Origen (c. 185–253) was one of the most influential Christian
intellectuals of the third century. Trained as a grammarian and teacher,
he developed skills in textual editing and interpretation during a
career in Alexandria; there he also began composing Christian
commentaries on Scriptures and treatises on Christian thought and
practice, include a massive exploration of Christian origins and
salvation: On First Principles. Origen famously engaged in
critical exploration of the Greek text of the Bible, especially
concerned with differences between the Greek Old Testament and the
Hebrew Scriptures, which had significant differences. He later became a
preacher in Caesarea Maritima, where he taught many Christians and
became an influential Christian thinker. He was subject to arrest and
torture in the 250s and eventually died as a consequence of his
injuries. His influence lasted for many centuries, although within 50
years of his death he was criticized for his views on embodiment and
salvation, and eventually declared a heretic by various bishops in the
400s. He continues to be an influential source for Christian monks and
bishops until his final condemnation at a council of 553. Because of his
various condemnations, not all of his works survive in their original
language. This section of On First Principles on biblical
interpretations is one of the few sections to survive in the original
Greek. Here he develops his ideas on the primacy of "spiritual"
interpretation of Scripture.
8. Having spoken thus briefly on the subject of the divine inspiration of
the holy Scriptures, it is necessary to proceed to the (consideration of
the) manner in which they are to be read and understood, seeing numerous
errors have been committed in consequence of the method in which the holy
documents ought to be examined; not having been discovered by the
multitude. For both the hardened in heart, and the ignorant persons
belonging to the circumcision, have not believed on our Saviour, thinking
that they are following the language of the prophecies respecting Him,
and not perceiving in a manner palpable to their senses that He had
proclaimed liberty to the captives, nor that He had built up what they
truly consider the city of God, nor cut off the chariots of Ephraim, and
the horse from Jerusalem, nor eaten butter and honey, and, before knowing
or preferring the evil, had selected the good. And thinking, moreover,
that it was prophesied that the wolf — the four-footed animal — was to
feed with the lamb, and the leopard to lie down with the kid, and the calf
and bull and lion to feed together, being led by a little child, and that
the ox and bear were to pasture together, their young ones growing up
together, and that the lion was to eat straw like the ox: seeing none of
these things visibly accomplished during the advent of Him who is believed
by us to be Christ, they did not accept our Lord Jesus; but, as having
called Himself Christ improperly, they crucified Him. And those belonging
to heretical sects reading this (statement), A fire has been kindled in
Mine anger; and this, I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation; and this,
I repent of having anointed Saul to be king; and this, I am a God that
makes peace, and creates evil; and, among others, this, There is not
wickedness in the city which the Lord has not done; and again this, Evils
came down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem; and, An evil spirit
from the Lord plagued Saul; and countless other passages like these — they
have not ventured to disbelieve these as the Scriptures of God; but
believing them to be the (words) of the Demiurge, whom the Jews worship,
they thought that as the Demiurge was an imperfect and unbenevolent God,
the Saviour had come to announce a more perfect Deity, who, they say, is
not the Demiurge, being of different opinions regarding Him; and having
once departed from the Demiurge, who is the only uncreated God, they have
given themselves up to fictions, inventing to themselves hypotheses,
according to which they imagine that there are some things which are
visible, and certain other things which are not visible, all which are the
fancies of their own minds. And yet, indeed, the more simple among those
who profess to belong to the Church have supposed that there is no deity
greater than the Demiurge, being right in so thinking, while they imagine
regarding Him such things as would not be believed of the most savage and
unjust of mankind.
