How Irenaeus attests to the canonical redaction (Trobisch)

The principle that Irenaeus himself uses – to substantiate his own position by textual evidence, in particular from his own collection, and to conclude that anyone who recognises these truths also adheres to the canonical Paul (Iren., Adv. haer. IV 32,1),[1] obviously also applies to the anonymous presbyter, from whom Irenaeus seems to have adopted this argument. Irenaeus's circular argument reads: ‘After that, the whole doctrine will be established for him if he also reads the scriptures carefully according to those presbyters in the church with whom the apostolic teaching is, as I have shown.’[2] (Iren., Adv. haer. IV 32,1).

What is crucial for our context is that he speaks of the ‘writings’ that can be read ‘according to the presbyters in the church’. He does not call these writings ‘New Testament’, indeed, he does not even speak of a collection of writings, but obviously still has individual writings in mind. He identifies the authorities for these writings with presbyters ‘in the church’, not with Apostles. They are presbyters ‘with whom’ only the apostolic teaching is.

In my opinion, Irenaeus thus precisely outlines the circle of those who, since Trobisch, are to be addressed as the editors of the canonical redaction.[3] He then also makes it clear that this redaction was directed against Marcion and uses 1 Cor 2:15 to authorise the presbyter and to self-immunise the redaction:

‘A disciple like this, truly spiritual, because he receives God's Spirit, who from the beginning assisted man in all of God's arrangements, has announced the future, points out the present and reports the past, who ‘judges all, but is himself judged by no one’ (1 Cor 2:15) ...  he will also judge the teaching of Marcion’ (Irenaeus, Adv. haer. IV 33,1-2).

[1] Here John 1,3; Eph 4,5-6 are taken as starting points – whoever adheres to these canonical passages will also ‘adhere to the head...’ (Eph 4,16), which is another canonical passage.

[2] Post deinde et omnis sermo ei constabit, si et scripturas diligenter legerit apud eos qui in ecclesia sunt presbyteri, apud quos est apostolica doctrina, quemadmodum demonstravimus. Both German translations (Brox, FC, and Emenegger, BKV) are inaccurate here. Brox translates the important passage as: ‘if he has carefully read the scriptures with the presbyters in the church’, Emenegger: ‘if he also carefully reads the scriptures with the priests of the church’.

[3] D. Trobisch, Die Endredaktion des Neuen Testaments, 1996.