ABSTRACT
In book three of Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus establishes the apostolic gospels as the center of the scriptural canon. The prophetic scriptures and the apostolic epistles are read in harmony with the fourfold gospel of Christ. For Irenaeus, this harmony consists precisely in the one God’s self-revelation to his people. The apostles “have all handed over to us (tradiderunt nobis) that there is one God, Maker of heaven and earth, announced by the Law and the prophets; and one Christ, the Son of God” (AH iii, 1, 2). The scriptures, as a single catholic narrative, are the preaching of the one God, and, therefore, apply the name of the Lord to no one “except God the Father, who has dominion over all and his Son, who has received dominion from his Father over all creation” (AH iii, 6, 1).
