100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
71. Irenaeus (A.D. 130 – 202)
Irenaeus was a hearer of Polycarp (the disciple of the apostle John) and later became bishop of Lyons. Irenaeus was a prolific writer. His multi-volume treatise “Against Heresies” makes it clear that Christians of his day, at least the ones who could demonstrate apostolic connection, believed in the same New Testament we know today . As well as explicitly stating that there were only four legitimate Gospels A, Irenaeus makes not less than 1,819 quotations from and allusions to, various New Testament passages B.
71. Irenaeus (A.D. 130 – 202) - Notes and References
A. “For as there are four quarters of the world in which we live, and four universal winds, and as the Church is dispersed over all the earth, and the gospel is the pillar and the base of the Church and the breath of life, so it is natural that it should have four pillars, breathing immortality from every quarter and kindling the life of men anew. Whence it is manifest that the Word, the architect of all things, who sits upon the cherubim and holds all things together, having been manifest to men, has given us the gospel in fourfold form, bur held together in one Spirit. Matthew published his Gospel among the Hebrews (ie the Jews) in their own tongue, when Peter and Paul were preaching the gospel in Rome and founding the Church there. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself handed down to us in writing the substance of Peter’s preaching. Luke, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the gospel preached by his teacher. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned on His breast, himself produced his gospel, while he was living at Ephesus in Asia.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.1.
B. Josh McDowel, “The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict”, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, p. 43