Origen of Alexandria — Commentary on Scripture

Jeremiah 7:18

"God is jealous" and does not wish the soul that he betrothed to himself in faith to remain defiled by sin, but he wishes it to be purified immediately, wishes it to cast out all its impurities immediately, if it has been, by chance, snatched away by some of them. But if the soul continues in sins and says, "We will not hear the voice of the Lord, but we will do what we wish and will burn incense to the 'queen of heaven,' " a practice condemned by the prophet, it will then be held over for that judgment of Wisdom: "Since I indeed called you and you did not listen but jeered at my words, therefore I will laugh at your ruin, too," or is that judgment that has been placed on those in the Gospel when the Lord says, "Depart from me into the eternal fire that God has prepared for the devil and his angels."

HOMILIES ON EXODUS 8:6

Jeremiah 9:21

We can take the windows as meaning the bodily sense through which life or death gains entrance to the soul. That is what the prophet Jeremiah means when, speaking of sinners, he says, "Death is coming up through your windows." How does death come up through windows? If the eyes of a sinner should "look on a woman to lust after her." He who has looked on a woman thus "has committed adultery with her in his heart." Then death has gained entrance to that soul through the windows of the eyes.

COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3:13

Jeremiah 9:21

One window is one of our senses. The Bridegroom looks out through it. Another window is another sense. Through it he gazes with active concern for our well-being. For what senses are there through which the Word of God does not look out? The following example teaches us what "looking out through the windows" means and in what way the Bridegroom sees through them. Where he does not look out, there is death found coming up, as we read in Jeremiah: "See, death is come up through your windows." When you look on a woman to lust after her, death comes up through your windows.

HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:12

Jeremiah 9:23-24

The only true salvation is if Christ saves me, for then I will be saved. The horse is a false hope for deliverance. False also are all others besides God for salvation. On account of this I might say to him, "Save me, Lord, and I will be saved," and I say this if I can say also the next words after every boast that is renounced. For you are my boast or when I fulfill the commandment that says, "Let not the wise person boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong person boast in his strength, or the rich person in his riches; let him who boasts boast in this, to understand and know that I am Lord." Blessed is one who has renounced every boast here below, such as in so-called noble birth and in beauty and in corporeal things, in riches, in vainglory, since he is content with one boast, that he may say, For you are my boast.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 17:5

Jeremiah 9:23

"Let not the wise person glory in his wisdom or the strong person in his strength," for that which is worth boasting about is not ours but is the gift of God. The wisdom is from him, and the strength is from him and so with the rest.

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 10:19

Jeremiah 9:26

The novelty of the expression may perhaps deter not only the Jews but even some of our brothers. For Paul, who introduces "circumcision of the heart," seems to assume things that are impossible. For how shall it be possible that a member be circumcised that, covered by the internal viscera, lies hidden even from the view of people? Let us return, therefore, to the words of the prophets that, with the aid of your prayers, these matters about which we are inquiring might become clear. Ezekiel the prophet says, "No stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter my sanctuary." Likewise elsewhere no less the prophet, reproaching, says, "All strangers are uncircumcised in the flesh, but the sons of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." It is pointed out, therefore, that unless one has been circumcised in the heart and the flesh, "he shall not enter the sanctuary" of God.

HOMILIES ON GENESIS 3

Jeremiah 10:14

If "everyone has become foolish from knowledge," and Paul is a man, Paul has become foolish from knowledge because he knows in part, prophesies in part, has become foolish from knowledge because he sees through a mirror, sees dimly, sees and comprehends matters in small part and—if one can say—an infinitely tiny part. And seen from the opposite, you will understand that everyone has become foolish from knowledge. There are sins of Jerusalem, sins also of Sodom, but in comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness. For Sodom, he said, was justified due to you. Thus, as the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, and as there arises righteousness when compared with a greater injustice, so this is understood as knowledge seen from the opposite. The knowledge that is in Paul, with respect to that knowledge that is in the heavens, is as foolishness compared with the mature knowledge. Hence, everyone was made foolish by knowledge. In considering I think something such as this, the Preacher said, I have said, "I will become wise." And it was mad…

