And justly indeed is he led captive, who had led men unjustly into bondage; while man, who had been led captive in times past, was rescued from the grasp of his possessor, according to the tender mercy of God the Father, who had compassion on His own handiwork, and gave to it salvation, restoring it by means of the Word—that is, by Christ—in order that man might learn by actual proof that he receives incorruptibility not of himself, but by the free gift of God.
Irenaeus of Lyons
Against Heresies, Book V
Chapter XXI