Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.11
John the Lord's disciple proclaimed this faith because he wanted to uproot the error that Cerinthus had sown in people's minds, and earlier still the Nicolaitans—an offshoot of the group that falsely bears the name—had scattered it in order to confuse believers and persuade them that there is one God who made everything through His Word. The heretics claim instead that one being is the Creator and another is the Father of the Lord, that one is the Creator's son and another is the Christ from above, who remained impassible, descended into Jesus the Creator's son, and then flew back to his Pleroma. They teach that the Only-Begotten exists as a Trinity, the Logos as the true Son of the Only-Begotten, and that the world we inhabit was not fashioned by the first God but by a lower power, cut off from the invisible and unspeakable realm above.
To fence in all such inventions and to plant a rule of truth in the Church, John began his Gospel doctrine with the words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this One was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. What was made in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (John 1:1-5). He insists: "All things were made through Him"; therefore the created order in which we live also belongs to that "all." The heretics cannot claim that everything lies inside their Pleroma, for if it did the world would not be outside it, as was shown in the previous book; but if the world is outside their Pleroma—an impossibility—then their Pleroma is not "all things," so the world is not outside it either.
John himself removes every dispute: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him" (John 1:10-11). By contrast, Marcion and his followers say the world was not made through Him and that He came not to His own but to alien territory. Some Gnostics say angels made the world, not the Word of God. Valentinians say the Demiurge made it, not the Word; they claim the Demiurge produced this world as a copy of the things above, sent by the Mother as Lord and Demiurge of the present order. Yet the Gospel declares plainly that all things were made through the Word who was in the beginning with God, and that this Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
According to the heretics, however, the Word did not become flesh, nor did Christ, nor the Savior assembled from all things. They refuse to let the Word and Christ enter this world; the Savior is not incarnate and does not suffer, but descends like a dove into Jesus—who came from their "condition"—announces the unknown Father, and returns to the Pleroma. Some say the Jesus from the condition was incarnate and suffered, passing through Mary like water through a pipe. Others say he was the Demiurge's son, into whom the Jesus from the condition descended. Still others say Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary, and the impassible, fleshless Christ from above descended into him. Under no heretical scheme does the Word of God become flesh. Anyone who examines their rules will find that every one of them presents the Word of God and the Christ above as fleshless and impassible. Some imagine He appeared only as a transfigured man, denying His birth or incarnation; others say He did not even take human form but descended like a dove into the Jesus born of Mary.
Latin
Hane fidem annuntians Johannes Domini discipulus, volens per Evangelii annuntiationem auferre eum, qui a Cerintho inseminatus erat hominibus errorem, et multo prius ab his qui dicuntur Nicolaite, qui sunt vulsio ejus quee falso cognominatur ut confunderet eos, et suaderet quoniam unus Deus qui omnia fecit per Verbum suum ; et non, quemadmodum illi dicunt, alterum quidem fabricatorem, alium autem Patrem Domini: et alium quidem fabricatoris filium, alterum vero ®de superioribus Christum, quem et impassibilem perseverasse, descendentem in Jesum filium fabricatoris, et iterum revolasse in suum Pleroma: et Tinitium quidem esse monogenem; Logon autem verum filium unigeniti: et eam conditionem quze est secundum nos, non a primo Deo factam, sed a virtute aliqua valde deorsum subjecta, et abscissa ab eorum communicatione quze sunt invisibilia et innominabilia. Omnia igitur talia cireumscribere volens discipulus Domini, et ' regulam veritatis constituere in Ecclesia, quia est unus Deus omnipotens, qui per Verbum suum omnia fecit, et visibilia et invisibilia; significans quoque, quoniam per Verbum, per quod Deus perfecit conditionem, in hoe et salutem his qui in conditione sunt preestitit hominibus; sic inchoavit in ea que est secundum Evangelium doctrina: Jn principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum: hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. Quod factum est, in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lua hominum, et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebre eam non comprehenderunt. Omnia, inquit, per ipsum facta sunt ; in omnibus ergo est et hzee quae secundum nos est conditio: non enim concedetur eis, omnia dici ea que sunt infra Pleroma ipsorum. Si enim et hee Pleroma ipsorum continet, non extra est tanta ista conditio, quemadmodum ostendimus in eo libro qui ante hune est ; si autem extra Pleroma sunt heec, quod quidem impossibile visum est, jam non est omnia Pleroma ipsorum: non est ergo extra heee tanta conditio. Abstulit autem a nobis dissensiones omnes ipse Johannes, dicens: In hoc mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In sua propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Secundum autem Marcionem et eos qui similes sunt ei, neque mundus per eum factus est ; neque in sua venit, sed in aliena, Secundum autem quosdam Gnosticorum, ¢ab angelis factus est iste mundus, et non per Verbum Dei. Secundum autem eos qui sunt a Valentino, iterum non per eum factus est, sed per Demiurgum. Hic enim operabatur similitudines tales fieri, ad imitationem eorum que sunt sursum, quemadmodum dicunt: Demiurgus autem perficiebat fabricationem conditionis. Emissum enim dicunt eum a matre Dominum et Demiurgum ejus dispositionis quee est secundum conditionem, per quem hune mundum factum volunt: cum Evangelium manifeste dicat, quoniam per Verbum, quod in principio erat apud Deum, omnia sunt facta: quod Verbum, inquit, caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. 8. Secundum autem illos, neque Verbum caro factum est, neque Christus, neque qui ex omnibus factus est Salvator. Htenim Verbum et Christum nec advenisse in hune mundum volunt: Salvatorem vero non incarnatum neque passum; descendisse autem quasi columbam in eum Jesum qui factus est ex dispositione, et cum annuntiasset incognitum Patrem, iterum ascendisse in Pleroma. Incarnatum autem et passum quidam quidem eum qui ex dispositione sit dicunt Jesum, quem per Mariam dicunt pertransisse, quasi aquam per tubum: alii vero ° Demiurgi filium, in quem descendisse eum Jesum qui ex dispositione sit: alii rursum Jesum quidem ex Joseph et Maria natum dicunt, et in hune descendisse Christum qui de superioribus sit, sine carne et impassibilem exsistentem. Secundum autem nullam sententiam heereticorum, Verbum Dei caro factum est. Si enim quis regulas ipsorum omnium perscrutetur, inveniet quoniam sine carne et impassibilis ab omnibus illis inducitur Dei Verbum, et qui est in superioribus Christus. Alii enim putant manifestatum eum, quemadmodum hominem transfiguratum; neque autem natum, neque incarnatum dicunt illum: alii vero neque figuram eum assumsisse hominis; sed quemadmodum columbam descendisse in eum Jesum, qui natus est ex Maria.