Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4.20

God cannot be known by measuring his magnitude; indeed, it is impossible to measure the Father. But according to his love, we are led to God through his Word. As we obey him, we learn continually just how great God is. He is the one who, in relation to us, establishes, chooses, and adorns. Therefore, we have been formed together with all things that are contained by him. This is the one of whom Scripture says: "God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). Consequently, angels did not make us, nor did they form us; angels could not fashion the image of God, nor could anyone else except the Word of the Lord—not a power standing far off from the Father. God had no need of such helpers to do what he had predetermined, as if he lacked his own hands. For the Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit, are always present with him. Through them and in them he freely and willingly made all things. He speaks to them, saying, "Let us make man in our image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26), while drawing the substance of creatures, the pattern of his works, and the form of the world's ornaments from himself.

Scripture has rightly declared: "First of all, believe that there is one God, who established, consummated, and made all things out of what did not exist, so that they might be—capable of all things, yet grasped by no one." Malachi also says well in the prophets: "Is there not one God who created us? Is there not one Father of us all?" (Malachi 2:10). The Apostle likewise affirms: "There is one God, the Father, who is over all and in all" (Ephesians 4:6). And the Lord himself says: "All things have been handed over to me by my Father" (Matthew 11:27)—clearly by the One who made all things, for they are not alien but his own. Nothing has been subtracted from his dominion; therefore he is the Judge of the living and the dead, holding the key of David: "He will open, and no one will shut; he will shut, and no one will open" (Revelation 3:7). No one else in heaven, on earth, or under the earth could open the Father's book or look upon it, except the Lamb who was slain. He redeemed us by his blood from the One who made all things by the Word and adorned them with Wisdom. When the Word became flesh, he received all authority, so that just as the Word of God held dominion in heaven, he might also hold dominion on earth—because he is the righteous man who committed no sin, in whose mouth no deceit was found (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22)—and dominion over those under the earth, having become the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). Thus all things might see their King, the paternal light might shine forth in the Lord's flesh, radiant light might come to us from his flesh, and humanity might become incorruptible, clothed in the Father's light.

We have shown through many proofs that the Word, that is, the Son, was always with the Father. That Wisdom is the Spirit, present with him before any creation, Solomon declares: "By wisdom the Lord founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds dropped down dew" (Proverbs 3:19–20). And again: "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, before the springs of water, before the mountains were shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth" (Proverbs 8:22–25). And again: "When he established the heavens, I was there; when he made firm the fountains of the deep, when he established the foundations of the earth, I was beside him, like a master workman. I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man" (Proverbs 8:27–31).

Therefore there is one God, who by the Word and Wisdom made and ordered all things. He is the Artificer who gave this world to the human race. In his magnitude he is unknown to all who were made by him; no one has searched out his height—neither the ancients who have rested nor those who live now. But according to his love, he is known always through the One by whom he established all things: our Lord Jesus Christ. In these last times he became a man among men, to join the end to the beginning. For this reason the prophets, receiving the prophetic gift from the same Word, proclaimed his coming in the flesh, through whom the mingling and communion of God and man came about according to the Father's good pleasure. From the beginning the Word of God foretold that God would be seen by men, would dwell with them on earth, would speak with them, and would be present to his creation—saving it, making it capable of perceiving him, and freeing us from the hands of all who hate us, that is, from the whole spirit of transgression—so that we might serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days (Luke 1:74–75), and that humanity, embracing the Spirit of God, might pass into the glory of the Father. The prophets signified these things prophetically, but not as some claim: that because the Father of all is invisible, the one seen by the prophets was a different God.