Note (return) — Chapter II

By the fixing of the rule of truth, the formulation of which in the case of Irenæus (I. 10. 1, 2) naturally follows the arrangement of the (Roman) baptismal confession, the most important Gnostic theses were at once set aside and their antitheses established as apostolic. In his apostolic rule of truth Irenæus himself already gave prominence to the following doctrines:39 the unity of God, the identity of the supreme God with the Creator; the identity of the supreme God with the God of the Old Testament; the unity of Jesus Christ as the Son of the God who created the world; the essential divinity of Christ; the incarnation of the Son of God; the prediction of the entire history of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament; the reality of that history; the bodily reception (ενσαρκος αναληψις) of Christ into heaven; the visible return of Christ; the resurrection of all flesh (αναστασις πασης σαρκος, πασης ανθροπωτητος), the universal judgment. These dogmas, the antitheses of the Gnostic regulæ,40 were consequently, as apostolic and therefore also as Catholic, removed beyond all discussion.