Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam i ad Corinthios

[To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours.] [Of Origen] If all were the church, what further need was there to add "together with all those who call upon"? If all alike were calling upon, what need was there for it to be written not to all who call upon but, beyond them, to the church of God? We have shown that only those who are praiseworthy are entitled to be the church, while those who are blameworthy are not yet apostates indeed, still wrestling with sin, but still calling upon, yet not already the church. Let us hasten, then, from calling upon to ascending to the church that is without spot and without blemish. [I give thanks to God always concerning you for the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus, because in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge, just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are lacking in no gift, awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ]. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I appeal to you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. [Of Origen] Neither these things fit sinners nor those things the righteous—I mean the "I appeal to you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same things and that there be no divisions among you," and all such things. The church, then, was a mixed assembly, if indeed one ought to call a church this whole thing mixed of righteous and unrighteous. Nevertheless, those who assembled were mixed; for this reason the apostle, being about to reprove in connection with sins those who assembled with wickedness, necessarily first offers praises for those who come together rightly in the same place. I give thanks to my God always; it is fitting to give thanks for the things he mentions as praiseworthy, and not to give thanks sometimes and not sometimes, but to give thanks always. If I see someone sometimes doing well and sometimes sinning, I give thanks concerning him not always, but when he does well; so also concerning myself. And in what will Paul, who gives thanks, give thanks? For his own hearers, of whom he has become a father according to God. Just as, then, a father gives thanks for his sons whenever they are healthy, whenever they do well, in the same way whenever a teacher sees his hearers boiling in the Spirit, rich in the word of wisdom, worthy of being praised, he gives thanks always concerning them. Let us see, then, the grace of those who are praiseworthy in Corinth, so that we may emulate it. "Because in everything you were enriched in him.

Blessed are those who are rich in everything and lacking in nothing of the things that pertain to God, but who pursue every virtue and enjoy his gifts generously and richly in every word and all knowledge, so as to be at no loss regarding any scripture but to seek everywhere and find, and when it is necessary to expound a scripture, to employ every kind of discourse—both the so-called continuous exposition and that by question and answer—and to be prepared to speak also against every heresy, and to establish the doctrine of the truth, and to fulfill what was said by the apostle: "Be always ready for the defense to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the faith that is in you." Thus also "in all knowledge"—not only according to the scriptures, but so that he may also say: "For it itself gave me the true knowledge of things that exist, and the things that follow from these." For knowledge displays only the act of knowing, whereas discourse also interprets what has been known. Just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: Christ, if I may so name him, is the first martyr, and since there are many

of martyrs for Christ through their death, that one is the ruler of the martyrs. This testimony of Christ is firm in some, but in others it is not firm but is shaken. For if the faith concerning testimony is such that one can say from a true disposition, "I am persuaded that neither death nor life" and the rest "will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," the testimony is firm in such a person; but if we are not such, but are shaken by what happens, the testimony of Christ has not yet been made firm in us. And again, we will interpret the saying in another way: every scripture that bears witness concerning Christ is a testimony of Christ; it is good, then, to be made firm also in the testimony of Christ that comes from the scriptures. And in another way: see the testimony of Christ—signs and wonders and various powers and portions of the Holy Spirit testified together with him according to his will; and the testimony of Christ is firm in the saints. So that you are not lacking in any gift; since the gifts are many, he discusses them also in what follows of the letter. Waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ: the righteous man does not have his hopes in this age, but suffering, in danger, he waits for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ—either the revelation which Christ Jesus reveals. Who will also confirm you to the end: who confirms? Christ Jesus, the Word, the Wisdom; and the testimony that is confirmed is not for days, but to the end. blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Until we come there, we do not yet have the blameless state; for we do not know what the coming day will bring forth, even if someone seems to have the blameless state at present, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.] [Of Origen] Always believe him; for you were called so that we might be simply under Jesus. Great is what God grants to the saints: we were called into fellowship with his Son; therefore heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. [And let there be no divisions among you.] [Of Origen] The one who in all things agrees with right reason and the ecclesiastical doctrine concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and further concerning the economy that pertains to us, concerning resurrection and judgment, and who follows the ecclesiastical canons, is not in division. [I thank God that I baptized none of you... for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of word, lest the cross of Christ be emptied.] [Of Origen] Preaching the gospel is greater than baptizing; and since Paul knew that certain people were set apart for baptizing, he gives thanks for having a better lot than baptizing. In the Acts of the Apostles it is shown what works belonged to certain of the apostles; for instance, Philip baptized, but Philip did not minister the Spirit to the one being baptized, but Peter laid hands on those baptized by him and the Spirit came upon them. And Philip baptized with water those being reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, but Peter baptized with the Spirit. [Of Origen] There is need not so much of word as of power.

Therefore it is written, "The Lord gives a word to those who proclaim good news with great power, the king of the powers of the beloved." Christ therefore sent me not to baptize but to proclaim good news, not in wisdom of speech, not in clarity of diction; for if I do this and wish to deliver the word in this way, the power of Christ does not reach the soul of the hearers, and I empty out and bring down the grace of the power. [For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.] [Of Origen] The name of the cross seems to be a stumbling block; but if one opens the ears to the word of God and to grace, he will see that this too is a great mystery. And the pagans have handed down that often, when great plagues or floods or droughts occurred, these ceased when a man gave himself up for the common good. What then is wonderful if, when the whole world was sick with plague through error, it was necessary that one man die for the true plague, in order to put an end to the plague of ignorance and darkness and destruction? And who was able to undertake this? Not a prophet, not an apostle, nor any other righteous man; but it was necessary that a divine power come down from heaven, able to undertake to die for all with a certain public display, so that through that death a trophy might be set up against the devil. For those who celebrate a triumph over their enemies in the world are accustomed to set up trophies over the conquered in the manner of a cross. The cross of Christ, then, is a trophy against Satan.

For this reason he says, "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross," which has known what the power of the cross is: that I was set free from evils through him who died so that he might rescue me from death. Except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. It is a great good that the world has been crucified to me. Through whom has this good come to me? Through the cross of Christ. It is a great good for me that I have been crucified to the world; for if I have died to the world, I have been crucified to the world together with Christ; but if I live to sins, I have not yet been deemed worthy of the good that is according to the cross. At the same time let us also prepare ourselves for temptations, for testimonies, knowing that whoever denies has no salvation. [For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who believe."] [Of Origen] It is not the same thing to be wise and to be wise in this age; for the one without such an addition contains the true wisdom. You will understand foolishness in a similar way: it is not the same thing to be a fool and to be a fool in this age; for the one without the addition "in this age" is truly a fool. We, then, who believe the words of wisdom are commanded to become fools in this age.

For we seem to be such in the eyes of men, believing in Christ Jesus crucified, and believing in the resurrection of bodies, and believing that we shall live not only we who are now on the earth, later in the heavens, but also that even if we sin we shall be handed over to eternal fire. That we seem to be such in the eyes of men. But we proclaim Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.... For consider your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful, not many are well-born. But God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might shame the strong, and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh might boast before God. But from him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." Of Origen. We received power from believing in Jesus Christ crucified; and to the extent that we fall short in this faith, to that extent we fall short in the power of having within ourselves the things that come from God.

But if you wish to understand what it means, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will set aside," consider for me a man very noble among heretical teachings—say, Marcion or Basilides—and one who inquires with such power on behalf of heretical teachings that no ordinary person is able to withstand him; then consider someone competent speaking according to the truth, one whom I also deem competent in us as a minister of a new covenant, and showing that all those things are folly, in which the deceived man had trusted. Their wisdom, then, he destroys, not that of those truly wise—Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Solomon; he destroys the wisdom that seems so, not the true wisdom. And how also, "In the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom"? The wisdom of God is in the law and the prophets; the world did not know Christ proclaimed in the law and the prophets. For this reason, at the consummation of the ages, he sent Jesus Christ to be crucified on behalf of the human race, so that by the folly of the preaching those who believed might believe in Jesus Christ crucified. And he added to "Not many wise" the phrase "according to the flesh," knowing that there are differences among the wise, and some are wise according to the flesh and others according to the spirit; and those who are wise according to the flesh are those who have studied only little words and embellish whatever it may be as truth, though it is not truth. Nevertheless, not even in this way did he exclude the wise according to the flesh from the faith; for he did not say, "No one wise according to the flesh comes to the word," but that very few do. And those who are mighty according to the flesh are those who hold authorities; but according to the spirit you will understand, if you see the Savior in what way he was not mighty according to the flesh.

He was indeed handed over and crucified out of weakness; but he was powerful according to the spirit, healing every mind and every sickness among the people. Observe in this way also the matters concerning the apostles—in what manner they were powerful according to the spirit. He is powerful according to the spirit who also lives according to the spirit and by the spirit puts to death the deeds of the body. You will understand similarly also in the case of the well-born: those are well-born according to the flesh who come from rich and illustrious fathers; but according to the spirit the well-born are the sons of God, concerning whom it is written: "But to those who received him he gave authority to become children of God." Whom, then, did God choose? Not simply the foolish, but with the addition "of the world": we who believe are foolish as regards the world. They laugh at us, then, calling us foolish: "Christians say there is a resurrection of the dead, and that we live after death, and that Jesus, whom the Jews crucified, was born of a virgin," and all such things. Let them, then, laugh at us and call us foolish; for the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit, for they are foolishness to him. God, then, chose the foolish things of the world, in order to shame the wise—not simply the wise, but with "of the world" understood in common: so as to say, God chose the foolish things of the world in order to shame the wise of the world. For truly the wise of the world are shamed when they themselves worship idols while the unlettered and ordinary die rather than worship idols. And the base things of the world and the things despised God chose—again here with the addition "of the world.

For what is more noble than a soul that has abandoned the idols and says, "Our fathers inherited false idols, and there is no one among them who waters"? The base things of the world, then, but noble things of God, God chose. Let us only set ourselves right in that in which we shall not be despised by God, concerning which it is written, "The one who does evil has been despised before him." And "the things that are not, in order that he might bring to nothing the things that are": he called "the things that are not" the foolish things of the world, the weak things, the base things, the things despised; and "the things that are," the noble things of the world. For in the world these are something—not we, who are worn down by all and despised. The things that are not God has now chosen, in order that he might bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh may boast and say, "For this reason I was chosen, because I am noble." But "from him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption." For this reason Christ is all these things for us, so that what is written may come to pass: "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." For if the one who boasts ought to boast in wisdom, and Christ is the wisdom, it is clear that the one who boasts in Christ boasts; and likewise in the remaining things—I mean sanctification and righteousness. [And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. But we speak wisdom among the perfect, yet a wisdom not of this age nor of the rulers of this age

Of things that are being done away with. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God foreordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has known; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [Of Origen.] Lest someone say, "Then, since he brought the proofs of faith in power and in spirit, he had no wisdom at all, but this is the mystery of godliness—to believe only, and not a promise of wisdom in it"—he adds and says, "But we speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not the wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are being done away with." For it is one thing to bring certain people into the faith, and another to reveal the wisdom of God. We unfold, then, the wisdom of God not to those being brought in, nor to beginners, nor to those who have not yet given proof of a sound life; but whenever one has been trained in the proper way and his senses have become fit for the discernment of good and evil and for hearing wisdom, then we speak wisdom among the perfect—wisdom, I say, not of this age nor akin to the wisdom of the rulers of this age. At the same time he has made clear that the teachings current among others are not, in their origin, of men but of invisible powers that are being done away with. And I would say that the wisdom of this age is poetic wisdom, and perhaps also rhetoric; and wisdom is also that which professes to speak about heaven and earth and about the governance of the universe. We, then, if we speak wisdom and declare it among the perfect, do not speak the wisdom of this age.

For it is not through poems or through some such craft. But we speak wisdom in a mystery, which has not been known to the rulers of this age who work the wisdom of the wise of this world; and so they did not know it: they plotted against our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and crucified him; for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Therefore one must seek wisdom also in the word, but after faith, after conduct, according to what is written: I desired wisdom, and I kept the commandments. But as it is written: What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed it to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God. Scripture knows the difference between those who love God and those who fear God, and it knows that those who love are far superior to those who fear. Some things, then, have been prepared also for those who fear; but he has prepared greater things for those who love than the things prepared for those who fear. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. There is a spirit that can search all things; the soul of man cannot search all things, but it was necessary that a better spirit come to be in us, so that, when that spirit has come to be in us and searches all things and the depths of God, and has been mingled with us, we might search all things and the depths of God together with it.

But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, so that we may know the things graciously given to us by God; which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one. Let us consider the things graciously given to us by God; for unless the Spirit which is from God becomes a teacher in us, we cannot say that we know the things graciously given to us by God, for no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. "Which things we also speak," he says, "not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit," and so on. All the wisdoms of this world are words taught by men, which one learns in each of the rational arts; but the things taught by the Spirit he does not teach; and you could not say that the teacher, having been taught by the Spirit concerning the things he says, taught them. For the Spirit, being present in him who seeks and searches out the truth, illumines him, and thus always, by the renewal of the mind, he finds things which he has not learned from men. Therefore the Savior says, "Do not seek a teacher on earth; for one is your teacher, the Father who is in heaven, and one is your guide, the Christ.

