On Apostolic Preaching chapter 3

The third chapter opens with a comment about the rule of faith. This is in response the groups he mentions in reference to Ps 1:1. In order to avoid falling victim to the teaching of those who reject God, a believer in christ must:

hold the rule of the faith without deviation, and do the commandments of God, believing in God and fearing Him as Lord and loving Him as Father.

He cites the passage from Isa 7:9 that has inspired the well-known Anselmic axiom: faith seeking understanding. Faith, for the Christian, precedes understanding.

But faith, Irenaeus continues, is produced by truth, because faith rests in things that truly exist. God is real. God is true. Thus, faith in God is spurred by the fact that he is real and true. 

This assumption underscores the faith of the Christian and provides the basis for the rule of faith. In other words, the Christian faith is founded upon the reality of God. He is the one true God.

In the words of Irenaeus:

And faith is produced by the truth; for faith rests on things that truly are. For in things that are, as they are, we believe; and believing in things that are, as they ever are, we keep firm our confidence in them.

And furthermore, because the salvation of the Christian depends upon the reality of God, the faithful must have a true comprehension of who God is. On other words, true knowledge of salvation depends upon true knowledge of God.

So what is this true knowledge of God and true knowledge of salvation?

In a summary fashion Irenaeus states that the faith was passed down from the Apostles and their disciples, that it is received at baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, and that this baptism is the seal of eternal life.

It is this God, in whom all Christians are baptized, that is over all created things and has put all things underneath Christ (Ps 110). Thus, all things are made the possessions of Christ and, therefore, all things belong to God.

This is the true knowledge of God and salvation. That he is God and that we are his creatures. That all things have been made subject to Christ and, therefore, all things belong to God.

~ by irenology on June 7, 2009.