Origen of Alexandria

(tom. xiii. c. 55) The Galilæans were allowed to keep the feast at Jerusalem, where they had seen Jesus. Thus they were prepared to receive Him, when He came: otherwise they would either have rejected Him; or He, knowing their unprepared state, would not have gone near them.

(tom. xvii. c. 57) Some think that this was an officer of King Herod's; others, that he was one of Cæsar's household, then employed on some commission in Judæa. It is not said that He was a Jew.

His rank appears in the fact of his servants meeting him: And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.

(tom. xvii. c. 60) The sentence is ambiguous. Taken one way, it means that Jesus after coming to Galilee, performed two miracles, of which that of healing the nobleman's son was the second: taken another, it means, that of the two miracles which Jesus performed in Galilee, the second was done after coming from Judæa into Galilee. The latter is the true and received meaning. Mystically, the two journeys of Christ into Galilee signify His two advents; (c. 56.). at the first of which He makes us His guest at supper, and gives us wine to drink; at the second, He raises up the nobleman's son who was at the point of death, i. e. the Jewish people, who, after the fulness of the Gentiles, attain themselves to salvation. For, as the great King of Kings is He, whom God hath seated upon His holy hill of Sion, so the lesser king is he, who saw his day, and was glad, i. e. Abrahame. And therefore his sick son is the Jewish people fallen from the true religion, and thrown into a fever in consequence by the fiery darts of the enemy. And we know that the saints of old, even when they had put off the covering of the flesh, made the people the object of their care: for we read in Maccabees, after the death of Jeremiah, This is Jeremias the prophet of the Lord, who prayeth much for the people. (2 Macc. 12) Abraham therefore prays to our Saviour to succour his diseased people. Again, the word of power, Thy son liveth, comes forth from Cana, i. e. the work of the Word, the healing of the nobleman's son, is done in Capernaum, i. e. the land of consolation. The nobleman's son signifies the class of believers who though diseased are yet not altogether destitute of fruits. The words, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe, are spoken of the Jewish people in general, or perhaps of the nobleman, i. e. Abraham himself, in a certain sense. For as John waited for a sign; on Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending; so too the Saints who died before the coming of Christ in the flesh, expected Him to manifest Himself by signs and wonders. And this nobleman too had servants as well as a son; which servants stand for the lower and weaker class of believers. Nor is it chance that the fever leaves the son at the seventh hour; for seven is the number of rest.

(t. xviii. c. 56) There may be an allusion in the two journeys to the two advents of Christ in the soul, the first supplying a spiritual banquet of wine, the second taking away all remains of weakness and death.

(tom. xix. l. in Joan. in princ.) Ye neither know Me, nor My Father: this seems inconsistent with what was said above, Ye both know Me, and know whence I am. But the latter is spoken in reply to some from Jerusalem, who asked, Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Ye neither know Me is addressed to the Pharisees. To the former persons from Jerusalem however He said, He that sent Me, is true, Whom ye know not. You will ask then, How is that true, If ye know Me, ye would know My Father also? when they of Jerusalem, to whom He said, Ye know Me, did not know the Father. To this we must reply, that our Saviour sometimes speaks of Himself as man, and some-times as God. Ye both know Me, He says as man: ye neither know Me, as God.

(tom. xix. l. in Joan. in princ.) It is proper to observe, that the followers of other sects think this text proves clearly, that the God, whom the Jews worshipped, was not the Father of Christ. For if, say they, our Saviour said this to the Pharisees, who worshipped God as the Governor of the world, it is evident that the Father of Jesus, whom the Pharisees knew not, was a different person from the Creator. But they do not observe that this is a usual manner of speaking in Scripture. Though a man may know the existence of God, and have learned from the Father that He only must be worshipped, yet if his life is not good, he is said not to have the knowledge of God. Thus the sons of Eli, on account of their wickedness, are said not to have known God. And thus again the Pharisees did not know the Father; because they did not live according to their Creator's command. And there is another thing meant too by knowing God, different from merely believing in Him. It is said, Be still then, and know that I am God. (Ps. 45:10) And this, it is certain, was written for a people that believed in the Creator. But to know by believing, and believe simply, are different things. To the Pharisees, to whom He says, Ye neither know Me, nor My Father, He could with right have said, Ye do not even believe in My Father; for he who denies the Son, has not the Father, either by faith or knowledge. But Scripture gives us another sense of knowing a thing, viz. being joined to that thing. Adam knew his wife, when he was joined to her. And if he who is joined to a woman knows that woman, he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, and knows the Lord. And in this sense the Pharisees neither knew the Father, nor the Son. But may not a man know God, and yet not know the Father? Yes; these are two different conceptions. And therefore among an infinite number of prayers offered up in the Law, we do not find any one addressed to God the Father. They only pray to Him as God and Lord; in order not to anticipate the grace shed by Jesus over the whole world, calling all men to the Sonship, according to the Psalm, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren.

There is a difference between knowing God and believing in him. To the Pharisees, to whom he says, "You neither know me nor my Father," he had the right to say, "You do not even believe in my Father," for he who denies the Son does not have the Father, either by faith or knowledge. But Scripture gives us another sense of knowing a thing, that is, being joined to that thing. Adam knew his wife when he was joined to her.… If one who has joined to a prostitute has known the prostitute and one who has joined to his wife has known his wife, then one who has joined to the Lord has known the Lord in a holy manner. And in this sense the Pharisees neither knew the Father nor the Son.…Maybe it is possible for someone to know God and yet not know the Father. For if there is one aspect of him in accordance with which he is Father and another in which he is God, perhaps it is possible for someone to know God but not to know the Father.… Therefore among an infinite number of prayers offered up in the law, we do not find any one addressed to God as "Father." Perhaps it is because they did not know the Father. They only pray to him as God and Lord, … not anticipating the grace shed by Jesus over the whole world, calling all to sonship and to praise the Father in the midst of the assembly, as it is written, "I will declare your name to my brothers."

