Saint Irenaeus on God's Self-Sufficiency and Our Need for Communion

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons teaches that God created Adam not because He needed humanity but because He desired to bestow His benefits upon someone. Before any creation existed, the Son was glorifying the Father and was glorified by the Father, showing that God lacks nothing within Himself. The saint explains that God commands us to follow Him not because He requires our service but because He wishes to offer us salvation.

To follow the Savior is to share in salvation, just as to follow the light is to perceive the light. Those who are in the light do not illuminate it; they are themselves illuminated and made radiant by it. This teaching underscores the gratuity of creation and the purpose of divine commandments: they are given for our benefit, not to fulfill any lack in God.

Irenaeus presents a vision of communion in which human beings receive life and radiance from God, who remains the unchanging source of all good.