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De Principiis
Origen of Alexandria
Book 1 · Chapter 1 About this work Origen’s systematic exploration of God, Christ, spiritual beings, creation, Scripture, freedom, and restoration, preserved largely through a Latin translation whose handling of the Greek original remains debated.
Author Origen of Alexandria
Date c. AD 220–230
Origin Alexandria
Genre Theological Treatise The title follows common modern usage; the surviving Latin translation complicates reconstruction of Origen’s exact wording.
Chapter I.—On God. Section 1 1 . I know that some will attempt to
‹ Section 10 Book 1 · Chapter 2 ›say
that
,
even
according
to
the
declarations
of
our
own
Scriptures
,
God
is
a
body
,
because
in
the
writings
of
Moses
they
find
it
said
,
that
“
our
God
is
a
consuming
fire
;
”
and
in
the
Gospel
according
to
John
,
that
“
God
is
a
Spirit
,
and
they
who
worship
Him
must
worship
Him
in
spirit
and
in
truth
.
”
Fire
and
spirit
,
according
to
them
,
are
to
be
regarded
as
nothing
else
than
a
body
.
Now
,
I
should
like
to
ask
these
persons
what
they
have
to
say
respecting
that
passage
where
it
is
declared
that
God
is
light
;
as
John
writes
in
his
Epistle
,
“
God
is
light
,
and
in
Him
there
is
no
darkness
at
all
.
”
Truly
He
is
that
light
which
illuminates
the
whole
understanding
of
those
who
are
capable
of
receiving
truth
,
as
is
said
in
the
thirty
-
sixth
Psalm
,
“
In
Thy
light
we
shall
see
light
.
”
For
what
other
light
of
God
can
be
named
,
“
in
which
any
one
sees
light
,
”
save
an
influence
of
God
,
by
which
a
man
,
being
enlightened
,
either
thoroughly
sees
the
truth
of
all
things
,
or
comes
to
know
God
Himself
,
who
is
called
the
truth
?
Such
is
the
meaning
of
the
expression
,
“
In
Thy
light
we
shall
see
light
;
”
i
.
e
.
,
in
Thy
word
and
wisdom
which
is
Thy
Son
,
in
Himself
we
shall
see
Thee
the
Father
.
Because
He
is
called
light
,
shall
He
be
supposed
to
have
any
resemblance
to
the
light
of
the
sun
?
Or
how
should
there
be
the
slightest
ground
for
imagining
,
that
from
that
corporeal
light
any
one
could
derive
the
cause
of
knowledge
,
and
come
to
the
understanding
of
the
truth
?
Section 2 2 . If , then , they acquiesce in our assertion , which reason itself has demonstrated , regarding the nature of light , and acknowledge that God cannot be understood to be a body in the sense that light is , similar reasoning will hold true of the expression “ a consuming fire . ” For what will God consume in respect of His being fire ? Shall He be thought to consume material substance , as wood , or hay , or stubble ? And what in this view can be called worthy of the glory of God , if He be a fire , consuming materials of that kind ? But let us reflect that God does indeed consume and utterly destroy ; that He consumes evil thoughts , wicked actions , and sinful desires , when they find their way into the minds of believers ; and that , inhabiting along with His Son those souls which are rendered capable of receiving His word and wisdom , according to His own declaration , “ I and the Father shall come , and We shall make our abode with him ? ” He makes them , after all their vices and passions have been consumed , a holy temple , worthy of Himself . Those , moreover , who , on account of the expression “ God is a Spirit , ” think that He is a body , are to be answered , I think , in the following manner . It is the custom of sacred Scripture , when it wishes to designate anything opposed to this gross and solid body , to call it spirit , as in the expression , “ The letter killeth , but the spirit giveth life , ” where there can be no doubt that by “ letter ” are meant bodily things , and by “ spirit ” intellectual things , which we also term “ spiritual . ” The apostle , moreover , says , “ Even unto this day , when Moses is read , the veil is upon their heart : nevertheless , when it shall turn to the Lord , the veil shall be taken away : and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty . ” For so long as any one is not converted to a spiritual understanding , a veil is placed over his heart , with which veil , i . e . , a gross understanding , Scripture itself is said or thought to be covered : and this is the meaning of the statement that a veil was placed over the countenance of Moses when he spoke to the people , i . e . , when the law was publicly read aloud . But if we turn to the Lord , where also is the word of God , and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge , then the veil is taken away , and with unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord in the holy Scriptures .
