c. 180

Irenaeus: the unity of Christ's person – true God and true man

Against the Gnostic separation of Jesus and the heavenly Christ, Irenaeus stresses the unity of the Person, repeating "the same": Christ is God (the Word) and Man, in one Person the Son of Man and the Son of God, who lived, suffered and died. The Logos, according to Berkhof, existed from eternity and revealed the Father, and in the Incarnation became the historical Jesus. González emphasizes that Irenaeus thinks of the union not as a union of two opposed "substances" or "natures" but in dynamic terms: humanity was created for union with God, and in Christ this union reaches its summit. If he is not Man, people will not be saved by him; if he is not God, there will be no power to save.