Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Having taken up, as it were, three virtues of God, his strength and his wisdom and his understanding, the prophet assigns to each of them a task proper to it: to strength, the earth; to wisdom, the inhabited world; to understanding, heaven. For listen to the text that says: "The Lord, who made the earth by his strength, who
set the inhabited world upright by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heaven." And we too, with respect to our own earth (for it was said to Adam, "earth you are"), have need of the strength of God, and without the power of God we are not able to accomplish those things which are not according to the mindset of the flesh. But once the members that are upon the
earth have been put to death, what accords with the will of the spirit will come to be, since by the spirit the deeds of the flesh, according to the apostle, are put to death. "The Lord," then, "who made the earth by his strength." And if you come also to this earth, if you are able to see what is written in Job — as we found it in the more accurate copies —
that he set it "upon nothing," you will see that by the strength of God it lies exactly in the middle. I come now also to the inhabited world. I know a soul that is inhabited, I know a soul that is a wasteland. For if it does not have God, if it does not have the Christ who said, "I, together with my Father, will come to that person and make with him our dwelling," if it does not have the
Holy Spirit, that soul is a wasteland. But it is an inhabited world when it has been filled with God, when it has Christ, when the Holy Spirit is in it. These things are said in various and differing ways in the scriptures — that the soul of man is the dwelling place of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. David, at any rate, in the psalm of confession,
asks the Father concerning these spirits, saying: "Establish me with a governing spirit," "renew a right spirit within my inward parts," "and do not take your Holy Spirit from me." What are these three spirits? The governing one is the Father, the right one is Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit — these serve to present the
inhabited world as remaining inhabited in no other way than in the wisdom of God. For "wisdom will help the wise man more than ten who hold power in the city." "But whoever despises wisdom and instruction is wretched, and his hope is empty, and his labors are unprofitable, and his works are useless," says Wisdom, the book inscribed with the name of Solomon. Therefore, however great
the power, since the inhabited world is set upright by the wisdom of God, let us also wish for our own world to be set upright, since it has perhaps fallen; for this world of ours fell when we came into the place of affliction, this world fell when "we sinned, we acted impiously, we did wrong," and it needs to be set upright. God, then, is the one who set the inhabited world upright. But if you do not take it in this way,
"...having set upright the inhabited world" -- but understanding "the inhabited world" more generally, ask from what state it was he set the inhabited world upright; ask about the fall of the inhabited world, so that once you have found its fall you may see its uprighting. If then someone exists in this inhabited world, and you understand the inhabited world in this way, <it is empty before the uprighting. But if it has fallen>, it is clear that it needs the uprighting, and no one who has not fallen
needs the uprighting. But if it has been set upright, let us see who -- clearly each one of those in the inhabited world has fallen from sin. And "the Lord is he who sets upright those who are broken down," and "he supports all who are falling," "in Adam all die," and thus the inhabited world has fallen and needs the uprighting, so that "in Christ all" may be made alive. So I have given a twofold account of the matters concerning the
inhabited world: in one way showing with reference to each single person how each soul is either an inhabited world or a wilderness, and in the other way resting the discussion on the inhabited world itself. "And in his understanding he stretched out the heaven." He did not take up the word "understanding" with reference to heaven by chance; for you will find it said in Proverbs, "God founded the earth in wisdom,
and prepared the heavens in understanding." There is, then, a certain understanding of God, which you should not seek except in Christ Jesus. For all the things that belong to God are of this kind: Christ is them. He himself is the wisdom of God, he himself is the power of God, he himself is the righteousness of God, he himself is the sanctification, he himself is the redemption; thus he himself is the understanding of God. But the underlying reality is one, while by the
different concepts the many names apply to different things. And you do not think the same thing concerning Christ when you think of him as wisdom and when you think of him as righteousness. For when you think of him as wisdom, you grasp the knowledge of divine and human things; but when as righteousness, the power that apportions to each according to worth in the whole; and when as sanctification, the power that produces holiness in
those who believe and are devoted to God. So then, in this way you will also understand him as understanding, when he is the knowledge of good things and evil things and things that are neither. Since then it is set apart for those who dwell in heaven, or for those who wear the heavenly man, † having separated the evil things from the good things, so that that heaven may no longer be defiled, because through the
understanding of God the heaven has been stretched out -- nor is the righteous man not heaven (for the righteous man too is heaven, as has been said): "and he stretched out the heaven by his understanding." How then is the heaven stretched out? By wisdom's stretching it out. It is shown how wisdom stretches out in the verse, "since I stretched out words and you did not pay attention," where it speaks of a certain stretching-out of words; in this way
