Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Which teachers are to be followed: concerning those sins which were committed by men of old.
When someone wishes to find such men, Paul, teaching us, says: teachers. In every place where the Lord's gifts have been set down, it is there that truth must be learned — namely among those in whom the Church's succession from the apostles can be traced, together with a manner of life that is sound and free of reproach, and speech that is pure and uncorrupted. These are the ones who guard for us the faith in the one God who fashioned all things, and who deepen that love for the Son of God, the one who carried out such mighty dispensations on our behalf; and they set forth the Scriptures for us safely, neither blaspheming God, nor dishonoring the patriarchs, nor holding the prophets in contempt.
As I heard from a certain elder, who in turn had heard this from men who themselves had looked upon the apostles and had been taught directly by them: it was enough for the men of old, concerning the things which they did without the counsel of the Spirit, to receive the correction that comes from the Scriptures. For since God is no respecter of persons, he brought fitting correction to bear on deeds not done according to his good pleasure. So it was under David: while he suffered persecution from Saul for the sake of righteousness, and fled from King Saul, and did not avenge himself on his enemy, he chanted of Christ's coming, taught wisdom to the nations, and carried out everything as the Spirit guided him, and so pleased God. But when, through lust, he took Bathsheba the wife of Uriah for himself, Scripture says of him: "The thing that David had done displeased the Lord greatly"; and Nathan the prophet was sent to him, showing him his sin, so that David, pronouncing sentence upon himself and condemning himself, might obtain mercy. Nathan told him of a rich man who had very many flocks and herds, and a poor man who had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared, and which had grown up in his household beside his own children; it fed from his bread, drank from his cup, and was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, and the rich man spared his own flocks and herds and would not take from them to prepare for his guest; instead he took the poor man's one lamb and served it to the man who had come to him. And Nathan said: "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this is a son of death; he must repay the lamb four times over, since he did such a deed and showed the poor man no mercy." And Nathan said to him, "You are the man who did this"; and he went on to reproach him further, listing God's benefits toward him, and telling him that he had provoked the Lord by doing this, for such deeds do not please God, and great wrath was hanging over his house. David was pierced to the heart at this, and said, "I have sinned against the Lord," and sang the psalm of confession, anticipating the arrival of the Lord, who bathes clean and purifies the man held fast by sin. And likewise concerning Solomon: as long as he persevered in judging rightly, he glorified God and set forth his glories, and expounded, in the manner of natural philosophy, the peace to come for the nations, speaking of every tree and every plant, and of all the birds, and of the four-footed beasts, and of the fishes; and he was pleasing to God, and all men marveled at him, because his wisdom submitted itself to the wisdom that had been announced through God's servant; whereas those who received the wisdom given through the Son of God despised it instead. For Solomon held the rank of servant, whereas Christ is God's own Son and Solomon's Lord. So then, as long as he served God without offense and ministered to his dispensations, he was glorified; but once he took to himself wives out of every nation, and permitted them to erect the shrines of their women, and brought foreign wives into his own household, it came about that, by Solomon's old age, his heart no longer stood whole before the Lord his God. The foreign wives had drawn his heart toward other gods, and Solomon acted wickedly in the Lord's eyes, failing to follow the Lord as David his father had followed him. So the Lord grew angry with Solomon, since his heart was no longer whole toward the Lord, as the heart of David his father had been. Scripture rebuked him sufficiently, as the elder said, so that no flesh should boast in the sight of the Lord.
And for this reason the Lord descended to the regions under the earth, preaching the good news of his coming there also, and offering the forgiveness of sins to those who believe in him. Now all believed in him who had hoped in him — that is, who had announced beforehand his coming and had served his dispensations: the righteous, and the prophets, and the patriarchs. To these he remitted their sins just as he did to us, sins which we ought not hold against them, unless we mean thereby to despise the grace of God. For just as they did not hold against us the incontinent deeds we committed before Christ was manifested in us, so it is not right for us to hold against those who sinned before the coming of Christ. For all men lack the glory of God, and are justified not by themselves but by the coming of the Lord, who is their light. Their deeds have been recorded for our correction, so that we might know, first, that our God and their God are a single, identical God, who takes no delight in sin even when committed by illustrious men; and second, so that we might abstain from evil. For if those who went before us, the ancients endowed with spiritual gifts, for whose sake the Son of God had not yet suffered, were struck with such disgrace when they sinned in some matter and served the lusts of the flesh, what will happen to those who now live, who have despised the coming of the Lord and given themselves over to their pleasures? For those men of old, healing and forgiveness of sins will come at death, for death will no longer have dominion over them; but the Son shall arrive in his Father's glory, calling to account his stewards and overseers for the money entrusted to them, together with its interest; and from those to whom he gave the most, he will require the most. We ought not, therefore, said that elder, to be proud or to find fault with the men of old, but rather to fear ourselves, lest, after coming to the knowledge of Christ, we do something displeasing to God and no longer have forgiveness of our sins, but instead be shut out from his kingdom. And for this reason Paul said: for he did not spare the natural branches, lest perhaps he not spare you either, who, being a wild olive shoot, were grafted into the richness of the olive tree and made a partaker of its richness. Likewise you see that the transgressions of the people have been recorded, not on account of those who transgressed at that time, but for our correction, so we would recognize that a single, identical God was sinned against then, and is sinned against now by some who profess belief.
And that the Apostle made this very plain in writing to the Corinthians, saying: "I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that all our fathers were beneath the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from a spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Yet with the majority of them God was not pleased, for they were laid low in the desert. These things took place as warnings to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they craved them; nor become worshippers of idols, as some of them did, as the record states: 'The people took their seats to feast and to drink, then rose up to revel.' Neither should we practice sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in a single day. Nor should we put the Lord to the test, as some of them tried him and perished by serpents. Nor should we murmur, as some of them murmured and were slain by the destroyer. These things befell them as a pattern, and were set down in writing for our instruction, we upon whom the culmination of the ages has arrived. So then, let whoever supposes he is standing firm watch that he does not fall."