9. Now the cause, in all the points previously enumerated, of the false
opinions, and of the impious statements or ignorant assertions about God,
appears to be nothing else than the not understanding the Scripture
according to its spiritual meaning, but the interpretation of it
agreeably to the mere letter. And therefore, to those who believe that
the sacred books are not the compositions of men, but that they were
composed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, agreeably to the will of the
Father of all things through Jesus Christ, and that they have come down to
us, we must point out the ways (of interpreting them) which appear
(correct) to us, who cling to the standard of the heavenly Church of Jesus
Christ according to the succession of the apostles. Now, that there are
certain mystical economies made known by the holy Scriptures, all — even
the most simple of those who adhere to the word — have believed; but what
these are, candid and modest individuals confess that they know not. If,
then, one were to be perplexed about the intercourse of Lot with his
daughters, and about the two wives of Abraham, and the two sisters married
to Jacob, and the two handmaids who bore him children, they can return no
other answer than this, that these are mysteries not understood by us.
Nay, also, when the (description of the) fitting out of the tabernacle is
read, believing that what is written is a type, they seek to adapt what
they can to each particular related about the tabernacle — not being wrong
so far as regards their belief that the tabernacle is a type of something,
but erring sometimes in adapting the description of that of which the
tabernacle is a type, to some special thing in a manner worthy of
Scripture. And all the history that is considered to tell of marriages, or
the begetting of children, or of wars, or any histories whatever that are
in circulation among the multitude, they declare to be types; but of what
in each individual instance, partly owing to their habits not being
thoroughly exercised — partly, too, owing to their precipitation —
sometimes, even when an individual does happen to be well trained and
clear-sighted, owing to the excessive difficulty of discovering things on
the part of men — the nature of each particular regarding these (types) is
not clearly ascertained.
10. And what need is there to speak of the prophecies, which we all know
to be filled with enigmas and dark sayings? And if we come to the Gospels,
the exact understanding of these also, as being the mind of Christ,
requires the grace that was given to him who said, But we have the mind of
Christ, that we might know the things freely given to us by God. Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but
which the Spirit teaches. And who, on reading the revelations made to
John, would not be amazed at the unspeakable mysteries therein concealed,
and which are evident (even) to him who does not comprehend what is
written? And to what person, skilful in investigating words, would the
Epistles of the Apostles seem to be clear and easy of understanding, since
even in them there are countless numbers of most profound ideas, which,
(issuing forth) as by an aperture, admit of no rapid comprehension? And
therefore, since these things are so, and since innumerable individuals
fall into mistakes, it is not safe in reading (the Scriptures) to declare
that one easily understands what needs the key of knowledge, which the
Saviour declares is with the lawyers. And let those answer who will not
allow that the truth was with these before the advent of Christ, how the
key of knowledge is said by our Lord Jesus Christ to be with those who, as
they allege, had not the books which contain the secrets of knowledge, and
perfect mysteries. For His words run thus: Woe unto you, you lawyers! For
you have taken away the key of knowledge: you have not entered in
yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.
11. The way, then, as it appears to us, in which we ought to deal with the
Scriptures, and extract from them their meaning, is the following, which
has been ascertained from the Scriptures themselves. By Solomon in the
Proverbs we find some such rule as this enjoined respecting the divine
doctrines of Scripture: And portray them in a threefold manner, in counsel
and knowledge, to answer words of truth to them who propose them to you.
