Primary source
Against Heresies 3.11
Late second-century witness to the received fourfold Gospel before Constantine.
- Author
- Irenaeus of Lyons
- Tradition
- Early Christian writing
- Accessed
- 2026-06-18
Where this source is used
- A great apostasy made restoration necessaryThe New Testament warns of apostasy but promises the gospel will endure, and the apostles' message was preached without a break from the first century on.
- Constantine changed the BibleThe four Gospels were received long before Constantine, and the records of Nicaea show no vote on the Bible's contents and no removal of books.
- The reliability of the BibleVariants in the manuscripts are real and openly catalogued. They show a text copied many times in many places, which is why its earliest wording can be recovered.
- The reliability of the New TestamentPaul's letters preserve a summary of belief from within a few years of Jesus' death, the Gospels were written within living memory, and the text can be recovered with confidence.