Irenaeus simply wants to address the false teachings of the Gnostics by expounding upon the truths and mysteries of God. He wants to show the arguments of the Gnostics to be absurd and how far from the truth those teachings are. He does this by restating the tradition of the church and how this tradition was established. He then moves on to presenting an argument for apostolic succession. Irenaeus demonstrates how the tradition and the truth have been safeguarded by this successful chain of events. The evidence that Irenaeus relies upon is the words of those Gnostics, like Valentinus and Marcion, which have been both written down and spoken by the followers of Gnosticism. He calls them commentaries. Another piece of evidence is the plurality