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Irenaeus

Ante-Nicene · to AD 325 · 717 passages across 40 books

Commentary

201–220 of 717
Colossians 2:11

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

These things, then, were given for a sign; but the signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning nor to no purpose, inasmuch as they were given by a wise Artist; but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For "we "says the apostle, "have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands."
Colossians 2:14 · 2 passages

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

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.
And therefore David said beforehand, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin;" pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon His advent, by which "He has destroyed the handwriting" of our debt, and "fastened it to the cross;" so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors to God, [so also] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our debt.
Colossians 2:16

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

The apostles ordained, that "we should not judge any one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons, or the sabbaths." Whence then these contentions? whence these schisms? We keep the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord.
Colossians 2:18

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings."
Colossians 2:19

And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

-this man will first of all "hold the head, from which the whole body is compacted and bound together, and, through means of every joint according to the measure of the ministration of each several part, maketh increase of the body to the edification of itself in love.".
by His blood; and "holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church, having been fitted together, takes increase"
Colossians 3:5

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

This same, therefore, was what the Lord came to quicken, that as in Adam we do all die, as being of an animal nature, in Christ we may all live, as being spiritual, not laying aside God's handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." And what these are he himself explains: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence; and covetousness, which is idolatry." The laying aside of these is what the apostle preaches; and he declares that those who do such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Colossians 3:9

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

, "earthly"], which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast ye off the old man with his deeds."
Colossians 3:10

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

For what other visible fruit is there of the invisible Spirit, than the rendering of the flesh mature and capable of in corruption? If then
Colossians 3:11

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

And they state that it was clearly on this account that Paul said, "And He Himself is all things; "
Colossians 4:14

Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

From this he shows that he was always attached to and inseparable from him. And again he says, in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Luke, the beloved physician, greets you."
Daniel 2:35

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Therefore, God who is great showed future things by Daniel and confirmed them by his Son; and Christ is the stone that is cut out without hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just.
Daniel 3:25

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

It is manifest [in Scripture] that the Father is indeed invisible, of whom also the Lord said, “No one has seen God at any time.” But his Word, as he willed it and for the benefit of those who saw, did show the Father’s brightness and explained his will.… He appeared to those who saw him not in one figure or in one character but according to the reasons and purposes that he wanted to achieve, as we see written in Daniel. He was seen with those who were around Ananias, Azarias and Misael as present with them in the furnace of fire, in the burning, and preserving them from [the effects of] fire: “And the appearance of the fourth,” it is said, “was like the Son of God.” At another time [he is represented as] “a stone cut out of the mountain without hands” and as destroying all temporal kingdoms … and as himself filling all the earth. Then too he is the same being beheld as the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven and drawing near to the Ancient of Days.
Daniel 9:21

Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

This passage reveals to us … that there is one and the same God the Father, who was declared by the prophets but made manifest by Christ. The Lord confirmed those things Daniel prophesied about the end, when our Lord said, “When you see the abomination of desolation that was told by Daniel the prophet.” The angel Gabriel explained the visions to Daniel. This Gabriel is both the archangel of the Creator (Demiurge) and the one who proclaimed to Mary the coming and incarnation of Christ. Thus, most clearly, it must be one and the same God who sent the prophets and who sent forth his Son and called us to recognize him.
Daniel 12:3

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

The person who loves God shall arrive at such excellence as even to see God, and hear his word and from the hearing of his discourse be glorified to such an extent that others cannot behold the glory of his countenance.
Daniel 12:4

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

And Jeremiah also says, “In the last days they shall understand these things.” For every prophecy, before its fulfillment, appears to people to be full of enigmas and ambiguities. But when the time has arrived and the prediction has come to pass, the prophecies have a clear and certain meaning.
Daniel 12:10

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

“The words are sealed up until those who are intelligent understand and those who are white are made white.” [The Gnostic Marcosians] boast that they themselves are the ones who are white and quite intelligent.
Daniel 12:13

But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

“All dominions shall serve him.” Lest this promise should be understood as referring to this time, the prophet declared, “Stand in your place at the consummation of days.”
Deuteronomy 27:18

Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

This [that is, the behavior of the Gnostics] is not the behavior of those who heal and give life but rather of those who aggravate disease and increase ignorance. The law shows itself much truer than such people when it says that whoever leads a blind man astray from the way is accursed. The apostles were sent to find those who were lost and to bring sight to those who did not see and healing to the sick. They did not speak to them in accordance with their previous opinions but by a revelation of the truth. For no one would be acting rightly if one told the blind who were already beginning to fall over the precipice to continue in their dangerous way as if it were a sound one and as if they would come through all right.
Ephesians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." This earnest, therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality.

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