PARACLETE in PRE-NICENE Writings: Irenaeus (c. 120-202)

IRENAEUS, a Bishop at Lyons, (Gaul or France),  died with thousands of his flock, like a true shepherd, in the massacre of Emperor Severus, pg. 310, Introductory Note.  He was "probably born in Syria and removed in boyhood to Smyrna", according to Intro. Note on page 312. Irenaeus was "acquainted with Polycarp ( martyr and disciple of the Apostle John ) in his early youth," page 315, footnote 4. Some resources say Irenaeus was taught by Polycarp. Circa 120-202 AD.

IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES

(excerpts) The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, Book 3, Chapter 17, sections1, 2 & 3, pp.444-445. Reference data at the end of the blog. 

CIRCA 180 AD, E/W (estimated from dates given for other Book 3 citations and  E and W indicate Irenaeus was considered a writer from both the Eastern and the Western locales, according to David W. Bercot. See reference at the end of the blog.)

ALSO: See the the note about the 32 Syriac fragments of the Irenaeus text at the end of the blog.

NOTE: Comments in green are from the Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD+; extra words in black are in the text from the editors. Color added to pronouns, etc., for clarity.

Yellow highlights show that the First Church, established by Y'SHUA+ HA MASHIYACH+ through the work of His+ hand-picked Apostles ( picked both before and after His+ Crucifixion) , ALWAYS translated Paraclete as COMFORTER, ADVOCATE, or INTERCESSOR.... but never "REDEEMER", as the "golden, historic, and best" Aramaic-to-English translation has translated Paraqlita (Paraclete).

CHAPTER 17

THE APOSTLES TEACH THAT IT WAS NEITHER CHRIST NOR THE SAVIOR, BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO DID DESCEND UPON JESUS. THE REASON FOR THIS DESCENT

1.  It certainly was in the power of the Apostles to declare that CHRIST descended upon JESUS, or that the so-called superior SAVIOR [came down] upon the dispensational one, or HE+ Who is from the invisible places upon him from the Demiurge*; but they [the Apostles] neither knew nor said anything of the kind: for, had they known it, they would have also certainly stated it. *[ term the Gnostics used: Gnostic subordinate “deity” who is the creator of the material world  / SJH]

But what really was the case, that did they record, [namely,] that the SPIRIT of GOD as a dove descended upon HIM+; this SPIRIT, of Whom it was declared by Isaiah, “And the SPIRIT of GOD shall rest upon HIM+,” as I have already said.

And again: “The SPIRIT of the LORD is upon ME+, because HE hath anointed ME+.” That is the SPIRIT of Whom the LORD+ declares,

“For it is not ye that speak, but the SPIRIT of Your FATHER which speaketh in you.”

And again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into GOD, HE+ said to them,

“Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of THE FATHER, and of The SON+, and of the HOLY SPIRIT.”

For [God] promised, that in the last times HE would pour HIM [the SPIRIT] upon [His] servants and handmaids, that they might prophesy;

wherefore HE did also descend upon the SON of GOD, made the Son of Man, becoming accustomed in fellowship with HIM+ to dwell in the human race, to rest with human beings, and to dwell in the workmanship of GOD, working the will of THE FATHER in them, and renewing them from their old habits into the newness of CHRIST.

2.  This SPIRIT did David ask for the human race, saying, “And stablish me with THINE all-governing SPIRIT;” Who also, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the LORD’S+ ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant;

from whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to GOD, the SPIRIT bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to THE FATHER the first-fruits of all nations.

Wherefore also the LORD+ promised to send the Comforter, Who should join us to GOD.

For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner,

neither could we, being many, be made one in CHRIST JESUS without the WATER from Heaven.

And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto Life without the voluntary RAIN from above.

For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that Laver [ Baptism ] which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the SPIRIT;

Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of GOD, our LORD+ compassionating that erring Samaritan woman — who did not remain with one husband, but committed fornication by [contracting] many marriages — by pointing out, and promising to her LIVING WATER,

so that she should thirst no more, nor occupy herself in acquiring the refreshing water obtained by labor, having in herself WATER springing up to Eternal Life.