The individual ought, then, to portray the ideas of holy Scripture in a
threefold manner upon his own soul; in order that the simple man may be
edified by the flesh, as it were, of the Scripture, for so we name the
obvious sense; while he who has ascended a certain way (may be edified) by
the soul, as it were. The perfect man, again, and he who resembles those
spoken of by the apostle, when he says, We speak wisdom among them that
are perfect, but not the wisdom of the world, nor of the rulers of this
world, who come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
the hidden wisdom, which God has ordained before the ages, unto our glory,
(may receive edification) from the spiritual law, which has a shadow of
good things to come. For as man consists of body, and soul, and spirit, so
in the same way does Scripture, which has been arranged to be given by God
for the salvation of men. And therefore we deduce this also from a book
which is despised by some — The Shepherd— in respect of the command given
to Hermas to write two books, and after so doing to announce to the
presbyters of the Church what he had learned from the Spirit. The words
are as follows: You will write two books, and give one to Clement, and one
to Grapte. And Grapte shall admonish the widows and the orphans, and
Clement will send to the cities abroad, while you will announce to the
presbyters of the Church. Now Grapte, who admonishes the widows and the
orphans, is the mere letter (of Scripture), which admonishes those who are
yet children in soul, and not able to call God their Father, and who are
on that account styled orphans — admonishing, moreover, those who no
longer have an unlawful bridegroom, but who remain widows, because they
have not yet become worthy of the (heavenly) Bridegroom; while Clement,
who is already beyond the letter, is said to send what is written to the
cities abroad, as if we were to call these the souls, who are above (the
influence of) bodily (affections) and degraded ideas, — the disciple of
the Spirit himself being enjoined to make known, no longer by letters,
but by living words, to the presbyters of the whole Church of God, who
have become grey through wisdom.
12. But as there are certain passages of Scripture which do not at all
contain the corporeal sense, as we shall show in the following
(paragraphs), there are also places where we must seek only for the soul,
as it were, and spirit of Scripture. And perhaps on this account the
water-vessels containing two or three firkins a-piece are said to lie for
the purification of the Jews, as we read in the Gospel according to John:
the expression darkly intimating, with respect to those who (are called)
by the apostle Jews secretly, that they are purified by the word of
Scripture, receiving sometimes two firkins, i.e., so to speak, the
psychical and spiritual sense; and sometimes three firkins, since some
have, in addition to those already mentioned, also the corporeal sense,
which is capable of (producing) edification. And six water-vessels are
reasonably (appropriate) to those who are purified in the world, which was
made in six days — the perfect number. That the first sense, then, is
profitable in this respect, that it is capable of imparting edification,
is testified by the multitudes of genuine and simple believers; while of
that interpretation which is referred back to the soul, there is an
illustration in Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians. The expression
is, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain; to
which he adds, Does God take care of oxen? Or says He it altogether for
our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this was written: that he that ploughs
should plough in hope, and that he who threshes, in hope of partaking.
And there are numerous interpretations adapted to the multitude which are
in circulation, and which edify those who are unable to understand
profounder meanings, and which have somewhat the same character.
13. But the interpretation is spiritual, when one is able to show of what
heavenly things the Jews according to the flesh served as an example and a
shadow, and of what future blessings the law contains a shadow. And,
generally, we must investigate, according to the apostolic promise, the
wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world for the glory of the just, which none of the princes of this world
knew. And the same apostle says somewhere, after referring to certain
events mentioned as occurring in Exodus and Numbers, that these things
happened to them figuratively, but that they were written on our account,
on whom the ends of the world have come. And he gives an opportunity for
ascertaining of what things these were patterns, when he says: For they
drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
And in another Epistle, when sketching the various matters relating to
the tabernacle, he used the words: You shall make everything according to
the pattern showed you in the mount. Moreover, in the Epistle to the
Galatians, as if upbraiding those who think that they read the law, and
yet do not understand it, judging that those do not understand it who do
not reflect that allegories are contained under what is written, he says:
Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For
it is written, Abraham had two sons; the one by the bond-maid, the other
by the free woman. But he who was by the bond-maid was born according to
the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an
allegory: for these are the two covenants, and so on. Now we must
carefully observe each word employed by him. He says: You who desire to be
under the law, not You that are under the law; and, Do you not hearthe
law? — hearing being understood to mean comprehending and
knowing. And in the Epistle to the Colossians, briefly abridging the
meaning of the whole legislation, he says: Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a festival, or of a new moon, or of
Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come. Moreover, in the Epistle
to the Hebrews, discoursing of those who belong to the circumcision, he
writes: who serve for an ensample and shadow of heavenly things. Now it is
probable that, from these illustrations, those will entertain no doubt
with respect to the five books of Moses, who have once given in their
adhesion to the apostle, as divinely inspired; but do you wish to know,
with regard to the rest of the history, if it also happened as a pattern?