the heaven is stretched out. And in the hundred and third psalm it is said, "stretching out the heaven like a curtain." And our soul too is stretched out, having previously been contracted, so that it may be able to contain the wisdom of God. But let us return to the matter before us. We were speaking of the heaven having come to be by understanding. And we say that those who wear the heavenly man are themselves also
heaven. For if it is said to the one who sins, “You are earth, and to earth you shall depart,” would it not be said to the righteous one, “whose is the kingdom of the heavens”: You are heaven, and to heaven you shall depart? Or will it be said, because of the earthly man who bears “the image of the earthly one,” “You are earth, and to earth you shall depart,” but because of the heavenly man, when
you have worn “the image of the heavenly one,” it will no longer be fitting to say, You are heaven, and to heaven you shall depart? Each of us, then, has works both heavenly and earthly. Earthly works are those which draw down, to the earth akin to them, the one who stores them up on the earth and does not store them up in [heaven]. Again, the works of virtue draw up to the places akin to them, which are in heaven,
the one who stores them up in [heaven]—the one who has worn “the image of the heavenly one”—namely the things done according to virtue. “And he brought up clouds from the end of the earth.” This saying came up recently also in the psalm, and we were saying how God “brought up clouds, clouds from the end of the earth.” These things it is necessary to take up again, for those who know them, for clarification and reminder of what has been said,
and for those who have forgotten or were not present, for the clarification of this, whether it is being disclosed and made evident, or however it is being understood. We say that the saints are clouds. For “your truth reaches to the clouds” cannot be referred to the lifeless clouds; rather, the truth of God extends as far as the clouds, who hear the commandment of God and know where they should send rain
and from what places they should withhold it. For as though there were clouds to whom God gives command not to rain or to rain, it is written: “I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.” Now in the case of these clouds, when there is no rain, God does not command the clouds not to rain rain upon the vineyard or the land; rather, no cloud appears at all,
as is written in the third book of Kingdoms, where, at the time of the drought, no cloud appeared, but when, according to the word of Elijah’s prophecy, the rain was about to come, a trace of a cloud appeared “like the trace of a man,” and a cloud came to be, producing the rain. But since, when the clouds do exist, they are commanded not to rain, whenever the soul happens to be unworthy
of the rain, it is said, “I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.” Each of the saints, then, is a cloud. Moses was a cloud, and as a cloud he said: “Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my utterance be awaited like rain. <Had he not been a cloud, he would never have said, ‘Like rain is my utterance,’
and let my words come down like dew.” As a cloud he says: “Like a shower upon the grass, and like snow-rain upon the herb; for I have proclaimed the name of the Lord.” So too, as a cloud, Isaiah says: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.” And since he too was a cloud, a cloud, he called the fellow prophets with him clouds, saying as he prophesied: “I will command the clouds…”
“so as not to rain rain upon it.” But if we have grasped who the clouds are, let us see how God “brings up clouds from the end of the earth.” How “from the end of the earth”? The Savior says: “Whoever wants to be first among you shall be last of all.” Paul kept this commandment, and he was last in this world. Therefore
he says: “For I think God has displayed us the apostles as last, as sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” If, then, someone keeps the Savior's commandment and becomes last with respect to this life, this person becomes a cloud. And God brings up clouds not from the foremost of the earth, not from
consuls does he bring up clouds, not from rulers does he bring up clouds, not from the rich; for “blessed are the poor, because the kingdom of God is yours.” Do you see how God brings up clouds from the last, and gives body to the clouds? For this reason, if we want to become clouds, clouds that the truth of God reaches, let us become last of all and let us say, by deeds and by disposition,
the words: “For I think God has displayed us the apostles as last”—even if I am not an apostle, it is possible for me to become last, so that God, who brings up clouds from “the end of the earth,” might bring me up too. “And he made lightnings for rain.” Those skilled in such matters say that the generation of lightnings comes from the clouds rubbing against one another. For what happens with
fire-striking stones on the earth—when two stones strike against each other and fire is produced—this, they say, happens also with the clouds. When the clouds strike against each other during storms, lightning occurs. That is why lightning generally occurs together with thunder, the thunder displaying the sound of the clouds' collision, and the lightning generating the light. If you have grasped
the illustration, consider with me the intelligible cloud as well. Moses was a cloud, Joshua son of Nun was a cloud. These, then, converse with one another, and from their words lightning occurs. Jeremiah was a cloud, Baruch was a cloud. They converse with one another; lightning came from the words of Jeremiah and the words of Baruch. In this way, if you can, gather from the
scriptures in what manner lightning comes. And in the New Testament, Paul and Silvanus were two clouds. They came together, and the lightning of the letter occurred. “Lightnings,” then, God “made for rain, and he brought forth winds from his storehouses.” Are these winds, then, in storehouses? Or is it not the case that their nature is seen as they blow upon the earth,
