresy: Disunity among the Gnostics
Book 2
Exposing Heresy
Disunity among the Gnostics
In the first book exposing “what is falsely called knowledge” [1 Tim 6:20], I laid out the whole false system, in its various contradictory forms, fabricated by the school of Valentinus. I also set forth the tenets of their predecessors, showing that they not only differed among themselves, but had long ago swerved from the truth itself. . . . Further, I carefully pointed out passages which they garble from the Scriptures, so as to adapt them to their own fictions. As well, I methodically laid out their audacious attempts to establish what they regard as truth by way of numbers and by the letters of the alphabet. . . . (2:pref,1)
In this book, my thorough examination will bring forward all that is necessary to destroy their whole system. This will offer an exposure and subversion of their views, as the title of this work promises. . . . (2:pref,2)
It is fitting to begin with the first and most important point—God the creator, who made heaven and earth and everything in them, but whom these heretics blasphemously dismiss as the result of a defect. There is nothing either above or after him; he was not moved to create by another: he did so freely. He is the only God, the only Lord, the only creator, the only Father, who alone contains all things and who called everything into existence. (2:1,1)
The way the heretics argue may seem plausible or even convincing to those who do not know God, and who liken him to needy human beings or to those who cannot accomplish anything by themselves without help, but who have to use various aids to produce whatever they intend. But it will not be regarded as at all probable by those who know that God needs nothing, and that he created and made all things by his Word. He did not need the help of angels or any other power inferior to himself to produce the things which were made. . . . He himself, by himself alone, in a way we can neither describe nor understand, having predestined all things, formed them as he chose, bestowing harmony on all things, assigning them their particular place and the beginning of their creation. . . . He formed all things that were made by his Word that never wearies. (2:2,4)
It is unique to God that, in his preeminence, he needs no tools to create the things which he summons into existence. His own Word is both suitable and sufficient to create all things, as John, the disciple of the Lord, declares: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being” [John 1:3]. Clearly, our world must be included among the “all things.” It too was made by his Word: Scripture tells us in the book of Genesis that he made all things connected with our world by his Word. David also expresses the same truth: “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” [Ps 33:9].
Whom, therefore, shall we believe as to the creation of the world: these heretics who, as we have shown, prate so foolishly and inconsistently on the subject, or the disciples of the Lord, and Moses, who was both a faithful servant of God and a prophet? He began the narration of the formation of the world in these words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” [Gen 1:1]. . . . (2:2,5)
Let the heretics stop teaching that the world was made by another. As soon as God formed a conception in his mind, what he had thus conceived was done. It was not that one being mentally formed the idea but that another actually produced the things which had been conceived in his mind. . . . (2:3,2)
. . . But if, as some say, their Father permitted these things1 without approving of them, then he gave permission because of some necessity—for he must either have been able to prevent it or not. If he could not hinder it, though, then he is weak and powerless; but if he could but did not, then he is a seducer, a hypocrite, and a slave to necessity, since he does not approve of what happens but still allows it as if he did. . . . (2:5,3)
However, it is not appropriate to say that the one who is God over all, who is free and independent, was a slave to necessity, or that anything takes place with his permission but against his will. In that case, necessity would be greater and more majestic than God, since whatever has the most power is superior. . . . It would have been much better, more consistent, and more God-like to cut off the principle of this kind of necessity at the beginning, than afterwards, as if moved by repentance, to try to overcome the results of necessity once they had reached such a development. . . . (2:5,4)
. . . His being is invisible and mighty; all people have a profound mental intuition and perception of his sovereign and omnipotent greatness. Therefore, although “no one knows the Father except the Son; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” [cf. Matt 11:27], yet all know this fact at least, since reason, implanted in their minds, moves them and reveals to them that there is one God, the Lord of all. (2:6,1)
All things have been placed under the control of him who is called the Most High and the Almighty. By calling on him, even before the incarnation of our Lord, people were saved from wicked spirits, from all kinds of demons, and from every sort of apostate power. . . .
