God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the token of the Virgin. But not as some allege, among those now presuming to expound the Scripture, \u201cBehold, a young woman shall conceive, and bring forth a son,\u201d as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these, assert that He was begotten by Joseph; thus destroying, as far as in them lies, such a marvellous dispensation of God, and setting aside the testimony of the prophets which proceeded from God.
\n…
\nFor before the Romans possessed their kingdom, while as yet the Macedonians held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being anxious to adorn the library which he had founded in Alexandria, with a collection of the writings of all men, which were [works] of merit, made request to the people of Jerusalem, that they should have their Scriptures translated into the Greek language. And they\u2014for at that time they were still subject to the Macedonians\u2014sent to Ptolemy seventy of their elders, who were thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the languages, to carry out what he had desired. But he, wishing to test them individually, and fearing lest they might perchance, by taking counsel together, conceal the truth in the Scriptures, by their interpretation, separated them from each other, and commanded them all to write the same translation. He did this with respect to all the books. But when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy, and each of them compared his own interpretation with that of every other, God was indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine. For all of them read out the common translation [which they had prepared] in the very same words and the very same names, from beginning to end, so that even the Gentiles present perceived that the Scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of God.<\/p>\n
And there was nothing astonishing in God having done this,\u2014He who, when, during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the Scriptures had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years, the Jews had returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recast all the words of the former prophets, and to re-establish with the people the Mosaic legislation.
\n— Irenaeus. Against Heresies. III.XXI. ANF01<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the token of the Virgin. But not as some allege, among those now presuming to expound the Scripture, \u201cBehold, a young woman shall conceive, and bring forth a son,\u201d as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these, assert that He was begotten by Joseph; thus destroying, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[215],"class_list":["post-21866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irenaeus","tag-septuagint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":784,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-the-divinity-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":21866,"position":0},"title":"Tertullian: On the Divinity of Christ","author":"Nemo","date":"January 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"God made the world, and all which it contains, by His Word, and Reason, and Power. ... The Word, and Reason, and Power, by which God made all, have spirit as their proper and essential substratum, in which the Word has in being to give forth utterances, and reason abides\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1192,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/novatian-on-the-trinity-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":21866,"position":1},"title":"Novatian: On the Trinity III","author":"Nemo","date":"May 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Son was Begotten of the Father Thus God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all things, who only knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, immortal, eternal, is one God; to whose greatness, or majesty, or power, I would not say nothing can be preferred, but nothing can be compared;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novatian"","block_context":{"text":"Novatian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/novatian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":999,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-the-trinity\/","url_meta":{"origin":21866,"position":2},"title":"Tertullian On the Trinity","author":"Nemo","date":"January 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Word is a Substantive Being For you will say, what is a word, but a voice and sound of the mouth, and air when struck against, intelligible to the ear, but for the rest a sort of void, empty, and incorporeal thing. I, on the contrary, contend that nothing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21992,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/theodoret-dialogues-or-eranistes\/","url_meta":{"origin":21866,"position":3},"title":"Theodoret: Dialogues or Eranistes","author":"Nemo","date":"February 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Mediator between God and Man \u201cThere is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.\u201d ... in this passage that very name \u2018mediator\u2019 stands indicative both of Godhead and of manhood. He is called a mediator because He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theodoret"","block_context":{"text":"Theodoret","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/theodoret\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22104,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/hilary-of-poitiers-the-faith-of-the-easterns\/","url_meta":{"origin":21866,"position":4},"title":"Hilary of Poitiers: The Faith of the Easterns","author":"Nemo","date":"November 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Lord created Me for a beginning of His ways for His works\u201d By speaking of creation [Wisdom] implies that the nature of the Father is changeless, and she also shews that the substance of her nature begotten of God the Father is genuine and real. 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