The LORD+ receiving this as a gift from His+ FATHER, does Himself+ also confer it upon those who are partakers of Himself+, sending the HOLY SPIRIT upon all the earth.

3. [ …… ] This SPIRIT, again, HE+ did confer upon the Church, sending throughout all the world the Comforter from Heaven,

from whence also the LORD+ tells us that the devil, like lightning, was cast down.

Wherefore we have need of the DEW of GOD, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful,

and that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate,

the LORD+ commending to the HOLY SPIRIT His+ own man [ i.e. the Believer ], who had fallen among thieves, whom HE+ Himself + compassionated, and bound up his wounds, giving two ROYAL DENARIA;

so that we, receiving by the SPIRIT the image and superscription of THE FATHER and The SON+, might cause the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out the increase [thereof] to the LORD+.

+  +  +

NOTE OF INTEREST in the INTRODUCTORY NOTE, p. 313:

In the year 1857 , there was also brought out a Cambridge edition, by the Rev. Wigan Harvey, in two octavo volumes.

The two principal features of this edition are: the additions which have been made to the Greek text from the recently discovered Philosophoumena of Hippolytus; and  the further addition of 32 fragments of a Syriac version of the Greek text of Irenaeus, called the Nitrian collection of Syriac MSS. in the British Museum.

These fragments are of considerable interest, and in some instances rectify the readings of the barbarous Latin version, where, without such aid, it would have been unintelligible.  The edition of Harvey will be found constantly referred to in the notes appended to our translation.

REFERENCES

NOTE: Material is from the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volumes 1-10,  American Edition ( a reprint of Christian Literature Publishing Co. 1886), 2nd printing 1995, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA. ISBN 1-56563-087-4

Some supplemental information and dates are from: David W. Bercot, editor, A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, Peabody, MA, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998. ISBN 978-1-56563-870-9

Digital Copy from: The Master Christian Library Version 8 CD-ROM 2000 Ages Softward, Rio, WI  www.ageslibrary.com

NOTE: This Digital Copy of the ANF does NOT contain any Introductory Notes from the translators and editors, no footnotes, and no elucidations and comments at the end of the books, although these helpful items are contained in the hard copy listed above.

~  ~  ~

 

Dr.Ernest Klein on PARACLETE

From Professor Haim Rabin of Hebrew University and Hebrew Language Academy, in the Introduction of Dr. Klein's Hebrew Etymological Dictionary :

Dr. Ernest David Klein (1899-1983) born in Szatmar , Transylvania, was the son of a rabbi, whose formal education included Hebrew, Aramaic, German, Latin, and Greek. He obtained his doctorate in Semitic and Romance languages in 1925 at the University of Vienna. He is said to have had a working knowledge of 40 languages altogether.  

He served as a rabbi at Nove Zamky, a Hungarian-speaking town in the Slovak eastern part of Czechoslovakia. He survived the death camps in Auschwitz and Dachau, although losing his family . From 1951 he lived in a large single-room attic at his synagogue in Toronto, Canada, where he was the spiritual head of a community of Hungarian-speaking immigrants.  

He composed three classic etymological dictionaries: a medical etymological dictionary, a Comprehensive  Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (CEDEL) , and the Hebrew Etymological and Comprehensive Dictionary  of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English (University of Haifa, CARTA JERUSALEM,  publication sponsored by the Minden Foundation... Beatrice Minden to continue her husband Arthur's legacy, published in 1987 , four years after the death of Dr. Klein)  .  

The Entry in Hebrew on page 533

of Dr. Klein's Hebrew Etymological Dictionary

is as follows....

" Paraqlit" ( spelled in normal Hebrew block letters, identical to the Aramaic  except for vowel markings) ,

m. n., P  B  H 

advocate, solicitor

[ Gk., parakletos ( = advocate), verbal adj. of parakatein ( = to call to aid, summon, invite, console, exhort, encourage)  from para ( = beside) and kalein (= to call)  which is cognate with L. caldre (to proclaim, call, shout ].

