Christ and his Work

Chapter 2 through 4 lead on to Chapter 5. Having established Irenaeus’ understanding of the nature of the divine being, the Word-Son, and the person of Christ, this chapter shows that central aspects of Irenaeus’ account of the economic activity of Christ are grounded upon his understanding of God. It constitutes the final movement in my argument that scholars have underappreciated—or failed to appreciate altogether—the significance of metaphysics to Irenaeus’ theology. This chapter consists of two sections. The first focuses on AH 3.18.7, wherein Irenaeus founds essential features of the economy of salvation upon the divinity of Christ—namely, the security of salvation, the reception of incorruptibility, and the adoption as children of God. The second section shows that Irenaeus’ understanding of the revelatory activity of the Word-Son in the Old Testament theophanies and incarnation is based upon his conception of the divine being as infinite and incomprehensible.