By way of comparison, those who live under the empire of the Romans, even if they have never seen the emperor but are far separated from him by land and sea, know very well, as they experience his rule, who it is that possesses the principal power in the state. . . . (2:6,2)
That God is the creator of the world is accepted even by people who otherwise speak against him, since they still acknowledge him as creator. . . . All the Scriptures proclaim this, and the Lord teaches us only about this Father who is in heaven, as I will demonstrate subsequently. For the present, though, the proof derived from those who allege doctrines opposite to ours is sufficient of itself; indeed, all people consent to this truth. For their part, the ancients preserved this conviction carefully from the tradition of the first-formed man, for they celebrated the praises of one God, the maker of heaven and earth. Later on, others also were reminded of this fact by the prophets of God, while the heathen learned it from creation itself, which reveals him who formed it: the work thus made gives intimations of the one who made it, and the world shows forth the one who ordered it. The universal Church, moreover, throughout the whole world, has received this tradition from the apostles. (2:9,1)
It deserves to be believed and accepted that the substance of created things came from the power and will of him who is God over all. It also squares with reason, and it may well be said about such a belief that “what is impossible for mortals is possible for God” [Luke 18:27].. . . (2:10,4)
But the heretics do not believe that he who is God over all formed by his Word, in his own place and as he himself pleased, the various and diverse works we find in the creation. He is the one who formed all things, like a wise architect and a powerful monarch. But they believe that angels, or some power other than God (who was ignorant of him) formed this universe. . . . They are like the dog of Aesop that dropped the bread when it tried to seize its shadow, thus losing the real food. It is easy to prove from the words of the Lord that he acknowledges one Father and creator of the world and fashioner of humanity, the one who was proclaimed by the law and the prophets, while he knows no other—and that this one is really God over all. Further, he teaches that the adoption of children (which is eternal life) comes from this same Father, and that it takes place through himself, since he confers it on all the righteous. (2:11,1)
But these heretics delight in attacking us. These triflers assail us with points which really do not tell at all against us, bringing up a host of fables and supercilious questions. In reply, I think it fair to raise the questions that follow about their own doctrines, to show their improbability and put an end to their audacity. After this, I will examine the Lord’s teachings, to take from these heretics the means of attacking us. Since they will be unable to reply reasonably to the questions that will be raised, I hope that they may see that their plan of argument is destroyed—so that, either returning to the truth and humbling themselves and ceasing from their multifarious fantasies, they may propitiate God for the blasphemies they have uttered against him and thus find salvation; or that, if they still persevere in that proud system which has taken possession of their minds, they may at least find it necessary to change the kind of argument they use against us. (2:11,2)
. . . If they had understood the Scriptures and been taught the truth, they would have known beyond doubt that God is not as people are, and that his thoughts are not like ours [Isa 55:8]. The Father of all is at a vast distance from those affections and passions which operate among us. He is a simple, uncompounded being, without separate parts, and entirely like and equal to himself: he is wholly understanding, wholly spirit, wholly thought, wholly intelligence, wholly reason, wholly hearing, wholly seeing, wholly light, and the whole source of all that is good—as those who are religious and pious are accustomed to say about God. (2:13,3)
However, he is above all these properties, and therefore indescribable. For he who comprehends all things may well and properly be called “understanding,” but he is not therefore like human understanding; and he may most properly be termed “light,” but he is nothing like the light with which we are acquainted. And so, in every other regard, the Father of all is not at all like us in our human weakness. We speak of him in these ways because of our love for him, but his greatness far surpasses our thoughts and words about him. . . . (2:13,4)
. . . Just as the person does not err who declares that God is all vision and all hearing (for in the way he sees he also hears, and in the way he hears he also sees), so also the one who affirms that he is all intelligence and all word, and that, in whatever respect he is intelligence, in that also he is word, and that this Nous [“mind”] is his Logos, will still have only an inadequate conception of the Father of all. But that person will have far more appropriate thoughts about God than will those who transfer what is true about how people produce words to the utterance of the eternal Word of God, assigning a beginning and sequence of production to him as they would for their own words. In what respect will the Word of God—who is God himself, since he is the Word—differ from a human word, if he is captured by the same order and produced in the same way? (2:13,8)
. . . In heaping together with a kind of plausibility all the human feelings, mental exercises, and intentions involved when we speak and attributing them to God, they declare crude falsehoods about God. But when they ascribe the things that happen with human beings and whatever they recognize themselves as experiencing to the divine reason, they seem to those who are ignorant of God to make statements which seem suitable enough. . . . (2:13,10)
