Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
He confirms what precedes through an analogy taken from a wild olive shoot, whose character alone, not its underlying nature, gets altered by grafting; he goes on to show that man without the Spirit can neither yield fruit nor lay claim to God's reign — so that, rather than indulging the flesh, we should not spurn the Spirit's grafting-in. 'You,' he states, 'a wild olive shoot yourself, were grafted onto the cultivated olive, and came to share in the olive's own richness' (Rom. 11:17). Just as, then, the grafted wild shoot, should it cling to its former character, stays a wild olive, gets lopped off, and lands in the fire; yet if it holds firm and turns into a cultivated olive, it grows fruitful, as though set in a king's garden — so too with men: should they progress toward the better through faith and take on God's Spirit, they will yield its fruit and turn spiritual, as though set within God's own garden. But should they spurn the Spirit and cling to their former character, choosing to belong to flesh rather than Spirit, it is entirely just to say of such people that flesh and blood have no claim on God's reign — much as one might say the wild shoot is not admitted into God's garden. Marvelously, then, does the Apostle lay out our nature, and God's entire arrangement, through this discussion of flesh, blood, and the wild olive. For exactly as the wild shoot, tended and grafted, recovers the fruitfulness proper to it, so too men, left in carelessness and carrying fleshly cravings like feral fruit, render themselves fruitless of righteousness through their own fault. For it is precisely while men are asleep that the enemy scatters the weed-seed; and for that reason the Lord charged his followers to stay watchful. And again, those fruitless of righteousness, and, so to speak, choked round with brambles — should they receive tending, and, so to speak, accept the grafting-in of God's word, they are restored to man's original nature, the nature shaped after God's image and likeness. Yet just as the grafted wild shoot keeps the wood's underlying substance while its fruit's character changes and it takes a new name, no longer termed wild but a fruit-bearing olive — so too man, grafted in through faith and taking on God's Spirit, keeps the substance of his flesh, yet the character of his works' fruit changes, and he receives a new name marking that turn for the better: no longer termed flesh and blood, but now standing as a spiritual man.
But conversely, just as a wild olive shoot, left ungrafted, stays worthless to its keeper on account of its untamed character, and gets lopped off as a fruitless tree and thrown into the fire — so too the man who fails to accept the Spirit's grafting through faith stays what he was before, remaining flesh and blood, and cannot obtain God's kingdom as his portion. Rightly, then, does the Apostle state: 'flesh and blood have no claim on God's reign'; and, 'those existing in the flesh are unable to please God' — not disowning the substance of the flesh, but pressing the need for the Spirit's infusion. Hence his words: 'this mortal frame must be clothed with immortality, and this perishable one clothed with imperishability' (1 Cor. 15:53). And elsewhere he states: 'yet you exist not in flesh but in Spirit, provided God's Spirit truly dwells within you' (Rom. 8:9). He makes this yet clearer, saying: 'the body, granted, lies dead on account of sin, yet the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. And should the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from among the dead dwell within you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will likewise bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit dwelling in you' (Rom. 8:10-11). And again, in that very letter to the Romans, he states: 'for should you live according to the flesh, you are bound to die' — not disowning the manner of existence lived within the flesh (seeing that he himself, while yet in the flesh, addressed them), but severing the cravings of the flesh, which bring man to death. Hence he adds: 'yet should you, through the Spirit, put the flesh's deeds to death, you will live. For those guided by God's own Spirit — these are God's children' (Rom. 8:13-14).