Origen of Alexandria on the Purification of Man

On First Principles, Chap. X, Sec. 6. Page 146-47.

6. There are many other matters too, which are hidden from us, and are known only to him who is the physician of our souls. For if in regard to bodily health we occasionally find it necessary to take some very unpleasant and bitter medicine as a cure for the ills we have brought on through eating and drinking, and sometimes, if the character of the ill demands it, we need the severe treatment of the knife and a painful operation, yes, and should the disease have extended beyond the reach even of these remedies, in the last resort the lilies burnt out by fire, how much more should we realize that God our physician, in his desire to wash away the ills of our souls, which they have brought on themselves through a variety of sins and chimes, makes us of penal remedies of a similar sort, even to the infliction of a punishment of fire on those who have lost their soul's health.

Allusions to this are found also in the holy scriptures. For instance, in Deuteronomy the divine word threatens that sinners are to be punished with 'fevers and cold and pallor', and tortured with 'feebleness of eyes and insanity and paralysis and blindness and weakness of the reigns' (Deut. 28:22, 28-29). And so if anyone will gather at his leisure from the whole of scripture all the references to sufferings which in threats against sinners are called by the names of bodily sicknesses, he will find that through them allusion is being made to either the ills of the punishments of souls. And to help us understand that as physicians supply aids to sufferers with the object of restoring them to health through careful treatment, so with the same motive God acts towards those who have lapsed and fallen into sin, there is proof in that passage in which, through the prophet Jeremiah, God's 'cup of fury' is commanded 'to be set before all nations' that 'they may drink it and become mad and spew it out' (Jerem. 25:15,16,27). In this passage there is a threat which says, 'if anyone refuses to drink, he shall not be cleansed' (Jerem. 25:28,29); from which certainly we understand that the fury of God's vengeance ministers to the purification of souls.

Isaiah teaches that even the punishments which are said to be inflicted by fire are meant to be applied as a help, when he speaks thus about Israel: 'The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and will purge away the blood from the midst of them by the spirit of burning' (Is. 4:4). And of the Chaldaeans he speaks thus: ' Thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; they shall be to thee for a help' (Is. 47:14,15: LXX), and in other places he says: "The Lord shall sanctify them in burning fire' (Is. 66:16,17), and in the prophet Malachi it speaks as follows: 'The Lord shall sift and refine his people as gold and silver; he shall refine and purify and pour forth purified the sons of Judah' (Mal. 3:3).

--Nick

Early Pauline Canons: Unity and Diversity

Marcion's canon list omits 1-2 Timothy and Titus, as well as Ephesians. Marcion is a well-known second century theologian/heretic. Here he includes the letter to the Laodiceans, which only survives in Latin and various translations from that. It was condemned in Nicea II circa 787CE. It is likely referenced in Colossians 4:16.

List --

Galatians
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Romans
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Laodiceans
Colossians
Philippians
Philemon

P46 was written roughly 200-225CE. None of the Pauline epistles are complete, but it lacks 2 Thessalonians and Philemon, and adds Hebrews. Scholars think the papyrus included the texts but they fell off.

List --

Romans
Hebrews
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
Galatians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians

Muratori is of contested date of origin. It is a fragmentary Latin document translated (according to Pervo and others as 'incompetently' translated) supposedly around 200CE. Many scholars dispute this date. The canon rejected the letter to the Laodiceans as well as other texts.

List --

1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
Galatians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Romans
Titus
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Philemon

Claromontanus' catalog is found in a sixth-century MS (D 06). The list doesn't include 1-2 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy and Philippians. The canon closes, after Jude, with Barnabas, Revelation, Acts, Shepherd of Hermas, the Acts of Paul, and the Revelation of Peter.

List --

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
1 Timothy
Titus
Colossians
Philemon

Gelasianum came to fruition in southern France (Gaul) during the sixth century. It includes the entirety of Paul's writings.

List --

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Galatians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon

Ambrosiaster is the name coined by Jerome, used within the latter part of the fourth century. Pelagius' commentary follows this list. The order of Ephesians and Philippians vary in many MS. The addition of Hebrews as Pauline corresponds to Origen's comment about Paul being the author, or as the goofballs say, "God only knows who wrote Hebrews, so it might as well have been Paul."

List --

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Titus
Colossians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Philemon
Hebrews

Victorinus of Petau was an early Latin exegete who operated in what we now call Bosnia. The canon list is full.

List --

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Galatians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon

Augustine of Hippo worked from North Africa, circa 354-430. Arguably one of the most influential theologians of his -- our -- time. His canon includes every Pauline letter.

List --

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Colossians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon

The source of the Syriac catalog are the Catalogus Sinaiticus and Ephrem, who worked in 306-373CE. The list omits 1 Timothy, either due to oversight or by intent.

List --

Galatians
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Romans
Hebrews
Colossians
Ephesians
Philippians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon

As we've seen, there are consistent Pauline epistles which appear in each canon. These include Galatians, 1-2 Corinthians, Romans, Colossians.

There are also variant Pauline epistles that don't appear in every canon list. These include 1-2 Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Ephesians.

The addition of Non-Pauline epistles include Laodiceans and Hebrews.

--Nick

Data taken from Richard I. Pervo, The Making of Paul, especially page 29.

Origen on the Inspiration of Holy Scripture

 This is according to the Greek translation of Origen.