The account which the ancient comic poets give as to the origin of all things is much more like the truth—and more pleasing! . . . Indeed, these heretics transplant into their own system the things comedians loudly declaim everywhere in the theaters, teaching them by the same arguments but changing the names. (2:14,1)
Not only are they guilty of plagiarism, since they bring forward the ideas found among the comic poets as if they themselves had dreamed them up; they also jumble together the things which have been said by all those who were ignorant of God and who are termed philosophers.2 Sewing together, as it were, a motley garment out of a pile of miserable rags, the heretics, by their subtle manner of expression, have furnished themselves with a cloak which, again, is really not their own. It is true that they introduce a new kind of doctrine, which they try to substitute for the old; however, in reality it is both old and threadbare, since these opinions have been sewed together out of ancient teachings which reek of ignorance and irreligion. . . . (2:14,2)
. . . These heretics also try to transfer to faith that hairsplitting and subtle mode of handling questions learned from Aristotle. (2:14,5)
The account which we give of creation is harmonious with the regular order of the world. Our scheme fits with what has actually been made, but theirs necessarily collapses into the greatest confusion. . . . (2:15,3)
How much safer and better a course it is to confess at once what is true: that this God, the creator who formed the world, is the only God, that there is no other God besides him, and that he himself planned and made all things. . . . (2:16,3)
. . . Let me now examine the rest of their scheme. Because of their madness, I will be inquiring about things which do not even exist. It is necessary to do this, though, since the treatment of this subject has been entrusted to me, since I desire everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth, and since you yourself have asked me to provide you with full and complete means for overturning the views of these false teachers. (2:17,1)
Enough has been said3 to show that their system is weak and untenable, utterly fanciful. As a common proverb says, “It is not necessary to drink the entire ocean to learn that its water is salty”. . . . (2:19,8)
. . . They can be charged, then, not only with impiety against the creator, since they say he was the product of a defect, but also against Christ and the Holy Spirit, since these heretics affirm that they were produced by that defect. In the same way, they urge that the savior was spawned after the formation of that defect. Who will put up with the rest of their vain talk, which they subtly try to accommodate to the Lord’s parables, by which they have plunged both themselves and those who believe them into the deepest abysses of impiety? (2:19,9)
. . . Our Lord Jesus Christ underwent a genuine passion, not just the appearance of one. Even so, he was in no danger of being destroyed; instead, by his own power he established fallen humanity and called it anew to incorruption. . . . The Lord suffered so that he might bring those who have wandered from the Father back to knowledge and communion with him. . . . Having suffered, the Lord granted us salvation, bestowing on us the knowledge of the Father. . . . By his passion our Lord also destroyed death, dispersed error, put an end to corruption, and destroyed ignorance, while he manifested life, revealed truth, and granted the gift of incorruption. . . . (2:20,3)
. . . “The year of the Lord’s favor” [Isa 61:2; Luke 4:19] is this present time, in which those who believe him are called by him and accepted by God—that is, the whole time from his advent to the consummation, during which he acquires for himself those who are saved by his mercy. . . . (2:22,2)
. . . He did not appear as one thing while being something else, as those heretics teach who say he only seemed to be human: he manifested himself for what he was. As a master, he possessed the age of a master. He did not despise or evade any human condition. He did not set aside in his own case the order he had appointed for the human race; rather, he sanctified every stage of human development by participating in it himself. For he came to save all in himself, all those who are born again to God through him—infants,4 toddlers, young children, youths, and the mature. He passed through every stage, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children, thus sanctifying those of this age, and serving them as an example of piety, righteousness, and submission; a young person for young people, serving as an example to youths and thus sanctifying them for the Lord; so also he was a mature person for the mature. In this way, he was a perfect master for all, not merely in setting forth the truth, but also in being mature, sanctifying at the same time those who are mature, as well, and becoming an example for them also. Then, finally, he came on to death itself, so that he would be “the first-born from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything” [Col 1:18], the author of life [Acts 3:15], existing before all and going before all. (2:22,4)
The right way to approach knowledge is not to try to rise above God in your thoughts: he cannot be surpassed. Do not try to find one greater than the creator; that would be futile. The one who made you cannot be contained within limits. Even if you could measure the cosmos and traverse the entire creation, and carefully examined it in all its depth and height and length, you would still not be able to come up with one superior to the Father. You will never be able to comprehend him. . . . (2:25,4)
It is better and more beneficial to be classed with the simple and illiterate, but to be near God in love, than to imagine yourself learned and insightful but be numbered with those who blaspheme him, conjuring up a superior god to be the father. This is why Paul declared, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” [1 Cor 8:1]. By this he did not disparage genuine knowledge of God, for then he would have been condemning himself. But he knew that some people, inflated with their pseudo-knowledge, fall away from the love of God, imagining themselves to be perfect. . . .
