Origen's sermon on Luke 1:6, distinguishing 'never having sinned' from 'having ceased to sin' to explain how Zechariah and Elizabeth could be called righteous and blameless.
This homily takes up a single verse from Luke's Gospel: the description of Zechariah and Elizabeth as "both righteous in the sight of God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord without blame." Origen opens by confronting people who cite Job's line that no one is clean of defilement to excuse ongoing sin. He answers by drawing a distinction scripture uses in two senses: being "without sin" can mean never having sinned at all, or it can mean having ceased to sin. Almost everyone fails the first test, Origen concedes, but the second is genuinely open to anyone who turns from vice to virtue -- he applies the same logic to Paul's image of the church presented "without spot or wrinkle," which describes a state achieved by ceasing to sin, not a sinless past.
Origen then works through the layered praise Luke gives the couple, phrase by phrase. Being righteous merely "in the sight of men" is unreliable, he argues, because human judges cannot see into the hidden places of the heart -- whether almsgiving was done for God's sake or for public praise, whether inward desire amounted to hidden adultery. True righteousness must be "in the sight of God," the only judge who sees motive as well as act, a point Origen reinforces with Solomon's counsel in Proverbs and Paul's remark that his praise is not from men but from God. Zechariah and Elizabeth's righteousness is presented as passing that stricter test.
The homily's sharpest turn is on the phrase "without blame," which Origen argues would be redundant if walking in all the commandments were automatically blameless. He resolves the tension by distinguishing doing what God commands from doing it for the right reason: a person can keep every commandment outwardly while still being motivated by vainglory or the desire to please others, and so "unjustly follow what is just." The homily closes on the theme of final judgment before Christ's judgment seat, where each will receive what is due for deeds done in the body.
“being without sin" is understood in the scriptures in two ways: the one, that a person has never sinned at all; the other, that a person has ceased to sin”
— Homily on Luke 2 · read this chapter →
“our Lord Jesus Christ "presented to himself a glorious church, not having spot" — not because a member of the church never had a spot, but because he is no longer spotted at all”
— Homily on Luke 2 · read this chapter →
“it can happen that someone is righteous in the sight of men, but is not righteous "in the sight of God."”
— Homily on Luke 2 · read this chapter →
“It is a difficult thing to be righteous "in the sight of" oneself, so that you do something good for no other reason than for the sake of the good itself”
— Homily on Luke 2 · read this chapter →
“For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God, that we may receive what we deserve in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever.”
— Homily on Luke 2 · read this chapter →
It is a sermon on Luke's description of Zechariah and Elizabeth as righteous and blameless before God. Origen uses that verse to explain what scripture means by being 'without sin,' arguing it can mean either never sinning or having ceased to sin.
He denies that anyone has never sinned, agreeing with Job that no one is clean of defilement in that sense. But he insists a person who has ceased to sin can rightly be called 'without sin,' comparing this to the church presented 'without spot or wrinkle.'
Because human observers cannot see hidden motives -- whether almsgiving was done to obey God or to win praise, or whether desire amounted to hidden adultery in the heart. Only God, who judges both praise and blame, sees truly.
He means keeping God's commandments outwardly while doing so for the wrong reason, such as vainglory or the desire to please people rather than God. In that case the act is just but the motive corrupts it, so the person is not truly blameless.
It turns to the final judgment, stating that all must appear before Christ's judgment seat to receive what they deserve for deeds done in the body.
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