SOURCE: “On the Exegesis of the Bible,” in The Biblical Theology of Saint Irenaeus, The Epworth Press, 1948, pp. 55-86.

In the following essay, Lawson contends that in Irenaeus's writings on both the Old and the New Testament, exegesis is subjective and allegorical. Superscript numbers next to biblical references throughout this essay refer to verse numbers.

The manner in which S. Irenaeus expounded the Bible and the justice he did to it are studies of the most far-reaching consequence for the understanding of a Christian Father who was so largely a Biblical theologian. It is unfortunate, therefore, that this aspect of his work has been so commonly dismissed in a perfunctory way with the rather obvious remark that he was an exponent of ‘mystical’ or ‘allegoristic’ exegesis. It remains to investigate this matter more carefully.

So numerous are his citations of Scripture that to examine in detail the use...