It is better to have no knowledge whatever of even one reason why a single thing in creation has been made, but to believe in God and continue in his love, than it would be to be puffed up through knowledge of the kind offered by the heretics and so fall away from that love which gives life to humanity. It is better to search after no other knowledge than that of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was crucified for us, than to fall into impiety by subtle questions and hair-splitting expressions. (2:26,1)
A healthy mind, one which does not expose its possessor to danger and is devoted to piety and the love of truth, eagerly meditates on those things which God has placed within the power of humankind and has subjected to our knowledge. It will advance in them, learning them easily by daily study. These things are open to our observation and are clearly, unambiguously set forth in the sacred Scriptures.
That is why the parables should not be adapted to fit with ambiguous statements. If one keeps this caution in mind, the one who interprets the parables will avoid danger, and they will receive the same interpretation by all. In this way, the whole body of truth holds together harmoniously, without conflict. But if one uses ambiguous notions to interpret the parables, such as anyone might invent for himself on his whims, then no one will possess the rule of truth any longer. The number of persons offering interpretations will equal the diverse systems of supposed truth, all mutually opposed, presenting contradictions, as one finds with the philosophers. (2:27,1)
In this approach, people would always be seeking but never finding the truth [2 Tim 3:7], because they have turned away from the way to discover it. . . . Indeed, the entire Scriptures, the prophets, and the gospels can be clearly, unambiguously, and harmoniously understood by all, even if all do not believe them. . . . (2:27,2)
Since parables can be interpreted in many ways, everyone who loves truth will recognize that for these heretics to assert that God is to be searched out from the parables, while these false teachers disregard what is certain, undoubted, and true, is the folly of those who thrust themselves into danger and act like those destitute of reason. . . . (2:27,3)
So, having the truth itself as our rule and the testimony concerning God set clearly before us, we should not cast away the firm and true knowledge of God by scurrying after a multitude of contradictory responses to questions. It is much more appropriate that we guide our inquiries to investigate the mystery and administration of the living God, and so increase in love for him who has done and still does such great things for us. . . . (2:28,1)
If, though, we cannot find solutions for all the questions raised in Scripture, we should not seek for some other God than the one who is: that would be the greatest impiety. We should leave things like that to God, who created us, with the assurance that the Scriptures are perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and his Spirit. We are much inferior to them, since we came along much later than the Word of God and his Spirit, and so we are unable to attain full understanding of his mysteries. It should be no surprise that this is the case for us with spiritual and heavenly things, which can only be made known to us by revelation, when even those things which lie at our very feet—I mean those that belong to this world, which we handle and see and are around us—surpass our knowledge [2 Esd 4:10–11]. Even these we must leave in God’s hands. He is superior to everything. . . . (2:28,2)
If, therefore, even with respect to creation, there are some things only God knows, while others come within the range of our knowledge, why should we complain if, in regard to those things which we investigate in the Scriptures (which are thoroughly spiritual), we are able by the grace of God to explain only some of them, while we must leave the rest in the hands of God—and that not only in the present world but also in that which is to come—so that God will forever teach and human beings will forever learn the things God teaches? The apostle declared in this regard that, when other things have passed away, then “faith, hope, and love abide” [1 Cor 13:13]. Faith, which focuses on our master, stands firm, assuring us that there is only one true God. It calls us genuinely to love him for ever, since he alone is our Father. It encourages us always to hope confidently that we will always receive more and more from God and learn from him, since he is good and has boundless riches, an unending kingdom, and inexhaustible instruction.
