Irenaeus — Commentary on Scripture

Galatians 1:15

And that he, the apostle, was the very same person who had been born from the womb, that is, of the ancient substance of flesh, he does himself declare in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles".
And Paul, too, says in like manner, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, that I might declare Him among the nations."

Against Heresies Book V

Galatians 2:1

But I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that Gospel which I preached among the Gentiles."

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 2:5

And again he says, "For an hour we did give place to subjection,

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 2:8

With regard to those (the Marcionites) who allege that Paul alone knew the truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by revelation, let Paul himself convict them, when he says, that one and the same God wrought in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision, and in himself for the Gentiles.

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 2:12

But they themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in the ancient observances; so that even Peter, fearing also lest he might incur their reproof, although formerly eating with the Gentiles, because of the vision, and of the Spirit who had rested upon them, yet, when certain persons came from James, withdrew himself, and did not eat with them. And Paul said that Barnabas likewise did the same thing.

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 3:5

But the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, announced beforehand unto Abraham, that in him all nations should be blessed. So then they which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham."

Against Heresies Book IV

Galatians 3:6

But the Scripture, fore-seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, declared to Abraham beforehand, That in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham."

Against Heresies Book V

Galatians 3:13

And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree."

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 3:14

For, as I have shown, it existed in Abraham antecedently to circumcision, as it also did in the rest of the righteous who pleased God: and in these last times, it again sprang up among mankind through the coming of the Lord. But circumcision and the law of works occupied the intervening period.

Against Heresies Book IV

Galatians 3:16

Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise." And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the promise to Abraham thus saying, "The promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if He spake of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5

Galatians 3:19

It was added, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; .
This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians, "that the law of works was established until the seed should come to whom the promise was made."

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 3:24

And Paul likewise declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved;" but he has also said, that the law was our pedagogue to bring us to Christ Jesus. Let them not therefore ascribe to the law the unbelief of certain among them. For the law never hindered them from believing in the Son of God; nay, but it even exhorted them so to do, saying that men can be saved in no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in Him who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth upon the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself, and vivifies the dead.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4

Galatians 4:4

And again, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he says: "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption; ".
Paul also says: "But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son.".
The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the Galatians, declares plainly, "God sent His Son, made of a woman.".
This fact is exhibited in a still clearer light in the same Epistle, where he thus speaks: "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman."

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 4:8

And "those which are not gods".
And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God"

Against Heresies Book III

Galatians 4:24

Now the father of the human race is the Word of God, as Moses points out when he says, "Is not He thy father who hath obtained thee

Against Heresies Book IV

Galatians 4:26

And the apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, "But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."

Against Heresies Book V

Galatians 4:27

The barren is the Church, which never at all in former times presented sons to God. "Cry out and call, thou that didst not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her which hath an husband." Now the first Synagogue had as husband the Law.

The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching

Galatians 4:28

As Paul does also testify, saying that we are children of Abraham because of the similarity of our faith, and the promise of inheritance.
Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise."

Against Heresies Book IV

Galatians 5:19

The apostle, foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts, hatreds, contentions, jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Thus does he point out to his hearers in a more explicit manner what it is he means when he declares, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." For they who do these things, since they do indeed walk after the flesh, have not the power of living unto God.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5

Galatians 5:21

Wherefore also it comes to pass, that the "most perfect" among them addict themselves without fear to all those kinds of forbidden deeds of which the Scriptures assure us that "they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." For instance, they make no scruple about eating meats offered in sacrifice to idols, imagining that they can in this way contract no defilement.

(Reporting Heretical Practices) Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 1