Virgin soil and Virgin birth: recapitulating Adam
But whence does our first father have his being? From the will and wisdom of God and from virgin earth. For Scripture says that God had not yet sent rain before the human being was made, and there was no human being to work the ground. (Gen 2:5) God took clay from that earth while it was still virgin, and from it he created the human being who became the stock of the race. (Gen 2:7)
The Lord, wishing to recapitulate the human being, followed the same economy when he took flesh. He was born of a Virgin by the will and wisdom of God, so that it might be plain he had a body like Adam’s, and that he had become what the human being was at the beginning — made in the image and likeness. (Gen 1:26-27; Lk 1:34-35)
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About this text
Irenaeus’s short handbook of the apostolic preaching (Epideixis), preserved in Armenian. English here is a densified reading translation for study. Prior English exists (Robinson / Wilson) — this is not an Original English Translation.
English follows the Armenian of Patrologia Orientalis XII.5. Barthoulot’s French was used as a sense-check only. Robinson (1920) and Wilson’s prior English exist and were checked for independence — this page is densified English, not Original English Translation / no-previous-English.
Witnesses
- Copy-text PO XII.5 Epideixis (Armenian, Matenadaran M3710) (Armenian · §§1–10)
- Checked print Barthoulot French (PD) (French · §§1–10)
- Prior English Check Robinson 1920 / Wilson English (English · full work (prior complete English exists))
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.