id not,
however, develop this thought any further.[614]

His idea of the _reconciliation_ of God is just as rudimentary, and
merely suggested by Biblical passages. He sometimes saw the means of
reconciliation solely in obedience and in the "righteous flesh" as such,
at other times in the "wood." Here also the recapitulation theory again
appears: through disobedience at the tree Adam became a debtor to God,
and through obedience at the tree God is reconciled.[615] But teachings
as to vicarious suffering on the part of Christ are not found in
Irenaeus, and his death is seldom presented from the point of view of a
sacrifice offered to God.[616] According to this author the
reconciliation virtually consists in Christ's restoring man to communion
and friendship with God and procuring forgiveness of sins; he very
seldom speaks of God being offended through Adam's sin (V. 16. 3). But
the incidental mention of the forgiveness of sins resulting from the
redemption by Christ has not the meaning of an _abolition_ of sin. He
connects the redemption with this only in the form of Biblical and
rhetorical phrases; for the vital point with him is the abolition of the
_consequences_ of sin, and particularly of the sentence of death.[617]
Here we have the transition to the conception of Christ's work which
makes this appear more as a completion than as a restoration. In this
connection Irenaeus employed the following categories: _restoring of the
likeness of God in humanity_; _abolition of death_; _connection and
union of man with God_; _adoption of men as sons of God and as gods_;
_imparting of the Spirit who now becomes accustomed to abide with
men_;[618] _imparting of a knowledge of God culminating in beholding
him_; _bestowal of everlasting life_. All these are only the different
aspects of one and the same blessing, which, being of a divine order,
could only be brought to us and implanted in our nature by God himself.
But inasmuch as this view represents Christ not as performing a
reconciling but a perfecting work, his _acts_ are thrust more into the
background; his work is contained in his constitution as the God-man.
Hence this work has a universal significance for all men, not only as
regards the present, but as regards the past from Adam downwards, in so
far as they "according to their virtue in their generation have not only
feared but also loved God, and have behaved justly and piously towards
their neighbours, and have longed