eclared in opposition to
Marcion, that Christ proved his humanity to the world in the 30 years
before his baptism; but showed the divine nature concealed in his human
nature during the 3 years of his ministry, he did not for all that mean
to imply that Jesus' divinity and humanity are in any way separated.
But, though Irenaeus inveighed so violently against the "Gnostic"
separation of Jesus and Christ (see particularly III. 16. 2, where most
weight is laid on the fact that we do not find in Matth.: "Iesu
generatio sic erat" but "Christi generatio sic erat"), there is no doubt
that in some passages he himself could not help unfolding a speculation
according to which the predicates applying to the human nature of Jesus
do not also hold good of his divinity, in fact he actually betrayed a
view of Christ inconsistent with the conception of the Saviour's person
as a perfect unity. We can indeed only trace this view in his writings
in the form of an undercurrent, and what led to it will be discussed
further on. Both he and Melito, as a rule adhered to the simple "filius
dei filius hominis factus" and did not perceive any problem here,
because to them the disunion prevailing in the world and in humanity was
the difficult question that appeared to be solved through this very
divine manhood. How closely Melito agreed with Irenaeus is shown not only
by the proposition (p. 419): "Propterea misit pater filium suum e coelo
sine corpore (this is said in opposition to the Valentinian view), ut,
postquam incarnatus esset in, utero virginis et natus esset homo,
vivificaret hominem et colligeret membra eius quae mors disperserat, quum
hominem divideret," but also by the "propter hominem iudicatus est
iudex, impassibilis passus est?" (l.c.).]

[Footnote 592: The concepts employed by Irenaeus are _deus_, _verbum_,
_filius dei_, _homo_, _filius hominis_, _plasma dei_. What perhaps
hindered the development of that formula in his case was the
circumstance of his viewing Christ, though he had assumed the _plasma
dei_, humanity, as a personal man who (for the sake of the
recapitulation theory) not only had a human nature but was obliged to
live through a complete human life. The fragment attributed to Irenaeus
(Harvey II., p. 493) in which occur the words, [Greek: tou Theou logou
henooei te kath' hupostasin physike henothentos te sakri], is by no
means genuine. How we are to understand the words: [Greek: hina ex
amphoteron to periphanes ton phy