Origen's opening homily on Luke's Gospel, explaining why only four gospels are canonical and unpacking Luke's preface word by word.
This is the first in Origen's series of homilies on the Gospel of Luke, preached to his congregation in Caesarea in the third century. Origen opens by comparing the many gospel-writers of the Christian era to the many would-be prophets of ancient Israel: some were true, most were rejected. He works through Luke's preface ("Since indeed many have attempted to compile a narrative") almost clause by clause, arguing that Luke's word "attempted" is a veiled rebuke of writers who composed gospels without the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Origen names several of these rejected texts directly, including gospels "according to the Egyptians," "according to the Twelve Apostles," one by Basilides, and gospels attributed to Thomas and Matthias, stating plainly that he has read many of them but that the church accepts only four. He then turns to close reading: distinguishing "seeing the word" from merely seeing Jesus' body (so that even Pilate and Judas, who saw Jesus, did not see the Word of God), and drawing an analogy between medicine and Christian teaching to explain why Luke stresses being not just a hearer but a "minister" of the word.
The homily ends on Luke's dedication to "most excellent Theophilus," which Origen reads not as a private letter to one man but as an address to every hearer who loves God — "if you are such that you are loved by God, then you too are a lover of God, and the Gospel is written to you." The text breaks off with some manuscript lacunae near the end. The homily matters as an early, explicit witness to the church's four-gospel canon and to named rival gospels that no longer survive intact.
“The church has four gospels, heresy has very many, of which one is written according to the Egyptians, another according to the Twelve”
— Homily on Luke 1 · read this chapter →
“Basilides too dared to write a gospel and to give it his own name as its title.”
— Homily on Luke 1 · read this chapter →
“But let the faithful, prudent, and steadfast person follow reason and the word, and so judge what is true and what is false.”
— Homily on Luke 1 · read this chapter →
“But far be it that any unbeliever should see the word of God.”
— Homily on Luke 1 · read this chapter →
“One might suppose that he wrote the Gospel to some particular Theophilus. But all of you who hear us speaking”
— Homily on Luke 1 · read this chapter →
It is Origen's opening sermon in a series on Luke's Gospel, in which he explains why the church accepts only four gospels while rejecting many others, then closely reads the opening verses of Luke's preface.
He names a gospel according to the Egyptians, one according to the Twelve Apostles, a gospel written by Basilides under his own name, and gospels called 'According to Thomas' and 'According to Matthias,' saying he has read many others besides.
Yes. He states plainly that 'the church has four gospels, heresy has very many,' and that only Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke are approved for doctrine about Christ.
Origen does not treat Theophilus as merely one historical patron of Luke; he reads the name allegorically so that any hearer who loves God counts as a 'Theophilus' to whom the Gospel is addressed.
He argues that physically seeing Jesus is not the same as seeing the Word of God, noting that Pilate and Judas both saw Jesus' body yet did not see the Word, since that requires faith rather than bodily eyes.
Origen reads Luke's word 'attempted' as a hidden rebuke of unauthorized gospel-writers who lacked the Holy Spirit's grace, contrasting them with Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke, who wrote 'full of the Holy Spirit.'
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