We must note, then, the expression in the Epistle to the Romans, I have
left to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal,
quoted from the third book of Kings, which Paul has understood as
equivalent (in meaning) to those who are Israelites according to
election, because not only were the Gentiles benefited by the advent of
Christ, but also certain of the race of God.
14. This being the state of the case, we have to sketch what seem to us to
be the marks of the (true) understanding of Scriptures. And, in the first
place, this must be pointed out, that the object of the Spirit, which by
the providence of God, through the Word who was in the beginning with
God, illuminated the ministers of truth, the prophets and apostles, was
especially (the communication) of ineffable mysteries regarding the
affairs of men (now by men I mean those souls that make use of bodies), in
order that he who is capable of instruction may by investigation, and by
devoting himself to the study of the profundities of meaning contained in
the words, become a participator of all the doctrines of his counsel. And
among those matters which relate to souls (who cannot otherwise obtain
perfection apart from the rich and wise truth of God), the (doctrines)
belonging to God and His only-begotten Son are necessarily laid down as
primary, viz., of what nature He is, and in what manner He is the Son of
God, and what are the causes of His descending even to (the assumption of)
human flesh, and of complete humanity; and what, also, is the operation of
this (Son), and upon whom and when exercised. And it was necessary also
that the subject of kindred beings, and other rational creatures, both
those who are divine and those who have fallen from blessedness, together
with the reasons of their fall, should be contained in the divine
teaching; and also that of the diversities of souls, and of the origin of
these diversities, and of the nature of the world, and the cause of its
existence. We must learn also the origin of the great and terrible
wickedness which overspreads the earth, and whether it is confined to this
earth only, or prevails elsewhere. Now, while these and similar objects
were present to the Spirit, who enlightened the souls of the holy
ministers of the truth, there was a second object, for the sake of those
who were unable to endure the fatigue of investigating matters so
important, viz., to conceal the doctrine relating to the previously
mentioned subjects, in expressions containing a narrative which conveyed
an announcement regarding the things of the visible creation, the creation
of man, and the successive descendants of the first men until they became
numerous; and other histories relating the acts of just men, and the sins
occasionally committed by these same men as being human beings, and the
wicked deeds, both of unchastity and vice, committed by sinful and ungodly
men. And what is most remarkable, by the history of wars, and of the
victors, and the vanquished, certain mysteries are indicated to those who
are able to test these statements. And more wonderful still, the laws of
truth are predicted by the written legislation;— all these being described
in a connected series, with a power which is truly in keeping with the
wisdom of God. For it was intended that the covering also of the spiritual
truths — I mean the bodily part of Scripture — should not be without
profit in many cases, but should be capable of improving the multitude,
according to their capacity.
15. But since, if the usefulness of the legislation, and the sequence and
beauty of the history, were universally evident of itself, we should not
believe that any other thing could be understood in the Scriptures save
what was obvious, the word of God has arranged that certain
stumbling-blocks, as it were, and offenses, and impossibilities, should
be introduced into the midst of the law and the history, in order that we
may not, through being drawn away in all directions by the merely
attractive nature of the language, either altogether fall away from the
(true) doctrines, as learning nothing worthy of God, or, by not departing
from the letter, come to the knowledge of nothing more divine. And this
also we must know, that the principal aim being to announce the spiritual
connection in those things that are done, and that ought to be done, where
the Word found that things done according to the history could be adapted
to these mystical senses, He made use of them, concealing from the
multitude the deeper meaning; but where, in the narrative of the
development of super-sensual things, there did not follow the performance
of those certain events, which was already indicated by the mystical
meaning, the Scripture interwove in the history (the account of) some
event that did not take place, sometimes what could not have happened;
sometimes what could, but did not. And sometimes a few words are
interpolated which are not true in their literal acceptation, and
sometimes a larger number. And a similar practice also is to be noticed
with regard to the legislation, in which is often to be found what is
useful in itself, and appropriate to the times of the legislation; and
sometimes also what does not appear to be of utility; and at other times
impossibilities are recorded for the sake of the more skilful and
inquisitive, in order that they may give themselves to the toil of
investigating what is written, and thus attain to a becoming conviction
of the manner in which a meaning worthy of God must be sought out in such
subjects.
