the fact that the heresy refutes itself in this way is not just an apologetic to those outside, but also a part of dogmatics, just as the one true God of revelation reveals himself as who he is by demolishing the proud and the ‘gods’ and exalting the humble. This is why Irenaeus attaches so much importance to tracing Gnosis back to Simon Magus, that is, to a situation of revelation within the New Testament.42 In Irenaeus apologetics and dogmatics are totally one, because the indissolubility of the