Cinco exegesis ireneanas de Gen 2,17 b adv. haer. V, 23,1-2
Among the phenomena of the earliest theology (of the second century) glitters the early appearance of a multitude of exegeses of the Old and New Testaments. It suffices to analyze those deserved by the parables of the Gospel. This time we found amusing a page of Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. V,23,1 f), a sum...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Ed. Pontificia Univ. Gregoriana
1981
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| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 1981, Volume: 62, Issue: 1, Pages: 75-113 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Among the phenomena of the earliest theology (of the second century) glitters the early appearance of a multitude of exegeses of the Old and New Testaments. It suffices to analyze those deserved by the parables of the Gospel. This time we found amusing a page of Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. V,23,1 f), a summary of five exegeses. Contemporary specialists in Genesis slip by the theme, not even formulating it. In the Saint's days it was important because of the slant given to it by the heretics. The Creator's command (Gen. 2,16 f) with the threat of death on the very day on which they would sin, revealed itself de facto inoperative. Adam and Eve continued to live, despite their disobedience. The Demiurge—thus the gnostics concluded—had threatened them out of envy, wishing to prevent what happened. The sin opened their eyes to the true Gnosis, and introduced them, above the Demiurge, to the dispensation of the one true God. Thus, at the very beginning of human history, the Creator was left stripped of his authority before Wisdom, who spoke by the mouth of the serpent and triumphed over him. Irenaeus felt himself obliged to justify the Demiurge's command, with particular attention given to its efficacy and truth. For lack of one solution, the Saint offered five: 1) since sin is the sole rigorous death of the soul (= inner man) to God, they died at the moment and hour of their disobedience; 2) at their tasting the forbidden fruit of the tree they made themselves mortal (= died de iure), subject to physical death; 3) creation lasted a single day — the unus Dies of Gen 1,5 — in it they ate and in it they died; 4) by correlation with the Second Adam, who died out of obedience on the sixth day of the week, the First died as well on the same day on which he was made (Gen 1,26 f), undone and remade; 5) Adam lived 930 years, within the limits of the Day of the Lord, 1000 years. Irenaeus logically had to feel very little sympathy for the first, and very much for the second. To demonstrate the falsehood of the serpent and the Creator's truth, it sufficed for him to insist on the mortality contracted immediately after the sin. But how could he prove the fact of death on the very day of the sin? It is that which obliged him to give recondite solutions as foreign to his taste as the third and the fourth, to conclude: « Secundum omnia ergo quae significantur, Deus quidem verax, mortui enim sunt qui (et quando?) gustaverunt de ligno ». |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
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