A man suggests a few things—say, Paul teaching Timothy—and Timothy, taking his starting point, himself comes to the fountain where Paul has come, and draws from it, and Timothy becomes equal to Paul. But how one is taught by the Spirit must be understood from the apostolic words: for comparing spiritual things with spiritual, by examining this word alongside that word and gathering similar passages together, the meaning of the Scripture is, as it were, uncovered. For in this way I understand the things of God and become taught by the Spirit—not only by having learned the things of the Spirit that moved Isaiah, but also by having the same Spirit that closed and sealed the words of Isaiah. For unless the Spirit opens the words of the prophets, the things that are closed cannot be opened. And after he said these things, he necessarily adds that there are certain men who do not receive the things of the Spirit of God—not because of nature, as the heterodox suppose, but because they have not prepared themselves. For the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, for he was natural; but when he inclined toward piety and received the Spirit, he became spiritual. And the natural man cannot know that he is judged spiritually; for this reason he does not know, when he hears, that he is being judged spiritually, and the power, when it is tested, convicts the foolish man—for example, if I speak having been taught by the Spirit, and I speak with power, and the hearer, testing the power, examines it and does not assent, the power when tested convicts the foolish man. And it is not as though he, having rejected what was said, rejected that one as much as the thing said.

For wisdom will not enter a soul that plots evil, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin. But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. The one who no longer walks according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, and who always by his diligence increases and rekindles the grace of God more and more, prepares himself to become spiritual; and having become so, he is able to judge all things—the things of the Greeks, the things of the barbarians, the things of the wise, the things of the foolish—but no one is able to judge him, because of the greatness of his mind and of his reasonings. But if you wish to recognize the spiritual man, you will recognize him by his fruits. And what are the fruits of the Spirit, from which one must understand who the spiritual man is? Hear the apostle saying: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Where these things are, there is the Spirit, there is the spiritual man; but where any of these is lacking, that man is not yet spiritual. [And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual men but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it, nor are you able even now.] [Of Origen] Of those who hear, some are perfect, the spiritual, about whom we were speaking just now; but those who are not spiritual yet believe in Christ, as the apostle says, are infants in Christ and fleshly in Christ—for I understand the phrase "in Christ" in a common sense. There is need, then, of lessons for those who are not more perfect and not yet exercised in the sacred Scriptures, lessons of a lower kind, which the apostle called milk.

For he says, I fed you with milk, not with solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it, nor even now are you able. And I consider that in spiritual foods there is a correspondence of milk, solid food, true solid food, tender food, the beginning of the word, and spiritual vegetables. And I dare to say these things, persuaded by the Scriptures; for he did not say that all spiritual food is true solid food, when he said, My bread is true food. What then is not tender food? The more ethical matters, and whatever among ethical matters is weaker, spoken by way of concession and not by way of command, dispensed because of the weakness of the hearers. But whatever in ethical matters is more perfect teaching, among hearers who are lovers of learning and lovers of labor—these I would call in ethical matters tender food: the teaching about perfect chastity, about virginity or temperance, about martyrdom; these are tender food. And tender food in the mystical matters is the teaching about the Father and the Son. So too the law, at one time delivers tender food, at another time inferior food. For example, we come to the passage about the serpents that killed the sons of Israel because of their murmuring: if we read it more simply, we say, Let us not murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the serpents. But if the hearer is able to hear the mystical word, we say who the serpents are, and who the serpent that was hung upon the wood, and how one is saved by looking at that serpent, and so in each spiritual scripture. And who those are who are fed with milk, Peter will show in his epistle, saying, As newborn babes, desire the guileless rational milk.

And in the letter to the Hebrews also: You have come to need milk and not solid food; for everyone who partakes of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is an infant; but solid food is for the mature, for those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. [For where there is among you envy and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walking according to man? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not men?] [Of Origen.] Among the sins found among men, the lesser are envy and strife. If someone is in fornication, such a person is no longer carnal but worse than carnal. But what such a person might be, let us consider. I think there is a difference between the carnal and the earthy: As we have borne, he says, the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. If, then, one sins before death, he is not carnal but earthy; but if you sin, yet not before death, you are not completely earthy nor fallen away from the grace of Christ, but you are then carnal. And of our ways of walking, one is according to man and the other according to God. If we walk as the many among men walk, we walk according to man; but if according to Let your light shine before men, we differ from the many and do not walk according to man. Clear, then, is the life to one able to see what sort is the life according to man and what sort is the life according to God. For when someone says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas—let us attend to these things too. We shall see that we are sometimes not even men but worse than men.

For the one who then said, I am of Apollos, was speaking of an eloquent and holy and blessed man; the one who says, I am of Paul, speaks of a holy and blessed apostle. But sometimes factions arise not in a manner similar to the faction of Paul or Apollos, but sometimes a person inclines toward a sinner and even a heretic. If, then, these are men and walk according to the flesh—those who say, I am of Apollos, and I of Paul—whenever you say that you are inferior to someone, it is clear that you are no longer even a man but even worse than a man; and perhaps it will be said to you, O offspring of vipers. [I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth; so then neither the one who plants is anything nor the one who waters, but God who gives the growth.... But each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.] [Of Origen] If Paul planted, he planted together with God, who plants first; if Apollos watered, he watered together with Christ, who waters first; for God plants; therefore it is written, Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted; and again, my Father is the vinedresser. Let us therefore produce fruit so that we may not be cut down according to

The unfruitful vine. For every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Let us take heed lest it be said of us, I waited for it to produce a grape cluster, but it produced thorns. For if he says these things about us, he will also say what follows: Now therefore I will announce what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its fence, and it will be for plundering, and I will tear down its wall, and it will be for trampling. [For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one see how he builds on it; for no one can lay another foundation besides the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become evident, for the day will disclose it, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one's is. If anyone's work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward; if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.] [Origen] Since we are not only God's field but also God's building, I seek the master builder of the building and those who work together with him. For understanding this, the apostle says, According to the grace given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation; for Paul established the church in Corinth, which did not exist at all before the apostle. And since there were divisions among them, he says that, since grace was given to me by God, as a wise master builder I laid the foundation, and another builds on it.

For if another comes along and builds upon the foundation of the church, that one is not an architect of the church but builds upon the church. If you wish, then, to see that Paul is a wise architect, hear him say: From Jerusalem and as far as Illyricum I have fulfilled the gospel of God, making it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ was already named, so that I might not build upon another's foundation. And not only did he lay a foundation as a wise architect, but he also wrote, as it were, architectural books, showing how the architect ought to build a house, what sort of person the overseer ought to be, and the elders and deacons and the rest of the fullness of the church; for all these things were, as it were, architectural laws. Another, then, he says, builds upon it; but let each one take heed how he builds. For he says this to me as well, so that I may not build without care, knowing that the work which I build, of what sort it is, the fire itself will test in that day. But I take care lest, while building, I build wood, hay, stubble. For if I bring worthless souls to the church without judgment, I have brought to the good foundation, Christ Jesus, wood, and others hay, and others stubble; just as again, if some shine forth from the building, and shine forth so much that some are found to correspond to what is written concerning Jerusalem and the temple—a choice stone and a crystal stone and sapphire stones and as many stones as he named there—it is clear that I have built precious stones upon the foundation.

And since it is necessary that the temple of God and the building have gold, just as the temple that Solomon built was a symbol of a temple having gold and much silver, if some other person comes along and builds upon it, being more precious, he might be found to be gold rather than silver. But I am cautious lest at some time through me wood and hay and stubble enter in, and I, wretched man—even if I be judged worthy of salvation in some other way (since it is written, "He himself will be saved, but in this way, as through fire")—lest I be saved in such a way as to become the cause, by not having contained the grace nor having built well, of filling the building with wood, hay, and stubble, which the word of God does not wish; for "the work of each person, of what sort it is, the fire will test." But I wish also in another way to set down in writing: "For no one can lay another foundation besides the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," and the rest. From the time that my Lord Jesus Christ came among us, this one has been proclaimed as a foundation for the world; and this foundation, in Judea the apostles laid, but among the Gentiles the apostle of the Gentiles and his fellow worker Barnabas; for "they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, but they to the circumcision." Since, therefore, Jesus Christ, the word of God, has been proclaimed, and this foundation has been laid down, no one can lay another foundation besides Jesus Christ. But those who build upon it—if they hold right opinions through eternal doctrines and divine thoughts and noble words and sacred deeds—build upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stone. For gold is often kept, being taken in place of mind and thoughts.

If I speak well, I build silver on the foundation; if I explain as is fitting and rightly exhort my hearers to a way of life, I build precious stones. But all those teachers who have erred from the truth concerning Jesus Christ have built wood, hay, and stubble on the foundation; and I would say that of all those from the heresies, the more blasphemous are wood, those who have sinned less in their teaching are hay, and those whose errors are slight and, so to speak, lesser are stubble. But come, let us also consider the passage according to its literal sense. What is about to be said applies to each one of us: each of us, having received the word of the gospel, has received Jesus Christ as a foundation, so that in all that he does and says and thinks he may build upon this foundation. If, then, we think and intend what is good, we build gold; if, speaking purely, we speak every word that is spoken holily, we build, as it were, silver; if every deed we perform is good, we build, as it were, a precious stone—and God judges the value and quality of the stones. If, however, I sin after the foundation, my greater sins will be wood, the lesser ones hay, and those still lesser stubble. And I ask whether perhaps the roots and the thoughts, whenever they are mistaken, are wood—for thoughts are the source of evils—while words are hay and deeds are stubble; for the worth of a deed is inferior to the reasoning. But he who plants and he who waters are one. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy; which you are. Let no one deceive himself: if anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He who catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain. [Of Origen] If you wish to learn what the true temple of God is, seek the living stones and the pure, hewn stones, cast down by the Word, and standing foursquare, having nothing unstable nor rolling; for even if holy stones roll upon the earth, yet the stonecutters do not allow them to roll to the end. You therefore, as living stones, are built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And it is said in the Apostle that all are one temple, each of us being some stone of the temple. And he speaks thus in the Epistle to the Ephesians: So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom every building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. It is necessary, then, that no stone be unfit for the building; for if two, he says, of you agree on earth concerning any matter whatever they ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

How much more, then, if all the stones are in harmony together and there comes to be one heart and one soul of all, will their prayer be able and prevail? It is good, then, that we all say the same thing, so that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment; for in this way you are a building being fitted together into a holy temple in the Lord. But each of us can also be a temple in another sense: for if the one who has the glory of God is a temple, everyone who has within himself the glory of God is, in this respect, a temple of God. And one has greater or lesser glory who acts so as to glorify the name of the Father in the heavens through his deeds; therefore it is written, "Those who glorify me I will glorify." Then, therefore, we will especially be a temple of God, if we make ourselves capable of receiving the Spirit of God. However, one who has a spirit of some sin cannot be a temple of God, since the Spirit of God dwells only in the one in whom he judges it fitting to dwell. If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. As far as each one is concerned, even if he is a stone, he destroys the temple of God by sinning, and the one who provides some stumbling block to the church destroys the temple of God. But more especially does the fornicator destroy the temple of God, since your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have from God. Therefore the pure one is called incorrupt, but she who is no longer a virgin is corrupted, since this act alone corrupts. If, then, this is a work of corruption, let us especially guard against this. Since the Lord also is with all those who love God in incorruption. And these things had their own delimitation.

But since the Corinthians were proud because of the wisdom of the world, for this reason he says to them: If anyone seems to be wise among you (not "if anyone is wise" but "seems to be wise among you"), let him become foolish in this age. He did not say simply "foolish," but "in this age," for it is in relation to this age that they call us foolish. Let him become foolish, then, in this age, so that by having become foolish in this age he may become truly wise; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For how is he not foolish—the one who says there is no providence, or that all things consist of atoms and void, or that pleasure is the end of goods, and says the other things which are the rubbish and nonsense of the outside wisdom that is only reputed to be wisdom? This man is truly foolish, and these doctrines are foolishness. And, to put it simply, examining all Greek and barbarian philosophy, you will say that in whatever respects it disagrees with the teaching of Christ, it is foolishness. For it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness. I say that it is no great thing if God as God catches the wise in their craftiness, but [he does so] in Paul, who says: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but mighty before God for pulling down strongholds, destroying reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

But so that you may understand this more clearly, look at Paul for me, when he arrived in Athens and was seeking out those he happened to meet, so that even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers conversed with him. For then he was armed with the grace of Christ against them and showed their sophistries. But here I think that "the wise" are named the sophists, as many as speak tangled sophistries and do not teach the truth. And again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." It is no wonder if the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise against himself, that they are vain; but I wish that the Lord, having come to be in me, would know the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. For if Christ comes to be in me, he can show me how the thoughts of the wise of this world are vain, and how the wisdom of God alone shines forth, conquering and trampling down every apparent wisdom. [So that no one should boast in human beings; for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.] [Of Origen] The one who is able to renounce all human beings and to become wholly worthy of the boasting in Christ—this one does not boast in a human being. But how is death mine? So that I may die to sin; so that I may say, "If we also died with him, we shall also live with him." For the other death, according to which the soul that sins will itself die, is not mine. And

The present things are ours: that we gather in the present age, that we hear the sacred Scriptures, that we pray. The future things: for when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be done away. And it is not possible to come to the future things unless the present things first come to be mine. All things are yours. Some such saying is admired among the Greeks: "All things belong to the wise man, and nothing to the base man." But the word of God first taught these things, that all things belong to the holy man. Of the faithful man, then, he says, the whole world of possessions is his, but of the unbeliever not even an obol; for the unbeliever holds what he holds as a robber does, for he does not know how to use them, nor does he know God who created these things, nor does he hear him who says, "Mine is the silver and mine is the gold," and he does not hold them as his own. But we see that all things are ours; and the whole world of possessions belongs to the faithful man, but of the unbeliever not even an obol. So let a man regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now what remains is that it be sought among stewards that one be found faithful. But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by a human day; but I do not even examine myself; for I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not justified by this, for the one who examines me is the Lord.

Therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will also bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then praise will come to each one from God. [Of Origen.] He who has not advanced in reason to the comprehension of the mysteries hidden in the Scripture can be a servant of Christ, but he cannot be a steward of the mysteries of God; for he who is a steward possesses the things he stewards and knows the mysteries of God. Perhaps, then, the servant of Christ is understood according to the more common ministry in which he stands, while the steward of the mysteries of God is understood according to the administration concerning the mysteries that have been known, so that he does not cast these things aside at random nor hand them on without examination; but after first purifying, first preparing, and first separating from the world the one who is about to hear supercosmic teachings, then he speaks them. We, he says, are servants of Christ; and the apostle ministered for the most part more through the service of Christ than through the stewardship of the mysteries of God. But he stewards the mysteries of God, say, toward Luke, so that he might be able to write the gospel, and toward Timothy, so that he might be able to begin among those in Ephesus who had received greater things and to steward the mysteries of God. And I dare even to say that in Corinth he became a servant of Christ, but in Ephesus a steward of the mysteries of God. And Paul, having learned from the words of the Savior, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom his lord will set over his household, to give his fellow servants their portion of food at the proper time," says, "Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

For neither is knowing enough, nor must the one who knows speak as it happens, but understanding what is timely he must give the due measure to his fellow servants, and see which of his fellow servants ought to receive a greater measure of the mysteries of God or a lesser, and when. For if he manages the stewardship well and blamelessly, what promise does he have? "Over all his possessions," he says, "the master will appoint him." But if Paul fears and says these things about himself and about Cephas and Apollos, how much more will it be necessary for the stewards in our own time to fear, so that they may be found faithful stewards. Then about himself he says, "But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by a human day." Those in Corinth were examining, as far as it was in their power, not examining truly. For it belonged to one examining to say that Paul is better than Cephas and Apollos, and to another to say that Peter differs greatly from Paul; for in the gospel Paul is not called an apostle. So Paul says, "To me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you." He was conscious in himself of the noblest things, and that he did not fall under the Corinthians as those able to examine him; for the spiritual man examines all things, but he himself is examined by no one; just as elsewhere

He says, "I have become foolish; you compelled me." Having understood something of this sort here too, he speaks. There is a certain human day, and there is a certain divine day, about which countless things are written, and also, "Behold, the day of the Lord comes, incurable." Therefore my examination, he says, cannot take place in a human day, for a human day does not contain my examination; if I am going to be examined, I will be examined in the day of the Lord. Then, conscious of something more paradoxical in himself, he says, "But I do not even examine myself; for I am conscious of nothing in myself." Here it is very evident that the apostle's conscience had become pure, so that he dared not only to write to those of that time, but so that the generations until the end might read what is said. True, then, is Paul when he says, "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." But how Paul imitated Christ, hear: "The ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in me"; and Paul says, "I am conscious of nothing in myself." And he did not say, "I am conscious of nothing in myself," a base deed; for if he had said this, we could say that in deeds he had been cleansed but in words not yet; or again, that in these things he had been cleansed but his heart was sinning. But now he seems to be conscious of purity in himself to an exceeding degree—not formerly when he was persecuting, or when he came to the faith, but now when he was saying these things. Then, so that he might not seem to have spoken beyond what is human, he adds and says, "But I am not justified in this." For I, he says, am conscious of nothing in myself, but I am not justified in this. For it is possible that I am conscious of nothing in myself, yet that some sin of mine escapes me.

For many things of this sort occur in human nature, so that one sins not in accordance with reason, not with comprehension or with assent, not with the awareness that we have sinned. That one, then, who in all things has no consciousness of anything against himself says, "But I am not justified in this; the one who examines me is the Lord." For as if having passed over the angelic examination and that of the other powers, he says this: "Until the Lord comes." Since, then, judgment is at hand, and that judgment alone is true—the Lord's, who knows how to weigh thoughts and set words in the balance and search out all deeds and render to each of us what is due—for this reason, even if we condemn something in someone, let us not pass final judgment; for we do not know by what measure he sinned, nor do we know with what disposition he sinned, and whether he has good things counterbalancing his sin. For if we become cautious, we will not judge anything before the time, but we will refer everything to the judgment of God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Here it is said, "Do not judge anything before the time," and the rest; but in another place of the letter: "Do you not judge those who are inside, but God judges those who are outside?" Are the Scriptures, then, in conflict, and must we judge and not judge according to the same meaning of judgment? If you who have been entrusted to judge those outside do not judge those outside, the church will become, instead of a church of God, a synagogue of evildoers; then, of those inside who are judged, how is it true that "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged"?

We say, then, that those who have been entrusted to judge those inside are not so foolish as, in judging those inside, to say, "We judge the judgment of God," but they make their judgment with a view to the stewardship of what is beneficial for the church. If it is beneficial for this man to be excluded from the assembly, having judged so they do it; and again they will stand for what is beneficial, not judging the judgment of God but the judgment given to them. For the judgment that God will judge in Christ it is impossible for us to judge; for we neither search hearts nor know with what reasonings the deeds of each person have been done. For the hidden things they leave to the Lord God, the judges according to the gospel, but the visible things, as it is said, to you and to your children—as many as have reached them and are known among them, these they judge. Never, then, anticipating the judgment of God, let us say, "So-and-so is perishing," or, pronouncing blessing, let us say, "So-and-so is saved"; for we do not know how to measure deeds against deeds or reasonings or intentions. Do not, then, judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will also bring to light the

The hidden things of darkness, and he will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. But since two things are spoken of, there ought to be a difference between them; for some things he called hidden things of darkness, and others counsels of the hearts. See, then, that our sins are not the hidden things of darkness, and our good deeds the counsels of the hearts; for as many things as we do well, we do with counsel, but as many things as we sin, we sin while being in darkness. Since, therefore, some have either these or those, and man does not know these things, let us not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both illuminate the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts; for it is necessary that all things be made manifest before us at the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil. I found a Gospel saying that is explained in a manner similar to this: Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, and nothing covered that will not be revealed. You see the Savior making a distinction between hidden things that are made manifest and covered things that are revealed. What, then, are the hidden things that are made manifest, if not the good things? And what are the covered things that are revealed, if not the evil things? One of those who search out all things might say, Why did he not say, And then praise or blame will be given to each one from God, but only praise? One person, then, will explain it thus: that he attributed the more favorable term to God, passing over the rest in silence as not befitting him; but I will dare to say that God praises and approves the good things, but the evil things are [approved by] the father of evils, the devil.

And the praise comes from God for the saints, but the blame comes from the devil for those who have done things worthy of blame. For this reason it is said to you in the apostle, so that the one from the opposing side may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 19 6–8 [Now these things, brothers, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sake, so that in us you may learn the saying, Do not think beyond what is written, so that no one may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. For who distinguishes you? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you had not received it? Already you are filled? Already you have become rich? You have reigned without us? And would that you did reign, so that we also might reign with you.] [Origen] These things, he says, are written in a figurative application according to the circumstances of that time, not so that we should know these things only about Paul and Apollos, but so that in each generation, observing what happens in a way analogous to these things, we may rightly take heed lest we too fall into such things and, as in theaters, be divided over the readings, be divided over the teachers. But let us see the saying, So that in us you may learn, Do not think beyond what is written. If someone who has a lesser capacity, before fulfilling what is written, wishes to ascend to things beyond what is written, he will not even understand what is written. For just as it is not possible for someone to ascend a ladder without going up by way of the lower steps as far as possible, in the same way it is with the divine teachings. Those from the heresies, not understanding this rightly, promise traditions and say, These are beyond what is written.

For our Savior handed these things down to the apostles in secret, and the apostles to so-and-so or so-and-so; and in this way, through this mythologizing, I deceive the hearts of the simple. But the rest say: It is written, Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the beam that is in your own eye? And, Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For if we are one and are bound together with one another, we ought not to rise up against one another. For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted, and Let the one who wishes to be first among you be last of all, and Let each remain in the calling in which he was called. These things and the like are what is written, so that no one may be puffed up on behalf of one against another; for those who divided themselves up, and wished to be called some from this one and others from that one, were fighting against one another, each striving to set their own teachers above the others, and then finally against the teachers themselves. For who distinguishes you? Who appointed you to a party? Why are you not called a teacher of all alike? But what do you have that

Did you not receive? And why do you boast? On account of eloquence? But God has granted this to you. But on account of knowledge? This too is a divine gift. But on account of works of wonder? The energy of the Spirit is also for this. And if you did receive, why do you boast as though you had not received? No one boasts over another's deposits, but keeps watch over them so as to guard them for the one who gave them. It will be necessary to gather from the Scriptures what "to distinguish" means, so that we may apply it to what is now being said. God says in the assembly of gods, and in the midst he will distinguish gods; in this the work of God appears to be distinguishing. For since judging is something else, which happens concerning those worthy of judgment, it is good to be found a god in the assembly of gods, so that one may no longer be judged but distinguished, and, as it were, be entrusted with one rank among those in which the gods in the assembly of gods are believed. But also in "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others distinguish," "distinguishing" there seems to be taken in the sense of articulating—as it were, let them make clear what is said and distinguish and understand. And in "The one who distinguishes, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not from faith," "the one who distinguishes" appears to be said in reproach. And again, "Receive one another, not for distinctions of reasonings, in which you sin." The word has therefore been found from Scripture, sometimes set over the better things and sometimes over the opposite. Here, then, "to distinguish" is said in place of: No one of those in Corinth distinguishes or judges you; but you distinguish the steward of the mysteries of God, and you say, "I am of Paul," and you claim, "I am of Cephas," or you say, "I am of Apollos.

It is God's work to distinguish the apostles, not yours. Just as, then, you ought not to judge, neither should you distinguish the servants of the gospel; for in the distinction by which you distinguish the apostles, you distinguish and separate yourself, sinning. For Christ came to unite the things that were separated, so that we should no longer be divided. If we are perfected so that the flesh no longer desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, by the mortifying of the members that are upon the earth, we shall no longer be in distinction but, as it were, in a blending and gathering together of ourselves into the same. But let this also be understood more simply concerning various schisms. And let us consider also the words, What do you have that you did not receive? For the expression is ambiguous; for it can be understood that every possession we have, we have received from God, and again, Why do you pretend to have what you did not receive? For instance, if someone who has not received a gift from above from God pretends to be in a gift, it is said to such a one who has not received, What do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Are you already satisfied? Are you already rich? Have you reigned without us? He who hungers and thirsts for the righteousness of the oracles of truth is not content with one teacher, but if he finds a second, he makes use of him too, for he is insatiable for good things; if he also has a third, he comes to be with the third as well; he does not divide himself off to one and say, I am of Paul, or of Cephas, or of Apollos. Since, therefore, being satisfied implies that, when there are more teachers and Paul is teaching and Cephas and Apollos, one who inclines to one is not benefited by all, for this reason he says to the Corinthians, Are you already satisfied?

Consistent with this is “Already you have become rich!” That is, you have gathered the wealth that comes from the teachings that come from Paul, and you no longer need those from Apollos or those from Cephas? Or do you despise them all, as though you were filled full and rich in every word and all knowledge? And consistently with this also, “You have reigned without us!” For as far as it depended on you, you cut me off from the kingdom, and yourselves too, by inclining to one of the others. And he does not say “without me” but “without us,” so as to include himself and make it common. And would that you had reigned, so that we too might reign together with you. At the same time, perhaps he also suggests a certain mystery in this passage. For those who are lesser come to the promise sooner, while those who are more perfect receive the promises later. And I will show this from Scripture: those who received their inheritance under Moses received the promise first, but those who received their inheritance under Jesus received it later. But also concerning all the righteous it is said: “These all, having been testified to through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better concerning us, so that they might not be made perfect without us.” For this reason he says, “You have reigned without us”? And would that you had reigned, so that we too might reign together with you. For when you, the disciples and hearers, have reigned, then it is necessary that we also arrive at the perfect kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus. [For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as doomed to death. Because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ.

