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Origen: On First Principles
ANF historical edition · Edition commentary
Book III — Translator and historical edition notes (part 6)
to the second and third and fourth worlds, and allow no room for any change within them while others, again, will lose so little of their pristine state, that they will appear to have lost almost nothing, and some are to be precipitated with great destruction into the lowest pit. And God, the disposer of all things, when creating His worlds, knows how to treat each individual agreeably to his merits, and He is acquainted with the occasions and causes by which the government ( gubernacula ) of the world is sustained and commenced: so that he who surpassed all others in wickedness, and brought himself completely down to the earth, is made in another world, which is afterwards to be formed, a devil, the beginning of the creation of the Lord ( Job xl. 19 ), to be mocked by the angels who have lost the virtue of their original condition’ ( exordii virtutem ).”— Ruæus .
2 Cor. v. 1 .
2 Cor. iv. 18 .
1 Cor. ii. 9; cf. Isa. lxiv., 4 .
Insanabile.
[“Origen went so far, that, contrary to the general opinion, he allowed Satan the glimmer of a hope of future grace.…He is here speaking of the last enemy, death: but it is evident, from the context, that he identifies death with the devil,” etc. (Hagenbach’s History of Doctrines , vol. i. p. 145–147. See also, supra , book i. vi. 3. p. 261.) S.]
Ut essent et permanerent.
Gen. iii. 19 .
Ad summa.
[Elucidation IV.]
1 Cor. xv. 28 .
[Elucidation V.]
Cf. Ps. cii. 25, 26 .
Gen. i. 1 .
Heb. viii. 5 .
Ex. xxv. 40 .
Jerome ( Epistle to Avitus , No. 94) says that Origen, “after a most lengthened discussion, in which he asserts that all bodily nature is to be changed into attenuated and spiritual bodies, and that all substance is to be converted into one body of perfect purity, and more brilliant than any splendour ( mundissimum et omni splendore purius ), and such as the human mind cannot now conceive,” adds at the last, “And God will be ‘all in all,’ so that the whole of bodily nature may be reduced into that substance which is better than all others, into the divine, viz., than which none is better.” From which, since it seems to follow that God possesses a body, although of extreme tenuity ( licet tenuissimum ), Rufinus has either suppressed this view, or altered the meaning of Origen’s words (Ruæus).
Visibiliter de invisibilibus pronunciare.
Principis Christianorum religionis et dogmatis.
Satis idonei.
Religionem Christianæ doctrinæ.
Matt. x. 18 .
Cf. Matt. xxiv. 14 .
Cf. Matt. vii. 22, 23 .
Fortasse minus vera esse viderentur.
Salutaria præcepta.
Illæ omnes ambitiones Judaicæ.
Cf. Hos. iii. 4 . Quoted from the Septuagint.
On the Patriarch of the Jews, cf. Milman’s History of the Jews , vol. ii. p. 399 sq., and vol. iii. p. 7 sq.
Deut. xxxii .
Deut. xxxii .
Deut. xxxii. 21 .
1 Cor. i. 26–28 .
1 Cor. i. 29 .
Ps. xlv. 1, 2 .
[See note infra , Contra Celsum , B. II. cap. xii. S.]
Cf. Ps. lxxii. 7 .
Ps. lxxii. 8 .
Cf. Isa. viii. 8, 9 . Quoted from the Septuagint.
Cf. Mic. v. 2 with Matt. ii. 6 .
Cf. Dan. ix. 25 . Ad ducem Christum; “To Messiah the Prince,” Auth. Vers.
The allusion is perhaps to Job xli. 1 .
Divino, ut ita dixerim, cothurno.
“Nam et inter ipsos homines ab alio minus, ab alio amplius consideratur: plus vero ab omni homine, qui in terris est, quis-quis ille est cœli habitator, agnoscitur.” The translation of Rufinus, as Redepenning remarks, seems very confused. Probably also the text is corrupt. The Greek without doubt gives the genuine thought of Origen. By omitting the ab we approximate to the Greek, and get: “but he, whoever he be, who is inhabitant of heaven, is better known than any man who is on the earth;” or according to the punctuation in the old editions, “but he who is inhabitant of heaven is better known than any man on earth, whoever he be.”
In vilioribus et incomptis verborum vasculis.
Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 7 .
Ad fidem credulitatemque.
1 Cor. ii. 6 .
Temporibus eternis.
Male.
Cf. Zech. ix. 10 .
Cf. Isa. vii. 15 .
Ut priusquam cognosceret proferre malum, eligeret bonum.
Contra jus fasque.
Cf. Jer. xv. 14 .
Cf. Ex. xx. 5 .
Cf. 1 Sam. xv. 11 .
Cf. Isa. xlv. 7 .
Cf. Amos iii. 6 .
Cf. Mic. i. 12 .
Cf. 1 Sam. xvi. 14; xviii. 10 .
The text, as it stands, is probably corrupt: “Propter quod conabimur pro mediocritate sensus nostri his, qui credunt Scripturas sanctas non humana verba aliqua esse composita, sed Sancti Spiritus inspiratione conscripta, et voluntate Dei patris per unigenitum filium suum Jesum Christum nobis quoque esse tradita et commissa, quæ nobis videntur, recta via intelligentiæ observantibus, demonstrare illam regulam et disciplinam, quam ab Jesu Christo traditam sibi apostoli per successionem posteris quoque suis, sanctam ecclesiam docentibus, tradiderunt.”
