He [Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are reborn in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men. Therefore he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, sanctifying infants; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . . . [so that] he might be the perfect teacher in all things, perfect not only in respect to the setting forth of truth, perfect also in respect to relative age

Irenaeus of Lyons

Categorized in : Jesus Children Teacher

Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us entirely what He is.

Irenaeus of Lyons

may order jesus

The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God.

Irenaeus of Lyons

alive glory humans

Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.

Irenaeus of Lyons

order believe reality

Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled.

Irenaeus of Lyons

debtors debt tree

As long as any one has the means of doing good to his neighbours, and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord.

Irenaeus of Lyons

doe long mean

The glory of God is the human person fully alive.

Irenaeus of Lyons

alive glory humans

Because of his boundless love, Jesus became what we are that he might make us to be what he is.

Irenaeus of Lyons

boundless might jesus

He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man ... might become the son of God.

Irenaeus of Lyons

might men son

The business of the Christian is nothing else but to be ever preparing for death.

Irenaeus of Lyons

preparing-for-death preparing christian

The initial step for us all to come to knowledge of God is contemplation of nature.

Irenaeus of Lyons

knowledge-of-god creation steps

Since it is impossible, without God, to come to knowledge of God, he teaches men through his Word to know God.

Irenaeus of Lyons

knowledge-of-god impossible men

Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, in that case, to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?

Irenaeus of Lyons

church important writing

No man can know God unless God has taught him; that is to say, that without God, God cannot be known.

Irenaeus of Lyons

wisdom men knowledge

For where the church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God, there is the church and all grace.

Irenaeus of Lyons

church grace christian

One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life.

Irenaeus of Lyons

religious christian inspirational

When we stand in the light it is not we who illumine the light and cause it to shine but we are illuminated and made shining by the light... God grants his blessings on those who serve him because they are serving him and on those who follow him because they are following him, but he receives no blessing from them because he is perfect and without need

Irenaeus of Lyons

light blessing perfect

Error, indeed is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced more true than truth itself.

Irenaeus of Lyons

naked errors dresses

God became man, that we might be gods.

Irenaeus of Lyons

might men

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith

Irenaeus of Lyons

pillars scripture salvation

[Naaman] dipped himself," it says, "seven times in Jordan." It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but as an indication to us. 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.

Irenaeus of Lyons

baptized-in men mean