Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
This shows that heaven and earth will indeed pass away, but the Lord who made them abides forever — and likewise concerning Jerusalem, he swore not even by Jerusalem, since it is the city belonging to the great King. Such statements were plainly spoken of the Maker himself, as Isaiah likewise says: 'Heaven is my throne, and earth the footstool of my feet.' Besides him there is no other God; otherwise he could not rightly be called by the Lord either God or great King. For anything of that kind admits neither comparison nor any elevation above it. For whoever has some superior over him, and is under another's power, cannot rightly be called either God or great King. Nor can they say that these things were spoken ironically, since they are refuted by the very words, because they were spoken in truth. For it was Truth itself who was speaking, and he truly vindicated his own house, casting out of it the money-changers who bought and sold, saying to them: 'Scripture declares that my house is to be called a house of prayer, yet you have turned it into a den of thieves.' What reason would he have had to do and say this, and to vindicate his own house, if he had been proclaiming another God? Rather, he did it to show up the transgressors of the Father's Law; for he was not accusing the house, nor finding fault with the Law, which he had come to fulfill, but was rebuking those who misused the house and those who transgressed the Law. And for this reason the scribes and Pharisees, who ever since the giving of the Law had grown contemptuous of God, and had not received his Word — that is, had not believed in Christ — are those of whom Isaiah says: 'Your rulers are rebellious, partners with robbers, each one fond of bribes, chasing after payoffs, showing no justice to the fatherless, and paying no mind to the widow's plea.' And Jeremiah likewise: 'Those who lead my people,' he says, 'had no knowledge of me; they are foolish, senseless children, clever at wrongdoing yet untaught in doing right.'
Yet all those who revered God and kept diligent watch over his Law hastened at once to Christ, and all were saved; for he told the disciples that his mission was to the scattered sheep belonging to Israel's house. And of the Samaritans it is said that when the Lord had stayed with them two days, many more believed because of his own word, and said to the woman: 'We no longer believe because of what you said; for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.' Paul says: 'And so all Israel shall be saved.' And he also called the Law our tutor leading us to Christ Jesus. Let them not, then, ascribe the unbelief of some to the Law; for the Law did not forbid them to believe in the Son of God, but rather exhorted them, saying that men could be saved from the ancient wound of the serpent in no other way than by believing in him who, according to [the text breaks off here in the source].
Now the malicious objectors say: if heaven is God's throne and earth his footstool, and it is said that heaven and earth will pass away, then this God who sits above them must also pass away along with them, and therefore he is not the God who is over all. First, they do not know what the throne of heaven or the footstool of earth means. For they do not even know what God is, but suppose that he sits and is contained after the manner of a man, rather than himself containing all things — as when Christ, lifted up from the earth on the wood of his passion, drew all things to himself and gave life to the dead: 'he draws all things to himself.' But they are also ignorant of the passing away of heaven and earth; Paul, however, was not ignorant of it, saying: 'For the form of this world passes away.' Then David resolves their question. For as the form of this world passes away, he says that not only God endures, but also his servants, in the hundred and first Psalm, saying thus: 'In the beginning you founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a covering you will change them, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not fail. The children of your servants will dwell there, and their seed will be established forever' — plainly showing what it is that passes away, and who it is that always endures: God together with his servants. And Isaiah likewise: 'Raise your eyes to the heavens,' he says, 'and gaze upon the earth below, since the sky will be set fast like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will perish in the same fashion. Yet my salvation endures without end, and my righteousness will never fail.'