Irenaeus

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 on him and anoint him to preach the gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as he was God, he did not judge according to glory or reprove after the manner of speech. For “he needed not that any should testify to him of humanity, for he himself knew what was in humanity.” For he called all people who mourn, and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, he loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, “Everyone shall be held with the cords of his own sins.” Therefore, did the Spirit of God descend on him, [the Spirit] of him who had promised by the prophets that he would anoint him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of his unction, might be saved. Such then [is the witness] of Matthew. … In the name of Christ is implied he who anoints, he who is anointed and the unction itself with which he is anointed. And it is the Father who anoints but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me”—pointing out the anointing Father, the anointed Son and the unction, which is the Spirit.

The predicted blessing, therefore, belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead; when also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, related that they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times, and say: The days will come, in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, "I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me." In like manner [the Lord declared] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear should have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres) of clear, pure, fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees, and seeds and grass, would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam iis consequentem); and that all animals feeding [only] on the productions of the earth, should [in those days] become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to man.

And these things are borne witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; for there were five books compiled (συντεταγμένα) by him. And he says in addition, "Now these things are credible to believers." And he says that, "when the traitor Judas did not give credit to them, and put the question, 'How then can things about to bring forth so abundantly be wrought by the Lord.' the Lord declared, 'They who shall come to these [times] shall see.' " When prophesying of these times, therefore, Esaias says: "The wolf also shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall take his rest with the kid; the calf also, and the bull, and the lion shall eat together; and a little boy shall lead them. The ox and the bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall agree together; and the lion shall eat straw as well as the ox. And the infant boy shall thrust his hand into the asp's den, into the nest also of the adder's brood; and they shall do no harm, nor have power to hurt anything in my holy mountain." And again he says, in recapitulation, "Wolves and lambs shall then browse together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread; and they shall neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain, says the Lord." [Isaiah 40:6, etc.] I am quite aware that some persons endeavour to refer these words to the case of savage men, both of different nations and various habits, who come to believe, and when they have believed, act in harmony with the righteous. But although this is [true] now with regard to some men coming from various nations to the harmony of the faith, nevertheless in the resurrection of the just [the words shall also apply] to those animals mentioned. For God is rich in all things. And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food originally given by God (for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam), that is, the productions of the earth. But some other occasion, and not the present, is [to be sought] for showing that the lion shall [then] feed on straw. And this indicates the large size and rich quality of the fruits. For if that animal, the lion, feeds upon straw [at that period], of what a quality must the wheat itself be whose straw shall serve as suitable food for lions?

“In that day, says the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and there shall be darkness over the earth in the clear day. I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,” plainly announced that obscuration of the sun that at the time of his crucifixion took place from the sixth hour onwards, and that after this event, those days that were their festivals according to the law, and their songs, should be changed into grief and lamentation when they were handed over to the Gentiles. Jeremiah too makes this point still clearer when he thus speaks concerning Jerusalem: “She that has borne seven languishes. Her soul has become weary. Her sun has gone down while it was yet noon. She has been confounded and suffered reproach. The remainder of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies.” Those of them, again, who spoke of God’s having slumbered and taken sleep, and of his having risen again because the Lord sustained him, and who enjoined the principalities of heaven to set open the everlasting doors, that the King of glory might go in, proclaimed beforehand his resurrection from the dead through the Father’s power and his reception into heaven.

All things therefore are of one and the same substance, that is, from one and the same God, just as the Lord says to the disciples, “Therefore every scribe who is instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.” He did not teach that the one who brought forth the old was one while the person who brought forth the new was another. Rather, he taught that they were one and the same. For the Lord is the good man of the house who rules the entire house of his Father and who delivers a law suited both for slaves and those who are as yet undisciplined. He provides fitting precepts to those who are free and have been justified by faith, as well as throwing his own inheritance open to those who are sons and daughters. And he called his disciples “scribes” and “teachers of the kingdom of heaven” of whom also he elsewhere says to the Jews, “Behold, I send to you wise men, and scribes and teachers; and some of them you shall kill and persecute from city to city.” Now, without contradiction, he means by those things that are brought forth from the treasure new and old—the two covenants. The old concerns that giving of the law that took place formerly. He points out the new as being that manner of life required by the gospel, of which David says, “Sing to the Lord a new song.” … And Jeremiah says, “Behold, I will make a new covenant, not as I made with your ancestors” in Mount Horeb. But one and the same householder produced both covenants, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke with Abraham and Moses, and who has again restored us to liberty and has multiplied that grace that is from himself.

The Lord clearly shows all that there is one King and Lord, the Father of all, of whom he had previously said, “Neither will you swear by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” He had from the beginning prepared the marriage for his Son and used, with the utmost kindness, to call, by the instrumentality of his servants, the people of the former dispensation to the wedding feast. When they would not obey, he still invited them by sending out other servants. Yet even then they did not obey him but even stoned and killed those who brought them the message of invitation. He accordingly sent forth his armies and destroyed them and burned down their city. But he called together from all the highways, that is, from all nations, guests to the marriage feast of his Son, as also he says by Jeremiah: “I have sent also to you my servants the prophets to say, Return now, everyone, from his very evil way, and amend your doings.” And again he says by the same prophet: “I have also sent to you my servants the prophets throughout the day and before the light. Yet they did not obey me or incline their ears to me. And you shall speak this word to them: This is a people that does not obey the voice of the Lord or receive correction. Faith has perished from their mouth.” The Lord, therefore, who has called us everywhere by the apostles, is he who called those of old by the prophets, as appears by the words of the Lord. Although they preached to various nations, the prophets were not from one God and the apostles from another, but, proceeding from one and the same, some of them announced the Lord, others preached the Father. Others again foretold the advent of the Son of God, while yet others declared him as already present to those who then were far off.