If, then, following the advice I have given, we leave some questions in the hands of God, we will keep our faith from injury and will continue without danger. Moreover, we will find all Scripture, which has been given to us by God, to be entirely consistent. Then the parables will harmonize with the passages which are perfectly plain, and the statements which are clear in meaning will help explain the parables, and in all the various utterances of Scripture we will hear one harmonious melody, praising in hymns the God who created all things.
So, for instance, if any one asks, “What was God doing before he made the world?,” we reply that the answer to such a question lies hidden with God himself. The Scriptures teach us that this world was formed complete by God, receiving its beginning in time, but no Scripture tells us what God was doing prior to creation. The answer to that question belongs to God alone. No one should dream up foolish, rash, and blasphemous questions. . . . (2:28,3)
. . . Similarly, if anyone asks, “How was the Son produced by the Father?,” we reply that no one understands that production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or whatever term may be used to describe his generation: it is utterly indescribable. . . . While the heretics acknowledge him to be indescribable and unnameable, they nevertheless set about to describe how he was first produced and formed—as if they themselves had assisted at his birth! . . . (2:28,6)
. . . We have learned from the Scriptures that God holds the supremacy over all things. But Scripture has not revealed to us the way he produced it. . . . In the same way, we must leave unanswered the question why, since all things were made by God, some of his creatures sinned and revolted from a state of submission to God. . . . Since we know only in part [1 Cor 13:12], we must leave all sorts of questions in the hands of him who gives us grace by measure. . . . (2:28,7)
. . . If those who supposedly are perfect cannot even understand what is in their hands, at their feet, before their eyes, and around them on earth (like the number of hairs on their head), why should we believe what they teach about spiritual and super-celestial matters which they superciliously claim are above God?. . . (2:28,9)
. . . Who can even count all the things made by God’s power and governed by his wisdom? Who can fathom the greatness of the God who made them? (2:30,3)
. . . From the authoritative Scriptures we prove that all things, visible and invisible, were made by one God. These heretics are not more trustworthy than the Scriptures! Nor should we give up the declarations of the Lord, Moses, and the rest of the prophets, who have proclaimed the truth, and give credit to the heretics instead, for they utter nothing that makes any sense but only rant about untenable opinions. . . . (2:30,6)
. . . There is one only God, the creator—who is above every principality and power and dominion and virtue. He is Father, he is God, the founder, the maker, the creator who made those things by himself (that is, through his Word and his Wisdom)—heaven and earth, the seas, and everything in them. He is just; he is good; he it was who formed humanity, who planted paradise, who made the world, who sent the flood, who saved Noah. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the living [Mark 12:26, 27]. He it is whom the law proclaims, whom the prophets preach, whom Christ reveals, whom the apostles make known to us, and in whom the Church believes. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through his Word, who is his Son, he is revealed and manifested to all to whom he is revealed—for only those know him to whom the Son has revealed him. But the Son, eternally co-existing with the Father from of old, indeed, from the beginning, always reveals the Father to angels, archangels, powers, virtues, and all those to whom he wills that God should be revealed. (2:30,9)
. . . The heretics cannot raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and as the apostles did by prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood because of some necessity. At times, the entire church in a particular locality has entreated for this extraordinary gift by much fasting and prayer, and the spirit of the dead person has returned, in answer to the prayer of the saints. But the heretics do not even believe this can be done. . . . (2:31,2)
If, however, they maintain that the Lord, too, only appeared to perform miraculous works, we will direct them to the prophets’ writings, and prove from them that such miraculous things were predicted about him, that they unquestionably took place, and that he is the only Son of God. So also, those who genuinely are his disciples receive grace from him to perform miracles in his name for the welfare of others—all according to the gift which each has received from him [cf. Rom 12:6–8; 1 Cor 12:7, 10]. Some exorcize demons, and many who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits come to believe in Christ and join the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions and utter prophecies. Still others heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made well. Moreover, as I have said, even the dead have been raised, and have remained among us for many years.5