Dispensationes.
Religiosius.
Contra fas.
Sacramenta quædam.
Fas.
Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 16 and 12, 13 .
Tantam occultationem ineffabilium sacramentorum.
Per breve quoddam receptaculum.
Immensæ lucis claritas.
Luke xi. 52 .
Cf. Prov. xxii. 20, 21 . The Masoretic text reads, ךךעֲירִוׁהלְ .תעַרָוָ תוֹצע“מֹבְּ ( סישִׁלִשָׁ , keri ) סוׁשׁלִשָׁ ךךלְ יתִּבְתַכָ אׁלהְ . ךךיחֶלְשֹׁלְ תמֶאֱ סירִמָאֲ בישִהָלְ תמֶאֱ יר”מְאִ טְשְק
1 Cor. ii. 6, 7 .
Largitione.
[Hermas, vol. ii. pp. 3, 8, 12, this series. Origen seems to overrule this contempt of a minority; and, what is more strange, he appears to have accepted the fiction of the Pauline Hermas as authentic history. How naturally this became the impression in the East has been explained; and the De Principiis , it must not be forgotten, was not the product of the author’s mature mind.]
Consquentia historialis intelligentiæ.
Metretes.
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9 and Deut. xxv. 4 .
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10 .
Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 7 .
In figurâ. Greek ( text. recept .) τύποι . Lachmann reads τυπικῶς .
1 Cor. x. 11 .
1 Cor. x. 4 .
Cf. Ex. xxv. 40 and Heb. viii. 5 .
Gal. iv. 21–24 .
Col. ii. 16 .
Heb. viii. 5 .
Rom. xi. 4; cf. 1 Kings xix. 18 .
Quæ inter homines, vel de hominibus geruntur.
Figuraliter describebant.
Intercapedines.
Ut ita celsioris cujusdam et eminentioris tramitis per angusti callis ingressum immensam divinæ scientiæ latitudinem pandat.
Consequenter, alii “convenienter.”
Lignum.
[See note, p. 262, supra . See also Dr. Lee, The Inspiration of Holy Scripture , pp. 523–527. S.]
Inconsequens.
Cf. Gen. xvii. 14 .
Tragelaphus; “wild goat,” Auth. Vers. Deut. xiv. 5 ; Heb. וֹקּאַ , ἅπαξ λεγ .
Gryphus; “ossifrage,” Auth. Vers. Lev. xi. 13 ; Heb. סרֶפֶ .
Opinatissimâ.
Cf. Ex. xvi. 29 .
Ulnas.
Jer. xvii. 21 .
Luke x. 4 .
Luke x. 4 .
1 Cor. vii. 18 .
Secundo vero, quid obesset, si obscœnitatis vitandæ causa ejus, quæ ex circumcisione est, posset aliquis revocare præputium?
Duplici spelunca.
Cf. Gen. xlviii. 22 and Josh. xxiv. 32 .
Cf. Ex. xx. 12 and Eph. vi. 2, 3 .
Cf. Ex. xx. 13–16 .
Cf. Matt. v. 34 .
Matt. v. 28 .
1 Thess. v. 14 .
In libro Jesu Naue.
1 Cor. x. 18 .
Rom. ix. 6 .
Matt. xv. 24 .
Ebion, Heb. ןוֹיבְאֶ , (from הבָאָ , to desire), lit. “wishing,” “desiring;” secondarily, “poor.”
Gal. iv. 26 .
Cf. Heb. xii. 22, 23 .
Infernus.
Velut illic, si dici potest, morientes.
A superis.
Cf. Ps. xxx. 3. and Deut. xxxii. 22 .
Corporaliter.
Matt. xiii. 44 .
Ad propinquitatem pertinent Israel.
Rom. ix. 6 .
Ex ipsis Septuaginta animabus fiunt aliqui.
τῇ ἐναργείᾳ τῶν βλεπομένων.
οὐδὲ τῶν διδασκάλων πλεοναζόντων .
τῇ διὰ ᾽Ιησοῦ θεοσεβεία .
μεῖζον ἤ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον το πρᾶγμα εἶναι .
χρησμούς .
Matt. x. 18 .
Cf. Matt. vii. 22, 23 .
σωτήρια δόγματα .
προεφητεύθη ὁ Χριστός .
ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν .
ἐπιδημήσῃ .
οὔκ ἔτι βασιλεῖς ᾽Ιουδαίαν ἐχρημάτισαν .
Cf. Hos. iii. 4 . Quoted from the Septuagint.
Termed by Rufinus “Patriarch.”
Deut. xxxii .
Deut. xxxii. 21 .
Cf. 1 Cor. i. 26–28 .
Ps. xlv. 1, 2 .
Cf. Ps. lxxii. 7 .
Ps. lxxii. 8 .
ἐτεκε καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔσχε, καὶ ἔτεκεν υἱόν .
Cf. Isa. viii. 8, 9 .
Cf. Mic. v. 2 with Matt. ii. 6 .
Cf. Dan. ix. 25 .
Cf. Job xl. and xli .
τὸ μέγα κῆτος .
Cf. Luke x. 19 .
ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομ *.
διὰ τοῦτο τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκλογῆς κεκρατηκότα .
ἴχνος ἐνθουσιασμοῦ .
τὸ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον τῶν νοημάτων .
ὁ τεχνικὸς λόγος .