Scholars contend that Irenaeus quotes from 21 of the 27 New Testament Texts:

Irenaeus quotes scripture, which we reference as John 8: 57, to suggest that Jesus ministers while in his 40's.

Many of the writings of these Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from the writings of Valentinus, existed only in quotes displayed by their orthodox detractors, until 1945, when the cache of writings at Nag Hammadi revealed a Coptic version of the Gospel of Truth, which is the title of a text that, according to Irenaeus, was the same as the Gospel of Valentinus mentioned by Tertullian in his Against All Heresies.

Overall, Eusebius took stories from Acts, Justin, and Irenaeus to portray heretical teachers in order to gain an understanding of heresey and its roots.

Notable early Fathers include Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen of Alexandria.

Irenaeus uses the Logos theology he inherited from Justin Martyr.

In the 3rd century, Origen of Alexandria was the first ancient writer to have a comprehensive reference to Josephus, although some other authors had made smaller, general references to Josephus before then, e. g. Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the second century, followed by Clement.

After Rufinus, Justin was known mainly from St Irenaeus and Eusebius or from spurious works.

Even earlier than this collection, it is referred to by Procopius of Gaza ( c. 465-528 ), and Methodius appeals to Justin in support of his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15: 50 in a way which makes it natural to assume the existence of a treatise on the subject, to say nothing of other traces of a connection in thought both here, in Irenaeus ( V., ii .- xiii.

The Against Marcion is lost, as is the Refutation of all Heresies to which Justin himself refers in Apology, i. 26 ; Hegesippus, besides perhaps Irenaeus and Tertullian, seems to have used it.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian held the letters of Paul to be on par with the Hebrew scriptures as being divinely inspired, yet others rejected him.

Irenaeus, wrote of 2nd century believers with the gift of prophecy, while Justin Martyr argued in his Dialogue with Trypho that prophets were not found among the Jews in his time, but that the church had prophets.

Many early Christian writers from the 2nd century, such as pseudo-Barnabas, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus of Rome followed rabbinic Judaism ( the Mishna ) in interpreting Sabbath not as a literal day of rest, but as a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, which would follow six millennia of world history.

Surviving traditions about Simon appear in anti-heretical texts, such as those of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often regarded as the source of all heresies.

Justin Martyr ( in his Apologies, and in a lost work against heresies, which Irenaeus used as his main source ) and Irenaeus ( Adversus Haereses ) record that after being cast out by the Apostles he came to Rome where, having joined to himself a profligate woman of the name of Helen, he gave out that it was he who appeared among the Jews as the Son, in Samaria as the Father and among other nations as the Holy Spirit.

Justin and Irenaeus are the first to recount the myth of Simon and Helen, which became the center of Simonian doctrine.

Some believe that Hippolytus ' account is of a later, more developed form of Simonianism, and that the original doctrines of the group were simpler, close to the account given by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus ( this account however is also included in Hippolytus ' work ).

The epistle was included in Marcion's canon and the Muratorian fragment ; it was mentioned by name by Irenaeus, and quoted by Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp.

Volume I. Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus

* Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that " two epistles bearing his name ... are considered by some to be the work of a certain John the Elder " and, while stating that Revelation was written by John on Patmos, it was “ later translated by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus ”, presumably in an attempt to reconcile tradition with the obvious differences in Greek style.

Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and others borrowed an opinion out of this book of Enoch, that the angels had connection with the daughters of men, of whom they had offspring (' the giants of the past ').

Saul of Tarsus, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and others often defended Christianity against charges that were brought to justify persecution.

The early apologists, including Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Irenaeus, frequently discussed the parallels and contrasts between Christianity, Paganism and other syncretic religions, and answered charges of borrowing from paganism in their apologetical writings.

" The apologists as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus began to claim that Greek culture pointed to and was consummated in the Christian message, just as the Old Testament was.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ ’ s coming.

The Latin translation, confirmed by Hippolytus, makes Irenaeus state that according to Cerinthus ( who shows Ebionite influence ), creation was made by a power quite separate from the Supreme God and ignorant of Him.

Irenaeus shows the close relationship between the predicted events of Daniel 2 and 7.