Section 3 3 . And since many saints participate in the Holy Spirit , He cannot therefore be understood to be a body , which being divided into corporeal parts , is partaken of by each one of the saints ; but He is manifestly a sanctifying power , in which all are said to have a share who have deserved to be sanctified by His grace . And in order that what we say may be more easily understood , let us take an illustration from things very dissimilar . There are many persons who take a part in the science or art of medicine : are we therefore to suppose that those who do so take to themselves the particles of some body called medicine , which is placed before them , and in this way participate in the same ? Or must we not rather understand that all who with quick and trained minds come to understand the art and discipline itself , may be said to be partakers of the art of healing ? But these are not to be deemed altogether parallel instances in a comparison of medicine to the Holy Spirit , as they have been adduced only to establish that that is not necessarily to be considered a body , a share in which is possessed by many individuals . For the Holy Spirit differs widely from the method or science of medicine , in respect that the Holy Spirit is an intellectual existence and subsists and exists in a peculiar manner , whereas medicine is not at all of that nature .
Section 4 4 . But we must pass on to the language of the Gospel itself , in which it is declared that “ God is a Spirit , ” and where we have to show how that is to be understood agreeably to what we have stated . For let us inquire on what occasion these words were spoken by the Saviour , before whom He uttered them , and what was the subject of investigation . We find , without any doubt , that He spoke these words to the Samaritan woman , saying to her , who thought , agreeably to the Samaritan view , that God ought to be worshipped on Mount Gerizim , that “ God is a Spirit . ” For the Samaritan woman , believing Him to be a Jew , was inquiring of Him whether God ought to be worshipped in Jerusalem or on this mountain ; and her words were , “ All our fathers worshipped on this mountain , and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship . ” To this opinion of the Samaritan woman , therefore , who imagined that God was less rightly or duly worshipped , according to the privileges of the different localities , either by the Jews in Jerusalem or by the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim , the Saviour answered that he who would follow the Lord must lay aside all preference for particular places , and thus expressed Himself : “ The hour is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain shall the true worshippers worship the Father . God is a Spirit , and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth . ” And observe how logically He has joined together the spirit and the truth : He called God a Spirit , that He might distinguish Him from bodies ; and He named Him the truth , to distinguish Him from a shadow or an image . For they who worshipped in Jerusalem worshipped God neither in truth nor in spirit , being in subjection to the shadow or image of heavenly things ; and such also was the case with those who worshipped on Mount Gerizim .
Section 5 5 . Having refuted , then , as well as we could , every notion which might suggest that we were to think of God as in any degree corporeal , we go on to say that , according to strict truth , God is incomprehensible , and incapable of being measured . For whatever be the knowledge which we are able to obtain of God , either by perception or reflection , we must of necessity believe that He is by many degrees far better than what we perceive Him to be . For , as if we were to see any one unable to bear a spark of light , or the flame of a very small lamp , and were desirous to acquaint such a one , whose vision could not admit a greater degree of light than what we have stated , with the brightness and splendour of the sun , would it not be necessary to tell him that the splendour of the sun was unspeakably and incalculably better and more glorious than all this light which he saw ? So our understanding , when shut in by the fetters of flesh and blood , and rendered , on account of its participation in such material substances , duller and more obtuse , although , in comparison with our bodily nature , it is esteemed to be far superior , yet , in its efforts to examine and behold incorporeal things , scarcely holds the place of a spark or lamp . But among all intelligent , that is , incorporeal beings , what is so superior to all others — so unspeakably and incalculably superior — as God , whose nature cannot be grasped or seen by the power of any human understanding , even the purest and brightest ?