The importance of this rather normal entry which shows the Greek origin of paraqlita are those three little letters:  P  B  H.

They mean:

P = Post     B = Biblical    H = Hebrew 

Biblical Hebrew is from the beginning until about the year 332 BCE, marked by Alexander the Great's conquests (according to Wikipedia).

Post Biblical Hebrew , according to Dr. Klein's editors on page xi, Notes on Usage , comes after the Biblical era and before the Medieval Hebrew  era.

An on-line search found this information at WordsearchBible.com :

http://www.wordsearchbible.com/catalog/PostBiblical_Hebrew_Literature_2270.html

"... Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature is a survey of Hebrew literature, including extracts from the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrashim, and from the writings of great rabbis through the Middle Ages and later.

About the Author

Benzion Halper (1884-1924) was born in Lithuania, but lived in Germany and England in his youth. In 1911, he moved to the United States to work with genizah; depositories of sacred books, in New York. Shortly thereafter, he began teaching rabbinics and languages at Dropsie College, and also was custodian of manuscripts there

In the sacred Hebrew literature of this POST BIBLICAL HEBREW time-frame, then, one would find the GREEK LOANWORD Paraqlit . It would mean ADVOCATE or HELPER of some sort. ( See previous blog for at least one well-known citation.) 

In the Peshitta translation, so closely related to the Hebrew that Paraqlita is spelled nearly identically, it would retain its identity as a GREEK LOANWORD  and retain its meaning as ADVOCATE or HELPER....never "REDEEMER +" ! 

However, ... disregarding such eminent scholars as Dr. Klein,  disregarding the hundreds of years of Post Biblical Hebrew literature, and disregarding the 3 Aramaic English translations available for SEVERAL DECADES... "REDEEMER+" is how the "golden, historic, and best" modern translation of the Aramaic to English NEW COVENANT sponsored by the Netzarim camp  translates the VERY WORDS OF Y'SHUA+ Ha MASHIYACH+ when HE+ told His+ disciples about the  Paraqlita coming, as recorded in 4 verses in John.  To Wit :

John 14:16   

"And I+ will ask of My+ FATHER and HE will give you ANOTHER REDEEMER Who will be with you forever."

Elucidation from verse 17: Even the SPIRIT of TRUTH; Whom the world cannot receive, because it perceives*  him not, neither knows him; but ye know him; for he dwells with you and shall be in you. *Greek

John's next verse is 14:26:

"But the REDEEMER, the HOLY SPIRIT, Whom The FATHER will send in My+ Name, HE shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I+ have said unto you. " 

John 15:26 reads:

"But when the REDEEMER is come, Whom I+ will send unto you from beside The FATHER, the SPIRIT of TRUTH, Who goes out forth from beside The FATHER, HE shall testify of ME+. "

John 16:7 reads:

"Nevertheless, I+ tell you the truth; it is advantageous for you that I+ should go away: for if I+ go not away, the REDEEMER will not come unto you; but if I+ depart, I+ will send Him unto you."

Trying to force Greek loanwords into an Aramaic etymology works CONFUSION... making Our LORD appear to say things that do not make sense. Thus, it is IMPORTANT to translate ACCURATELY the GREEK LOANWORDS every time and place  they are found within the Peshitta.

There are OTHER Greek loanwords throughout the Peshitta... such as the 13 verses in the Peshitta that use another Greek loanword, "diathAkA" for covenant ...Greek loanwords included in the very Aramaic text. This is significant BECAUSE there are perfectly good words for covenant in both Aramaic and Hebrew which could have been used.

Returning to Paraqlita, then, of special consideration HERE would be the time-frame of the Peshitta text. The information about the age of the Peshitta contains quite a wide variety of opinions, but the linguistic implications of the time-frame of the Peshitta and its  translation is worth the time to sift through the many opinions. 

(More to come about the Peshitta text time frame and how the Pre-Nicene Christian Writers viewed the Paraqlit...  years before the Peshitta Text was available. ) 

Yours for TRUTH+ ,

Sister Judith Hannah  + + +