What else should I say? It is not possible to number all the gifts which the Church, throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ (who was crucified under Pontius Pilate), and which she exercises day by day for the benefit of the nations, without practicing deception toward anyone, and not taking any reward from them for these miracles. As she has received freely from God, she also freely ministers to others [Matt 10:8]. (2:32,4)
The Church does nothing by angelic invocations or incantations or any evil art. Her practice is to direct her prayers in a pure, sincere, and honest spirit to the Lord who made all things, calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the way the Church works miracles for humanity’s advantage. She does not mislead them, for even now the name of our Lord Jesus Christ grants benefits to human beings and thoroughly and effectively cures, anywhere, all who believe in him. . . . From this, it can readily be seen that, when he was made man, he had fellowship with his creation and did everything through the power of God, according to the will of the Father of all—as the prophets had foretold. (2:32,5)
. . . Each of us receives body and soul by the skillful working of God, for God is not so poor or destitute in resources that he cannot confer its own proper soul on each individual body, just as he gives it also its own special character. Therefore, when the number is completed—the number which he predetermined in his own counsel—all those who have been enrolled for eternal life will rise again, having their own bodies and their own souls and spirits, in which they had pleased God. On the other hand, those who deserve punishment will go away into it, they too having their own souls and their own bodies, in which they remained distant from the grace of God. . . . (2:33,5)
. . . God alone, who is Lord of all, is without beginning and without end, being truly and forever the same, and always remaining the same unchangeable being. But all things that proceed from him, everything that has been made and is made, has its own beginning. Consequently, they are inferior to him who formed them, since they are not unbegotten. . . . (2:34,2)
. . . Life does not arise from us, or from our own nature; it is granted by the grace of God. Therefore the one who takes care of the life received and gives thanks to him who imparted it will also receive everlasting life. But the one who rejects it and shows himself ungrateful toward his maker, since he has been created and has not recognized him who bestowed life, deprives himself of ongoing existence. . . . (2:34,3)
. . . This is why the prophetic word says about the first-formed, “The man became a living being” [Gen 2:7], teaching us that by participating in life the soul became alive. We must distinguish between the soul and the life it possesses. When God gives life, souls which did not previously exist receive life, which will endure from that time onwards, since God wills that they should exist and continue to do so. . . . (2:34,4)
The remainder of those who are falsely termed Gnostics, who maintain that the prophets uttered their prophecies under the inspiration of various gods, are easily overthrown by the fact that all the prophets proclaimed one God and Lord, the true maker of heaven and earth and everything in them. Further, the prophets announced the advent of his Son, as I shall demonstrate from the Scriptures themselves in the books which follow. (2:35,2)
The preaching of the apostles, the authoritative teaching of the Lord, the announcements of the prophets, the utterances dictated by the apostles, and the ministration of the law, all praise one and the same Being, the God and Father of all, and not many diverse beings or one deriving his substance from different gods or powers. They declare that all things—the visible and the invisible and everything that has been made—were made by one and the same Father. He adapted his works to the natures and potencies of the materials he used, but he did not rely on the help of angels or powers. He alone, God the Father, made them all. . . . (2:35,4)
1. In the intervening paragraphs, Irenaeus has described how the Gnostics accounted for the variety of defects they alleged were found in creation.
2. In the following sections (2:14,2–6), Irenaeus interacts with the perspectives of many of the leading philosophers of antiquity, arguing that the Gnostics had borrowed and modified some of their views. In this treatment, Irenaeus deals with the views of Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Epicurus, Plato, Aristotle, Empedocles, the Stoics, the Cynics, and the Pythagoreans.
3. In the intervening paragraphs, Irenaeus has engaged in an extended discussion of various facets of Gnostic teaching.
4. In speaking here of “infants” being “born again,” Irenaeus seems to allude to infant baptism; cf. his presentation of baptism as “the power of regeneration into God” [i.e., being “born again” into God] at 3:17,1. If this assessment is valid, this passage is one of the earliest references in the history of the Church to the practice and acceptance of paedobaptism.
5. Irenaeus here vigorously claims that the charismatic gifts were still found in the Church in his day. He clearly did not embrace the idea, later averred by some theologians, that these gifts were limited to the apostolic age and had ceased with the death of the last apostle.