Ante-Nicene Fathers (Volume 1) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV by reading Chapters XVII to XXX.
Today Irenaeus continues teaching us right doctrine.
He speaks about:
(i) the obedience of man in comparison to offering sacrifices;
(ii) God's revelation of himself in Jesus throughout all ages;
(iii) the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the same as the Christian faith;
(iv) Christ came for humans of all generations;
(v) the conversion of the Gentiles is more difficult than that of the Jews;
(vi) Christ is hidden in all of Scripture;
(vii) some of the teachings from Marcion about another Father.
But I did like this use of typology: 'For the whole exodus of the people out of Egypt, which took place under divine guidance, was a type and image of the exodus of the Church which should take place from among the Gentiles; and for this cause He leads it out at last from this world into His own inheritance, which Moses the servant of God did not [bestow], but which Jesus the Son of God shall give for an inheritance. And if any one will devote a close attention to those things which are stated by the prophets with regard to the [time of the] end, and those which John the disciple of the Lord saw in the Apocalypse, he will find that the nations [are to] receive the same plagues universally, as Egypt then did particularly.'
The Israelite exodus from bondage to Egypt under Moses is indeed a type of our exodus from bondage to sin under Jesus.
Next week's reading
Conclude Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV.
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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