Origen's homily on Luke's temptation narrative, reading the devil's offer of "all the kingdoms of the world" as a contest between two rival kings for the human soul.
Homily on Luke 30 is one of Origen's short sermons on the Gospel of Luke, preached to expound the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, specifically the moment when the devil shows Christ "all the kingdoms of the world" and offers them in exchange for worship. Origen reads the episode less as geography than as psychology and cosmic politics: two kings compete to reign, Christ and the devil, and every person is a subject of one or the other depending on whether pleasure or virtue governs their inner life.
Origen argues that the devil did not literally parade the kingdoms of Persia and India before Jesus in an instant; rather, the devil displayed his own dominion, the sway he holds over humanity through fornication, avarice, popular acclaim, and the love of beauty. The devil's kingdom is thus a moral empire built vice by vice, and he is called "the prince of this age" because so much of the world lies under it. Origen dwells on the devil's proposal, that Christ simply worship him and inherit the whole kingdom without a fight, and reads Christ's refusal as a refusal to reign by sin: Christ wants to rule as righteousness itself, without any unseemly shortcut, quoting Deuteronomy's command to worship God alone.
The homily closes by turning outward to the congregation: since sin and Christ contend for kingship over each believer's "mortal body," as Paul warns, the hearer must choose which king to serve. Origen ends in prayer that "reigning sin" be put to death in the body and that Christ alone reign within, a device typical of his homiletic style of moving from exegesis of a Gospel scene to direct moral exhortation and closing doxology.
“the king of sin over sinners is the devil, the king of righteousness over the righteous is Christ”
— Homily on Luke 30 · read this chapter →
“that is, his own kingdom, and how he reigned in the world”
— Homily on Luke 30 · read this chapter →
“the devil is king of almost the whole world; hence he is also called by the Savior”
— Homily on Luke 30 · read this chapter →
“You shall worship the Lord your God, and”
— Homily on Luke 30 · read this chapter →
“let us pray to God that he may put to death the”
— Homily on Luke 30 · read this chapter →
It is a sermon expounding Luke's account of the devil showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offering them in exchange for worship. Origen interprets this as a contest between two kings, Christ and the devil, for rule over the human soul.
Origen argues this was not a literal display of nations like Persia and India but the devil revealing his own moral dominion, the vices such as fornication, avarice, popular acclaim, and love of beauty by which he holds people subject.
He uses the Gospel title to explain why the devil could plausibly claim so much of humanity as his kingdom, noting that if believers are honest about human misery, the devil is effectively king of almost the whole world.
Origen says Christ does want to reign over all nations, but only as righteousness itself, without sin or an unseemly shortcut; Christ will not be crowned by submitting to the devil even to gain dominion without a fight.
Since Paul warns believers not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies, each person is likewise ruled by either Christ or sin; Origen closes by praying that sin be put to death in the body so Christ alone reigns within.
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