Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Who is it that says, "because of me all the earth was utterly laid waste"? Christ says these things, since before his coming many sins had indeed been committed by the people, but not such as to have them utterly abandoned and handed over to a prolonged captivity. But when they had filled up "the measure of their fathers" and added to their having killed the prophets and persecuted the righteous
the killing of "the Christ of God," then it came to pass, "your house is left to you." And because they suffered these things, "all the earth was utterly laid waste." But if you wish to hear something loftier in "because of me all the earth was utterly laid waste," see in what way the earth within you was laid waste when Jesus came: for it was laid waste when the members that are upon the earth were put to death,
and the earth no longer works its own works, no longer do the works of the flesh occur in the righteous person, by which the flesh used to flourish — no longer fornication, no longer uncleanness, not licentiousness, not idolatry, not sorcery, and the rest. And the Savior says: "What do you think, that I came to cast peace upon the earth? I did not come
to cast peace but a sword." For truly, before he came, there was no sword upon the earth, nor did the flesh desire against the spirit, nor the spirit against the flesh; but when he came and we were taught what belongs to the flesh and what to the spirit, the teaching, having become like a sword upon the earth, divided the flesh and the
portion belonging to the spirit; and "the earth" was "laid waste" when we carry about the deadness of Jesus in the body, and we no longer live according to the flesh but the spirit lives, and we sow nothing unto the flesh but everything unto the spirit, so that we may not reap corruption from the flesh but eternal life from the spirit. Now it is said to those who have sinned: "sow
wheat and reap thorns" — for even if they engage with the sayings of God, those who do not engage with them rightly, nor live as they ought, nor believe, sow wheat and reap thorns. This can be understood especially in the case of the heterodox who take up the scriptures and reap thorns not from the scriptures but from their own inventions. "Their allotted portions
will not profit them." These things others have also related. And since we do not reject their account, we fairly bring it forward, not as having discovered it ourselves but as having learned a good lesson. This word will benefit both you and us, if we pay attention to what is written — we who seem to be, by virtue of some allotment, presiding over you, so that some wish to come to
this allotment. But know that the allotment does not save absolutely; for many presbyters too will perish, and many laypeople too will be shown blessed. Since, then, there are some in the clergy not living in such a way as to be benefited and to adorn the clergy, for this reason, say those who related it, it is written: "their allotted portions will not profit them" — for what profits is not the mere sitting
…is in the presbyterate, but living worthily of the position, as the word demands. The word demands that you also live well, and us too. But if it must be put this way, ‘the powerful will be tested powerfully,’ more is demanded of me than of the deacon, more of the deacon than of the layman, and the one entrusted with authority over all of us — the ecclesiastical rule itself — even more
is demanded. For this reason the apostle, who was entrusted with great things—listen, he says: ‘Let a man regard us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here, then, seek among the stewards, that someone be found faithful.’ And indeed it is rare to find a faithful and good steward. Jesus, ‘who knew all things before they came to be,’ says: ‘Who then is the faithful
steward, the wise one, whom his lord will set over his household, to give the ration of grain to his servants in due season?’ Then he finds fault with certain stewards and says: ‘But if that wicked servant begins to say, My lord delays his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk—the
lord of that servant will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two, and will place his portion with the unfaithful.’ This bears on the words, ‘their portions will not profit them.’ Let us also look next at a necessary rebuke, which it is good to take up for the moral sense, which says: ‘Be ashamed of your boasting, of
your reproach before the Lord.’ There are certain things in which we boast, through folly, that are not worthy of boasting. For instance, if someone boasts that he is rich and possesses much, one might say to him: ‘Be ashamed of your boasting.’ If someone boasts of this external nobility of birth, it will be said to him: ‘Be ashamed of your boasting.’ If someone boasts of the costliness of his garments, of
the building of a lavishly furnished house—this boasting is alien to the boasting of the saints; therefore it will be said to such a one: ‘Be ashamed of your boasting.’ Hear the word of the prophet Jeremiah, who commands us not to boast even of wisdom. ‘Let the wise man not glory,’ he says, ‘in his wisdom, nor let the strong man glory in his might, nor the rich man in his wealth,
but let the one who boasts boast in this: in understanding and knowing that I am the Lord.’ Do you wish to boast, and while boasting not to hear, ‘Be ashamed of your boasting’? Boast as the apostle did, and say: ‘But may I never boast save in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ Do you wish to boast,