"And now we must add that it was after the advent of Jesus that the inspiration of the prophetic words and the spiritual nature of Moses' law came to light. For before the advent of Christ it was not at all possible to bring forward clear proofs of the divine inspiration of Scripture. But the advent of Jesus led those who might have suspected that the law and the prophets were not divine to the clear conviction that they were composed by the aide of heavenly grace.

{paragraph break in Greek}

And he who approaches the prophetic words with care and attention will feel from his very reading a trace of their divine inspiration and will be convinced by his own feelings that the words which are believed by us to be from God are not the compositions of men" (1).

Apparently, these problems were going on back then, particularly with the rise of Marcionism. Origen appears to be arguing for what we would call a Christocentric hermeneutic. Christian Smith defines this principle as following: "the purpose, center, and interpretive key to Scripture is Jesus Christ" (2). Simply put, the only thing by which Scripture makes sense is Jesus.

Thoughts?

--Nick

1. Origen, "On First Principles" pgs264-5.

2. Christian Smith, "The Bible Made Impossible" pg97.

Origen on "The Last Enemy, that is Death"

It is on this account, moreover, that the last enemy, who is called death, is said to be destroyed: in order, namely, that there may be no longer any sadness when there is no death nor diversity when there is no enemy. For the destruction of the last enemy must be understood in this way, not that its substance which was made by God shall perish, but that the hostile purpose and will which proceeded not from God but from itself will come to an end. It will be destroyed, therefore, not in the sense of ceasing to exist, but of being no longer an enemy and no longer death. For to the Almighty nothing is impossible6, nor is anything beyond the reach of cure by its Maker; for it was on this account that he made all things, that they might exist, and those things which were made in order to exist cannot cease to exist.

Origen, On First Principles, being Koetschau's Text of the De Principiis Translated into English. Chapter 6, Pgs250-51

Origen's Apokatastasis

"The restoration of all beings (apokatastasis) is the most important concept in Origen’s philosophy, and the touchstone by which he judges all other theories. His concept of universal restoration is based on equally strong Scriptural and Hellenistic philosophical grounds and is not original, as it can be traced back to Heraclitus, who stated that “the beginning and end are common” (Fragment B 103, tr. J. Barnes 1987, p. 115). Considering that Origen’s later opponents based their charges of heresy largely on this aspect of his teaching, it is surprising to see how well-grounded in scripture this doctrine really is. Origen’s main biblical proof-text is 1 Corinthians 15:25-28, especially verse 28, which speaks of the time “when all things shall be subdued unto him [Christ], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (KJV, my emphasis). This scriptural notion of God being “all in all” (panta en pasin) is a strong theological support for his theory of apokatastasis. There are, of course, numerous other passages in scripture that contradict this notion, but we must remember that Origen’s strength resided in his philosophical ability to use reason and dialectic in support of humane doctrines, not in the ability to use scripture in support of dogmatical and anti-humanistic arguments. Origen imagined salvation not in terms of the saved rejoicing in heaven and the damned suffering in hell, but as a reunion of all souls with God."

Source.

--Nick

Origen, Homilies & Hermeneutics

"While he was not the first Christian to write commentaries on the books of the Bible, the scope of his achievements in this area was unmatched in the ancient Church. His are not the earliest Christian homilies preserved, but the size of the corpus of his homilies makes them the earliest that can be studied in breadth and depth. They reveal him as an accomplished preacher of the Bible and a concerned pastor of the Church. He seems, moreover, to have been the first Christian to conceptualize the hermeneutical process. He devotes a large portion of the fourth book of On First Principles to how the Bible should be interpreted. This issue is also raised in his homilies.5 His approach to the Bible prevailed in the Church among both his followers and his antagonists for centuries. Beryl Smalley has said, "To write a history of Origenist influence on the west would be tantamount to writing a history of western exegesis.6"

Origen, "Homilies on Genesis and Exodus." Page 2.

5. See, for examples, Ex. Hom. 5.1.
6. The Study of the Bible in the Middles Ages, 2nd ed. 1952 (reprint ed. Notre Dame, In., 1964), 14.

Fragments of Origen, Genesis and Adam

I loved this post. Enjoy.

RJS:

Origin thought deeply on the nature of scripture and the interpretation of scripture – his thoughts are worth considering. We often suppose that it is only in the modern, scientific age that the nature of scripture and the nature of the creation narratives have been questioned.  This is clearly not the case however.  Origen defended the inspiration of scripture and he thought the earth was young and used the age of the earth as a part of his argument in Against Celsus. Yet this still did not lead to a literal interpretation of the creation narratives. Consider this passage from On First Principles Book 4 as translated from the Greek.

For who that has understanding will suppose that the first, and second, and third day, and the evening and the morning, existed without a sun, and moon, and stars? and that the first day was, as it were, also without a sky? And who is so foolish as to suppose that God, after the manner of a husbandman, planted a paradise in Eden, towards the east, and placed in it a tree of life, visible and palpable, so that one tasting of the fruit by the bodily teeth obtained life? and again, that one was a partaker of good and evil by masticating what was taken from the tree? And if God is said to walk in the paradise in the evening, and Adam to hide himself under a tree, I do not suppose that anyone doubts that these things figuratively indicate certain mysteries, the history having taken place in appearance, and not literally. (Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 4, p. 365)

For the rest, enjoy it at Jesus Creed.

--Nick