If "everyone has become foolish from knowledge," and Paul is a man, Paul has become foolish from knowledge because he knows in part, prophesies in part, has become foolish from knowledge because he sees through a mirror, sees dimly, sees and comprehends matters in small part and—if one can say—an infinitely tiny part. And seen from the opposite, you will understand that everyone has become foolish from knowledge. There are sins of Jerusalem, sins also of Sodom, but in comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness. For Sodom, he said, was justified due to you. Thus, as the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, and as there arises righteousness when compared with a greater injustice, so this is understood as knowledge seen from the opposite. The knowledge that is in Paul, with respect to that knowledge that is in the heavens, is as foolishness compared with the mature knowledge. Hence, everyone was made foolish by knowledge. In considering I think something such as this, the Preacher said, I have said, "I will become wise." And it was made far from me, beyond what was, and deep, so deep; who will discover it?

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 8:7

Jeremiah 11:1

Who is the word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah or to Isaiah or to Ezekiel or anyone except the one “in the beginning with God”? I do not know any word of the Lord other than the one about which the Evangelist spoke.… And I could say that Christ was with Moses, with Jeremiah, with Isaiah, with each of the righteous.… How can they have spoken the word of God if the Word of God did not dwell in them? But these things must be understood especially with respect to us of the church, who want the God of the law and the gospel to be the same, Christ to be the same both then and now and for all of the ages. For there will be those who will cut in two, in their opinion, the divinity previous to the dwelling of the Savior and the divinity proclaimed by Jesus Christ, but we know one God both then and now, one Christ both then and now.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 9:1.1-2

Jeremiah 11:3

Who hears the words of the covenant that God commanded to the ancestors? Is it those who believe in him, or is it those who have proven that they do not believe Moses from their having not believed in the Lord? For the Savior said to them, “If you believe in Moses, you would have believed in me. For he wrote about me. But if you do not believe in what he wrote, how can you believe in my words?” And so they have not believed in Moses, but we who believe in Christ believe in the covenant through Moses, and it is said to us, lest we become accursed, “Cursed is the one who does not hear the words of the covenant, which I commanded to the ancestors.”

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 9:2.2

Jeremiah 11:4

Not everyone who says they are a people of God is a people of God. These people who were proclaimed to be the people of God heard it said to them, “You are not my people.” … For “they have provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, … they have provoked me with their idols. So I will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a people.”6We were thus made into a people for God. The righteousness of God was proclaimed to the people who will be born, to a people from the pagan nations. For this people is born suddenly, yet in the prophet it also is said, “Has a nation been born all at once?” But a nation was born all at once when the Savior dwelled among them, and five thousand believed in one day, and three thousand were added in another day, and we see that a whole people is born to the Word of God, and it is said to the barren woman who suddenly bears, who formerly could not give birth before: “Be glad, O barren woman who did not bear, break forth and cry in joy you who have not had birth pains, for the children of the deserted woman are much more than she who has a husband.”…

Not everyone who says they are a people of God is a people of God. These people who were proclaimed to be the people of God heard it said to them, “You are not my people.” … For “they have provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, … they have provoked me with their idols. So I will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a people.”6We were thus made into a people for God. The righteousness of God was proclaimed to the people who will be born, to a people from the pagan nations. For this people is born suddenly, yet in the prophet it also is said, “Has a nation been born all at once?” But a nation was born all at once when the Savior dwelled among them, and five thousand believed in one day, and three thousand were added in another day, and we see that a whole people is born to the Word of God, and it is said to the barren woman who suddenly bears, who formerly could not give birth before: “Be glad, O barren woman who did not bear, break forth and cry in joy you who have not had birth pains, for the children of the deserted woman are much more than she who has a husband.” She was deserted from the law, deserted from God, but that synagogue is spoken of as one who has the law as a husband. What then does God promise me? “You will be my people, and I will be your God.” He is the God of none except those whom he favors, as he favors the patriarch to whom he said, “I am your God,” and again to another, “I will be your God,” and for others, “I will be their God.”

