ailty of man; see IV. 15. 2 (1 Cor. VII.).]

[Footnote 647: See III. II. 4. There too we find it argued that John the
Baptist was not merely a prophet, but also an Apostle.]

[Footnote 648: From Irenaeus' statement in IV. 4 about the significance
of the city of Jerusalem we can infer what he thought of the Jewish
nation. Jerusalem is to him the vine-branch on which the fruit has
grown; the latter having reached maturity, the branch is cut off and has
no further importance.]

[Footnote 649: No special treatment of Tertullian is required here, as
he only differs from Irenaeus in the additions he invented as a
Montanist. Yet this is also prefigured in Irenaeus' view that the
concessions of the Apostles had rendered the execution of the stern new
law more easy. A few passages may be quoted here. De orat. I: "Quidquid
retro fuerat, aut demutatum est (per Christum), ut circumcisio, aut
suppletum ut reliqua lex, aut impletum ut prophetia, aut perfectum ut
fides ipsa. Omnia de carnalibus in spiritalia renovavit nova dei gratia
superducto evangelio, expunctore totius retro vetustatis." (This
differentiation strikingly reminds us of the letter of Ptolemy to Flora.
Ptolemy distinguishes those parts of the law that originate with God,
Moses, and the elders. As far as the divine law is concerned, he again
distinguishes what Christ had to complete, what he had to supersede and
what he had to spiritualise, that is, perficere, solvere, demutare). In
the _regula fidei_ (de praescr. 13): "Christus praedicavit novam legem et
novam promissionem regni coelorum"; see the discussions in adv. Marc.
II., III., and adv. Iud.; de pat. 6: "amplianda adimplendaque lex."
Scorp. 3, 8, 9; ad uxor. 2; de monog. 7: "Et quoniam quidam interdum
nihil sihi dicunt esse cum lege, quam Christus non dissolvit, sed
adimplevit, interdum quae volunt legis arripiunt (he himself did that
continually), plane et nos sic dicimus legem, ut onera quidem eius,
secundum sententiam apostolorum, quae nec patres sustinere valuerunt,
concesserint, quae vero ad iustitiam spectant, non tantum reservata
permaneant, verum et ampliata." That the new law of the new covenant is
the moral law of nature in a stricter form, and that the concessions of
the Apostle Paul cease in the age of the Paraclete, is a view we find
still more strongly emphasised in the Montanist writings than in
Irenaeus. In ad uxor. 3 Tertullian had already said: "Quod permittitur,
bonum non est," and this prop