Section 6 6 . But it will not appear absurd if we employ another similitude to make the matter clearer . Our eyes frequently cannot look upon the nature of the light itself — that is , upon the substance of the sun ; but when we behold his splendour or his rays pouring in , perhaps , through windows or some small openings to admit the light , we can reflect how great is the supply and source of the light of the body . So , in like manner . the works of Divine Providence and the plan of this whole world are a sort of rays , as it were , of the nature of God , in comparison with His real substance and being . As , therefore , our understanding is unable of itself to behold God Himself as He is , it knows the Father of the world from the beauty of His works and the comeliness of His creatures . God , therefore , is not to be thought of as being either a body or as existing in a body , but as an uncompounded intellectual nature , admitting within Himself no addition of any kind ; so that He cannot be believed to have within him a greater and a less , but is such that He is in all parts Μονάς , and , so to speak , ῾ Ενάς , and is the mind and source from which all intellectual nature or mind takes its beginning . But mind , for its movements or operations , needs no physical space , nor sensible magnitude , nor bodily shape , nor colour , nor any other of those adjuncts which are the properties of body or matter . Wherefore that simple and wholly intellectual nature can admit of no delay or hesitation in its movements or operations , lest the simplicity of the divine nature should appear to be circumscribed or in some degree hampered by such adjuncts , and lest that which is the beginning of all things should be found composite and differing , and that which ought to be free from all bodily intermixture , in virtue of being the one sole species of Deity , so to speak , should prove , instead of being one , to consist of many things . That mind , moreover , does not require space in order to carry on its movements agreeably to its nature , is certain from observation of our own mind . For if the mind abide within its own limits , and sustain no injury from any cause , it will never , from diversity of situation , be retarded in the discharge of its functions ; nor , on the other hand , does it gain any addition or increase of mobility from the nature of particular places . And here , if any one were to object , for example , that among those who are at sea , and tossed by its waves the mind is considerably less vigorous than it is wont to be on land , we are to believe that it is in this state , not from diversity of situation , but from the commotion or disturbance of the body to which the mind is joined or attached . For it seems to be contrary to nature , as it were , for a human body to live at sea ; and for that reason it appears , by a sort of inequality of its own , to enter upon its mental operations in a slovenly and irregular manner , and to perform the acts of the intellect with a duller sense , in as great degree as those who on land are prostrated with fever ; with respect to whom it is certain , that if the mind do not discharge its functions as well as before , in consequence of the attack of disease , the blame is to be laid not upon the place , but upon the bodily malady , by which the body , being disturbed and disordered , renders to the mind its customary services under by no means the well - known and natural conditions : for we human beings are animals composed of a union of body and soul , and in this way ( only ) was it possible for us to live upon the earth . But God , who is the beginning of all things , is not to be regarded as a composite being , lest perchance there should be found to exist elements prior to the beginning itself , out of which everything is composed , whatever that be which is called composite . Neither does the mind require bodily magnitude in order to perform any act or movement ; as when the eye by gazing upon bodies of larger size is dilated , but is compressed and contracted in order to see smaller objects . The mind , indeed , requires magnitude of an intellectual kind , because it grows , not after the fashion of a body , but after that of intelligence . For the mind is not enlarged , together with the body , by means of corporal additions , up to the twentieth or thirtieth year of life ; but the intellect is sharpened by exercises of learning , and the powers implanted within it for intelligent purposes are called forth ; and it is rendered capable of greater intellectual efforts , not being increased by bodily additions , but carefully polished by learned exercises . But these it cannot receive immediately from boyhood , or from birth , because the framework of limbs which the mind employs as organs for exercising itself is weak and feeble ; and it is unable to bear the weight of its own operations , or to exhibit a capacity for receiving training .
Section 7 7 . If there are any now who think that the mind itself and the soul is a body , I wish they would tell me by way of answer how it receives reasons and assertions on subjects of such importance — of such difficulty and such subtlety ? Whence does it derive the power of memory ? and whence comes the contemplation of invisible things ? How does the body possess the faculty of understanding incorporeal existences ? How does a bodily nature investigate the processes of the various arts , and contemplate the reasons of things ? How , also , is it able to perceive and understand divine truths , which are manifestly incorporeal ? Unless , indeed , some should happen to be of opinion , that as the very bodily shape and form of the ears or eyes contributes something to hearing and to sight , and as the individual members , formed by God , have some adaptation , even from the very quality of their form , to the end for which they were naturally appointed ; so also he may think that the shape of the soul or mind is to be understood as if created purposely and designedly for perceiving and understanding individual things , and for being set in motion by vital movements . I do not perceive , however , who shall be able to describe or state what is the colour of the mind , in respect of its being mind , and acting as an intelligent existence . Moreover , in confirmation and explanation of what we have already advanced regarding the mind or soul — to the effect that it is better than the whole bodily nature — the following remarks may be added . There underlies every bodily sense a certain peculiar sensible substance , on which the bodily sense exerts itself . For example , colours , form , size , underlie vision ; voices and sound , the sense of hearing ; odours , good or bad , that of smell ; savours , that of taste ; heat or cold , hardness or softness , roughness or smoothness , that of touch . Now , of those senses enumerated above , it is manifest to all that the sense of mind is much the best . How , then , should it not appear absurd , that under those senses which are inferior , substances should have been placed on which to exert their powers , but that under this power , which is far better than any other , i . e . , the sense of mind , nothing at all of the nature of a substance should be placed , but that a power of an intellectual nature should be an accident , or consequent upon bodies ? Those who assert this , doubtless do so to the disparagement of that better substance which is within them ; nay , by so doing , they even do wrong to God Himself , when they imagine He may be understood by means of a bodily nature , so that according to their view He is a body , and that which may be understood or perceived by means of a body ; and they are unwilling to have it understood that the mind bears a certain relationship to God , of whom the mind itself is an intellectual image , and that by means of this it may come to some knowledge of the nature of divinity , especially if it be purified and separated from bodily matter .