so that it not be said, ‘Be ashamed of your boasting,’ hear Paul boasting, and learn, when he says: ‘Most gladly, then, will I boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell upon me.’ Hear what boasts he boasts of: ‘in labors more abundantly’—which of us is able to say this?—‘in prisons beyond measure, in deaths often; five times I received forty lashes less one, three times I was beaten with rods, once
"I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked." We learn, then, that there are also differences among boastings: that some boastings are worthy of shame, concerning which that apostolic saying might be spoken, "and their glory is in their shame" — cases where they ought to be ashamed, but instead they suppose they are being glorified. After this let us look at the passage about the loincloth. For "thus says the Lord: Go and get yourself a linen loincloth,
and put it around your waist, and you shall not pass through water with it. And, following the Lord's own word, I acquired a loincloth and put it around my waist. Then a word from the Lord was addressed to me, saying: Take the loincloth that is around your waist, and rise and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of the
rock." After some days he comes there and finds this loincloth completely rotted through. And the Lord adds, giving the occasion for the interpretation of the loincloth, saying: "Just as the loincloth clings to a man's waist, so I have made the house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to myself, says the Lord, that they might become for me a people renowned, and a boast,
and a glory — but they did not listen to me." So then the prophet is taken in place of God, girding around his waist the linen loincloth, just as God girds the people: "for I have made," he says, "this people cling to myself," saying, as it were, that the people become a loincloth of God. But why does the loincloth become God's, around his waist?
Let whoever is able, reading Ezekiel and seeing God being given a body, so to speak, by the word — and observing in what manner the parts of him from the waist downward are fire, while the parts from the waist upward are amber — search out the reason why the lower part of God is fire. The things that pertain to the waist and to begetting, these are fire. For all
the things that are in begetting need the purification that comes from fire; all the things that are in begetting need chastisement. But the things above the waist, and that have transcended begetting, these are matter, as it were, in its purest and most precious form; for amber is said to be more precious than gold. Since, then, Scripture uses illustrations in order to teach that the upper body of God
is more precious, and the lower body is inferior, for this reason it introduced God as composed of fire and amber. [And it is the body of God, and he himself] each of us, in begetting, is fire; we are not the amber. But if we ascend and make progress (for it is possible to pass from being today among the lower things, so as
to become the upper body of God), we shall be, having crossed through the fire, amber concerning the more exalted body of God. 6. He girds, then, around his waist the linen loincloth. To what end? That it might be shown that the people are, as it were, a covering for God; for against those who wish to accuse God the people stand, and shield him, as it were,
his, and does not allow anything absurd to be said about God. But when we sin, just as the prophet takes off this loincloth and condemns it to the Euphrates river, so that it may be destroyed there, so the one who sins is cast off from the loins of God, and having been cast out, is thrown into the Euphrates river, the river of Mesopotamia, where the Assyrians
are, enemies of Israel, where the Babylonians are, and there it is destroyed. For although there are so many rivers, the prophet is sent from Judea to the Euphrates river to do business and to carry off a little linen loincloth. And why "linen"? Because it has its origin from the earth; for it is a plant that springs up from the earth, then after being cultivated it is combed and washed and cleaned and
put through much, much processing, so that it becomes such as to become a loincloth or whatever else. So we too all have our origin like the loincloth of God, and having our origin from the earth, we need much preparation, so that we may be bleached, so that we may be washed, so that we may cast off the color of the earth; for the color of linen at its origin is one thing, that which comes from the working is another.
For the color of linen at its origin is rather black, but from the working it becomes very bright. Something of this sort, then, also comes upon us who are in a state of coming-to-be. We are black at the beginning of believing, and that is why at the beginning of the Song of Songs it is said: "I am black and beautiful." And at the beginning we resemble Ethiopians in soul.
Then we are scoured, so that we may become brighter, according to "Who is this woman coming up made white?" And we become "linen, bright and clean"; then we are also woven into the loincloth of God, when we become worthy to cling to God. God does not cast us off. He cast off the first people, "all the house of Judah" and "the house of Israel." It came to be no longer used,
for he no longer girds himself with them. God girded himself with us in their place; for he did not, after casting off the loincloth, remain naked, but wove for himself another loincloth. This loincloth is the church from the nations. Let it know that "if God did not spare the former ones, how much more will he not spare it either" if it sins, unless it is worthy of the loins of
God: "but the one who clings to the Lord is one spirit" in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power forever. Amen.