enon aei tiktousa he ekklesia didaskei panta ta
ethne.] If we consider how Irenaeus' pupil is led by the text of the Holy
Scriptures to the most diverse "doctrines," we see how the "Scripture"
theologians were the very ones who threatened the faith with the
greatest corruptions. As the exegesis of the Valentinian schools became
the mother of numerous self-contradictory Christologies, so the same
result was threatened here--"doctrinae inolescentes in silvas iam
exoleverunt Gnosticorum." From this standpoint Origen's undertaking to
subject the whole material of Biblical exegesis to a fixed theory
appears in its historical greatness and importance.]

[Footnote 608: See other passages on p. 241, note 2. This is also
reechoed in Cyprian. See, for example, ep. 58. 6: "filius dei passus est
ut nos filios dei faceret, et filius hominis (scil. the Christians) pati
non vult esse dei filius possit."]

[Footnote 609: See III. 10. 3.]

[Footnote 610: See the remarkable passage in IV. 36. 7: [Greek: he
gnosis tou huiou tou Theou, hetis en aphtharsia.] Another result of the
Gnostic struggle is Irenaeus' raising the question as to what new thing
the Lord has brought (IV. 34. 1): "Si autem subit vos huiusmodi sensus,
ut dicatis: Quid igitur novi dominus attulit veniens? cognoscite,
quoniam omnem novitatem attulit semetipsum afferens, qui fuerat
annuntiatus." The new thing is then defined thus: "Cum perceperunt eam
quae ab eo est libertatem et participant visionem eius et audierunt
sermones eius et fruiti sunt muneribus ab eo, non iam requiretur, quid
novius attulit rex super eos, qui annuntiaverunt advenum eius ...
Semetipsum enim attulit et ea quae praedicta sunt bona."]

[Footnote 611: See IV. 36. 6: "Adhuc manifestavit oportere nos cum
vocatione (i.e., [Greek: meta ten klesin]) et iustitiae operibus
adornari, uti requiescat super nos spiritus dei"--we must provide
_ourselves_ with the wedding garment.]

[Footnote 612: The incapacity of man is referred to in III. 18. 1: III.
21. 10; III. 21-23 shows that the same man that had fallen had to be led
to communion with God; V. 21. 3: V. 24. 4 teach that man had to overcome
the devil; the intrinsic necessity of God's appearing as Redeemer is
treated of in III. 23. 1: "Si Adam iam non reverteretur ad vitam, sed in
totum proiectus esset morti, victus esset deus et superasset serpentis
nequitia voluntatem dei. Sed quoniam deus invictus et magnanimis est,
magnanimem quidem se exhibuit etc.