Don Bosco Center of Studies

An Affiliate of the Salesian Pontifical University

IRENAEUS OF LYONS:
The Role of Mary in the Economy of
Salvation

A Research Paper submitted to Rev. Fr. Ramon Garcia, SDB

Institute of Theological Formation

In partial fulfillment of the subject BD217 Mariology

By

Bro. Regino Carlo P. Godinez, SDB

 February 8, 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………. 1

II. MARY’S ROLE IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION ………

a. Mary, The Virgin Mother Of Jesus Christ ……………… 2

b. Recapitulation of Eve in Mary ………………………… 3

III. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION………………………….

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………….. 8

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 I. INTRODUCTION

Irenaeus of Lyons is considered the first systematic theologian ever born. He was

made Bishop after the martyrdom of his predecessor Pothinus in the latter half of the

second century. Irenaeus quickly resolved to defend Christianity against the dangerous

heresies that were threatening the faith of the whole Christendom, especially in its

delicate foundational years.1

His best achievement was the publication of the comprehensive tractate Adversus

haereses (Against Heresies). With this gigantic theological masterpiece he was able to

ward off the dangers of the pervading heresies in the second century. As a result, he

became among the more popular, if not the most, in the second century along with others

who zealously kept at bay the heretical viruses, such as Gnostics, Docetists, Judaizers, as

well as pagans, and preventing a massive contamination of perverse beliefs among

ordinary and highly-cultured Christians during the first two centuries of Christianity.2

1
Cf. Luigi Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic
Thought, translated by Thomas Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999), 51-52.
2
Cf. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church, 51.

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 The successful endeavors and stories of these great apologists, Irenaeus among

them, cannot be thoroughly narrated in this text for sure. However, it can be worthwhile

to mention some of the many contributions that they have made for the rise of

Christianity in its maiden years. Hence, the focus of this research paper will be on

Irenaeus’ contribution on the theological significance of Mary in the economy of

Salvation.3

II. MARY’S ROLE IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION

a. Mary, The Virgin Mother Of Jesus Christ

Book III, chapter 19 of Adversus haereses speaks of Jesus Christ as no mere

human being as what the heretics assert. Jesus Christ is both God and man. He is not

merely man who was begotten in the ordinary course of marital union but was begotten

of God the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say that Jesus was

generated into this world through Mary. This drives home the point: that Jesus is both

true God and true man. Mary is indeed the human and virgin mother of Jesus, from whom

He owes his humanity.

Scriptures, according to Irenaeus, have already prophesied Jesus’ “pre-eminent

birth which is from the Most High Father.”4 Irenaeus points out that Mary is the Virgin

3
Hubertus R. Drobner, The Fathers Of The Church: A Comprehensive Introduction, Translated by
Siegfried S. Schatzmann (Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2007), 117-121.
4
Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1: The Apostolic
Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus (Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 448.

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whom the prophet Isaiah of the Old Testament spoke of as the bearer of the child called

Immanuel (Isa 7:14) and that Jesus got his humanity from Mary, His human mother.

In defense of the heretics who denies the true humanity and existence of Christ,

Irenaeus proves that Jesus was indeed born of a human being in Mary. He also speaks

about the crucifixion and death of Jesus as an historical fact that also proves His true

humanity. And it was through Mary that Jesus was able to experience the reality of pain,

sacrifice, physical and moral suffering, and eventually death., according to him in Book

III, chap. 21 of Adversus haereses, the prophet Isaiah already spoke of this in one of his

oracles.5 It is a continuation of the Isaiah’s prophecy of the Immanuel as mentioned

above.

“He therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, being the Word of the Father,
and the Son of man, since He had a generation as to His human nature
from Mary – who was descended from mankind, and who was herself a
human being – was made the Son of man. Wherefore also the Lord
Himself gave us a sign, in the depth below, and in the height above,
which man did not ask for, because he never expected that a virgin
could conceive, or that it was possible that one remaining a virgin could
bring forth a son, and that what was thus born should be ‘God with us,’
and descend to those things which are of the earth beneath…”6

Irenaeus doesn’t speak of Mary as an ordinary lady but was indeed a virgin. And

through this obedient virgin, Jesus was able to squeeze into our human history. Thus, it

was now possible for Him to execute the divine plan of God to save us.

For Irenaeus, Mary is quite a spectacle to behold, especially when discussing

about sincere humility and obedience. In giving her own body at the service of God,

Mary actually has actually given a resounding affirmative answer on behalf of

5
Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, 451.
6
Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, 449.

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humankind to God’s invitation to salvation. And the consequences have been very

gracious. I agree that Mary’s role is truly magnanimous.

b. Recapitulation of Eve In Mary7

One of the brilliant teachings of Irenaeus that made him quite famous as a Father

of the Church is ‘Recapitulation in Christ’, 8 which is actually following Paul’s idea. This

teaching on recapitulation captures Paul’s idea of the restoration of all creation,

destroyed by sin during the Fall of Man9, back to its creator who is God:

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his
will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the
fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.
(Eph 1:9-10)
In maintaining the glorious reinstatement of all created beings back to God,

Irenaeus delves into the recapitulation of Eve in Mary. We now take into consideration

another aspect of Irenaeus theology in terms of the important role of Mary in the

economy of salvation.

Irenaeus speaks of Mary as an instrument of the fallen Eve’s recapitulation. In

giving a reasonable comparison between the two, he points out that one thing is common

to both—virginity. Eve was a virgin before the Fall (Gen 3). Mary was likewise a virgin

when she agreed to what the Angel Gabriel told her that she will bear a son, who will

become the savior of mankind, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1: 26-38).