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 9:2.4-3:2

Jeremiah 11:9

Do we intend to repent for the sin mentioned concerning the people of Judah, since we know that we are the people of Judah because of Christ, who was prophesied and called Judah? For perhaps it is because there are some sinners among us who act contrary to right reason that the prophet says, "A conspiracy was found among the people of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem." For whenever a conspiracy of unrighteousness and a conspiracy to commit sin was found in any who in name come from the church—with the result that one can apply to the sinner the statement that "each is caught in the snares of his sins"—God could say, "A conspiracy was found in the people of Judah." But may no conspiracy be found in us.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 9:4.2

Jeremiah 11:11-12

Though God justly does not hear those who do not hear him, the demons will be unable to save the just in those who burn incense to them, whenever the time of troubles arrives. Thus, whenever God does not listen, it is dangerous to seek help from demons. But one must depend on God, who has turned away from us due to sins, yet who does not disregard the great and lasting refuge in himself.

FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 7

Jeremiah 11:19

In Jeremiah, too, he likens himself to a lamb, as thus: "I was as a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter." These and other similar sayings he applies to himself.

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:23

Jeremiah 11:19

If we examine the declaration about Jesus who is pointed out by John in the words, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," from the standpoint of the dispensation itself of the bodily sojourn of the Son of God in the life of people, we will assume that the lamb is none other than his humanity. For he was "led as a sheep to the slaughter and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer," saying, "I was as an innocent lamb being led to be sacrificed."

COMMENTARY ON ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6:35

Jeremiah 12:4

“How long will the earth mourn and the grass of the field be dried up from the evil of the inhabitants in it?” The prophet here again talks as if the earth is alive when he says that the earth mourns on account of the evil of those who walk on it. For each of us, then, the earth either mourns or rejoices. For either it mourns from the evil of those who inhabit it or it rejoices from the virtue of those who inhabit it. For each of us, then, the element itself either rejoices or mourns. If earth does so, perhaps also the rest of the elements do also … including water.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 10:6

Jeremiah 13:3-7

The linen waistcloth clings about his hips. Why? In order to make clear that the people are like a shelter of God. For against those who wish to accuse God, the people of God are placed, and they cover him like a shield and do not allow something wrong to be said in what concerns God. But whenever we sin, just as the prophet puts aside this loincloth and condemns it to the Euphrates River in order that it may perish there, so the sinner is thrown from the hips of God. And once banished, he is banished to the Euphrates River, the river of Mesopotamia, where there are Assyrians, enemies to Israel, where there are Babylonians, and there he is ruined.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 11:6.1

Jeremiah 13:12

Understand these skins in terms of evil and virtue in order to envision how every skin is filled with wine. But if it is necessary to see the effects of evil and of virtue—punishments due to the evil, blessings and promises due to virtue—let us set down from the sacred Scriptures how the punishments and the promises are discussed as wine: “Take the cup of this undiluted wine, and give to all of the nations to which I have sent you to drink”—he says this to Jeremiah, and he adds to it—“and they will drink and vomit and go mad and fall.” Hence he has called the punishments here “undiluted wine,” which those deserving of “undiluted wine drink,” that is, an “undiluted” punishment. But there are others who drink a punishment that is not undiluted but that has been diluted. For “in the hand of the Lord is a cup filled with a mixture of undiluted wine, and he poured it from this into this. Though its lees were not emptied out, all of the sinners of the earth drink.” If you also wish to know the “cup of blessing” that the righteous drink, the text from Wisdom then also suffices, in which it…

