Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Luke, who wrote: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also what will be born holy will be called the Son of God’ — who plainly handed down to us that Jesus was the son of a virgin and was not conceived from human seed, this same man testified concerning his father Joseph, saying: ‘And his father and mother were marveling over
the things that were said about him.’ What reason, then, was there for him to record as father one who was not his father? He who is content with a simple exposition will say: the Holy Spirit honored him with the title of father, because he had raised the Savior. But he who inquires into something deeper can say: because the order of the genealogy is traced down from David to Joseph, lest it should seem pointless for
Joseph to be named, who had not been the Savior’s father — so that the order of the genealogy might have its place, he was called ‘father.’ ‘His father and mother,’ then, ‘were marveling over the things that were said about him,’ both by the angel and by the multitude of the heavenly host, and also by the shepherds. For hearing all these things, they marveled most intensely. Then the scripture says: ‘Simeon blessed them and
said to Mary his mother: Behold, this one is appointed for the falling and the rising up of many within Israel, and to be a sign that is spoken against. And a sword will pass through your own soul as well, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.’ How the Savior came to bring about the fall and rising up of many is to be considered. He who explains it simply can say it is for the
fall of unbelievers and the rising of believers. But he who is an interpreter says that in no way does one fall who had not previously stood. Show me, then, who that one was who stood, and for whose ‘fall’ the Savior came, and also the one who rises again. For surely he rises again who had previously fallen. We must therefore see whether perhaps the Savior
came for the fall of some and the rising of others, but for the same people, both for their fall and for their rising. ‘For judgment,’ he says, ‘I have come, so that those who did not see may see, and those who saw may become blind.’ For there is in us one thing that saw before and afterward ceased to see, and another thing that did not see
and afterward began to see. For example, I wish to see with those eyes with which I did not see before, and which were afterward opened to me — since, after the disobedience of Adam and Eve, ‘their eyes were opened,’ concerning which we treated in the previous discourse. Now, however, we must interpret what this means, that he says: Behold, this one is set for the fall
and the rising of many in Israel.’ I must first fall and, once I have fallen, afterward rise well, lest the Savior be for me the cause of an evil fall. But he made me fall for this very reason, that I might rise again, and my fall will have been far more useful to me than that time in which I seemed to stand. For I was standing in sin at the time when I was living in sin; and because I was standing in sin, the first
it was to my advantage that I should fall and die to sin. Indeed, the holy prophets too, when they beheld something more sublime, fell upon their faces; and they fell for this reason, that their sins might be more fully purged through that fall. This very thing the Savior grants you first, that you should fall down. You were a pagan; let the pagan fall in you. You loved harlots; let the fornicator in you die first. You were a sinner; let
the sinner in you fall, so that you may then rise again and say: "if we have died together with him, we shall also live together with him," and: "if we have been made conformed to his death, we shall also be conformed to his resurrection." This one, then, has been set for the fall and rising of many in Israel—that is, of those who are able to perceive with full clarity of sight and reason—and for a sign that
will be spoken against. Everything that the history relates about the Savior is spoken against. The mother is a virgin—this is a sign that is spoken against: the Marcionites contradict this sign and say that he was not born of a woman at all; the Ebionites contradict the sign, saying that he was born of a man and a woman just as we too are born. He had a human body, and this too is a sign that
is spoken against: for some say that he came down from heaven, others that he had a body such as ours, so that through the likeness of the body he might also redeem our bodies from sins and give us hope of resurrection. He rose from the dead, and this too is a sign that is spoken against: how he rose, whether he himself and in the same condition in which he died, or indeed into a body of a better substance
he rose; and there is endless dispute, some saying that he showed Thomas the mark of the nails in his hands, others arguing on the contrary: if he had the same body, how did he enter with the doors shut and stand there? You see, then, how the question of his resurrection too is stirred up by various arguments, and how it is a sign that is spoken against. I think that this too, which
was foretold by mouth, is a sign that is spoken against; for there are many heretics who assert that he was not foretold by the prophets at all. And why do I need to pursue many examples? Everything that the history relates about him is a sign that is spoken against—not that those who believe in him speak against it, for we indeed know that everything that is written
is true—but because among unbelievers everything that is written about him is a sign that is spoken against. Then Simeon says: "and your own..." What is this sword, which passed through not only the hearts of others, but also the heart of Mary? It is plainly written that at the time of the passion all the apostles were scandalized, the Lord himself saying: "You will all be scandalized
this night." So all were scandalized to such an extent that Peter too, the chief of the apostles, denied him three times. What are we to think—that while the apostles were scandalized, the mother of the Lord was immune from scandal? If she did not suffer scandal at the Lord's passion, then Jesus did not die for her sins. But if all have sinned and lack the glory of God, and have been justified