7
This topic is based on Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church, 51-58.
8
Cf. Zachary Hayes, The Gift of Being: A Theology of Creation (Minn.: The Liturgical Press,
2001), 102.
9
In this paper, ‘Fall of Man’ will be used synonymously to ‘Fall’, pertaining to the story of Adam
and Eve’s failure to keep God’s commandment of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil in the third chapter of Genesis.

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One virgin disobeyed God; another obeyed. The big difference is telling: Mary utterly

obeyed while Eve completely disobeyed. One act is completely the opposite of the other.

The result of their respective actions is two-fold: a sense of angst and of thrill!

One—the disobedience of Eve—proved to be pointless because it only led humankind to

death. The other—Mary’s obedience—created such a phenomenal episode that continues

to reverberate until now! The former dragged all of humankind down into the pit of

gloom, hopelessness and death. The latter bore for us inescapable joy and hope; it

produced salvation and life for all of us. In other words, Mary’s reversing the abominable

act of Eve prepared the way for everyone’s salvation, which eventually happens through

Jesus Christ her Son.

Hitherto, we have seen that Mary has actually saved the putrid image of Eve: a

restoration of Eve by reversing the negative act. Irenaeus speaks of a parallelism between

two lines of action: “convergence and divergence.”10 Here is a figure to show how I

personally understand Irenaeus’ parallelism between Eve and Mary:

Eve = disobedient virgin

Death

LIFE
Mary = obedient virgin

Figure 2b. Parallelism of Mary and Eve

10
Cf. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church, 54.

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 Although the starting points and directions of both virgin’s respective actions are

different, they still run parallel to each other. The striking obedience of Mary is more

resplendent and visible (indicated by the bold and enlarged fonts and drawings) compared

to the faint memento of Eve’s transgression. Good vanquishes evil!

Thus it is safe to say that Mary’s saying yes to God’s invitation is one of the

greatest acts that an unadulterated human being could do! And by doing the complete

opposite of the latter’s part, Mary shared the fruits of her own salvation with Eve. This is

like in the case of a lady (A) rescuing another lady (B) who committed a serious mistake

or, say, crime. And because of A’s goodness, the face of B has been restored to its proper

place. Eve’s shame is now eradicated and she is now given that wondrous person back.

Mary’s laudable gesture of submission had a retroactive force of liberation.

III. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Mary’s special role in the Economy of Salvation is unimpeachable. She is the sole

entry point of Jesus into our world. Jesus owes His human nature to Mary. Hence, the

redemptive act of Jesus the Messiah, the Redeemer, was made possible historically

through Her.

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 Because of Mary’s approval, there is another ramification that Irenaeus

beautifully suggests: the recapitulation of Eve. It is worth mentioning that Irenaeus zeroes

in on Eve, who is usually set aside many authors when speaking about the Economy of

Salvation, original sin and creation, which is obviously due to Adam’s ‘popularity’ in

such topics.

I see Irenaeus’ thought of Eve’s recapitulation in this line: Mary provided the

indispensable reason for God to pardon Eve’s evil deed and to erase that tarnished person

that was Eve during the Fall. Eve’s irreversible act led to an inglorious fiasco. Mary’s

wondrous obedience paved the way for life in God. While they did these, both were

virgins. Mention must be made of Irenaeus’ being the first theologian to systematically

speak more comprehensively about Mary as a conduit of Eve’s recapitulation. The

recapitulation of Eve in Mary is the restoration of Eve’s goodness, albeit the permanence

of Eve’s committing the world’s first sin, together with Adam—a grim reality that can no

longer be blotted out from mankind’s memory! This permanence of the sin during the

Fall can also be expressed in the familiar theological line ‘solidarity in sin’ or

traditionally call ‘original sin.’ One modern theologian, Zachary Hayes, says that all

human persons continue to share in the effects of the Fall. However, just as we share in

this sinful reality, so too do we share in the divine vocation of living a life in God, that is,

a ‘saved’ life. We are all united in a movement to the “perfecting and completing

future.”11

Following the line of Irenaeus, I suppose the all-loving and provident God has

completely forgotten that infamous event. But ever-just in His ways, He also knows that

we cannot but bear all the downbeat effects of the Fall. But even this sorry state of
11
Cf. Hayes, The Gift of Being, 97-98.

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humanity could not make God do away with us forever after that earth-shattering sinful

event. He Himself initiated our rescue; he devised a wonderful plan for us. In according

to this plan, God provided for us with a beacon; a gateway through which we can finally

choose the direction of life. In many respects, Mary can be considered not merely our

‘idol’ of obedience, who must be emulated. She is also worthy of our reflection,

acknowledgment and veneration to a high degree.

Eve may be guilty of that abominable disobedience in the beginning of time. But

Mary has come to the rescue—not only for Eve but also for us. Her beautiful obedience

almost two thousand ago overshadowed the ill effects of Eve’s misdeed. Thanks to

Mary’s ‘yes’ that we now have a life. Eve’s restoration to grace is also our own

recapitulation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The New American Bible

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Drobner, Hubertus R. The Fathers Of The Church: A Comprehensive Introduction.
Translated by Siegfried S. Schatzmann. Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.,
2007.

Gambero, Luigi. Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in
Patristic Thought. Translated by Thomas Buffer. San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
1999.

Hayes, Zachary. The Gift of Being: A Theology of Creation. Minn.: The Liturgical Press,
2001.

Roberts, Alexander and James Donaldson, eds. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1: The
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus. Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.,
1994.

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