84 Irenaeus: Life, Scripture, LegacyIrenaeus and Nuptial Theology
It is, however, only with Irenaeus that we can begin to speak of an ecclesiology and
soteriology that takes into account the analogy of the union of man and woman in
marriage. This nuptial theology is developed primarily through the exposition of cer-
tain key Old Testament texts (Num. 12:10-14; Hos. 1; Is. 54:1, 63:9). In the Adversus
haereses, Irenaeus plays on the theme of the church as sinful bride who is sanctified by
her husband (IV.20.12). In the Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, he develops
the image of the church as the once-sterile but now-fecund mother delivering children
for Christ (94).
Admittedly, Irenaeus does not frequently resort to nuptial imagery. In the Adversus
haereses, we find only a handful of uses of “bridegroom” or “bride,” νυμφίος/sponsus or
or νύμφη/sponsa/uxor, in a theological or cosmological context. These can be further
sub-divided into two categories: those that occur in his descriptions of the “Gnostic”
systems (e.g., I.7.1, 5; I.8.4; I.9.1; I.11.5; I.13.3; I.30.12) and those that occur in his
attempts to construct an orthodox Christian response to these Gnostic claims (e.g.,
II.27.2; IV.20.12; V.9.4; V.35.2). The obvious problem for Irenaeus in his exposition of a
nuptial theology is that the “heretics,” on his account, also use such language to depict
the redemption of the cosmos and the salvation of the elect. Indeed, this may well
account for Justin’s hesitancy in using such imagery. According to the Valentinians,
for example, when Achamoth ends her exile in the intermediate realm, she espouses
the Saviour and transforms the Pleroma into a “nuptial chamber” (nymphonem), into
which the “spiritual seed” (spiritales), who have “taken off their souls” [exspoliatos ani-
mas] and become “intelligent spirits” (spiritus intellectuales), may now enter.^24 Nuptial
imagery here points to the future dissolution of the material realm, to which the soul
is considered to belong, and the full initiation of those who have taken off entirely
their created nature into the mysteries of the cosmos. It is particularly problematic for
Irenaeus that the Valentinians justify these claims by reference to Paul: “And they say
that Paul speaks about the consorts within the Pleroma [coniugationes quae sunt intra
Pleroma] showing them in one. For concerning union in this life [de ea enim coniu-
gatione quae est secundum hanc vitam] he says, writing, ‘This is a great mystery, but I
speak about Christ and the Church.’”^25 This is the only instance in the Adversus haere-
ses where any portion of Ephesians 5:21-32 is cited, and it is interesting that Irenaeus
does not attempt to contrast an ecclesiological reading of the text with the cosmologi-
cal reading he imputes to the Valentinians. Neither is there a citation of this text in the
Demonstration.
Indeed, Irenaeus never explicitly attempts to contrast his own nuptial theology
with these competing “heretical” accounts. But when he employs nuptial imagery in
a theological context, it is to express a positive valuation of the created world and to
demonstrate the continuity between the gospel of Christ and the revelation of the
Creator. Even though marital union points toward, and almost becomes absorbed
in, a spiritual reality, its use in anti-heretical polemic ensures that it remains firmly
embedded in a body-affirming discourse. This is a point often lost on commentators
keen to see repression as the primary motivating factor in allegorical readings of mar-
riage in the Hebrew Bible.