On Apostolic Preaching chapter 4

This chapter begins Irenaeus’s summary of the OT that extends for the next 38 chapters. He starts from the beginning. Infused with Aristolean logic, Irenaeus writes:

 For it is necessary that things that are made should have the beginning of their making from some great cause; and the beginning of all things is God. For He Himself was not made by any, and by Him all things were made. 

God is not made; man is made. This is the first axiom of Irenaeus and the beginning of the gospel. His logic is simple. The existence of material things implies a beginning. God is that beginning. It is right and fitting, therefore, to believe in God the Father, who has created all things. Through his act of creation, he has contained all things, but he himself is un-contained. 

What Irenaeus teaches us is that the Gospel does not begin with Jesus, but with creation. Irenaeus was not trying to convince non-Christians that they need to believe in Jesus, he was trying to convince them that all things had been created by God. If the first premise of God as creator is accepted the rest of the gospel follows rather plainly. 

This means that evangelism is not just a matter of sharing the story of Jesus, but sharing the story of creation that anticipates the work of Christ and culminates in the recreation of all things. Therefore, the first question is not necessarily do you believe in Jesus, but do you believe you are one of God’s creations?

~ by irenology on June 8, 2009.