The Evangelist would not have added these words were it not to convey something useful.… Whenever it says "these are the words that he spoke in such and such a place," you will discover a reason for the addition.…The treasury was a place where coins were contributed for the honor of God and the support of the poor. What else would these coins be than the divine words that have the image of the great King stamped on them and that are examined by trustworthy money changers who know how to separate counterfeit coins from the genuine ones?…
But if everyone contributed to the temple treasury in support of the needy for the common good, Jesus, more than anyone else was surely a worthy contributor. He gave the words of eternal life and his teaching about God and himself. His statement, "I am the light of the world," which was spoken in the treasury, was more valuable than any coin … as were all his other teachings in that place. And all the gold of the others who brought what they had into the treasury was like a bit of sand in comparison to the words of Jesus, for every word of his was wisdom.

If the Word is not received when present, he threatens to go.…As long as we preserve the seeds and principles of truth that have been sown in our souls, the Word has not yet departed from us. But if we utterly destroy them with a flood of wickedness, he will say to us, "I go." And then, even if we seek him, we will not find him but will die in our sin, overtaken in our sin and swept away by it.…
And we must not pass over without noticing the expression "you will die in your sins." If it is taken in the ordinary sense, it is clear that sinners will die in their sin and the righteous in their righteousness. But if "you will die" is taken in relation to death, the enemy of Christ, since the one who dies has committed a sin that leads to death, then it is clear that those to whom this is spoken have not yet died.…
Those to whom the Word had not yet come had not committed sin that leads to death. Still, they were spiritually sick, a sickness tending toward death. The Physician, seeing that they were deadly ill, after he had despaired of healing them, said, "I go, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin." …
Perhaps the statement "where I go you cannot come," attached to "you will die in your sin," will be clearer. For whenever someone dies in his sin, he cannot go where Jesus goes, for no one who is dead can follow Jesus: "For the dead do not praise you, O Lord."

It is also possible for one who happens to be the [biological] seed of Abraham by diligence to become his [spiritual] child. And it is possible, by neglect and poor stewardship, for one to cease to be his seed. There was still hope for them, however, to whom the saying was addressed. Jesus knew that they were the seed of Abraham and saw that they had not yet lost the ability to become children of Abraham. Since it was possible for them to become children of Abraham in addition to being his seed, he said, “If you are the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.” But just as some are seed of Abraham, so others are really “seed of Canaan, not of Judah,” as Daniel says.…But if, in addition to being seed of Abraham, they had cultivated the seed of Abraham and given it over to greatness and growth, the word of Jesus would have produced great growth in the seed of Abraham.… But those who wished to kill the Word and to crush him did not contain his greatness.… If any one of us is seed of Abraham and the Word of God does not continue in him still, let him not seek to kill the Word. Let him change from merely being seed of Abraham to becoming a child of Abraham, and he will be able to take in the Word of God, whom he did not have till then.

(tom. xx. 13.) As yet He has not named their father; He mentioned Abraham indeed a little above, but now He is going to mention another father, viz. the devil: whose sons they were, in so far as they were wicked, not as being men. Our Lord is reproaching them for their evil deeds.

They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. This answer of the Jews is a great falling off from our Lord's meaning. He had referred to God, but they take Father in the sense of the father of their nature, Abraham.

(tom. xx. 9.) Our Saviour denies that Abraham is their father: Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

(tom. xx. 2. et sq.) Or we may explain the difficulty thus. Above it is in the Greek, I know that ye are Abraham's seed. So let us examine whether there is not a difference between a bodily seed and a child. It is evident that a seed contains in itself all the proportions of him whose seed it is, as yet however dormant, and waiting to be developed; when the seed first has changed and moulded the material it meets with in the woman, derived nourishment from thence and gone through a process in the womb, it becomes a child, the likeness of its begetter. So then a child is formed from the seed: but the seed is not necessarily a child. Now with reference to those who are from their works judged to be the seed of Abraham, may we not conceive that they are so from certain seminal proportions implanted in their souls? All men are not the seed of Abraham, for all have not these proportions implanted in their souls. But he who is the seed of Abraham, has yet to become his child by likeness. And it is possible for him by negligence and indolence even to cease to be the seed. But those to whom these words were addressed, were not yet cut off from hope: and therefore Jesus acknowledged that they were as yet the seed of Abraham, and had still the power of becoming children of Abraham. So He says, If ye are the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. If as the seed of Abraham, they had attained to their proper sign and growth, they would have taken in our Lord's words. But not having grown to be children, they cared not; but wish to kill the Word, and as it were break it in pieces, since it was too great for them to take in. If any of you then be the seed of Abraham, and as yet do not take in the word of God, let him not seek to kill the word; but rather change himself into being a son of Abraham, and then he will be able to take in the Son of God. Some select one of the works of Abraham, viz. that in Genesis, And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. (Gen. 15:6) But even granting to them that faith is a work, if this were so, why was it not, Do the work of Abraham: using the singular number, instead of the plural? The expression as it stands is, I think, equivalent to saying, Do all the works of Abraham: i. e. in the spiritual sense, interpreting Abraham's history allegorically. For it is not incumbent on one, who would be a son of Abraham, to many his maidservants, or after his wife's death, to marry another in his old age.