Irenaeus

A Prayer of Jesus

by

Luke 23:46 (NLT)
Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.

A Theme to Remember:
The victory has been won. The price has been paid. The world has been redeemed. With His dying breath, Jesus returns to the Father who sent Him, ready to take His place on the Throne of Judgment; ready to prepare a place for those who believe and call upon His name for their salvation.

Words to Remember:
Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled.
–Irenaeus

Writings of the Church Fathers

by

Certain leaders of great prominence in the second century are called distinctively Church Fathers. Irenæus, the Bishop of Lyons in Gaul, was a theologian who centered his writings on the relationship of the Son to the Father. He also wrote about salvation, the importance of baptism, and the need to follow the apostolic tradition. Tertullian of Carthage was educated for the law and he used legal language in his theological definitions. He introduced certain words into theological vocabularies, like “substance” and “merit.” He brought the word “Trinity” into theological use and made the personality of the Holy Spirit distinct. He distinguished the two natures in Christ in a way that foreshadowed the later thinking of the Greek Fathers.

Impact: The Church Fathers anticipated Augustine by two centuries in their formulation of the doctrine of original sin and in their acceptance of the principle of divine grace.

Irenaeus

by

Irenaeus (c. 2nd century) was born somewhere in western Asia Minor, probably Smyrna. He studied religion and philosophy under Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. He was a missionary to Gaul, or modern-day France, and eventually became the bishop of Lyons when the previous bishop was martyred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He served with great distinction and there are indications that most of the population of Lyons accepted the message of Christ during his lifetime. He wrote extensively, including his best-known treatise, Against All Heresies, which defended the true faith against Gnosticism. He was the first early church Father to extensively use the entire New Testament in his writings and to show the unity between the Old and New Testaments.