ＩＲＥＮＡＥＵＳ： ”Ｔｈｅ Ｃｌａｓｓ ｏｆ Ｏｂｌａｔｉｏｎｓ”

Irenaeus on the Class-Species Distinction in His Covenant Theology

The question of continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants has always been a contentious topic of discussion going back at least as far as the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. Generally speaking, the newness of the New Covenant was set in the foreground in the Christian-Jewish context, while the continuity of the covenants was foregrounded in the orthodox-gnostic/Marcionite context.

In my estimation, the class-species model proposed by Irenaeus (ca. 130 – ca. 202 AD) is quite helpful. Rather than frame the discussion exclusively in terms of continuity and discontinuity, Irenaeus framed the issue in the taxonomic terms of class and species. According to Irenaeus, the class remained consistent, based on the consistency of God, while the species took on an element of newness according to the dispensation. In the following excerpt from Against Heresies, Irenaeus uses the class-species model to explain oblations, sacrifices, and tithes. The theologian writes:

And the class of oblations in general has not been set aside; for there were both oblations there [among the Jews], and there are oblations here [among the Christians]. Sacrifices there were among the people; sacrifices there are, too, in the Church: but the species alone has been changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen. For the Lord is [ever] one and the same; but the character of a servile oblation is peculiar [to itself], as is also that of freemen, in order that, by the very oblations, the indication of liberty may be set forth. For with Him there is nothing purposeless, nor without signification, nor without design. And for this reason they (the Jews) had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to Him, but those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord’s purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property, since they have the hope of better things [hereafter]; as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God (Luke 21:4).

Against Heresies: Book IV, Chapter 18, Section 2.