Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.11
John, the Lord's disciple, proclaims this faith in order to uproot the error that Cerinthus sowed among people, and earlier still the error of the so-called Nicolaitans—a counterfeit offshoot that confuses them. He writes to persuade them that one God made all things through His Word, not one Creator and another Father of the Lord, as they claim (John 1:1). They teach two sons: one begotten of the Creator, another Christ from above who remained impassible, descended into Jesus the Creator's son, and then returned to His Pleroma. They distinguish the Only-begotten from the true Word, the only-begotten Son, and insist that our material condition was fashioned not by the first God but by a lower power severed from the invisible, unnameable realm. To fence off all such teachings and fix the rule of truth in the Church, John grounds everything in the one Almighty God who created all things, visible and invisible, through His Word (John 1:1). He also shows that through the very Word by which God perfected creation, He provided salvation for those who live in that creation. So John opens his Gospel doctrine: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. What was made in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:1). John insists, "All things were made through Him"; therefore this condition of ours also falls within "all things." The heretics cannot restrict "all things" to what lies inside their Pleroma. If their Pleroma contains these things, then our condition is not outside it—as the previous book demonstrated. If our condition lies outside their Pleroma, then their Pleroma is not "all things," which is impossible. Hence our condition is not outside. John himself removes every dispute: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him" (John 1:10–11). Marcion and his followers deny both that the world was made through Him and that He came to His own; they say He came to another's realm. Some Gnostics claim angels made the world, not God's Word. Valentinians say the Demiurge made it, not the Word. They teach that the Demiurge fashioned creation as a likeness of the things above, but the Gospel declares plainly that all things were made through the Word who was with God in the beginning, and that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). In their systems, however, neither the Word, nor Christ, nor the Savior composed of all things became flesh. They refuse to admit that the Word and Christ entered this world. The Savior, they say, did not become incarnate or suffer, but descended like a dove into Jesus—who sprang from their lower condition—announced the unknown Father, and then ascended back to the Pleroma. Some say Jesus of that lower condition was incarnate and suffered, passing through Mary like water through a pipe. Others say the Demiurge's son received the Jesus from that condition. Others say Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary, and the impassible, fleshless Christ from above descended into Him. But by no heretical opinion did the Word of God become flesh. Examine all their rules and you will find that every one presents God's Word as fleshless and impassible, and the Christ above as likewise. Some imagine He appeared only as a transfigured man, yet deny He was born or incarnate. Others deny He took human form at all, saying He descended like a dove into Jesus born of Mary. Thus the Lord's disciple exposes them all as false witnesses and declares: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Lest anyone ask whose Word became flesh, John himself answers: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light, but came to testify about the light" (John 1:6–8). The forerunner John, who testifies to the light—by which God was he sent? Surely by the God whose angel is Gabriel, who announced John's own birth and promised through the prophets to send His messenger before His Son's face to prepare His way—that is, to testify to the light in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). And Elijah—servant and prophet of which God? Of the One who made heaven and earth, as Elijah himself confesses (1 Kings 18:36). Therefore John was sent by the Founder and Creator of this world. How else could he bear witness to the light that descended from the invisible, unnameable realm? All heretics decree that the Demiurge is ignorant of the power above him, yet John is found to be that power's witness and revealer. For this reason the Lord said John was more than a prophet (Luke 7:26). All the other prophets announced the coming of the Father's light and longed to see the One they preached. John not only announced Him like the rest, but saw Him coming, pointed Him out, and persuaded many to believe in Him—so that he holds the office of both prophet and apostle.