We are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are dishonored. [Origen] To the extent that someone lays claim to the true and heavenly first place, to that extent he becomes, out of humility, the last of all men. I think the apostle had understood something like this when he said, "To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given." Not that in respect of sanctification he was less than all the saints—for he neither thought this nor, if he had said it, would he have spoken the truth—but he made himself humbler than all who believe, having become gentle in the midst of all, like a nurse warming her own children. Since, then, the apostles strove to be last by their own purpose, but to every good endeavor, unless God bears witness and fulfills the will of the one who endeavors, the good end does not follow through the one who endeavors—for this reason perhaps the apostle said, "For I think God has displayed us apostles as last, as men doomed to death." For even if I, he says, and the apostles have acted so that we might become last, nevertheless we needed a display and the grace from God in order that we might be perfected in being last in the world. And the word "I think" is used, just as elsewhere he said, "But I think that I too have the Spirit of God." And it is fitting for those displayed by God as last to become first with God; for it is true that the last become first. And it is fitting for them also to be doomed to death. For to the extent that someone lives as a Christian more perfectly, to that extent he is more doomed to death.

For when does he not face danger, rebuking the one who sins—often being stronger in life and able to punish—visiting places where Christ has not been named, and laying a foundation that startles and disturbs those who hear? For truly Paul said, "I die daily, by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord." But as I search the matter, it appears to me that "daily death" can be understood in two ways: in one way, the manner already mentioned, according to which one must always carry about the dying of Jesus in the body; in another way, the righteous man is "daily death," being conformed to the death of Christ, always dying to the world—and in this way it is fitting to show that the apostles of Christ are both last and daily death. Then it is necessary to see that "we became a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men." If Paul struggles and Peter struggles, the angels of God hasten to this new spectacle, to see a man clothed in flesh wrestling against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places; and men also came together to see a new spectacle, a herald and teacher of a new word. Thus Paul was a spectacle to all who are on earth and to the angels who rejoice over one sinner who repents. Then one so great, as the last in the world, rebukes those who are puffed up, and says to them, "We are fools for Christ's sake.

For Paul, giving me a command and saying, "If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise," much more did he himself keep to becoming a fool in this world. For how was he not a fool in this world, proclaiming the one who was crucified and raised from the dead and the things concerning the age to come, and persuading people to despise the present life? Then ironically he says, "You are wise in Christ"; for they were not truly wise in Christ, but by saying these things ironically he was urging them to become wise in Christ. "You are glorious, but we are dishonored"—he no longer added "in Christ" to "You are glorious." For if you see many of those who seem to believe holding worldly honors, say to them, if you are humble in the world, "You are glorious, but we are dishonored; we are weak, but you are strong"; for nothing is weaker than a true Christian with respect to this world. [For if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus through the gospel I begot you.] [Of Origen] These things seem to be very simple and to need no explanation; but they have hidden meanings. No man is led as a child unless he is an infant and imperfect; and he would not have written these things to the Ephesians but to the Corinthians, to whom he says, "I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it; but neither are you able even now, for you are still fleshly. And I could not speak to you as spiritual but as fleshly, as infants in Christ." And this too must be understood:

Even if we need a pedagogue, certainly the one entrusted with this must offer himself as an example—his word, his life—for our good order. So there is a father, the one who first sowed Christianity in the soul; and a pedagogue, the one who after him takes the child and leads him. I urge you, therefore, brothers, become imitators of me. This means: as I am moderate, be moderate; as I suffer, suffer; take pride in sufferings, not in gifts. For this reason I sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in Christ, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. And he showed his disposition toward them by sending Timothy, and his affection for Timothy by calling him a beloved child; and he has also made clear his other virtue by calling him faithful in the Lord. This one, he says, will recount my deeds; for he calls deeds "ways." But he did not say, "He will teach" these, but that "he will remind." The word accuses them of forgetfulness; for they had been eyewitnesses of the apostolic virtue. And he added that he is accustomed to offer this teaching to all the churches. Having accused all of them together of these things, he then pronounces the verdict against the one who committed fornication. "As though I were not coming to you, some have become puffed up." The inspired Paul, foreknowing his repentance, does not set down the name, so that he might not become evident to all people, but said indefinitely, "some.

And I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power; for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Origen says: He calls "word" the fluency of speech, as also elsewhere: "even if I am unskilled in word, yet not in knowledge"; and "power" the power that comes from God. For whenever the word is from God, it has power; therefore it is written, "The Lord shall give the word to those who proclaim good tidings with great power." And the apostles, having been persuaded rather by power, were present in the churches and cities more by power than by word. For it is not if someone speaks well that he therefore has the kingdom of God, but where there is power in words, there is the kingdom of God, which also drives out the sin that reigns in souls and prepares for the kingdom of God to come to be within us. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. Origen says: Neither God nor his inspired disciples have always used kind words toward their hearers, nor always harsh ones, but sometimes these and sometimes those. Since, then, Paul's word had a rod, and also had a spirit of gentleness and kindness, he asks the Corinthians, not wishing to use the harsher thing too rashly and too quickly—not that the rod comes to be without love, but that love is hidden

in the one who holds the rod, and he does not show love in the severity of the rebuke. Then he brings forward the cause of such an inquiry, saying, "It is actually heard that there is sexual immorality among you, such as is not even among the Gentiles." We learn that we must be charmed against sexual immorality so that we may not fall, and we must learn something else, so that those who are not conscious of sexual immorality in themselves, but are conscious that they commit sexual immorality by gathering together with those who do so, may not be puffed up, knowing that they too are sinners, because the one gathered together with them is a sinner. For he accuses the whole church concerning one man who committed sexual immorality, and he accuses their being puffed up as happening unreasonably, especially because there is still a sexually immoral man among them. And third, we learn that there are also differences of sexual immorality, so that there is some most grievous sexual immorality, and another lesser, and another still lesser. Therefore in the judgment of God, the sexually immoral are not judged simply, nor will they receive the same condemnation for having committed sexual immorality, but both the quantity and the quality increase the punishment, as do the intention and the time. In Corinth, then, a certain man contracted an unlawful marriage; for he took his stepmother. But the apostle calls such a marriage sexual immorality, and such as is not even heard of among the Gentiles, in order to teach us that, if ever we marry unlawfully, what is thought to be a marriage is not reckoned to us as a marriage but as sexual immorality. Then, leaving this man, he brings in the accusation against his company: "And you are puffed up, and did you not rather mourn, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you?" He rebukes all of them as having received him badly.

For when, while the one who has sinned is in our midst, we who seem to ourselves to know the better things are puffed up, it is said, "And you are puffed up." [For I, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as though present, the one who has done this thing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to hand such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.] It is not for the destruction of the soul, not for the destruction of the spirit, but for the destruction of the flesh; for it is handed over so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. For Paul cast out such a one, not knowing that he would repent and turn back, but wishing to discipline him. For it is one thing to cut someone off as incapable of repentance and conversion, and another to set him aside for the present and cast him out of the flock, as a shepherd casts out a sheep that has the scab, so that the grazing of that wound may not spread over the whole flock. So let those who are living badly be healed by having come outside the flock, confessing and mourning their own sins, bringing forward the things of repentance in fastings and mournings and weepings and the like. For they are handed over so that they may be disciplined, so that the flesh—that is, the mind of the flesh—may be destroyed in them; not so that he may touch their soul, not so that he may drive them out of their senses, not so that he may do anything else, but so that he may receive authority over their flesh only—not I giving the authority, but the power of Jesus that is in me.

From his better part he named the whole salvation, so that he would not say, "And the spirit and the soul and the body be saved in the day of the Lord," but "the spirit be saved," naming the salvation of the whole man from the better part. For as one who would be saved, he commands him to be received into the church in the second letter. And to be absent in body and present in spirit is characteristic of Paul and of those like him; for he said elsewhere too, "For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your steadfastness in faith in Christ." But none of us can say, "I am present and I see the church's excellences or its order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." Such a one was Elisha; for even if he was not present in body, in spirit he went along with Gehazi and says to him, "Was not my heart with you when you took the two talents of silver and took the garments from Naaman the Syrian?" So then, did Elisha have this grace, but Paul, the apostle of Christ, who earnestly desired the greater gifts, or rather that he might prophesy—did he not have such a grace? But I declare and speak with confidence that Paul was not only an apostle but also a prophet; such was he when he says, "Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents"; for he said these things not as an apostle but as a prophet. And he says, "The Spirit expressly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith." But what spirit? As if he were saying, "The Spirit that is in me." Having this grace, then, even if he was absent in body, he was present in spirit wherever he wished.

For he was not present in spirit alone, but the power of Jesus was also there. [Cleanse out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.] [Of Origen] He who has put off the old man in his deeds and has nothing of the old leaven in himself, but has made himself a new lump according to Christ Jesus, this man has kept the feast of unleavened bread; then after the feast of unleavened bread the new leaven appears. Jesus the Christ is the new leaven. Let us therefore first eat unleavened bread, abstaining from all malice and wickedness. Teaching about these things the apostle says, Cleanse out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened; as happens among the Jews, when the day of unleavened bread is dawning, they cleanse out all old leaven, searching every place of the house lest leaven be found there, so also do you consider the storehouses within you, lest leaven be there, that you may be a new lump. As you are unleavened. Since there were in Corinth some who were saints and some who were not such but sinners, as we have already said in the opening of the letter, on account of those who are praiseworthy he says, as you are unleavened. For indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; seeing that according to the law of Moses the Passover comes first and the sheep is sacrificed, then after the sheep they eat unleavened bread, for this reason he said, Already our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

of sincerity, in conduct; of truth, in knowledge; for in both respects the true unleavened bread is characterized. [I wrote to you in the letter not to associate with fornicators, and not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters; since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I wrote to you not to associate if any brother called by name is a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner; with such a one not even to eat.] [Of Origen] Some have supposed from this saying that before the former letter to the Corinthians another letter had been written by the apostle, which is not now preserved; and he wrote to them not to associate with fornicators, as far as the proposed phrase goes, but having heard that the Corinthians were disturbed, thinking it was said not to associate with fornicators nor with those of the world—which is impossible, for one living in the world not to associate with Gentile co-workers, merchants, and certain others such as these—clarifying, they say, what was then omitted: I do not speak, he says, concerning the fornicators of this world, but concerning those who are called brothers but are not honorable. But those who do not wish there to be another letter before this one will say that this phrase refers to this letter, that in this letter I wrote not to associate with fornicators, but I mean fornicators of this sort, not of that sort. And the apostle seems, by comparison with fornicators, to call those among us who are fornicators much worse; for the one who fornicates outside does not destroy the temple of God, does not make the members of Christ members of a prostitute, does not leaven the whole lump.

And that one, whenever he wishes, repents and has forgiveness of sins; but the one who has committed fornication after the faith, even if he repents later, does not have forgiveness of sins, but is able to cover over the sin. For "blessed are they whose sins are forgiven," he says—those who came from the Gentiles; "and whose sins are covered over"—those who sin after the faith and cover them over with good works, for instance, licentiousness with great self-control. And not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or the greedy, or the rapacious, or the idolaters. As there are fornicators of the world and fornicators called to Christ, so also there are greedy persons, some of this world and some of the church. Let us therefore guard against greed even to the smallest degree; for this too is yoked together with the sin of fornication. And third, he names certain rapacious persons, whenever they seize the things of their neighbors. And there are also certain idolaters among us, besides the idolaters of this world—those who wish to teach that idolatry is a matter of indifference; and this sin is found especially among those serving in the military: "A necessity lies upon me," they say; "the army demands this; I risk my head if I do not sacrifice or, having put on white clothing, place incense according to the customs of the army of the world." And in addition to these, such a person calls himself a Christian; he says not even to eat with such a person. And there is also the one who denies God in time of persecutions—an idolater among us. "I wrote," then he says, "to such a person, who is not yet out of the world, not to associate with him"—since otherwise you would have to go out of the world. "But now I wrote to you not to associate with anyone if he is called a brother.

