are adopted as sons of God, III. 5. 3: III. 10. 5: III. 12. 5: III. 12.
14: III. 15. 3: IV. 9. 1, 2: IV. 11. 1: IV. 13. 2, 4: IV. 15. 1, 2: IV.
16. 5: IV. 18: IV. 32: IV. 34. 1: IV. 36. 2. Christ did not abolish the
_natus alia legis_, the Decalogue, but extended and fulfilled them; here
the old Gentile-Christian moral conception based on the Sermon on the
Mount, prevails. Accordingly Irenaeus now shows that in the case of the
children of freedom the situation has become much more serious, and that
the judgments are now much more threatening. Finally, he proves that the
fulfilling, extending, and sharpening of the law form a contrast to the
blunting of the natural moral law by the Pharisees and elders; see IV.
12. 1 ff.: "Austero dei praecepto miscent seniores aquatam traditionem".
IV. 13. 1. f.: "Christus naturalia legis (which are summed up in the
commandment of love) extendit et implevit ... plenitudo et extensio ...
necesse fuit, auferri quidem vincula servitutis, superextendi vero
decreta libertatis". That is proved in the next passage from the Sermon
on the Mount: we must not only refrain from evil works, but also from
evil desire. IV. 16. 5: "Haec ergo, quae in servitutem et in signum data
sunt illis, circumscripsit novo libertatis testamento. Quae autem
naturalia et liberalia et communia omnium, auxit et dilatavit, sine
invidia largiter donans hominibus per adoptionem, patrem scire deum ...
auxit autem etiam timorem: filios enim plus timere oportet quam servos".
IV. 27. 2. The new situation is a more serious one; the Old Testament
believers have the death of Christ as an antidote for their sins,
"propter eos vero, qui nunc peccant, Christus non iam morietur". IV. 28.
1 f.: under the old covenant God punished "typice et temporaliter et
mediocrius", under the new, on the contrary, "vere et semper et
austerius" ... as under the new covenant "fides aucta est", so also it
is true that "diligentia conversationis adaucta est". The imperfections
of the law, the "particularia legis", the law of bondage have been
abolished by Christ, see specially IV. 16, 17, for the types are now
fulfilled; but Christ and the Apostles did not transgress the law;
freedom was first granted to the Gentile Christians (III. 12) and
circumcision and foreskin united (III. 5. 3). But Irenaeus also proved
how little the old and new covenants contradict each other by showing
that the latter also contains concessions that have been granted to the
fr