The library · Edition and sources
Origen: On First Principles
ANF historical edition · Translated text
Book III — Chapter I. translated from the Greek: On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It. (part 11)
not even pretend that it is dependent upon ourselves, but appears to attribute the whole to God, saying, “The potter hath power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another to dishonour;” and as his statements are not contradictory, we must reconcile them, and extract one complete statement from both. Neither does our own power, Edition note 1 apart from the knowledge Edition note 2 of God, compel us to make progress; nor does the knowledge of God (do so), unless we ourselves also contribute something to the good result; nor does our own power, apart from the knowledge of God, and the use of the power that worthily belongs to us, Edition note 3 make a man become (a vessel) unto honour or dishonour; nor does the will of God alone Edition note 4 form a man to honour or to dishonour, unless He hold our will to be a kind of matter that admits of variation, Edition note 5 and that inclines to a better or worse course of conduct. And these observations are sufficient to have been made by us on the subject of free-will.
About this reading layout
Source wording, punctuation, paragraph boundaries and supplied line breaks are retained. Long prose also has editorial reading breaks at sentence boundaries. Substantial passages already enclosed in double quotation marks are set apart; this does not identify their source or establish a connection.
These added breaks are reading aids, not claims about the original manuscript’s layout. Poetry is lineated only where the downloaded text supplies line breaks. References and edition notes remain with their text.