Understand these skins in terms of evil and virtue in order to envision how every skin is filled with wine. But if it is necessary to see the effects of evil and of virtue—punishments due to the evil, blessings and promises due to virtue—let us set down from the sacred Scriptures how the punishments and the promises are discussed as wine: “Take the cup of this undiluted wine, and give to all of the nations to which I have sent you to drink”—he says this to Jeremiah, and he adds to it—“and they will drink and vomit and go mad and fall.” Hence he has called the punishments here “undiluted wine,” which those deserving of “undiluted wine drink,” that is, an “undiluted” punishment. But there are others who drink a punishment that is not undiluted but that has been diluted. For “in the hand of the Lord is a cup filled with a mixture of undiluted wine, and he poured it from this into this. Though its lees were not emptied out, all of the sinners of the earth drink.” If you also wish to know the “cup of blessing” that the righteous drink, the text from Wisdom then also suffices, in which it says, “Drink the wine that I diluted for you.” But see with me the Savior on the Passover who goes up into “a large upper room furnished and ornamented” and who feasts with the disciples and gives to them a cup, about which it is not written that he diluted. For Jesus, who cheers up the disciples with undiluted wine, cheers them up and says to them, “Take, drink, this is my blood, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink in memory of me,” and, “Truly I say to you, I shall not drink again of this until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God.” You see the promise that is the cup of the new covenant. You see the punishments as the cup of the undiluted wine, and another form of punishment as the cup that has been diluted so that in each person what he drinks is diluted according to the amount the worthwhile action mingles with the futile action. Notice that those who are strangers in every way to the worship of God and who do not commit themselves but live as it happens drink the undiluted wine—to which we apply the text from Jeremiah—while those who are not in every way apostates and sinners but are still unworthy of the cup of the new covenant, these people sometimes do better, sometimes the opposite acts, and drink wine of an undiluted mixture.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 12:2.2

Jeremiah 14:1-9

It will serve us to remember that what is called the Word came to certain persons, as “the word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,” and “the word which came to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem,” and “the word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.” We must inquire how this Word came to Hosea, and how it came also to Isaiah the son of Amoz, and again to Jeremiah concerning the drought. The comparison may enable us to find out how the Word was with God. We will generalize by simply looking at what the prophets said, as if that were the Word of the Lord or the Word that came to them. May it not be … that … the Son, the Word, of whom we are now theologizing, came to Hosea, sent to him by the Father, historically, that is to say, to the son of Beeri, the prophet Hosea.… Similarly the Word comes also to Isaiah, teaching the things that are coming on Judea and Jerusalem in the last days. So also it comes to Jeremiah lifted up by a divine elation.… Thus to find out what is meant by the phrase “the Word was with God,” we have adduced th…

It will serve us to remember that what is called the Word came to certain persons, as “the word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,” and “the word which came to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem,” and “the word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.” We must inquire how this Word came to Hosea, and how it came also to Isaiah the son of Amoz, and again to Jeremiah concerning the drought. The comparison may enable us to find out how the Word was with God. We will generalize by simply looking at what the prophets said, as if that were the Word of the Lord or the Word that came to them. May it not be … that … the Son, the Word, of whom we are now theologizing, came to Hosea, sent to him by the Father, historically, that is to say, to the son of Beeri, the prophet Hosea.… Similarly the Word comes also to Isaiah, teaching the things that are coming on Judea and Jerusalem in the last days. So also it comes to Jeremiah lifted up by a divine elation.… Thus to find out what is meant by the phrase “the Word was with God,” we have adduced the words used about the prophets, how he came to Hosea, to Isaiah, to Jeremiah.… We have to add that in his coming to the prophets he illuminates the prophets with the light of knowledge, causing them to see things that had been before them but that they had not understood until then.

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2:1

Jeremiah 14:22

What a state the person is in who has deserted the easy yoke and the light burden of Christ to subject himself once again to the yoke of demons and to bear the burden of the heaviest sin! How can this be after we have known that the heart of those who worship idols is ashes and their life more worthless than clay, and after we have said, “Our ancestors possessed false idols, and none of them can bring rain”?

EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 32

Jeremiah 15:10

“As what kind of man, judged and disputed over all of the earth, did you bear me?” If you see with me those martyrs who are judged in every place, those who submit to judges in each district, you will see in what way Jesus Christ is judged in each of the martyrs. For he is the one who is judged in those who testify to the truth, and you will be persuaded, he says, to accept this when you see that you are not in prison when you are in prison, but himself, you are not punished when you are punished, but himself, you do not thirst, but himself. “I was in prison and you visited me, hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink.” Hence, if a Christian is judged not for something else, not for his own sins but because he is a Christian, Christ is the one judged. Thus, over all the earth Jesus Christ is judged. And as often as a Christian then is judged, Christ is the one judged, not only before proceedings such as these. But suppose a Christian is slandered and accused unjustly for something, then too Christ is judged unjustly.

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 14:7