16. It was not only, however, with the (Scriptures composed) before the
advent (of Christ) that the Spirit thus dealt; but as being the same
Spirit, and (proceeding) from the one God, He did the same thing both with
the evangelists and the apostles — as even these do not contain
throughout a pure history of events, which are interwoven indeed
according to the letter, but which did not actually occur. Nor even do the
law and the commandments wholly convey what is agreeable to reason. For
who that has understanding will suppose that the first, and second, and
third day, and the evening and the morning, existed without a sun, and
moon, and stars? And that the first day was, as it were, also without a
sky? And who is so foolish as to suppose that God, after the manner of a
husbandman, planted a paradise in Eden, towards the east, and placed in it
a tree of life, visible and palpable, so that one tasting of the fruit by
the bodily teeth obtained life? And again, that one was a partaker of good
and evil by masticating what was taken from the tree? And if God is said
to walk in the paradise in the evening, and Adam to hide himself under a
tree, I do not suppose that anyone doubts that these things figuratively
indicate certain mysteries, the history having taken place in appearance,
and not literally. Cain also, when going forth from the presence of God,
certainly appears to thoughtful men as likely to lead the reader to
inquire what is the presence of God, and what is the meaning of going out
from Him. And what need is there to say more, since those who are not
altogether blind can collect countless instances of a similar kind
recorded as having occurred, but which did not literally take place? Nay,
the Gospels themselves are filled with the same kind of narratives; e.g.,
the devil leading Jesus up into a high mountain, in order to show him
from thence the kingdoms of the whole world, and the glory of them. For
who is there among those who do not read such accounts carelessly, that
would not condemn those who think that with the eye of the body— which
requires a lofty height in order that the parts lying (immediately) under
and adjacent may be seen — the kingdoms of the Persians, and Scythians,
and Indians, and Parthians, were beheld, and the manner in which their
princes are glorified among men? And the attentive reader may notice in
the Gospels innumerable other passages like these, so that he will be
convinced that in the histories that are literally recorded,
circumstances that did not occur are inserted.
17. And if we come to the legislation of Moses, many of the laws manifest
the irrationality, and others the impossibility, of their literal
observance. The irrationality (in this), that the people are forbidden
to eat vultures, although no one even in the direst famines was (ever)
driven by want to have recourse to this bird; and that children eight days
old, which are uncircumcised, are ordered to be exterminated from among
their people, it being necessary, if the law were to be carried out at all
literally with regard to these, that their fathers, or those with whom
they are brought up, should be commanded to be put to death. Now the
Scripture says: Every male that is uncircumcised, who shall not be
circumcised on the eighth day, shall be cut off from among his people. And
if you wish to see impossibilities contained in the legislation, let us
observe that the goat-stag is one of those animals that cannot exist, and
yet Moses commands us to offer it as being a clean beast; whereas a
griffin, which is not recorded ever to have been subdued by man, the
lawgiver forbids to be eaten. Nay, he who carefully considers (the famous
injunction relating to) the Sabbath, You shall sit each one in your
dwellings: let no one go out from his place on the seventh day, will deem
it impossible to be literally observed: for no living being is able to sit
throughout a whole day, and remain without moving from a sitting position.
