Irenaeus’ theology sets up shop in what is now considered customary; it was probably not an innovation on his part but it is the earliest consolidation of the Christian faith that we now possess. It begins with “God and Man” and this covers these topics: apostolic faith, God as creator, three articles of baptismal faith, God as both Creator and Father, angels, fashioning man, paradise, fashioning women, children in Paradise, law of life, and transgression.
Now to the apostolic faith [3]. The faith Irenaeus teaches is the faith handed down to him by the elders and apostles. “It exhorts us to remember that we have received baptism for the remission of sins” in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. Baptism is not only for forgiveness; it is also a “seal of eternal life” and it is a “rebirth unto God.” Baptism, in other words, is understood in decidedly non-low-church shape: like Acts 2:38, it is connected to forgiveness; it is a “seal of eternal life” and it is about “new birth.”
Paragraphs [4-5] assert that God the Father is “uncreated, invisible, Creator of all.” And — I like this — God is “logikos” — “verbal” and God is “Spirit.” Notice then these words from par. [5]: “Since then the Word establishes, that is to say, gives body and grants the reality of being, and the Spirit gives order and form to the diversity of the powers; rightly and fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God.”
Thus, the Word gives body and the Spirit gives order/form.
Here is a fine, early, on-the-way-toward the perichoresis understanding of Trinity: “Now the Spirit shows forth the Word, and therefore the prophets announced the Son of God; and the Word utters the Spirit, and therefore is Himself the announcer of the prophets, and leads and draws man to the Father.”
Father, Son, Spirit — with the Son and Spirit articulating the Other and all for the Father.