4. Therefore they (heretics) must necessarily accept all the rest that is said to them (Luke), or must reject this also. For no one who makes sense will allow them to accept some of what Luke said as true, and reject something, as if he did not know the truth. And if Marcion's followers do reject it, then they will have no gospel left; but they, abridged the Gospel of Luke, as I said before,52 boast that they have the Gospel. The followers of Valentinus must cease their extreme idle talk, for they have borrowed from this (the Gospel) many reasons for their subtle speculations, daring to interpret it badly; that they were well told. And on the other hand, if they are forced to accept the rest (parts of the Gospels), then, delving into the perfect Gospel and the teaching of the Apostles, they must repent in order that they may be saved from perdition.

Chapter XV: A Refutation of Those Who Demean the Apostle Paul

1. We imagine the same against those53 who do not recognize the Apostle Paul: they must either renounce the other words of the Gospel, which have become known to us through Luke alone, and not use them; or if everyone accepts this, they must necessarily accept the testimony about Paul, when he (Luke) says that the Lord first said to him from heaven: Saul, Saul, why persecute me? I am Jesus Christ, Whom thou persecutest (Acts 22:8; 26:15)," then Ananias said of him: "Go, for he is the vessel which I have chosen, to declare my name among the nations, and kings, and the children of Israel. And I will show him from this time how much he must suffer for My name's sake (Acts 9:15:16). Wherefore those who do not acknowledge him, who was chosen by God to boldly proclaim his name, because he was sent to the aforesaid nations, despise the election of God, and excommunicate themselves from communion with the apostles. For they can neither prove that Paul is not an apostle, when he was chosen to do so, nor can they prove that Luke is a liar, whereas he thoroughly declares the truth to us. Perhaps this is why God did the fact that Luke presented very many Gospel truths, which must be used by all, so that all, following his subsequent testimony about the deeds and teachings of the apostles and having an intact rule of truth, could be saved. Therefore his testimony is true, and the teaching of the Apostles is clear and firm, and conceals nothing, because they did not teach some things in secret, and some things openly.

2. Such subterfuges are characteristic of false teachers, evil seducers, and hypocrites, as do the followers of Valentinus. These people speak to the crowd for the sake of those who belong to the Church, whom they themselves call catholics54 and ecclesiastical, and by their speeches they carry away the simpler and deceive them; imitating our way of speech, so that they may be listened to more often; and then they reproach us for the fact that, while they think like us, we withdraw from communion with them without reason, and while they say the same thing and contain the same doctrine, we call them heretics; and when, by means of their speculations, they turn someone away from the faith and make them their unquestioning listeners, they separately expound to them the ineffable mystery of their Pleroma. But all are deceived who imagine that they are able to distinguish from the truth that which is true in words. For error is alluring and believable and needs embellishment, but truth is unadorned and therefore entrusted to children. But if any of their hearers demands an explanation or contradicts them, they say that he is incapable of receiving the truth and has no seed from above from their Mother, and they say nothing to him at all, calling him belonging to the middle regions, that is, to the beings of the soul. And if someone gives himself up to them like a sheep and follows their course of action and their "redemption," then he becomes haughty and thinks that he is neither in heaven nor on earth, but has entered the Plyroma itself, and already, united with his angel, walks vaingloriously and haughtily like a rooster. Among them there are those who say that a person who comes from above should adhere to good behavior; therefore, they try to seem important in appearance. Very many, having become despised as if they were already perfect, and living without any respect and with contempt (for everything), call themselves spiritual and say that they already know the place of coolness that is inside the Plyroma.

3. But let us return to the previous reasoning. When it is clearly shown that the former preachers of the truth and the apostles of liberty called no one else God or called them Lord, except only the true God the Father and the yoke of the Word. ruling in all things, then it should be clear that they confessed to be Lord God the Creator of heaven and earth, Who spoke to Moses and gave him the code of the law, Who called the fathers, and knew no one else. Thus, the teaching of both the Apostles and their disciples55 concerning God became evident from their words.

AGAINST HERESIES. Book Three

Chapter XVI: The Teaching of the Apostles about Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God

1. Some say that Jesus was only the vessel of Christ, into which Christ descended from above like a dove, and, showing the unnameable Father, entered into Plyrome in an incomprehensible and invisible way, for He was not comprehended not only by men, but also by heavenly powers and powers, and that Jesus was the Son, and Christ was the Father,56 and the Father of Christ was God; others say that He suffered imaginarily, being a stranger to suffering by nature. The Valentinians say that Jesus, who according to the economy, was the one who passed through Mary, and on whom the Saviour, also called Christ, came down from the region on high,57 because He has the names of all those who begat Him, and to him who, according to the economy, communicated His power and His name, so that through him death might be abolished, and the Father might be made known through that Saviour who came down from above, Who is also called the friend of Christ and of the whole Pleroma, – so they confess the one Jesus Christ with their tongues, but are divided in opinion; for, as I have already remarked, it is their custom to say that one was Christ, produced by the Only-begotten to strengthen the Pleroma, another Saviour begotten to glorify the Father, and still another one who was born according to the economy. and of whom it is said that he suffered, while the Saviour, who bore Christ, returned to Plyroma. Therefore, I find it necessary to quote the entire teaching of the Apostles about our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that not only did they not think anything of the kind about Him, but even more, that they proclaimed by the Holy Spirit that those who would give out such teachings were messengers of Satan to overthrow the faith of some and to turn them away from life.