Passing Away And Persisting

Quoniam malignantes dicunt: si enim coelum thronus Dei est thronus est, et terra suppedaneum ejus, dictum est autem praeterire coleum et terram hisque praetereuntibus oportere etiam hunc Deum, qui super sedeat, praeterire; et ideo non hunc esse Deum qui sit super omnia; primo quidem nesciunt quid sit coelum thronus, et terra suppedaneum. Nec enim sciunt quid sit Deus, sed putant eum more hominis sedere, et contineri, non autem continere. Sed et praeteritionem coeli et terrae ignorant; Paulus autem non ignoravit, dicens: Praeterit enim figura hujus mundi. Deinde quaestionem ipsorum solvit David. Figura enim hujus mundi praetereunte, non solum Deum ait perseverare, sed et servos ejus, in centesimo primo psalmo dicens ita: Initio terram tu fundasti, Domine, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli, Ipsi peribunt, tu autem perseverabis, et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent et sicut cooperimentum mutabis eos, et mutabuntur. Tu autem idem ipse es et anni tui non deficient. Filii servorum tuorum inhabitabunt et semen eorum in aeternum dirigetur; manifeste ostendens quae sint quae praetereunt, et quis est qui semper perseverat, Deus cum servis suis. Et Esaias autem similiter: Allevate, inquit, oculos vestros vestros in coelum, et attendite in terram deorsum, quoniam coelum sicut fumus confirmatum est, terra autem sicut vestimentum veterascet: qui autem inhabitant in eis, quemadmodum haec morientur. Salutare autem meum in aeternum erit, justitia autem mea non deficiet. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Liber IV, Caput III Source: Migne PG 7.802b-803a

They malignantly say: 'If heaven is the throne of God, and earth His footstool, and it is declared that heaven and earth shall pass away, 1 then when these pass away the God who sits above must also pass away, and therefore He cannot be the God who is over all.' Let it be said that firstly they do not know what it is that heaven is the throne and earth the footstool. For they do not know what God is, but they think He sits like a man, and thatHe is contained within bounds, who is boundless. And they are also ignorant of the passing away of the heaven and earth, but Paul was not ignorant, who says: 'For the figure of this world passes away.' 2 Then David gives answer to their question, for he says that when the form of this world passes away, not only shall God remain, but even His servants, saying in the hundred and first Psalm: 'In the beginning, You, O Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They shall perish, but you shall remain, and all shall wear out as a garment, and as clothing you will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years shall not fail. The children of your servants shall persist, and their seed shall be established for ever.' 3 Manifestly revealing what passes away and what persists forever, that is, God with His servants. And Isaiah likewise says: 'Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth below. For the heaven has been set together as smoke, and the earth shall wear old like a garment, and they who dwell there shall perish in like manner. But my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away.' 4 Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 3 1 Mt 5.34-35, Isaiah 66.1 Lk 21.33 2 1 Cor 7.31 3 Ps 101.26-29 4 Isaiah 51.6