And therefore those who belong to the circumcision, and all who desire
that no meaning should be exhibited, save the literal one, do not
investigate at all such subjects as those of the goat-stag and griffin
and vulture, but indulge in foolish talk on certain points, multiplying
words and adducing tasteless traditions; as, for example, with regard to
the Sabbath, saying that two thousand cubits is each one's limit. Others,
again, among whom is Dositheus the Samaritan, condemning such an
interpretation, think that in the position in which a man is found on the
Sabbath day, he is to remain until evening. Moreover, the not carrying of
a burden on the Sabbath day is an impossibility; and therefore the Jewish
teachers have fallen into countless absurdities, saying that a shoe of
such a kind was a burden, but not one of another kind; and that a sandal
which had nails was a burden, but not one that was without them; and in
like manner what was borne on one shoulder (was a load), but not that
which was carried on both.
18. And if we go to the Gospel and institute a similar examination, what
would be more irrational than (to take literally the injunction), Salute
no man by the way, which simple persons think the Saviour enjoined on the
apostles? The command, moreover, that the right cheek should be smitten,
is most incredible, since everyone who strikes, unless he happen to have
some bodily defect, smites the left cheek with his right hand. And it is
impossible to take (literally, the statement) in the Gospel about the
offending of the right eye. For, to grant the possibility of one being
offended by the sense of sight, how, when there are two eyes that see,
should the blame be laid upon the right eye? And who is there that,
condemning himself for having looked upon a woman to lust after her,
would rationally transfer the blame to the right eye alone, and throw it
away? The apostle, moreover, lays down the law, saying, Is any man
called, being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. In the first
place, anyone will see that he does not utter these words in connection
with the subject before him. For, when laying down precepts on marriage
and purity, how will it not appear that he has introduced these words at
random? But, in the second place, who will say that a man does wrong who
endeavours to become uncircumcised, if that be possible, on account of the
disgrace that is considered by the multitude to attach to circumcision.
All these statements have been made by us, in order to show that the
design of that divine power which gave us the sacred Scriptures is, that
we should not receive what is presented by the letter alone (such things
being sometimes not true in their literal acceptation, but absurd and
impossible), but that certain things have been introduced into the actual
history and into the legislation that are useful in their literal sense.
19. But that no one may suppose that we assert respecting the whole that
no history is real because a certain one is not; and that no law is to be
literally observed, because a certain one, (understood) according to the
letter, is absurd or impossible; or that the statements regarding the
Saviour are not true in a manner perceptible to the senses; or that no
commandment and precept of His ought to be obeyed — we have to answer
that, with regard to certain things, it is perfectly clear to us that the
historical account is true; as that Abraham was buried in the double cave
at Hebron, as also Isaac and Jacob, and the wives of each of them; and
that Shechem was given as a portion to Joseph; and that Jerusalem is the
metropolis of Judea, in which the temple of God was built by Solomon; and
innumerable other statements. For the passages that are true in their
historical meaning are much more numerous than those which are
interspersed with a purely spiritual signification. And again, who would
not say that the command which enjoins to honour your father and your
mother, that it may be well with you, is useful, apart from all
allegorical meaning, and ought to be observed, the Apostle Paul also
having employed these very same words? And what need is there to speak of
the (prohibitions), You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You
shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness? And again, there are
commandments contained in the Gospel which admit of no doubt whether they
are to be observed according to the letter or not; e.g., that which says,
But I say unto you, Whoever is angry with his brother, and so on. And
again, But I say unto you, Swear not at all. And in the writings of the
apostle the literal sense is to be retained: Warn them that are unruly,
comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men;
although it is possible for those ambitious of a deeper meaning to retain
the profundities of the wisdom of God, without setting aside the
commandment in its literal meaning. The careful (reader), however, will be
in doubt as to certain points, being unable to show without long
investigation whether this history so deemed literally occurred or not,
and whether the literal meaning of this law is to be observed or not. And
therefore the exact reader must, in obedience to the Saviour's injunction
to search the Scriptures, carefully ascertain in how far the literal
meaning is true, and in how far impossible; and so far as he can, trace
out, by means of similar statements, the meaning everywhere scattered
through Scripture of that which cannot be understood in a literal
signification.