Section 8 8 . But perhaps these declarations may seem to have less weight with those who wish to be instructed in divine things out of the holy Scriptures , and who seek to have it proved to them from that source how the nature of God surpasses the nature of bodies . See , therefore , if the apostle does not say the same thing , when , speaking of Christ , he declares , that “ He is the image of the invisible God , the first - born of every creature . ” Not , as some suppose , that the nature of God is visible to some and invisible to others : for the apostle does not say “ the image of God invisible ” to men or “ invisible ” to sinners , but with unvarying constancy pronounces on the nature of God in these words : “ the image of the invisible God . ” Moreover , John , in his Gospel , when asserting that “ no one hath seen God at any time , ” manifestly declares to all who are capable of understanding , that there is no nature to which God is visible : not as if , He were a being who was visible by nature , and merely escaped or baffled the view of a frailer creature , but because by the nature of His being it is impossible for Him to be seen . And if you should ask of me what is my opinion regarding the Only - begotten Himself , whether the nature of God , which is naturally invisible , be not visible even to Him , let not such a question appear to you at once to be either absurd or impious , because we shall give you a logical reason . It is one thing to see , and another to know : to see and to be seen is a property of bodies ; to know and to be known , an attribute of intellectual being . Whatever , therefore , is a property of bodies , cannot be predicated either of the Father or of the Son ; but what belongs to the nature of deity is common to the Father and the Son . Finally , even He Himself , in the Gospel , did not say that no one has seen the Father , save the Son , nor any one the Son , save the Father ; but His words are : “ No one knoweth the Son , save the Father ; nor any one the Father , save the Son . ” By which it is clearly shown , that whatever among bodily natures is called seeing and being seen , is termed , between the Father and the Son , a knowing and being known , by means of the power of knowledge , not by the frailness of the sense of sight . Because , then , neither seeing nor being seen can be properly applied to an incorporeal and invisible nature , neither is the Father , in the Gospel , said to be seen by the Son , nor the Son by the Father , but the one is said to be known by the other .
Section 9 9 . Here , if any one lay before us the passage where it is said , “ Blessed are the pure in heart , for they shall see God , ” from that very passage , in my opinion , will our position derive additional strength ; for what else is seeing God in heart , but , according to our exposition as above , understanding and knowing Him with the mind ? For the names of the organs of sense are frequently applied to the soul , so that it may be said to see with the eyes of the heart , i . e . , to perform an intellectual act by means of the power of intelligence . So also it is said to hear with the ears when it perceives the deeper meaning of a statement . So also we say that it makes use of teeth , when it chews and eats the bread of life which cometh down from heaven . In like manner , also , it is said to employ the services of other members , which are transferred from their bodily appellations , and applied to the powers of the soul , according to the words of Solomon , “ You will find a divine sense . ” For he knew that there were within us two kinds of senses : the one mortal , corruptible , human ; the other immortal and intellectual , which he now termed divine . By this divine sense , therefore , not of the eyes , but of a pure heart , which is the mind , God may be seen by those who are worthy . For you will certainly find in all the Scriptures , both old and new , the term “ heart ” repeatedly used instead of “ mind , ” i . e . , intellectual power . In this manner , therefore , although far below the dignity of the subject , have we spoken of the nature of God , as those who understand it under the limitation of the human understanding . In the next place , let us see what is meant by the name of Christ .
