Romans 1 thoughts from Irenaeus
Romans chapter 1 and select verses from Against Heresies
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These are some
passages that Irenaeus quotes around Romans 1 18-21
50 Romans 1:3–4 (Haer. 3.22.1); 1:1–4
(3.16.3); 1:17 (4.34.2); 1:18 (4.27.4); 1:21 (4.33.1);
1:25 (2.9.2);
1:28 (4.29.1); 2:4–7 (4.37.1);
2:5 (4.33.15); 3:8 (1.25.3); 3:20 (3.10.2); 3:21 (4.34.20); 3:23 (4.27.2);
3:30 (5.22.1;
4.22.2); 4:3
(4.5.3; 4.8.1); 4:12 (4.7.2); 5:14 (3.18.7; 3.22.3); 5:15, 6–10 (3.16.9);
5:19 (3.18.5; 3.21.10); 5:20
(3.23.8); 6:3–4,
9 (3.16.9); 6:7 (3.23.7); 6:12–13 (5.14.4); 7:4, 18, 24 (3.20.3); 7:18
(4.36.8); 8:3 (3.20.2); 8:8, 9,
10–11, 13–14 (5.10.2); 8:9 (5.8.1); 8:11 (3.16.9;
5.7.1); 8:15 (3.6.1; 4.9.2; 5.8.1); 8:19–21 (5.32.1); 9:21, 17
Taken from an essay:
DID
IRENAEUS USE A NEW TESTAMENT CANON?
Stephen O. Stout
Associate
Professor, Carolina Graduate School of Divinity, Greensboro N.C.;
Charlotte
Christian College and Theological Seminary, Charlotte N.C.;
Ph.D., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake
Forest, N.C.
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This List was a great help, it means
that we can now look in more detail at these passages.
Before we start this work a little bit
of background is needed. At the time of
Irenaeus there were a lot of false teaching about Christianity. There were many groups that believed there
was this secret knowledge and that the material world was completely evil. These systems were about the soul leaving the
prison of the body.
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Romans
Book
Chapter
section
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1:17 (4. 34. 2);
1:18 (4. 27. 4);
1:21 (4. 33. 1);
1:25 (2. 9. 2);
1:28 (4. 29. 1);
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So from the above list we find that the quotations are mainly from book 4
and focused in six chapters. Chapters 27 to 34
Here are some references. Obviously,
there were a lot of heresies at the time of Irenaeus and there still are. The language is fierce because he is
fighting for the truth of the Gospel. I
get the feeling from these sections that Irenaeus is dealing with revelation at
different levels. One of those levels is
that there is a moral order in the world that God has put in place. Marcion and the Valentinians made a hash of
the scriptures to suite their own selfish ends. Irenaeus put a fight on to
protect the Bible, Old and New Testaments and to show that the same God was
found in both Testaments. Marcion
rejected this. Remember that Irenaeus
was in the direct line from the Apostles.
St John taught Polycarp and Polycarp taught Irenaeus. These are some reasons to reject a lot of
the teaching from the liberal schools of theology because they tend to put
Marcion on a pedestal but in fact he was an enemy of the Gospel. From my point of view, I find it difficult
to understand that Some Christian theologians want to throw away this fight for
the Gospel away. Barth was right when he
turned his back on a lot of the liberal theology… In his lecture on the
Humanity of God Barth clearly shows that God was marginalised in the so-called
evangelical world of the learned and it was all about Man (The Humanity of God
by Karl Barth; 1971; page 37)
A lot of Liberal Theologians still ‘don’t get it (the point).’ St Pauls fought for the Gospel tooth and nail
as he says in Galatians chapter 1 verse 6
6 I am amazed
that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ,
for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there
are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary
to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! Galatians 1:6-8
NASB
As you will see in these two sections Irenaeus followed this same tradition
and it is a tradition that has continued to this day. The Reformation and the counter- reformation
are sometimes played down but both roads had a road map wanting to return to
the purity of the Gospel with different understandings that followed Luther and
Erasmus.
Considering this… What do I make of Heikki Räisänen’s book Marcion,
Muhammad and The Mahatma…?
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