In the passage immediately following the chapter we have analysed, Irenaeus shows acquaintance with a section of the school who may be called Ophite in the proper sense of the word, some teaching that Sophia herself was the serpent, some glorifying Cain and other enemies of the God of the Old Testament.

Eusebius held Papias in low esteem, perhaps because of his work's influence in perpetuating, through Irenaeus and others, belief in a millennial reign of Christ upon earth, that would soon usher in a new Golden Age.

Nevertheless, the Christian community either survived or was reconstituted, and under Bishop Irenaeus it continued to grow in size and influence.

Against this view, Irenaeus of Lyons's Against Heresies 3. 12 section 12 ridiculed those who think they are wiser than the Apostles because they were still under Jewish influence.

The significance of Paul's influence was sufficient for Irenaeus to consider it important to proclaim that Paul was never gnostic and never supported gnostic teachings, using the evidence of the Pastoral epistles and the Gospel of John to support it.

By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.

Except for Irenaeus ' 2nd-century reference to many in the church speaking all kinds of languages ' through the Spirit ', and Tertullian's reference in 207 AD to the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues being encountered in his day, there are no other known first-hand accounts of glossolalia, and very few second-hand accounts among their writings.

Gnosticism ( from gnostikos, " learned ", from gnōsis, knowledge ) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some early Christian and non-Christian groups called " gnostic " (" knowing ") by Irenaeus and other early Christian leaders.

St. Irenaeus on the other hand does not speak critically of icons or portraits in a general sense, only of certain gnostic sectarians use of icons.

Various fragments of other works by Irenaeus have been found, and many lost works by him are attested by other ancient writers.

Like the other early church fathers, Irenaeus interpreted the three and one-half " times " of the Little Horn of Daniel 7 as three and one-half literal years.

Eusebius implies that other works were in circulation ; from St Irenaeus he knows of the apology " Against Marcion ," and from Justin's " Apology " of a " Refutation of all Heresies ".

Irenaeus said that on certain things the two bishops speedily came to an understanding, while as to the time of Easter, each adhered to his own custom, without breaking off communion with the other.

Apart from Papias ' comment, we do not hear about the author of the Gospel until Irenaeus around 185 who remarks that Matthew issued a written Gospel of the Hebrews ( Against Heresies 3. 1. 1 ) Pantaenus, Origen and other Church Fathers also believed Matthew wrote the Gospel of the Hebrews ( Church History 5. 10. 3, 6. 25. 4 ) None of these Church Fathers asserted that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Greek.

The first written records of Christians in France date from the 2nd century when Irenaeus detailed the deaths of ninety-year old bishop Pothinus of Lugdunum ( Lyon ) and other martyrs of the 177 persecution in Lyon.

But, Irenaeus noted, Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp to forgo the observance inasmuch as these things had been always observed by John the disciple of the Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant ; nor did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to keep it: Anicetus said that he must hold to the way of the elders before him. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus was able to persuade the other to his position, but neither did they consider the matter of sufficient importance to justify a schism.

Victor's excommunication of the Asians was apparently rescinded, and the two sides reconciled as a result of the intervention of Irenaeus and other bishops: Victor, head of the Roman church, attempted at one stroke to cut off from the common unity all the Asian dioceses ....

There was no full consensus on the doctrine of perpetual virginity within the early Church by the end of the second century, e. g. Tertullian ( c. 160 – c. 225 ) did not teach the doctrine ( although he taught virgin birth ), but Irenaeus ( c. 130 – c. 202 ) taught perpetual virginity, along with other Marian themes.

The presence of Peter in Rome, not explicitly affirmed in but consistent with the New Testament, is explicitly affirmed by Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon and other early Christian writers.

100 AD or before ), as well as the various witnesses to canonicity extant among the writings of Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, etc., the four gospels and letters of Paul were universally held as scriptural, and only ~ 200 years were needed to finalize the canon ; from the beginning of the 2nd Century to the mid-4th Century, no book in the final canon was ever declared spurious or heretical, except for the Revelation of John which the Council of Laodicea in 363-364 AD rejected ( although it accepted all of the other 26 books in the New Testament ).

Gnosticism and the New Testament is the connection between the Christian sects described by Irenaeus ( c. 180 ), and other writers, as gnostikos, and the New Testament, and also the use of the New Testament in the Nag Hammadi texts ( c. 300-400 ).