...his grace, and the redeemed. Indeed Mary too was scandalized at that time. And this is what Simeon now prophesies, saying: “and your own,” you who know that you bore, as a virgin, without a man, who heard from Gabriel: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”—the sword of unbelief
and you will be pierced by the blade of doubt, and your thoughts will tear you apart in different directions, when you see him, whom you had heard was the Son of God and knew to have been begotten without the seed of a man ... also with the Lord saying: all ... begotten, be crucified and die and be subjected to human tortures, and at last, weeping,
lamenting and saying: “Father, if it can be done, let this cup be taken away from me.” And thus a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. There were evil thoughts in men, and they were revealed for this reason: that, once brought out into the open, they might be destroyed, and, put to death, might cease to be alive, and that he might slay them,
who died for us. For as long as thoughts remained hidden and were not brought out into the open, it was impossible for them to be entirely destroyed. Hence we too, if we have sinned, ought to say: “I have made my sin known to you, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said: I will declare my injustice against myself to the Lord.” For if we do this, and reveal our sins
not only to God but also to those who can heal our wounds and our sins, our sins will be blotted out by him who says: “Behold, I will blot out your iniquities like a cloud, and your sins like a mist.” After Simeon's prophecy, since it was necessary that women too should be saved, a woman prophet came forward, of whom it is written: “And there was Anna, a prophetess,
Phanuel's daughter, from the tribe of Asher.” How beautiful the order! The woman did not come before the man; rather, Simeon came first, who took hold of the infant and held him in his arms, and then the woman—whose words, indeed, are not set out in full, but it is said only in general that she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem
. And rightly did the holy woman deserve to receive the spirit of prophecy, because through long chastity and long fasting she had risen to this height. See, women, the testimony of Anna, and imitate it! If it should ever happen to you that you lose your husbands, consider what is written of her: “she lived seven years with a husband, from the time of her virginity,” and so on; and for this reason she was a prophetess
—for the Holy Spirit did not dwell in her at random or by chance. It is a good thing, and the foremost thing, if a woman is able to possess the grace of virginity; but if she cannot achieve this, and it happens to her that she loses her husband, let her remain a widow. And indeed she ought to keep this in mind not only after her husband's death, but even while he is alive, so that
even if her own wish and purpose is not fulfilled, let her be crowned by the Lord and say: this I vow and promise, that if something human, which I do not wish, should befall me, I will do nothing other than persevere unstained and widowed. But as it is, there are second and third and fourth marriages... concerning "Now" — [editorial note, special material]: "And when they had finished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned"
into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. Here Luke passed over what he knew had been sufficiently set forth by Matthew — namely, that the Lord afterward, so that he would not be found by Herod and killed, was carried by his parents to Egypt, and that after Herod's death he then at last returned to Galilee and began to dwell in his own city, Nazareth. For the evangelists individually are accustomed to omit in this way certain things which they saw had been recorded by others,
or which they foresaw in the Spirit would be recorded by others, so that by the continuous sequence of their own narrative they might seem to have omitted nothing — things which, nevertheless, the diligent reader will find, upon considering the writing of the other evangelist, at what point they were passed over. "Now the child grew and grew strong, filled with wisdom, and God's grace rested upon him." The distinction in the wording is to be noted, because the Lord Jesus Christ, in that respect in which
he was a child — that is, in that he had put on the condition of human frailty — he was subject to growing and being strengthened; but in that other respect (to pass over many other points), such persons are found within the church, and we are not unaware that such a marriage casts us out of the kingdom of God. For just as not only fornication but also second marriages bar one from ecclesiastical offices — for neither a bishop nor a presbyter nor a deacon nor a widow
can be twice-married — so perhaps also from the assembly "of the firstborn and the unblemished," the church "which has no spot or wrinkle," the twice-married man will be cast out; not that he is sent into eternal fire, but that he has no part in the kingdom of God. I recall, when I was expounding that passage written to the Corinthians: "to the church of God which is at Corinth,"
"together with all who call upon" — I said that there is a difference between [the church of God] and those "who call upon" the name of the Lord. For the once-married man, and the virgin, and the one who perseveres in chastity, belong to the church of God; but the one who is twice-married, though he may have led a good life and be strong in the other virtues, nevertheless does not belong to [the church] and to
that number which "has no wrinkle or spot or anything of the kind," but belongs to the second rank, to those who "invoke" the Lord's name, and who are saved in the name of Jesus Christ, yet are by no means crowned by him — to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen. ...was the Word of God, and was the eternal God,
he did not need to be strengthened, nor did he need to grow. Hence he is most rightly declared "full," both [in wisdom and in grace]. In wisdom, indeed, "because in him dwells all the fullness of divinity" (Col. 2:9); and in grace, because to that same "mediator of God and men, Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5) great grace was granted, so that from the moment he began to be man, he was perfect
...was God as well. Similar to this is what John writes, that he was full of grace and truth (John 1:14) — commending that same excellence of divinity, that of truth, which Luke commends under the name of wisdom.