Latin
Hane fidem annuntians Johannes Domini discipulus, volens per Evangelii annuntiationem auferre eum, qui a Cerintho inseminatus erat hominibus errorem, et multo prius ab his qui dicuntur Nicolaite, qui sunt vulsio ejus quee falso cognominatur ut confunderet eos, et suaderet quoniam unus Deus qui omnia fecit per Verbum suum ; et non, quemadmodum illi dicunt, alterum quidem fabricatorem, alium autem Patrem Domini: et alium quidem fabricatoris filium, alterum vero ®de superioribus Christum, quem et impassibilem perseverasse, descendentem in Jesum filium fabricatoris, et iterum revolasse in suum Pleroma: et Tinitium quidem esse monogenem; Logon autem verum filium unigeniti: et eam conditionem quze est secundum nos, non a primo Deo factam, sed a virtute aliqua valde deorsum subjecta, et abscissa ab eorum communicatione quze sunt invisibilia et innominabilia. Omnia igitur talia cireumscribere volens discipulus Domini, et ' regulam veritatis constituere in Ecclesia, quia est unus Deus omnipotens, qui per Verbum suum omnia fecit, et visibilia et invisibilia; significans quoque, quoniam per Verbum, per quod Deus perfecit conditionem, in hoe et salutem his qui in conditione sunt preestitit hominibus; sic inchoavit in ea que est secundum Evangelium doctrina: Jn principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum: hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. Quod factum est, in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lua hominum, et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebre eam non comprehenderunt. Omnia, inquit, per ipsum facta sunt ; in omnibus ergo est et hzee quae secundum nos est conditio: non enim concedetur eis, omnia dici ea que sunt infra Pleroma ipsorum. Si enim et hee Pleroma ipsorum continet, non extra est tanta ista conditio, quemadmodum ostendimus in eo libro qui ante hune est ; si autem extra Pleroma sunt heec, quod quidem impossibile visum est, jam non est omnia Pleroma ipsorum: non est ergo extra heee tanta conditio. Abstulit autem a nobis dissensiones omnes ipse Johannes, dicens: In hoc mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In sua propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Secundum autem Marcionem et eos qui similes sunt ei, neque mundus per eum factus est ; neque in sua venit, sed in aliena, Secundum autem quosdam Gnosticorum, ¢ab angelis factus est iste mundus, et non per Verbum Dei. Secundum autem eos qui sunt a Valentino, iterum non per eum factus est, sed per Demiurgum. Hic enim operabatur similitudines tales fieri, ad imitationem eorum que sunt sursum, quemadmodum dicunt: Demiurgus autem perficiebat fabricationem conditionis. Emissum enim dicunt eum a matre Dominum et Demiurgum ejus dispositionis quee est secundum conditionem, per quem hune mundum factum volunt: cum Evangelium manifeste dicat, quoniam per Verbum, quod in principio erat apud Deum, omnia sunt facta: quod Verbum, inquit, caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. 8. Secundum autem illos, neque Verbum caro factum est, neque Christus, neque qui ex omnibus factus est Salvator. Htenim Verbum et Christum nec advenisse in hune mundum volunt: Salvatorem vero non incarnatum neque passum; descendisse autem quasi columbam in eum Jesum qui factus est ex dispositione, et cum annuntiasset incognitum Patrem, iterum ascendisse in Pleroma. Incarnatum autem et passum quidam quidem eum qui ex dispositione sit dicunt Jesum, quem per Mariam dicunt pertransisse, quasi aquam per tubum: alii vero ° Demiurgi filium, in quem descendisse eum Jesum qui ex dispositione sit: alii rursum Jesum quidem ex Joseph et Maria natum dicunt, et in hune descendisse Christum qui de superioribus sit, sine carne et impassibilem exsistentem. Secundum autem nullam sententiam heereticorum, Verbum Dei caro factum est. Si enim quis regulas ipsorum omnium perscrutetur, inveniet quoniam sine carne et impassibilis ab omnibus illis inducitur Dei Verbum, et qui est in superioribus Christus. Alii enim putant manifestatum eum, quemadmodum hominem transfiguratum; neque autem natum, neque incarnatum dicunt illum: alii vero neque figuram eum assumsisse hominis; sed quemadmodum columbam descendisse in eum Jesum, qui natus est ex Maria. Omnes igitur illos falsos testes ostendens discipulus Domini, ait: Ht Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. Et ut non inquiramus, cujus Dei Verbum caro factum est, ipse insuper docet, dicens : Fuit homo missus a Deo, erat ei nomen Johannes: hic venit in testimonium, ut testaretur de lumine. Non erat ipse lumen, sed ut testaretur de lumine. Preecursor igitur Johannes, qui testatur de lumine, a quo Deo missus est? Utique ab eo cujus Gabriel est angelus, qui etiam evangelisavit generationem ejus; qui et per prophetas promisit angelum suum missurum ante faciem Filii sui, et preeparaturum viam ejus, hoc est, testificaturum de lumine, i spiritw et virtute Helie. Helias autem rursus cujus Dei servus et propheta fuit? Ejus qui fecit coelum et terram, quemadmodum et ipse confitetur. A conditore igitur et fabricatore hujus mundi missus Johannes, quemadmodum poterat testificari de eo lumine, quod ex his que sunt innominabilia et invisibilia descenderit ? Omnes enim heeretici decreverunt, Demiurgum ignorare eam que sit super eum virtutem, cujus testis et ostensor invenitur Johannes. Propter hoc Dominus plus quam prophetam dixit eum habuisse. Reliqui enim omnes prophetze annuntiaverunt adventum paterni luminis; concupierunt autem digni esse videre eum quem preedicabant: Johannes autem et preenuntiavit similiter sicut alii, et advenientem vidit et demonstravit, et credere in eum suasit multis, ita ut ipse et prophete et apostoli locum habuerit.