SOURCE: “Creation,” in Man and the Incarnation: A Study in the Biblical Theology of Irenaeus, translated by Ross Mackenzie, Muhlenberg Press, 1947, pp. 3-38.

In the following essay, Wingren studies the significance of God's absolute power as Creator and of the relationship between Christ and man in Irenaeus's theology.

God the Creator

Our best starting-point for a full understanding of the concept of God in Irenaeus is the sovereignty of God—the absolute power of the Creator. The Gnostics' pessimism in regard to the world forced them into assuming a God who had nothing to do with the world, and they kept large parts of reality separate from God's sphere of influence. Against this, Irenaeus maintained that if God is held to be powerless in any respect, then that before which He is powerless is in point of fact God. We make certain deductions about the universe, deducing one...