He rightly no longer called such a person a brother, but a brother only up to the name. But these things we many can be conscious of in ourselves, that we do not have these evils; but in the case of what follows I even fear for myself, lest perhaps I am guilty of other sins. For he says, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. With how many evils did he number the reviler together with the fornicator, the covetous man, the idolater! Therefore the reviler is already an enemy of the church. For this reason we hear the Lord saying, Bless those who curse you, and the apostle saying, Being reviled, we bless; for a reviler will not inherit the kingdom of God. It is necessary, then, to keep the mouth pure. For what is it to me to judge those outside? Let drunkards be outside; I eat and associate with fornicators; does their little leaven not harm me? Does it not leaven this whole lump? For what is it to me to judge those outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But God will judge those outside. He permitted all of us to judge those inside who sin. We ourselves refer the sin to the bishop, so that by law such a person may be cast out from the church. And you shall remove the evil one from among yourselves. And from these things indeed remove the evil one; but consider whether, while wishing to remove the evil one from outside, you have the evil one within yourself. For this reason do everything so that you may remove the evil one from yourself; for when he has gone out, Christ Jesus will dwell in you. Does any one of you, having a matter against the other, dare to be judged before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

And if the world is judged by you, you are unworthy to judge the smallest matters; do you not know that we shall judge angels, much less the things of this life?] [Of Origen] He shames those in Corinth who sin and busy themselves with courts and with worldly needs and troubles, and he says: You were called to this, that having been perfected you might judge angels; will you not rather be able, if ever a brother goes to law with a brother, to judge the worldly matters of the brothers? So then, if you have worldly courts, and the rest. Truly, sometimes the cases of those who are judged are such as not to need a wise judge, but rather set the despised in the church to sit; but sometimes the cases of those who are judged may be such as to need even a wise judge. What I mean will be clear thus: if those who are judged need worldly laws and experienced judges—not of the writing nor of the law that is in the writing, but, as it were, of the sons of this age who seem to be wiser—the despised in the

in the church; and there will be reproach for those who are judged when they are in need, and for the despised rather than the wise. For the one who follows reason, even if he needs a judge, needs rather a wise man, so that he may be admonished by the wisdom of the wise man who brings him words that build up. Therefore, seat in the church those who are despised; I say this to your shame: is it so, that there is not among you any wise man who will be able to judge between his brother? He brings a charge against the church of the Corinthians, because although they were situated in the middle of Greece, they did not have true wise men, although he had previously said that many profess wisdom among them; on account of whom he also said, He who catches the wise in their craftiness. But some are wise of this age, and others are wise according to God. And Paul knew those men; therefore he says, Is it so, that there is not among you a wise man who will be able to judge between his brother? But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? We have rulers of the church to whom we ought to refer our judgments, so that we may not be mocked in the courts of the Gentiles. Indeed, it is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits with one another, not remembering the words, Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Let us withdraw from the judgments of the Gentiles' courts, from having disputes and lawsuits. For the one who has lawsuits with his brother is already defeated, and the one who is wronged has conquered; the one who is struck and reviled and does not even repay the one who does these things has conquered, for he keeps the commandment that says, Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather be defrauded?

But you do wrong and defraud, and that to brothers. So everyone who does these things sins; and the more honorable the person who is wronged, the more grievous the sin. For if someone wrongs the blessed one, he wrongs Christ in power and defrauds Christ. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? If the kingdom of God is in Christ, and Christ is righteousness, the righteous man inherits the kingdom of God in Christ, who is made righteousness; and consequently he who is in the opposite state does not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived: neither fornicators. Let no one deceive you with persuasive words: "God is merciful, kind, and loves mankind; he forgives sins." We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive the things done through the body, whether good or evil. Let no one make the excuse, "I was young, I was unmarried, I fornicated before taking a wife." But why did you not take a wife? Do you not believe that if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him? But do you take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? The one who fornicates acts impiously against the God of all. [Origen] Do not be deceived, then: neither fornicators nor idolaters will inherit the kingdom of God; and thus neither will adulterers. The one who fornicates destroys the temple of God; and the one who commits adultery, in addition to these things, also does wrong against the man. Neither adulterers, then; but neither the effeminate. We exhort you therefore, O children, to keep your own hour pure and not to be defiled with such feminine defilement. Neither will the sodomites inherit the kingdom of God.

But may it not be that even one such person be found in the church. Then he goes on to the sins that seem to be lesser, saying, Nor thieves. Now this sin of theft is committed by nearly all who serve as soldiers, not being content with their pay, as the Gospel taught, but plundering and informing. But even those in business who are false are thieves, not inheriting the kingdom of God; and in the same way those in business who covet are covetous; and others are drunkards; but he also says that the abusive do not inherit the kingdom of God. So let no sin reign; for the kingdom of God must be pure from all sins and offenses, so that God may reign. [All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.] [Of Origen] One must be above the things over which I received authority; and having done them we will not sin. For thus those who conduct themselves more ambitiously conduct themselves; for do we not have, says the apostle, authority to eat and drink? Do we not have authority to lead about a sister as a wife, as also the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who do not have authority not to work? But we did not use this authority. Therefore it was lawful for the apostle to do all these things in the places I set forth, but comparing them with his own advantage and the economy of the church, he saw that it is lawful—if he does it, he will not sin—but he does better who does not use the authority. And again: every virgin has authority to marry;

But the noble and good woman abstains from marriage not as though it were not permitted to marry, but having raised up her freedom and wishing to be pure in both body and spirit, she lives as a virgin. But even when a husband has died, a second marriage is not altogether forbidden; for if the husband dies, he says, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But the noble woman, having heard that she is more blessed if she remains as she is, according to my judgment, has not made use of her freedom. All things are permitted to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any; the saying has something loftier. For if our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the principalities or against the authorities, whenever the authority prevails, I have been brought under its power; but if I conquer every authority, I will not be brought under the power of any. [Foods for the belly and the belly for foods; but God will bring to nothing both this and these. But the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body; and God both raised the Lord and will raise us up through his power.] [Of Origen] Do not suppose that just as the belly has come to be for foods and foods for the belly, so also the body has come to be for sexual intercourse. If you wish to learn the primary reason for which it came to be, hear: that it may be a temple for the Lord, and that the soul, being holy and blessed, as though serving the Holy Spirit, may become a priest of the Holy Spirit within you. For Adam too had a body in paradise, yet in paradise itself Adam did not know Eve his wife, but only when he was cast out after the disobedience. But I say these things, not circumscribing marriage.

For I know that "If anyone is not self-controlled, he must marry; for it is better to marry than to burn." But even if the matter is permitted, it is not as the primary good but because of weakness. For the primary good is to be chaste and pure and to restrain oneself through prayer. For the one who has already been raised with Christ and has become conformed to his resurrection and the newness of his life—his body ought to belong to no one but the Lord. [Do you not know [of Origen] that the soul is the instrument of the body?] The bodies of humans are members of Christ; and when the soul rules, the body serves and is used by it for whatever it wishes. In a special sense, then, the word wishes our bodies no longer to be activated by our own soul but by Christ himself; therefore Paul says, "I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me." They become members of Christ, then, when we move all things according to his word. [Flee sexual immorality; every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.] [Of Origen] Someone will ask whether every sin is outside the body. For someone will say: Drunkenness is a sin; taking oneself out of life by hanging or by a precipice is a sin—is this sin, then, also outside the body? But one must listen with good sense to how this was said; and we will take an occasion for understanding the matters in this passage from Leviticus. For there it is said that from the discharge his body has wasted away. Since, then, the constitution of the body is from seeds, for this reason the one who sins in the emission of seeds sins against his own body.

And this sin arises from those things from which also the beginning of the body's constitution comes. [Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Glorify God therefore in your body.] [Origen] Rightly, having secretly anticipated the objection and guarded against it beforehand, he said, "You are not your own." For someone will say, "I sin against my own body; I have authority over my own body." Then he says, "Or do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?" We act impiously against the Holy Spirit, and through it against the Father and the Son into whom we have been baptized, if we commit fornication—against Christ, whenever we make the members of Christ members of a prostitute; against the Holy Spirit, whenever someone corrupts the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us; against the Father, when I corrupt the temple of God. In addition to these things, then, whatever sins we commit, even if we commit murders, yet if we are uncorrupted, having not tasted the corruption that comes through sexual intercourse, we are not said to have been corrupted by the fact of having murdered. But since both incorruption and corruption pertain to the nature that has not tasted sexual intercourse in matters of Aphrodite—for we say, "The virgin has been corrupted," and again, "The young man is uncorrupted," or "has been corrupted"—every sin that a man may commit is outside the body.

Since, then, the blood of Christ was given as a ransom for you and took you out of the power of the devil, glorify God in your body, so that your body may become worthy of blessedness, as of those who have loved incorruptibility, just as the apostle also says: The grace of God be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility. [Now concerning the things about which you wrote: it is good for a man not to touch a woman; but because of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to the wife her due, and likewise also the wife to the husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.] [Of Origen] Men who sin sin in a general sense in two ways: by falling short of the commandments or by transgressing them. For whenever we do not conduct our lives from knowledge, nor, knowing the measures of righteousness, we stumble, and sometimes, transgressing the rule through the imagination of doing something better, we fall short of what lies before us. The standard, then, is that which is neither great nor small but proportionate—namely, to know how one ought to live. You have been bound to a woman: you are making one standard a great one; you do not care for the woman, but you say, "I am able to practice self-control and to live more purely." But see that your wife is perishing, unable to bear your purity, for which Christ died. Something of this sort happened in Corinth, and there was disorder in the houses of the brethren, as men in some cases and women in others tried to practice self-control and set themselves against one another.

So the Corinthians wrote a letter to the apostle about this, and to this letter the apostle writes back the things previously written; and he neither extended the discourse about chastity and abolished the discourse about marriage, nor, preferring the discourse about marriage, abolished the discourse about virginity, as a good steward, but throughout the whole discourse he preserves his own will in some way and exhorts them to be pure; and having conceded that they may condescend, he again exhorts them to practice chastity; and having exhorted them to practice chastity, he again brings them back to the necessity of condescending to the weakness of the weaker. And he began not from the inferior things—for that was not fitting—but from the more perfect matters, saying, "Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman"; that is: I praise you insofar as you have wished to be chaste, having abstained from intercourse with a woman, but consider not only your own good but also the woman's; for love does not seek its own. Therefore, on account of acts of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. It is not on account of his own fornication that the stronger man should have his own wife, but lest perhaps the wife commit fornication through the husband's continence, and the husband through the wife's continence. For it is preferable that the two be found saved.

in the works of marriage, or under the pretext of the one the other fall away from the hope that is in Christ. For how will he also be saved, being guilty of the death of his wife? The dignity of the man, then, is not pure when the practice of continence is not by agreement of the wife for both, for the sake of prayers according to God. Let the husband render the debt to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband. He made provision both for healing human weakness and for managing the matter of places most becomingly; therefore he said that a debt is owed by the husband and to the husband by the wife. Then, so as not to shame those in marriage as though they were slaves of one another, he says that they should not come to the practice of purity without agreement: The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. The husband, then, has authority over the body of the wife, and having authority, if he wishes, let him not use the authority; but we did not use this authority, says the apostle, teaching this, I think, by saying, Do we not have authority to lead about a sister, a wife, as also the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? The wife, then, has authority over the body of the husband, and can she not use the authority? But the word likewise, placed twice, gives us to understand that the man should not think that in matters of marriage he is superior to the wife; there is likeness and equality for those who are married toward one another.

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again. [Origen] For you both ought to know that the prayer that comes from a man's and a woman's purity is not the same as the prayer that comes from their union. For if among the idols the Greeks sometimes practice continence, how much more should you who pray to the God of all things? It is good, then, to condescend because of weakness, but to hold back because of prayers. And Moses purified the people and said, "Do not come near a woman for three days," so that by having been purified beforehand they might be able to become hearers of God. And in the Books of Kingdoms, Abiathar or Abimelech the priest wishes to set holy bread before David as he flees Saul's plot, and wishing to set holy bread before him, what does he say but, "If the young men are clean from a woman"? And not, as it were, from another man's wife, but from their own wedded wife. Then, in order that one might receive the bread of the setting-forth, he ought to be clean from a woman; but in order that one might receive the greater breads of the setting-forth, over which the name of God and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit has been invoked, how much more ought one to be purer, so that he may receive the breads truly unto salvation and not unto judgment? [Origen] Most people think that "to deprive" is said only of gold or silver or some such thing; but the apostle clearly also called "deprivation" what happens among those who are in marriage and practice continence untimely and without agreement. And once for all, simply, he who does not give back what is owed deprives that person to whom he owes it, by not giving back what is owed.

Sometimes a man is constrained so that he cannot at the same time discharge two obligations; therefore it is written that he may discharge the necessary obligation. What I mean will be clear as follows: it is not possible both to render prayers to God as one ought and for a married man to discharge his obligation to his wife; and so, if the debt owed to God presses upon you, you must withhold the other. For hear him saying, Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again—since the prayer is not sent up pure by those who have come together, even if they have come together lawfully. And one must abstain from a woman also at the time of her menstruation, and it is reckoned a great sin to come together with a woman who is in her menstruation. At any rate, in the list of valiant deeds and the list of sins in Ezekiel it is recorded that he shall not approach a woman in separation. And one must be altogether pure even from one's own wife at the time of prayer and fasting.

And again, he says, "Be together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your incontinence." But this I say by way of concession, not by way of command. Everywhere he relaxes the word because of weakness, and again he strains it so that those who hear the word may be converted. "But I wish all men to be as I myself also am. But each has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that way." Marriage breathes a gift, when the measures of the gift that comes from harmony are kept. And truly it can be said of some that marriage is a gift to this one, when there is no incontinence, when there is all peace, all harmony. Yet to say that marriage is a gift from God of a believer to a pagan woman, and of a pagan man to a believing woman—this I would not say. For the gift of God cannot reach the pagans; if he believes, if he is saved, then he will receive the beginning of the gift. But those from Marcion also use this passage, and senselessly forbid marriage, saying that chastity is a command of the other god whom they fabricated alongside the Creator. However, from the passage it is possible to refute them, that they wrongly forbid marriage and wrongly divide the deity. For if it is a gift to one in this way and to another in that way, marriage also is a gift; if marriage also is a gift, marriage is wrongly forbidden as a gift; if one is in this way and another in that way from God, it is clear that there is one God who has given chastity and who has given marriage, and there is one God of the law and of the gospel, whom the prophets proclaimed beforehand and afterward Christ Jesus. 35 8–12 "But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain as I also am.

