Irenaeus — Commentary on Scripture

John 2:25

For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech. For "He needed not that any should testify to Him of man, for He Himself knew what was in man." For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them from their chains.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 3

John 3:5

For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: "Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus

John 3:14

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

John 3:18

Separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness. Separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits that he has in store.… This is the same thing that happens in the case of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves or have been blinded by others are forever deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not that the light has inflicted on them the penalty of blindness, but it is that the blindness itself has brought calamity on them. Therefore the Lord declared, “He who believes in me is not condemned,” that is, he is not separated from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand, he says, “He who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,” that is, he has separated himself from God by his own doing.

AGAINST HERESIES 5.27.2

John 3:36

And for this reason, "he that believeth in Him has eternal life while he who believeth not the Son hath not eternal life, but the wrath of God shall remain upon him."

Against Heresies Book IV

John 4:6

Still further, if He had taken nothing of Mary, He would never have availed Himself of those kinds of food which are derived from the earth, by which that body which has been taken from the earth is nourished; nor would He have hungered, fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias, unless His body was craving after its own proper nourishment; nor, again, would John His disciple have said, when writing of Him, "But Jesus, being wearied with the journey, was sitting to rest;" nor would David have proclaimed of Him beforehand, "They have added to the grief of my wounds;" nor would He have wept over Lazarus, nor have sweated great drops of blood; nor have declared, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful;" nor, when His side was pierced, would there have come forth blood and water. For all these are tokens of the flesh which had been derived from the earth, which He had recapitulated in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 3

John 4:14

Himself: thus does Jesus now give to His believing people power to drink spiritual waters, which spring up to life eternal.

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus

John 4:14

Since the Son of God is always one and the same, He gives to those who believe on Him a well of water

Against Heresies Book IV

John 4:24

Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God "in spirit and in truth." And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment.

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus

John 4:35

For I have sent you forward to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour; other men have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours."

Against Heresies Book IV

John 4:37

For although Abraham was one, he did in himself prefigure the two covenants, in which some indeed have sown, while others have reaped; for it is said, "In this is the saying true, that it is one `people' who sows, but another who shall reap; "

Against Heresies Book IV

John 4:41

And many more Samaritans, it is said, when the Lord had tarried among them, two days, "believed because of His words, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we ourselves have heard Him, and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the world." 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.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4

John 4:50

First of all, after He had made the water wine at Cana of Galilee, He went up to the festival day of the passover, on which occasion it is written, "For many believed in Him, when they saw the signs which He did," as John the disciple of the Lord records. Then, again, withdrawing Himself from Judaea, He is found in Samaria; on which occasion, too, He conversed with the Samaritan woman, and while at a distance, cured the son of the centurion by a word, saying, "Go thy way, thy son liveth."

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 2

John 5:1

Afterwards He went up, the second time, to observe the festival day of the passover.
"Wherefore he again exclaims in his Epistle, "Every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God; "

Against Heresies Book II

John 5:1

One can examine the Gospels to ascertain how often after his baptism the Lord went up, at the time of the Passover, to Jerusalem, in accordance with what was the practice of the Jews from every land, and every year, that they should assemble at this period in Jerusalem and there celebrate the feast of the Passover. First of all, after he had made the water wine at Cana of Galilee, he went up to the festival day of the Passover.… Afterwards he went up, the second time, to observe the festival day of the Passover in Jerusalem. On this occasion he cured the paralytic man who had lain beside the pool thirty-eight years.… Then, when he had raised Lazarus from the dead and plots were formed against him by the Pharisees, he withdrew to a city called Ephraim. And from that place, as it is written, “He came to Bethany six days before the Passover,” and going up from Bethany to Jerusalem, he there ate the Passover and suffered on the day following. Now, that these three occasions of the Passover are not included within one year, every person whatever must acknowledge.

AGAINST HERESIES 2.22.3

John 5:5

Moreover, there was also a certain other person healed by the Lord, after he had suffered for eight-and-thirty years: they ought therefore to affirm that the Aeon who occupies the thirty-eighth place suffered. For if they assert that the things which were done by the Lord were types of what took place in the Pleroma, the type ought to be preserved throughout. But they can neither adapt to their fictitious system the case of her who was cured after eighteen years, nor of him who was cured after thirty-eight years. Now, it is in every way absurd and inconsistent to declare that the Saviour preserved the type in certain cases, while He did not do so in others.

Against Heresies Book II

John 5:14

This is in accordance with what the Lord said to the man who had been healed: "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.".
And thus also He healed by a word all the others who were in a weakly condition because of sin; to whom also He said, "Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee: "

Against Heresies Book IV

John 5:16

The Jewish elders were unwilling to be subject to the law of God, which was to prepare them for the coming of Christ. But they even blamed the Lord for healing on the Sabbath days, which the law did not prohibit. For they did themselves, in one sense, perform acts of healing upon the Sabbath day, when they circumcised a man [on that day]. But they did not blame themselves for transgressing the command of God through tradition and the previously mentioned pharisaical law. Nor did they condemn themselves for not keeping the commandment of the law, which is the love of God.

AGAINST HERESIES 4.12.1

John 5:28

As, therefore, those who were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His handiwork, that His words concerning its future resurrection may also be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet," the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares: "The hour shall come, in which all the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5

John 5:30

For as we do direct our faith towards the Son, so also should we possess a firm and immoveable love towards the Father. In his book against Marcion, Justin

Against Heresies Book IV