A Tale of Two Histories - Part 1

When we celebrate Christmas, we must get to know one word. That word was important in the early church, but its significance has largely been forgotten.

The word is Recapitulation.

The word was used by the second century church father Irenaeus, for whom it became a central feature of his theology. Referring to Jesus, he wrote:

When He became incarnate and was made man, He recapitulated

in Himself the long history of man, summing up and giving us

salvation in order that we might receive again in Christ Jesus

what we had lost in Adam, that is, the image and likeness of God.

Irenaeus took his cue and inspiration from the apostle Paul, who wrote in Ephesians 1:10 that God’s plan was “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head.” The original Greek word for ‘bring … together’ was anakephalaiōsasthai, literally meaning ‘re-heading’ – thus the English word ‘recapitulation’, which means the same thing.

Today we use the abbreviated word ‘recap’ to indicate a summing up, a rehearsing of the main points. This is what Paul meant and how Irenaeus saw it when he explained the idea.

For Irenaeus, the doctrine of recapitulation has to do with what Christ has done in human history and beyond – Jesus sums up a new history for humankind.

In his various writings, Paul has indicated this idea by referring to the first Adam and how sin and death came to this world through him; everyone has been affected by it (Romans 5:12). This has become our human history. But God sent His Son Jesus to reverse that story. Paul puts it this way:

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation

for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was

justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the

disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,

so also through the obedience of the one man the many will

be made righteous.

(Romans 5:18-19, emphasis added)

Jesus came to write and pioneer a new history.

The old history of Adam can be summarised as:

tree ➪ temptation ➪ sin ➪ death ➪ destruction

The new history of Jesus renews and reverses that history:

tree ➪ temptation ➪ righteousness ➪ death ➪ new eternal life

Irenaeus puts it this way:

So the Lord now manifestly came to his own, and born by his own created order which he himself bears, he by his obedience on the tree renewed [and reversed] what was done by disobedience in [connection with] a tree … Indeed, the sin of the first-formed man was amended by the chastisement of the First-begotten, the wisdom of the serpent was conquered by the simplicity of the dove, and the chains were broken by which we were in bondage to death. The cross of Jesus reverses the effects of the fall in the Garden. One tree changes the history of the other.

Consider this:

What have you learned from this chapter about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ? Read Romans 5:18-19. How would you define the truth of recapitulation that Irenaeus formulated from his reading of Scripture? How should this truth change our attitude to Jesus and the salvation found in Him?

Excerpted from Apprenticed to Jesus by Robert Solomon. © 2023 by Robert Solomon. Used with permission. All rights reserved.