But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn. But to those who are married I give this charge—not I, but the Lord—that a wife should not separate from her husband; but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband—and that a husband should not divorce his wife. But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord. [Origen] Some of those among us teach beyond what is written; and thinking they are doing something, when they ought to encourage monogamy while not putting a noose on those who are unable, this they do not do, but they impose compulsion and wish not to gather together those who have married a second time nor to have fellowship with them as transgressors, not reverencing even the words of the apostle. For he who says to the unmarried and to the widows, "If they do not have self-control, let them marry," plainly permitted a woman to marry after her first marriage, after being widowed, while at the same time reproaching the man who marries and the woman who is married; for he said, "If they do not have self-control, let them marry." For see whether "not having self-control" is not already an accusation, such as for it to be said to Christian people, "It is better to marry than to burn," when he calls "burning" the desire that is not quenched by the word but holds sway over the soul of the sinner. We, then, having been taught by the apostle, do not forbid second marriage, for in comparison with burning, second marriage is preferable; but whenever something is thought to be better when compared with evils, that thing is plainly not good. Second marriage is not chastity; it is not according to nature, as Adam was to the first-formed.

For it cannot be said to the second wife, "This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Abraham had Hagar also, and he was also with Keturah; but when he died, no one was laid with him except his natural wife; for Abraham and Sarah were in the tomb. And Jacob too, † even if he had relations with Rachel and with Leah † and also with the maidservants, yet in the tomb Leah alone was with him. † This was in accordance with the mystical economy of the fathers † — for surely not even now does the man who takes a second wife say, "I will fulfill a mystical economy." For Paul will come and say, "Tell me, you who read the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written, 'A certain man had two sons,' and the rest; will it not also be said in his case, 'These things are allegorized, and these are the two covenants'? For these things happened to them typically, and they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. But to the widows and the unmarried I say, it is good for them if they remain as I also am. But this is a second good; for there is another good prior to this: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. What is the second good? It is good for them if they remain as I also am; but if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn. Therefore those who are in a first marriage and have not yet experienced a second should practice chastity, so that if something human happens they may not be caught unpracticed and behave shamefully. Better, then, is marrying a second marriage; for he is not speaking here of the first, as is clear from the phrase "to burn." From here he passes over to another legislation.

To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord: the legislation directed to the married is not from me, but from the Lord. At the same time he keeps a necessary observation, that he named them "married" when both are believers, both the husband and the wife. But that he did not name the others, as many as are unequally yoked, among the married, is clear from his adding, "But to the rest I say, not the Lord." Are the rest, then, not married? For he does not reckon them as married; for in their case a woman is not joined to a man by God; but in the case of believers, when both share in prayers and in holy childbearing and in all things in which Christians ought to share, he says that marriage is not alien to God. I give charge, then, not I but the Lord, that a woman not be separated from a man. This is the primary point, that a union already formed not be dissolved. But if she is also separated—for there could be many causes of separation, for instance, if fornication occurs in the woman, it is a sin to keep the woman who has committed fornication. If, then, she is also separated and some cause of separation arises, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. Likewise also I wish a man to be such, that he not divorce a wife. But to the rest I say, not the Lord. For to the married I do not legislate, but the Lord; but to those not married but unequally yoked with unbelievers I have no law to give from God—for they are not even worthy of God's laws—but let them hear us. And I will use what is written in the law for the understanding of the matters in this passage. The laws according to Moses, some are God's, and some are Moses'.

And the Lord, knowing this difference between the laws of God and the laws of Moses, said of those things legislated by God, "For God said, Honor your father and your mother," but of those legislated by Moses, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives." If you keep to what is in the book of the apostle, you will find that the law is not written as a commandment of the Lord. Moses, then, serving God, gave laws that were secondary to the laws of God; and Paul, serving the gospel, gave laws that were secondary to the laws that come from God through Jesus Christ, for the church. And it is better to hear laws from the Lord than to hear laws from Paul the apostle. For even if he is holy, still he has laws far inferior to the laws of the Lord. [For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother.] [Of Origen] As a kind of blending of the two takes place, of husband and wife, into a single mixture, as of wine and water; and just as the believer imparts sanctification to the pagan spouse, or the reverse, the believing wife to the unbelieving husband, so too the unbeliever imparts defilement to the believing wife, or the unbelieving wife to the believing husband. For why does he say, "The unbelieving wife is sanctified," or the unbelieving husband, by receiving something from the believer, and not rather that he is defiled by receiving something from the unbelieving side? For each one, conversing with the other out of the abundance of the heart, either imparts or receives, and in time the one certainly prevails over the other. And what need, he says, is there of such a struggle and danger?

For he will either succeed or fail, and he will either destroy his soul besides or, after much toil, will scarcely be able to gain it. For this reason it is good, before a man is caught up in it, to consider carefully not only this but also what is to come, and having considered, either not to marry or, if marrying, to marry in the Lord. For a woman is bound for as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. We do not hear the "only in the Lord," but we read "she is free to be married to whom she wishes," and we no longer heed the "only in the Lord." And yet even there, when he said "only in the Lord," he again checked his statement by saying, "But she is more blessed if she remains as she is, according to my judgment." So then the apostle, having spoken the more euphemistic word—"For she is sanctified"—left the rest for us to understand. [Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called.] [Of Origen] He will seem to have brought this in inopportunely to the discourse concerning marriage and chastity, since no inquiry had arisen about whether those who believe from among the circumcision ought to become uncircumcised, and again whether those in uncircumcision ought to be circumcised, and the passage about "Were you called as a slave? Let it not concern you," and what follows. Perhaps, then, he took slavery and freedom as an example of those who are married and unmarried, calling the one who has put away his wife "circumcised" and the one who is married "uncircumcised"?

For just as the two, the woman and the man, are reckoned one flesh and are one flesh, but the circumcised man has cast off the things of the flesh, so he who has cast off his wife has, as it were, circumcised his own flesh. Thus he also calls him a slave. For since he says in other places too, "The brother or the sister has not been enslaved in such matters," as though married people were slaves, for this reason here too he names the one who was called after marriage a slave, but the unmarried one free. So what is said to this passage is spoken as it were concerning circumcision and concerning slaves. Moreover, it is not out of place to use the literal text at some time against those who think that after the faith they must be circumcised out of scrupulousness—a scrupulousness not according to knowledge—because of the things written in the old covenant concerning circumcision. Again, it is not good, on account of certain ones who believe from among the circumcision and think that circumcision brings them shame, and who wish to have their foreskin drawn over, to use the literal text that says, "Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not draw it over." And it is reasonable to say to such people that circumcision in itself is a matter of indifference. Therefore it is now neither about circumcision nor about uncircumcision, but about the unmarried and the married: "Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not draw it over," as if he were saying, Let him not draw over a wife; he has already been circumcised; he has cast off a wife; let him not marry another. "Was anyone called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised," that is: Were you called in marriage? Do not cast off your wife. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing.

Since some think that the unmarried man has something more in this respect than the married man, and that the married man, by the very fact of being married, has something less than the unmarried man, we wish, he says, to teach that in its own right celibacy is a matter of indifference and in its own right marriage is a matter of indifference. For it is possible for a man who is unmarried and truly pure from all sexual union, but who otherwise lives badly, to receive no benefit from his celibacy; and it is possible for a man who is in marriage and does the things of marriage, but does them with order and in due season, while preserving the rest of his conduct, to be no less than the unmarried man. For that celibacy and purity itself are a matter of indifference, we shall demonstrate as follows. If only those from the church practiced celibacy, one could say that celibacy in its own right is something pure and divine; but as it is, one can find even those who are celibate with a wicked purpose. At any rate, the followers of Marcion also practice celibacy and purity, but not as the members of the church do; for the latter do so in order to please the God who created the world, while the former do so in order not to cooperate with the god of this world. But celibacy is adorned by the life and doctrine of the church, by pure knowledge and truth. Thus the unmarried man too is a matter of indifference in his own right; and it is also possible for one who is in marriage to be blameless, just as we have already shown above. Circumcision, then, is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, both according to the literal wording and according to the matters set before us. But what is it that

saving? Keeping the commandments of God. For everyone who loosens one of these least commandments and teaches men so—he did not say, "He will not enter the kingdom of heaven," but "he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." But if the one who loosens one of the least commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, where will the one who loosens two commandments be found? Each one, therefore, in the calling in which he was called, let him remain in that. Were you called in marriage? Do not envy the unmarried man. Were you called unmarried? Do not by all means draw back, if you are able to live more purely. [Were you called as a slave? Let it not concern you; but even if you are able to become free, rather make use of it. For the one who was called as a slave in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord; likewise also the one who was called as free is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Each one, brothers, in whatever calling he was called, let him remain in that with God.] [Of Origen] He necessarily called the married man a slave; for the husband is a slave of the wife, not having authority over his own body, and the wife of the husband; for she does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Are you then called as a slave? Let it not concern you; but even if you are able to become free, rather make use of it—that is, if you are not transgressing the law in word, you are able to be free. How? By agreement, that you may be devoted to prayer with all concord. For the one who was called as a slave in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord; for example: Were you called as a slave? Know this, that not only are you not a slave, but you also have some measure of freedom through the Lord.

For the freedman is neither purely free nor still a slave, so that the one who is pure is in every way free, while the one in marriage is a slave; but when a slave is in the Lord, then we say that he is a freedman of the Lord. And the one called free is a slave not of a woman, but of the word of God. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Understand, as far as you have power, the word of God that ransomed us; let us propitiate the blood that was shed for us. We were saying in the discourse concerning the unmarried and the married that he both intensifies and relaxes the word. So also here he has done by saying, Do not become slaves of men; for as it were he intensifies and makes the word more vehement, urging those who are able, as far as they can, to be pure, and each to be pure in the calling in which he was called. But it should be known that the other interpreters have set forth the meaning concerning uncircumcision and circumcision according to the literal sense; for customarily, they say, he passes from the subject at hand to other matters, legislating what is fitting for all. [But concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful.] [Of Origen] Of the commandments, some are enjoined, while others are not enjoined but are left free and entrusted to choice by God. For those of them without which it is not possible to be saved—these are the ones that have been commanded; but those greater than the commanded things, which even if we do not do them we are saved, are not a commandment of God.

For hear, he says, the gospel of Jesus Christ teaching in it and saying, "When you have done all the things that were commanded you, you ought to say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we ought to do.'" And if, when I have done all the things that were commanded, I am an unprofitable servant, when shall I escape being an unprofitable servant? If, being more ambitious, you go beyond the things commanded—for example, "You shall not commit adultery," and "not to look at a woman to lust after her"—I have done what I ought to do. But if I remain a virgin, not having been commanded or ordered, I no longer say over the achievement of virginity, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we ought to do." So also with the remaining commandments: if I do not steal or covet, we ought to say, "We are unprofitable servants." But if I sell all my possessions and give to the poor, I no longer say, "I am unprofitable; I have done what I ought to do." For this reason the apostle says, "Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful." For in saying to the disciples, "Not all can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given," the Lord adds, "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it"—not

He commanded, but left it to free will. Therefore, the apostle says, I give my opinion, and in order to show that the Lord speaks in him, he said that as one who has been shown mercy by the Lord, he is faithful. I think, then, that this is good because of the present necessity, that it is good for a man to be so. He calls the sojourn in the body a necessity, as he also says elsewhere, "but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." Four times in this passage the apostle has called it good; for he says first, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman"; second, "It is good for them if they remain as I also am"; third, "I think, then, that this is good because of the present necessity"; fourth, "It is good for a man to be so." You see that whatever has been said about chastity has been named together with "good," while whatever has been said about marriage has been named together with "not sinning" for the one who marries. "Are you bound to a woman? Do not seek release. Have you been released from a woman? Do not seek a woman." Throughout the whole discourse, as has been said, he both tightens and relaxes, so that the hearer, having taken the matter into his own authority, may judge what he is able to do and by what discipline he may be able to give himself over. So then here too he has dissuaded from releasing a marriage, but again he urges purity. Therefore he called the man who has married "bound"; but if being bound is a circumstance, one must also flee circumstances with all one's power. And "do not seek to release being bound to a woman," but the one who is not bound ought to guard himself so that he may not be bound; for truly you will find them bound by marital affection. It is not permitted, then, for one who has been caught in marriage to seek an untimely freedom, but to remain in servitude; and if anyone has been released, let him not seek a woman.