20. Since, therefore, as will be clear to those who read, the connection
taken literally is impossible, while the sense preferred is not
impossible, but even the true one, it must be our object to grasp the
whole meaning, which connects the account of what is literally impossible
in an intelligible manner with what is not only not impossible, but also
historically true, and which is allegorically understood, in respect of
its not having literally occurred. For, with respect to holy Scripture,
our opinion is that the whole of it has a spiritual, but not the whole a
bodily meaning, because the bodily meaning is in many places proved to be
impossible. And therefore great attention must be bestowed by the cautious
reader on the divine books, as being divine writings; the manner of
understanding which appears to us to be as follows:— The Scriptures
relate that God chose a certain nation upon the earth, which they call by
several names. For the whole of this nation is termed Israel, and also
Jacob. And when it was divided in the times of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
the ten tribes related as being subject to him were called Israel; and the
remaining two, along with the tribe of Levi, being ruled over by the
descendants of David, were named Judah. And the whole of the territory
which the people of this nation inhabited, being given them by God,
receives the name of Judah, the metropolis of which is Jerusalem, — a
metropolis, namely, of numerous cities, the names of which lie scattered
about in many other passages (of Scripture), but are enumerated together
in the book of Joshua the Son of Nun.
21. Such, then, being the state of the case, the apostle, elevating our
power of discernment (above the letter), says somewhere, Behold Israel
after the flesh, as if there were an Israel according to the Spirit. And
in another place he says, For they who are the children of the flesh are
not the children of God; nor are they all Israel who are of Israel; nor is
he a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that 'circumcision' which is outward
in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one 'inwardly;' and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. For if the
judgment respecting the Jew inwardly be adopted, we must understand that,
as there is a bodily race of Jews, so also is there a race of Jews
inwardly, the soul having acquired this nobility for certain mysterious
reasons. Moreover, there are many prophecies which predict regarding
Israel and Judah what is about to befall them. And do not such promises as
are written concerning them, in respect of their being mean in
expression, and manifesting no elevation (of thought), nor anything
worthy of the promise of God, need a mystical interpretation? And if the
spiritual promises are announced by visible signs, then they to whom the
promises are made are not corporeal. And not to linger over the point of
the Jew who is a Jew inwardly, nor over that of the Israelite according to
the inner man — these statements being sufficient for those who are not
devoid of understanding — we return to our subject, and say that Jacob is
the father of the twelve patriarchs, and they of the rulers of the people;
and these, again, of the other Israelites. Do not, then, the corporeal
Israelites refer their descent to the rulers of the people, and the rulers
of the people to the patriarchs, and the patriarchs to Jacob, and those
still higher up; while are not the spiritual Israelites, of whom the
corporeal Israelites were the type, sprung from the families, and the
families from the tribes, and the tribes from some one individual whose
descent is not of a corporeal but of a better kind — he, too, being born
of Isaac, and he of Abraham — all going back to Adam, whom the apostle
declares to be Christ? For every beginning of those families which have
relation to God as to the Father of all, took its commencement lower down
with Christ, who is next to the God and Father of all, being thus the
Father of every soul, as Adam is the father of all men. And if Eve also is
intended by the apostle to refer to the Church, it is not surprising that
Cain, who was born of Eve, and all after him, whose descent goes back to
Eve, should be types of the Church, inasmuch as in a pre-eminent sense
they are all descended from the Church.
