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Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

St Irenaeus of Lyons, tr. Robinson, 1920

Chapter 54

For this cause then is He Saviour. Now Emmanuel is, being interpreted, With you God; ¹ or² as a yearning cry³ uttered by the prophet, such as this: With us shall be God; according to which it is the explanation and manifestation of the good tidings proclaimed. For Behold, H e saith, the virgin⁴ shall conceive and shall bring forth a son; and He, being God, is to be with us. And, as if altogether astonished⁵ at these things, he proclaims in regard to these future events that With us shall be God. And yet again concerning His birth the same prophet says in another place: Before she that⁶ travailed gave birth, and before the pains of travail came on, she escaped and was delivered of a man-child. Thus he showed that His birth from the virgin was unforeseen and unexpected.⁷ And again the same prophet says: Unto us a son is born, and⁸ unto us a child is given;⁹ and his name is called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God.¹⁰

Notes

The translator has read μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν for μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν: there is no distinction in sound in the later Greek pronunciation.
Cf. Matt. i. 23.
Or, perhaps,” a cry of augury.”
Isa. vii. 14.
Cf. c. 71; and Just. M. Ap. I, 47: θαυμαζόντων τὰ γεγενημένα: Dial. 118: τοῦτο θαυμάζων ᾿Ησαιὰς ἔφη.
Isa. lxvi. 7.
III, xxvi. 2: “In eo autem quod dixerit: Ipse Dominus dabit signum, id quod erat inopinatum generationis ejus significavit. . . . Sed quoniam inopinata salus hominibus inciperet fieri, Deo adjuvante, inopinatus et partus virginis fiebat,” etc.
Isa. ix. 6.
The transposition of “son” and “child” would seem to be an oversight: see however Just. M. Ap. I, 35 (παιδίον . . . νεανίσκος]: and note that the whole passage is quoted differently in c. 56 below.
So in IV, lv. 2: cf. III, xx. 2. So above, c. 40. But in c. 56 we have “Angel of great counsel,” as in III, xvii. 3: cf. Just. M. Dial. 76.