The prophets, then, indicated beforehand that God should be seen by men; as the Lord also says, \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\u201d But in respect to His greatness, and His wonderful glory, \u201cno man shall see God and live,\u201d for the Father is incomprehensible; but in regard to His love, and kindness, and as to His infinite power, even this He grants to those who love Him, that is, to see God, which thing the prophets did also predict. \u201cFor those things that are impossible with men, are possible with God.\u201d For man does not see God by his own powers; but when He pleases He is seen by men, by whom He wills, and when He wills, and as He wills. For God is powerful in all things, having been seen at that time indeed, prophetically through the Spirit, and seen, too, adoptively through the Son; and He shall also be seen paternally in the kingdom of heaven, the Spirit truly preparing man in the Son of God, and the Son leading him to the Father, while the Father, too, confers [upon him] incorruption for eternal life, which comes to every one from the fact of his seeing God. For as those who see the light are within the light, and partake of its brilliancy; even so, those who see God are in God, and receive of His splendour. But [His] splendour vivifies them; those, therefore, who see God, do receive life. And for this reason, He, [although] beyond comprehension, and boundless and invisible, rendered Himself visible, and comprehensible, and within the capacity of those who believe, that He might vivify those who receive and behold Him through faith. For as His greatness is past finding out, so also His goodness is beyond expression; by which having been seen, He bestows life upon those who see Him. It is not possible to live apart from life, and the means of life is found in fellowship with God; but fellowship with God is to know God, and to enjoy His goodness.<\/p>\n
The Word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men, for whom He made such great dispensations, revealing God indeed to men, but presenting man to God, and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father, lest man should at any time become a despiser of God, and that he should always possess something towards which he might advance; but, on the other hand, revealing God to men through many dispensations, lest man, falling away from God altogether, should cease to exist. For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God.<\/p>\n
–Against Heresies Bk. IV Ch. 20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The prophets, then, indicated beforehand that God should be seen by men; as the Lord also says, \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\u201d But in respect to His greatness, and His wonderful glory, \u201cno man shall see God and live,\u201d for the Father is incomprehensible; but in regard to His love, and kindness, and as to His infinite power, even this He grants to those […]<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irenaeus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":405,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/irenaeus-eucharist\/","url_meta":{"origin":328,"position":0},"title":"Irenaeus: Eucharist","author":"Nemo","date":"March 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irenaeus"","block_context":{"text":"Irenaeus","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/irenaeus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21866,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/on-the-septuagint\/","url_meta":{"origin":328,"position":1},"title":"On the Septuagint","author":"Nemo","date":"February 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irenaeus"","block_context":{"text":"Irenaeus","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/irenaeus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1275,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/on-the-rule-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":328,"position":2},"title":"On the Rule of Faith","author":"Nemo","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aristides"","block_context":{"text":"Aristides","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/aristides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":283,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/irenaeus-the-nature-of-thought\/","url_meta":{"origin":328,"position":3},"title":"Irenaeus: The Nature of Thought","author":"Nemo","date":"January 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When refuting the Gnostics, who pride themselves on knowledge of the divine, and make a pantheon out of such knowledge, Irenaeus expounds on the relation between a rational being and his knowledge, by way of proving that Christ, the Wisdom of God, is one with the Father, though distinct from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irenaeus"","block_context":{"text":"Irenaeus","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/irenaeus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":347,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/theophilus-of-antioch-on-the-trinity\/","url_meta":{"origin":328,"position":4},"title":"Theophilus of Antioch On the Trinity","author":"Nemo","date":"February 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Image of God For God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in some they are overspread, and do not see the light of the sun. 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