Participation in the Divine Logos according to Irenaeus’ Adversus haereses

Abstract

In the early Christian era, the apologist Irenaeus of Lyon contemplated the meaning of participation in the divine Logos by humans and all created beings. In his main work Adversus haereses, he offers an orthodox view of the Logos, Jesus Christ, as the Word and Wisdom of God the Father. He explains that the Logos is present in human beings and is also united with all creatures. Through the divine Logos, people are renewed, animated and become partakers of immortality. Furthermore, Irenaeus teaches that participation in the Logos is linked with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The universe exists through the divine Logos, who is inseminated in everything. Thus, the divine Logos plays a major role in the process of sanctification, and of unification and communion with God.