ate."]

[Footnote 561: Man's sin is thoughtlessness; he is merely led astray
(IV. 40. 3). The fact that he let himself be seduced under the pretext
of immortality is an excuse for him; man was _infans_, (See above; hence
it is said, in opposition to the Gnostics, in IV. 38. 4:
"supergredieutes legem humani generis et antequam fiant homines, iam
volunt similes esse factori deo et nullam esse differentiam infecti dei
et nunc facti hominis." The same idea is once more very clearly
expressed in IV. 39. 3; "quemadmodum igitur erit homo deus, qui nondum
factus est homo?" i.e., how could newly created man be already perfect
as he was not even man, inasmuch as he did not yet know how to
distinguish good and evil?). Cf. III. 23. 3, 5: "The fear of Adam was
the beginning of wisdom; the sense of transgression led to repentance;
but God bestows his grace on the penitent" ... "eum odivit deus, qui
seduxit hominem, ei vero qui seductus est, sensim paullatimque misertus
est." The "pondus peccati" in the sense of Augustine was by no means
acknowledged by Irenaeus, and although he makes use of Pauline sayings,
and by preference such as have a quite different sense, he is very far
from sharing Paul's view.]

[Footnote 562: See IV. 37. 7: "Alias autem esset nostrum insensatum
bonum, quod esset inexercitatum. Sed et videre non tantum nobis esset
desiderabile, nisi cognovissemus quantum esset malum non videre; et bene
valere autem male valentis experientia honorabilius efficit, et lucem
tenebrarum comparatio et vitam mortis. Sic et coeleste regnum
honorabilius est his qui cognoverunt terrenum." The main passage is III.
20. 1, 2, which cannot be here quoted. The fall was necessary in order
that man might not believe that he was "naturaliter similis deo." Hence
God permitted the great whale to swallow man for a time. In several
passages Irenaeus has designated the permitting of evil as kind
generosity on the part of God, see, e.g., IV. 39. 1, 37. 7.]

[Footnote 563: See Wendt, l.c., p. 24.]

[Footnote 564: See III. 23. 6.]

[Footnote 565: See V. I. 1: "Non enim aliter nos discere poteramus quae
sunt dei, nisi magister noster, verbum exsistens, homo factus fuisset
... Neque rursus nos aliter discere poteramus, nisi magistrum nostrum
videntes," etc.; III. 23. 2, 5. 3: "libertatem restauravit"; IV. 24. 1:
"reformavit humamum genus"; III. 17. 1: "spiritus sanctus in filium dei,
filium hominis factum, descendit cum ipso assuescens habitare in