But if you marry, he says, you have not sinned. He did not say, "If you marry, it is good," but "If you marry, you have not sinned." Observe the difference. And if the virgin marries, she has not sinned; again he did not say "It is good," but "she has not sinned." [28] But such persons will have affliction in the flesh. For how will they not have affliction, when what was said to the woman comes upon the married woman: "In sorrow you will bear children," and "your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you"? But the virgin is free from all these things, having been freed from purity, awaiting a bridegroom of blessing. Every marriage takes place in darkness, and therefore not without beds and pains; but the marriage of Christ, when he receives his church, takes place in the light. For why do virgins enter the marriage with lamps and oil that lasts? Because that marriage is one of propriety. He who is joined to the flesh is one body; but he who is joined to the Spirit is one spirit. And what is more proper than a soul joined and united to the Spirit, and no longer being a soul but becoming what the Spirit is? For concerning marriage it was said, "The two shall be one flesh"; but concerning him who is joined to the Lord, "he shall be one spirit." [Who ever serves as a soldier at his own wages? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not eat of the milk of the flock? Am I speaking as a man? Or does not the law also say these things? For in the law of Moses it is written, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads the grain."] [Of Origen] As a pious soldier, the apostle says, "Who ever serves as a soldier at his own wages?

As one entrusted with God's field and cultivating the church, he says, "Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?" And as a disciple of the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, "Who shepherds a flock and does not eat of the milk of the flock?" And as a soldier he teaches us also to serve as soldiers, saying, "No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of this life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him." And as a farmer he teaches us also to farm: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." And concerning shepherds the prophets taught us, recounting the rewards of the good ones and proclaiming the punishments of those who shepherd in other ways. And to one who does not pay attention to the scripture, the apostle will seem by these words to have forgotten his subject; but the truth is not so, rather he keeps to the argument. His subject is to teach about things sacrificed to idols, so that even if someone professing knowledge claims not to be harmed by the use of things sacrificed to idols, but becomes a cause of harm to others, he ought to have concern for his neighbor, so that others may not be destroyed on his pretext. To this end he brings in the examples and says: "We ought not by all means to use our authority, if we have authority over something." For if he is a soldier, he does not serve as a soldier so as to procure nothing for himself from his wages; if a farmer, he is not content with his pay but eats from the grape; if a shepherd, in addition to his pay he partakes of the milk.

Thus I too ought, in addition to the promises laid up for me from having served well as a soldier or farmed or shepherded, to partake in this world of what is needed from the soldiers under me, from the fields I farm, from the flocks I shepherd. But nevertheless, even if I have authority over what is needed, considering the building up of people, I do not misuse the authority, being cautious lest I give some cutting-off to the gospel of Christ, or also give an occasion to those who walk disorderly and do no work but even busy themselves in others' affairs. Just as, then, I do not use the authority that I received from the word, in the same way you also who claim to be wise ought not to use your authority but to take thought for the building up of your neighbors. But if the word is thought by some to be without witness and to be spoken according to human reasoning, let him hear the law saying, You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain, and the rest. [Is God concerned about oxen? Or does he say this entirely for our sake? For it was written for our sake, that the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes ought to partake in hope. If we sowed spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?] [Origen] Therefore these things were spoken for our sake, who have received the new covenant, and they were written concerning people, the saying being understood spiritually according to the divine apostle. And what is the meaning? That the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes ought to partake in hope.

Paul the farmer plows the soul of a catechumen, making furrows in his soul according to the divine Jeremiah, who says to them, "Break up for yourselves fallow ground," clearly for the reception of seeds, about which it is written, "The sower went out to sow." And after sowing, he says, I watch over the newly plowed seeds, lest the birds of heaven come and take away the seed; and when it bears fruit and produces fruits of righteousness, and when it is already white before the summer, it is permitted me thereafter to take. For he will not be scandalized when he remembers how much I have toiled, so that I might plow his soul, so that I might sow, how I persevered until his seed should come, perfected on the threshing floor. And for this reason it is permitted me to receive food from him. But I have not by all means used this right, but I do this in hope, to present the offspring to the master of the house; for I am a farmer; not so that what is owed to God might be paid back into my own storehouses. Then, teaching something about the same thing, the apostle says, "If we sowed spiritual things to you, is it a great thing?" and what follows. [For if I preach the gospel, it is no boast to me; for necessity is laid upon me; but woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.] [Of Origen] We are taught that whatever we do from necessity, these things have no boast; but whatever we do by choice, when no necessity is laid upon us, these things have a boast. For example: he who does not commit adultery or murder has no boast, but he who practices virginity does; for he did not come to virginity from necessity but from choice. But where the "Woe" is set beside it, if I do not do it, I have no boast.

For this reason he says, "If I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship." Again we are taught a universal lesson. Some things we do willingly with our whole soul, and some things we do, but not willingly, nor even with our whole soul, but from grief or from necessity. For of the things done by us willingly there is a reward; but of things done, yet as from grief, there is neither reward nor punishment. For example: I give alms; if willingly, I have a reward; if unwillingly, I am not blamed along with those who hear, "I was hungry and you did not give me to eat," and the rest. This, then, is the reward: that where I have authority, I do not do it. [For though I was free from all, I enslaved myself to all, that I might gain the more; and I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those under the law as under the law, though I myself was not under the law, that I might gain those under the law; to those without the law as without the law, though I was not without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might gain those without the law; I became to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all, that I might by all means save some. And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I might become a fellow partaker of it.] [Of Origen.] To be free from all things is the mark of a perfect apostle. For someone can be free from fornication but a slave of anger, free from love of money but a slave of vainglory; someone can be free from one sin but a slave of another sin. But to say, "Though I was free from all," is the mark of a perfect apostle, such as Paul was. And according to the passage before us, it has this meaning:

I became to the Jews as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; for being free from Judaism, I enslaved myself to Jews, so that I might gain Jews; being free from being under the law, I made myself as under the law, so that I might gain those under the law. For Paul would go down into the synagogues of the Jews, he would enter in to them, he would act according to their customs without harm, not playing a part alongside them but hunting some of them. Some have asked what is the difference between those under the law and the Jews; we say, then, that those under the law are other than Jews, as the Samaritans are. To those without the law as without the law: he came to Athens, he found philosophers there, he did not use prophetic words nor legal words, but if there was anywhere a Greek lesson from preliminary education, having been reminded of this he spoke to the Athenians; for he says, "As also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'" There he became to those without the law as without the law, so that he might gain those without the law. And again he says, "As I passed by and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." And through these things he begins to hand down religion. To those without the law, then, as without the law, not being without the law toward God. It was not in condescending to them that I was committing some lawlessness, but I kept myself law-abiding toward Christ, so that I might gain those without the law. At the same time he also preserves his exactness: "I became to the Jews as a Jew"; he did not say here, "Not being a Jew." For he was a Jew in secret, no longer in the open. And again, "To those under the law as under the law, not being himself under the law.

He necessarily placed here the phrase "not being under the law"; for Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; as if he were saying, "Not being a Samaritan." But to the lawless, as lawless—not being lawless toward God. But someone will suppose that I have become an apostate from the law and lawless toward God; but I say that even if I do not keep the law according to the letter, I am not lawless toward God, but I am within the law of Christ, keeping the conduct of life according to the gospel, so that I might gain the lawless. I became to the weak as weak; he did not say here "not being himself weak"; for it would have been boastful, it would have been arrogant, it was not in keeping with the apostle to say "Not being himself weak," he who heard from the Lord that "my power is made perfect in weakness" and for this reason boasts in weakness. But how "to the weak as weak"? When he permits those who are burning to marry, when he sympathizes with those who have lost husbands, when he says, "But because of sexual immorality let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband," and the rest. In these things he became weak to the weak, so that he might gain the weak. Then after these things he says, "To all I have become all things, so that I might save all or some." Whichever man you take, he is one of five; for either he is a Jew, or under the law, or lawless, or weak, or he is all things. The perfect man is all things; to all, then, that is, to the perfect, I have become perfect, so that I might gain all. For he says, "We speak wisdom among the

Perfect ones, and so on. This one can say, "To Greeks and barbarians, to wise and foolish, I am a debtor." [Origen] Only the perfect one can say the voice of the perfect apostle in the Lord: "I do all things for the sake of the gospel." For the one who sins cannot say this. But if the one who does all things for the sake of the gospel is a partaker of the gospel, the one who commits fornication is a partaker of fornication of the spirit, and likewise also in the case of the other passions. Each one, then, becomes a partaker of that in which he has partaken. But someone among the hearers will say, "My life is mixed: I neither do all things for the sake of the gospel, nor do I do all things for the sake of sin and pleasure." To this we shall say, "God has these judgments; according to his many judgments he renders varied recompense." [Do you not know that those who run in a stadium all indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain it.] [Origen] Are we all, then, running and one receives the prize, and the rest of us are perishing? For he said that one receives the prize, while many are running. All who are saved are one and one body; for we all, if we are one bread, partake of the same bread, and we all are one body of Christ. All who are saved, then, are the one who receives the prize. In the stadium, then, all run, as many as live according to doctrine; and those from the heresies who live according to doctrine, and perhaps Jews, and those who philosophize and live according to the doctrines of the Greeks. And these are all those who run in the stadium; the church also runs.

But one receives the prize, the one man, about whom the apostle says, "Until we all attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." But every judgment of God must be found concerning all those who run in the stadium, so that one may receive the first prize, and then each according to his own worth. [But God was not well pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.] [Origen] The apostle wishes to show us that it is not the mere obtaining of a gift of God that saves the one who has obtained it, but that along with obtaining the gift one must remain, having become worthy of it. For indeed the sons of Israel, though benefited so greatly, since they did not become worthy of God's benefaction, were not saved. For God was not well pleased with most of them; for they were struck down in the wilderness. For since the sinners were more numerous and the righteous fewer, for this reason God was not well pleased with the majority who were sinners rather than with the few who were righteous. [But these things became types for us, so that we should not be desirers of evil things, just as those also desired.] [Origen] These things, he says, became types for us, so that we should not be desirers of evil things, just as those also desired. Those things were written in a typological manner for us, so that reading the sins through which those men suffered these things, we might guard against falling into the same desires as they did. [Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed";

And no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. [Of Origen.] There are many differences among spirits, which no one will know accurately unless he has the gift of discerning the spirit. And so that we may not too rashly either reject the spirits that are in those who speak or approve them, John says in his epistle: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God; every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." And he teaches us that whenever we hear people speaking, we should neither assent casually nor rashly reject what is said as not being from a divine spirit, but that each of those who hear, knowing that he is in danger in the very act of testing or rejecting, should apply himself carefully, so as neither to believe falsehood nor disbelieve truth. Concerning this the apostle also adds next after these things: "If anyone among you is a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge what I write, that they are of God.

If anyone is ignorant, he is ignored. So not only is anyone who is ignorant of the apostle's words ignored by God, but if anyone is ignorant, claiming that he speaks by the divine Spirit and saying that he does not speak by the divine Spirit, he is ignored by God. Through these words the apostle seems to teach that there is no man who does not have another spirit in him besides the spirit of the man that is in him. For whether he is a stranger to the faith or is close to it, he has a spirit of his own from God. But let us see how we who hear the divine word need to learn that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says "Jesus is accursed." Some can appear doubtful to those who do not know matters accurately, as to whether they speak by the Spirit of God or not, when they anathematize Jesus. If ever you see a Jew expounding the divine Scriptures and not contemptibly setting prophetic utterances before the many, perhaps you might doubt whether the Spirit of God is also in him. So that you may not be distracted about such a one, whether the Holy Spirit is in him or not, he teaches that since every Jew says "Jesus is accursed," and no one speaking in the Spirit of God says "Jesus is accursed," the one who says he knows the law and the prophets but anathematizes Jesus does not have the Spirit of God. There is a certain heresy that does not admit one who approaches unless he anathematizes Jesus. And that heresy is worthy of the name it loved; for it is the heresy of those called Ophians, who say unlawful things in praise of the serpent, which is accursed by God.

To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings in the one Spirit, to another workings of powers, to another prophecy, to another discernments of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But you are the body of Christ, and members each in part. And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then powers, then gifts of healings, helps, governings, kinds of tongues. Origen: There he has kept the word in order more carefully, but here he comes forward as it were by lot and mentions the gifts according to what came to him; nevertheless even so he declares from the second passage that the gifts worked below the powers are lesser than the gift that is according to apostleship and prophecy and teaching; unless perhaps someone will grant two kinds of prophecy, so that here too he may preserve the keeping of order, so that there is a certain prophecy that has surpassed and a certain prophecy that has ascended. For he will call the more universal one, which imitates the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the second rank after apostleship, but this last one, ranked after the gifts mentioned, being such as this: But if you all prophesy, and some unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all, the hidden things of his heart become manifest, and so falling on his face he worships God and declares that God is truly among you.