and how it subsists? But there are certain storehouses of winds, storehouses of spirits: “a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might,” “a spirit of knowledge and piety,” “a spirit of the fear of God,” “a spirit of power and love and self-control.” And you yourself can gather these winds from the scriptures. These spirits are in storehouses; and what are the storehouses? “In whom”
...are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden'; these treasures are in Christ. From there, then, come these winds, these spirits, so that one person is wise, another faithful, another has knowledge, another has received whatever gift of God he has received; 'for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom,'
and to another a message of knowledge given through that same Spirit, and to another faith by that very Spirit.' He 'brought up clouds from the end of the earth, and made lightning into rain, and brought winds out of his treasuries.' And we, for God's sake, hope to arrive at these treasuries. And since there are many treasuries, perhaps there will be, corresponding to those who rise,
resting-places in the treasuries of God. What I mean is this: the resurrection of the dead occurs in certain orders; for the apostle says, 'each in his own order.' And since the orders are not jumbled together at random, this order will be in one treasury of God, and that order in another treasury of God, and a third
different order will be in yet another treasury. All these treasuries, however, have one treasury in which they dwell. That is why it is said in Paul: 'in whom are hidden the treasures both of wisdom and of knowledge.' And just as I acquire the 'one pearl of great price' through the many pearls, so I come to the treasury of treasuries, the Lord
of lords, the King of kings, when I become worthy of the spirits that come from the treasuries of God; for 'he brought winds out of his treasuries.' 'Every man has become foolish from knowledge.' If every man has become foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, then Paul has become foolish from knowledge -- knowing 'in part' and having become foolish from knowledge in part, 'seeing through a mirror' in a very small portion
and, if one may say so, seeing and grasping an infinitesimal fraction of things. But you will understand 'every man has become foolish from knowledge' from the opposite case as well. There are sins of Jerusalem, and sins of Sodom too, but in comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness; for it says, 'Sodom has been justified by comparison with you.' Just as, then, the sins of Sodom are not righteousness, but
only appear as righteousness in comparison with the greater injustice, so too the knowledge -- Paul's knowledge -- in comparison with that knowledge which exists in the heavens, in comparison with perfect knowledge, is foolishness. For this reason 'every man has become foolish from knowledge.' It is something like this, I think, that Ecclesiastes grasped when he said: 'I said, I shall become wise. And it removed itself far from
me, farther than it was, and it is a deep abyss -- who shall find it?' The argument is about to venture something bold and say that the one who came to dwell in this life emptied himself, so that by his self-emptying the world might be filled. But if that one who came to dwell in this life emptied himself, then that self-emptying was wisdom. 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than men'
"...is." If I had said, "the foolishness of God," how would those fond of finding fault have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How, when the things regarded as fine even by them had been said, would I have been charged with this—since it seemed to them not finely said—because I said "the foolishness of God"? But as it is, Paul, as a wise man and one holding apostolic authority, dared to say that all the
wisdom on earth—both that in himself and that in Peter and the apostles—that all of it that had come to dwell in the world was "the foolishness of God." For in comparison with that wisdom which no place on earth contains, in comparison with that wisdom which is above the heavens, above the world, this wisdom that came to dwell here is the foolishness of God. But this "foolishness
of God is wiser than men." Wiser than what men? I do not mean the foolish, but it is wiser even than wise men. And even if you name the wise of this age, whether rulers or prophets, than the rulers of this age "the foolishness of God"—which I have been explaining—"is wiser than men." The discourse is about to say something paradoxical, that "the wisdom of
this world is foolishness with God," and "God made foolish the wisdom of the world." Did he then make foolish, in wisdom, the wisdom of the world? And can wisdom take hold of wisdom, so that the wisdom of the world is convicted of being foolish? For does the wisdom of God contend against the wisdom of the world, in order to be shown superior to it? No—a little thing is needed,
namely that small foolishness of God, so that by this brief foolishness of God the wisdom of the world may be made foolish and convicted. For the wisdom of this world could not bear the wisdom of God. As an illustration, so that you may understand that "the foolishness of God" "made foolish the wisdom of the world," let it be granted that I am contending—supposing myself to know many
and greater things—against someone senseless and uneducated who understands nothing and is not contending on behalf of any noble arguments whatsoever. Do I then have need of dialectic against him, or of deeper theorems, if his thoughts are foolish? Do I not need just one little word, a bit sharper than his own speech, so that I may be able to refute his foolishness? So too, in order that the
wisdom of this world may be made foolish, there is no need of the wisdom of God contending against it (for that wisdom is below), but the foolishness of God suffices, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And my Savior and Lord has taken up all the opposites, so that by opposites he might dissolve
the opposites, and that we might be made strong from the weakness of Jesus and made wise from the foolishness of God, and, being led in by these, might be able to ascend to the wisdom, to the strength of God, Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power forever. Amen.