On Apostolic Preaching – Chapter 2 (part 2)
In the second portion of chapter 2, the bishop of Lyons presents an interesting rendering of Ps 1:1. I have a special affinity for this verse, because it was one that i heard my Father talk of often. He would recite the verse:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
My father would remind me that godliness is not found among those who reject God. His understanding is not far from Irenaeus. Irenaeus takes each successive group in Ps. 1:1 (wicked, sinners, scoffers) as a particular group of those who reject God.
The wicked, or ungodly, are those who do not know God and do not worship God as he is. For Irenaeus there is only one God. He is the God that really is. All other gods are not gods at all, at least not in reality. This is where Irenaeus turns to Ex 3 and the burning bush to explain that God reveals himself as the one who is. The wicked, Irenaeus suggests, do not worship the real and true God, who revealed his existence to Moses.
The next group, the sinners, are those who have a knowledge of the one true God, but reject Him anyway. This is especially grievous because the knowingly reject God. It is as if they stood next to Moses at the burning bush, heard the one true God say “I am,” and turn and walk away. They are, according to Irenaeus, “disdainful scorners.”
The final group, for Irenaeus, are the most grievous: the scoffers. Through false teaching, these scoffers not only corrupt themselves, but others. Ireaneus takes the “seat” as a symbol of teaching an those (in this case the Gnostics) who pervert other through their instruction. For Irenaeus these Gnostics are teaching a host of errors, including that Christ did not come in the flesh. The pervading nature of their teaching is what the bishop fonds most grievous.
Therefore, for Irenaeus, Ps. 1:1 is a warning for the followers of God to be vigilant of these groups. Those who don’t know God, those who know him but deny him, and finally, those who openly deceive others through their teaching.
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