For this is not far from the working of powers and the grace of healings, which occur to the astonishment of those who see, so that the one prophesying may say, "You have this in your heart; it is from this sin that you have come to the church." But this prophecy too can be later in order than the former things, and that more divine and greater one can be second, about which it says, "God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers." For the establishment of the point that two things are signified by the name of prophecy, I have set forth what I said before. See whether I can still present more clearly what is said: "God has placed in the church first apostles"—but not all are apostles, for if all were apostles, by whom would the ministry of apostleship be served? "Second prophets"—not all are prophets; but according to the other prophecy, if you all prophesy, and if some outsider or unlearned person comes in—not as though it were impossible, but as though it were possible for all to prophesy in this way. So there are two things signified by the name of prophecy. Therefore here too the order is preserved by the apostle, which says "first apostles, second prophets," and so on. This, then, concerns the order, since it seemed to trouble us that "to another prophecy" is placed last in another phrase. And still, by way of hyperbole, I show you a more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a resounding bronze or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [Of Origen.] We inquire here whether a person can in this life both have prophecy and know all mysteries without love, and generally whether it is granted to anyone to know all mysteries. For Paul says, "If anyone thinks he has known anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know"; and again he says, "We know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away." But his saying these things about himself and the apostles like him makes clear that it is not possible to know all mysteries and all knowledge. How, then, does he say these things as though it were possible to know all knowledge and to understand all mysteries? If we look at the preface of his discourse, in which he says, "And still I show you a more excellent way," and understand what "excess" is, all these things will be made clear. An excess, then, as the Greeks also defined it, is a statement that surpasses the truth for the sake of emphasis; and they use as an example that certain people are said to be whiter than snow—not that it is possible for anything to be whiter than snow, but it has been said by way of excess. And again, "Some horses run like the wind"—not that such a thing is possible, but for the sake of emphasis, so that the speed of the horses may be conveyed, such a thing is said about them. And in the Scripture of the Psalms it is said about the sea, "Its waves rise up to the heavens and go down to the abysses"—which is impossible, but it has been spoken for the sake of emphasis.

And in the Law you will find written the manner of hyperbole, where it is written, "We saw a great city and a wall reaching to the sky." But how can this be? It is spoken hyperbolically, the account not presenting the thing signified in every respect, but in order to indicate the magnitude of the waves or the lowliness, and the magnitude of the walls, or something similar to these. So also here the apostle takes up a hypothesis in order to examine the nature of charisms and the nature of love—not that it is possible for a charism to exist, and one so great, without love; or that it is possible in this life for someone to know all knowledge without love, or to have faith so great as to remove mountains—but wishing to show that if love were placed in the balance, the statement having been made by way of hypothesis. It is necessary, he says, above all to be zealous for love. But do angels, conversing with one another, converse in these same tongues in which humans also do, so that some of the angels are perhaps Greeks and some Hebrews and others Egyptians? Or is it absurd to say this about the heavenly angelic orders? Perhaps, then, just as there are many dialects among humans, so also there are among angels? And if God grants us to be ranked from human nature to the angelic, since my Lord Jesus Christ says in promise, "They will be angels and sons of God"—being sons of the resurrection—will we no longer use the dialect of humans but the angelic dialect? And just as one dialect is that of children and another that of those with a mature voice, so every dialect among humans is, as it were, the dialect of children.

But the angelic tongue is, as it were, that of perfect and clear-voiced men; and perhaps even there, according to the variation of their state, there are also dialects. If, then, I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a sounding bronze or a clanging cymbal. Just as the sounding bronze gives forth an indistinct sound, and the clanging cymbal nothing clear, in the same way, without love, a tongue—even if it be of angels, hypothetically, among men—is indistinct; for nothing makes the things of men or of angels clear and distinct as love does; and when love is not present, what is spoken is nothing. But what is the difference between knowledge and the understanding of mysteries? For the apostle speaks of two things. I consider, then, that knowledge is the knowing of things manifest, being more general than mysteries; for the knowledge of mysteries is a part of knowledge. But to know things more secret and more divine—this is to know the mystery, so that the account of knowledge is general, but the comprehension of mysteries is not of all knowledge, concerning which it has been said, "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory." For when I know these things, then I have the knowledge of mysteries. And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains. It is written in the Gospel, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and it shall be moved, and nothing shall be impossible for you." For the one who has faith as a grain of mustard seed has the whole faith.

50 3 [And if I dole out all my possessions, and if I hand over my body that I may boast, but have not love, I gain nothing.] [Of Origen] And if I dole out all my possessions not for the sake of love; and if I hand over my body that I may boast, since it is possible for someone to dole out his possessions not for the sake of love but for vainglory, and since it is possible also for someone to be a martyr for the sake of boasting and the glory with which the martyrs are glorified in the churches. 51 4–5 [Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly, does not seek its own.] [Of Origen] He sets forth the praises of love, which surpasses the gifts. For it was necessary for him to teach both what love is and how the one who has love is. Love is patient: if you have patience, which is the fruit of the Spirit, you have it because of love. It is kind: what is opposed to kindness? Wickedness. If you are wicked against anyone, you do not have love. If you are kind and gentle toward all men, you have love. Love does not envy: if there is in you envy such as was in Cain toward Abel, or such as was in the brothers of Joseph toward Joseph, you do not have love. It is a thing at war: loving, and envying. Love does not vaunt itself: when someone is rash, professing to know either about a craft or about a science or about knowledge, this is the one who vaunts himself, because he does not have love. It does not behave unseemly: no one who has love does anything unseemly.

If, then, our brothers and sisters ever claim to love one another according to God, but through weakness fall under the pretext of love, let us say to them that they do not have love; for love does not behave indecently. It does not seek its own things; no one who has love seeks his own things. For example, a mother's loving her son, or a father, does not seek his own things as his son's; for to have love is not to be self-loving. If the Savior had sought his own things while being in the form of God and being equal to God, he would have remained in that form; but now, wishing to save a perishing world, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Come also to the saints; see the love of Moses: If you will forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me also out of the book which you have written. And the apostle also says, Just as I also please all things to all men, not seeking my own advantage but that of the many, that they may be saved, and, I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. He wishes to be accursed from Christ for the sake of the salvation of others. 52 8 [Whether tongues, they shall cease.] [Of Origen] Tongues shall cease, when I speak with the mind to whom I wish

...[to converse]. 53 9–12 [For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face.] [Of Origen] He who seems to make progress here makes progress as among little children; but if the perfect comes and we arrive at a perfect man, then we shall receive the things of men—both knowledge and prophecy and the vision of God which the blessed shall see through the purity of their heart. [For greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edification.] [Of Origen] He who has the charism that edifies is greater than he who does not have such a thing, inasmuch as he who has the edifying charism is more useful to all in common; but if one who speaks in tongues also has the ability to interpret for the edification of the church, no longer is he who prophesies greater. For there are times when he speaks lofty things, he speaks to himself and to God, since the church is unable to hear. [But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I benefit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation or in prophecy or in knowledge or in teaching?] [Of Origen] Prophecy is the knowledge, significant through speech, of things unseen, the understanding of the constitution of the world and of the activity of the elements and of the times. Teaching is the didactic word distributed to the many. Revelation is when the mind comes to be outside earthly things and sets aside every fleshly deed by the power of God.

The one who has obtained this has come to be in revelation. And perhaps even the knowledge concerning things to come can be called revelation; but it is permitted to use the names more loosely for one who has understood the proper sense of each. a [Nevertheless, things without life giving voice, whether a flute or a lyre, if they do not give a distinction to the sounds, how will what is being played on the flute or on the lyre be known? For even if a trumpet gives an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle? So also you, through the tongue, if you do not give a clear word, how will what is being spoken be known?] [Of Origen] He wishes to shame those who speak with a tongue into keeping silent in the church, if there is no interpreter, and he says, Things without life, a flute and a lyre, not giving a distinction to the musical sounds, are not known—by what rhythm he played the flute; and the soldier does not arm himself for battle unless the trumpet sends forth the voice that rouses to battle; and those who speak with a tongue and do not interpret ought not to speak, as not giving a distinction to their words so as to be understood. So then, he called the doctrines of contemplation a flute and a lyre, as displaying nothing ethical, but a trumpet those that urge toward virtue; and by this it is possible to say that the unclear things of the Scripture, such as those concerning sacrifices in Leviticus and the tabernacle in Exodus, one ought not to read unless someone clarifies their meaning by exposition. b [For you will be speaking into the air.] [Of Origen] The one who speaks with a tongue speaks in God; even if men do not understand, nevertheless the powers about the air hear.

[If it so happens, there are so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without sound.] [Of Origen] Therefore even inanimate things give forth a voice, some of them with the distinct articulation of sounds, and some again without it; for every body has its own peculiarity of voice when it strikes against another body. [If therefore I do not know the meaning of the voice, I shall be a barbarian to the one speaking, and the one speaking will be a barbarian to me.] [Of Origen] Everyone who speaks to someone things he does not understand—the one hearing seems to himself to be a barbarian, and that one to him. [Thus also you, since you are zealous for spirits, seek for the edification of the church, that you may abound.] [Of Origen] Abounding comes about through the superiority of the gifts, from seeking the things that are for the edification of the church, since the one who does not seek what is beneficial to the community does not abound in the gifts. For it is likely that the working of the gift lies idle when it does not shine before men. Therefore, if we wish to increase the gifts, we will give ourselves over to the benefit of the greater number. [Therefore let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.] [Of Origen] If the one who speaks in a tongue does not have the gift of interpreting, even if others do not understand, yet he himself understands the things put into him by the spirit so as to be moved to speak. But when what is spoken is understood by others, then this seems to be the fruit of the one speaking for those who understand. [What then is it? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will sing praise with the mind also.

If you bless in the spirit, how will the one who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen at your thanksgiving? Since he does not know what you are saying; for you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. And through these words we are taught to seek what is of common benefit to the church. I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so that I may also instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. And to speak the perceptible words spiritually is to seek what is of common benefit through the five senses; and the word of instruction through the five senses is appointed for those who hear in the church, so that they too are instructed by the five words. For those who do not know the clarity of the things spoken, but attend only to the bare resonance of the Scriptures, are called instructed; but those who hear the distinctness of the sounds from the Scripture, these are not instructed but faithful. Brethren, do not become children in your minds, but be infants in evil, and in your minds be mature. Since the things he commands are possible, it is possible for us to become mature in our minds. And this is almost what is meant by Unless you turn and become as children; for he who is an infant in evil, when he turns, becomes as a child. In the law it is written that In other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they hear me, says the Lord. And he called the prophetic word a law.

But these words we found in Aquila and the other editions, though not in the Seventy. [If all prophesy, and some unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all, and thus the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you.] [Origen] Since the prophetic gift makes known the secrets of the heart of the unbeliever and the outsider who draws near to them, it is clear that when the perfect comes, they will know perfectly the secrets of every outsider and unbeliever; and it is likely that then the secrets even of the holy man become manifest to the prophets—perhaps the secrets of the lesser to the greater. And the one being benefited is in awe of looking upon the face of God; therefore, imagining God, he falls on his face, giving him the preeminence and the glory, and thus he worships God. And the convicting and examining of the secrets of the heart—that is, making them manifest—characterizes the fact that God is in the spirit of such people. But if the remaining gifts also are signs of God's truly being present, in whom are we to seek it? [What then is it, brothers? When you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation; let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be by two or at most three, and in turn, and let one interpret.] [Origen] When we come together, we must permit all who have gifts to speak—those who are able to teach.

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others discern. [Origen] He calls "others" those who have the charism of clarifying the spiritual words of the prophets, since the prophets themselves did not possess the charism of discernment; for in that which they do not have this, it is likely that they were deceived by some evil spirit that transforms itself into an angel of light, as if they had obtained the prophetic dignity. But if a revelation is given to another who is seated, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one. [Origen] Therefore the prophets were not in ecstasy; for the power to be silent and to restrain the spirit upon them was in themselves. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. [Origen] For this reason he shows the nature of subjection reasonably in silence; because the spirits are subject to the prophets, but the souls of the prophets prophesy. Let your women be silent in the churches, for it is not permitted for them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law says. And if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. [Origen] Since the men from the beginning had authority to speak and to benefit the hearers, but the women asked about the things they were perplexed about. And he calls "law" what is said in Genesis: "Unto thy husband shall be thy recourse." If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord; but if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. [Origen] A spiritual person is one who is able to examine every word and every thought, and because of the great depth of his mind is difficult to discern, so that he cannot be examined.

It is not within everyone's ability to know that the things written by Paul are the Lord's, but it belongs to a prophet or a spiritual person; therefore, the one who does not know that they are the Lord's is neither a prophet nor spiritual. And it is one thing to believe and another to know; so the one who is ignorant that they are the Lord's is ignorant, not yet having attained to being truly God's; for the one who is known is in a certain way mingled with the one who knows him. [For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be encouraged.] [Origen] There is danger for those who read to speak out rashly, and likewise for those who hear. Hear Paul, then, saying: If anyone among you thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write are the Lord's command; since it is not everyone who acknowledges the things of God unless he is a prophet or spiritual. And the apostle described the spiritual person when he said: The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself judged by no one. And who is the one who discerns all things but the one able to examine and judge every word? This person is judged by no one, because he is not comprehended due to the depth of his thoughts. For the spiritual person has the mind of the Lord. Just as, therefore, a child cannot judge the mind of a man and examine his thoughts—for the small child does not even begin to follow the thoughts of the man—in the same way neither can the natural person know which things are of God and which are not, but this work belongs to the spiritual person alone.