22. Now, if the statements made to us regarding Israel, and its tribes and
its families, are calculated to impress us, when the Saviour says, I was
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, we do not
understand the expression as the Ebionites do, who are poor in
understanding (deriving their name from the poverty of their intellect—
Ebion signifying poor in Hebrew), so as to suppose that the Saviour came
specially to the carnal Israelites; for they who are the children of the
flesh are not the children of God. Again, the apostle teaches regarding
Jerusalem as follows: The Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the
mother of us all. And in another Epistle: But you have come unto mount
Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and to the
Church of the first-born which are written in heaven. If, then, Israel is
among the race of souls, and if there is in heaven a city of Jerusalem, it
follows that the cities of Israel have for their metropolis the heavenly
Jerusalem, and it consequently is the metropolis of all Judea. Whatever,
therefore, is predicted of Jerusalem, and spoken of it, if we listen to
the words of Paul as those of God, and of one who utters wisdom, we must
understand the Scriptures as speaking of the heavenly city, and of the
whole territory included within the cities of the holy land. For perhaps
it is to these cities that the Saviour refers us, when to those who have
gained credit by having managed their pounds well, He assigns the
presidency over five or ten cities. If, therefore, the prophecies
relating to Judea, and Jerusalem, and Israel, and Judah, and Jacob, not
being understood by us in a carnal sense, indicate some such mysteries (as
already mentioned), it will follow also that the predictions concerning
Egypt and the Egyptians, Babylon and the Babylonians, Tyre and the
Tyrians, Sidon and the Sidonians, or the other nations, are spoken not
only of these bodily Egyptians, and Babylonians, and Tyrians, and
Sidonians, but also of their spiritual (counterparts). For if there be
spiritual Israelites, it follows that there are also spiritual Egyptians
and Babylonians. For what is related in Ezekiel concerning Pharaoh king of
Egypt does not at all apply to the case of a certain man who ruled or was
said to rule over Egypt, as will be evident to those who give it careful
consideration. Similarly, what is said about the ruler of Tyre cannot be
understood of a certain man who ruled over Tyre. And what is said in many
places, and especially in Isaiah, of Nebuchadnezzar, cannot be explained
of that individual. For the man Nebuchadnezzar neither fell from heaven,
nor was he the morning star, nor did he arise upon the earth in the
morning. Nor would any man of understanding interpret what is said in
Ezekiel about Egypt— viz., that in forty years it should be laid desolate,
so that the footstep of man should not be found thereon, and that the
ravages of war should be so great that the blood should run throughout
the whole of it, and rise to the knees — of that Egypt which is situated
beside the Ethiopians whose bodies are blackened by the sun.
23. And perhaps as those here, dying according to the death common to all,
are, in consequence of the deeds done here, so arranged as to obtain
different places according to the proportion of their sins, if they should
be deemed worthy of the place called Hades; so those there dying, so to
speak, descend into this Hades, being judged deserving of different abodes
— better or worse — throughout all this space of earth, and (of being
descended) from parents of different kinds, so that an Israelite may
sometimes fall among Scythians, and an Egyptian descend into Judea. And
yet the Saviour came to gather together the lost sheep of the house of
Israel; but many of the Israelites not having yielded to His teaching,
those from the Gentiles were called....And these points, as we suppose,
have been concealed in the histories. For the kingdom of heaven is like a
treasure hid in a field; the which when a man has found, he hides, and for
joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. Let us
notice, then, whether the apparent and superficial and obvious meaning of
Scripture does not resemble a field filled with plants of every kind,
while the things lying in it, and not visible to all, but buried, as it
were, under the plants that are seen, are the hidden treasures of wisdom
and knowledge; which the Spirit through Isaiah calls dark and invisible
and concealed, God alone being able to break the brazen gates that conceal
them, and to burst the iron bars that are upon the gates, in order that
all the statements in the book of Genesis may be discovered which refer to
the various genuine kinds, and seeds, as it were, of souls, which stand
nearly related to Israel, or at a distance from it; and the descent into
Egypt of the seventy souls, that they may there become as the stars of
heaven in multitude. But since not all who are of them are the light of
the world — for not all who are of Israel are Israel — they become from
seventy souls as the sand that is beside the sea-shore innumerable.
Source. Translated by Frederick Crombie. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04124.htm>.