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De Principiis
Origen of Alexandria
Book 2 · Chapter 10 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 X.—On the Resurrection, and the Judgment, the Fire of Hell, and Punishments. Section 1 1 . But since the discourse has reminded us
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of
the
subjects
of
a
future
judgment
and
of
retribution
,
and
of
the
punishments
of
sinners
,
according
to
the
threatenings
of
holy
Scripture
and
the
contents
of
the
Church’s
teaching
—
viz
.
,
that
when
the
time
of
judgment
comes
,
everlasting
fire
,
and
outer
darkness
,
and
a
prison
,
and
a
furnace
,
and
other
punishments
of
like
nature
,
have
been
prepared
for
sinners
—
let
us
see
what
our
opinions
on
these
points
ought
to
be
.
But
that
these
subjects
may
be
arrived
at
in
proper
order
,
it
seems
to
me
that
we
ought
first
to
consider
the
nature
of
the
resurrection
,
that
we
may
know
what
that
(
body
)
is
which
shall
come
either
to
punishment
,
or
to
rest
,
or
to
happiness
;
which
question
in
other
treatises
which
we
have
composed
regarding
the
resurrection
we
have
discussed
at
greater
length
,
and
have
shown
what
our
opinions
were
regarding
it
.
But
now
,
also
,
for
the
sake
of
logical
order
in
our
treatise
,
there
will
be
no
absurdity
in
restating
a
few
points
from
such
works
,
especially
since
some
take
offence
at
the
creed
of
the
Church
,
as
if
our
belief
in
the
resurrection
were
foolish
,
and
altogether
devoid
of
sense
;
and
these
are
principally
heretics
,
who
,
I
think
,
are
to
be
answered
in
the
following
manner
.
If
they
also
admit
that
there
is
a
resurrection
of
the
dead
,
let
them
answer
us
this
,
What
is
that
which
died
?
Was
it
not
a
body
?
It
is
of
the
body
,
then
,
that
there
will
be
a
resurrection
.
Let
them
next
tell
us
if
they
think
that
we
are
to
make
use
of
bodies
or
not
.
I
think
that
when
the
Apostle
Paul
says
,
that
“
it
is
sown
a
natural
body
,
it
will
arise
a
spiritual
body
,
”
they
cannot
deny
that
it
is
a
body
which
arises
,
or
that
in
the
resurrection
we
are
to
make
use
of
bodies
.
What
then
?
If
it
is
certain
that
we
are
to
make
use
of
bodies
,
and
if
the
bodies
which
have
fallen
are
declared
to
rise
again
(
for
only
that
which
before
has
fallen
can
be
properly
said
to
rise
again
)
,
it
can
be
a
matter
of
doubt
to
no
one
that
they
rise
again
,
in
order
that
we
may
be
clothed
with
them
a
second
time
at
the
resurrection
.
The
one
thing
is
closely
connected
with
the
other
.
For
if
bodies
rise
again
,
they
undoubtedly
rise
to
be
coverings
for
us
;
and
if
it
is
necessary
for
us
to
be
invested
with
bodies
,
as
it
is
certainly
necessary
,
we
ought
to
be
invested
with
no
other
than
our
own
.
But
if
it
is
true
that
these
rise
again
,
and
that
they
arise
“
spiritual
”
bodies
,
there
can
be
no
doubt
that
they
are
said
to
rise
from
the
dead
,
after
casting
away
corruption
and
laying
aside
mortality
;
otherwise
it
will
appear
vain
and
superfluous
for
any
one
to
arise
from
the
dead
in
order
to
die
a
second
time
.
And
this
,
finally
,
may
be
more
distinctly
comprehended
thus
,
if
one
carefully
consider
what
are
the
qualities
of
an
animal
body
,
which
,
when
sown
into
the
earth
,
recovers
the
qualities
of
a
spiritual
body
.
For
it
is
out
of
the
animal
body
that
the
very
power
and
grace
of
the
resurrection
educe
the
spiritual
body
,
when
it
transmutes
it
from
a
condition
of
indignity
to
one
of
glory
.
Section 2 2 . Since the heretics , however , think themselves persons of great learning and wisdom , we shall ask them if every body has a form of some kind , i . e . , is fashioned according to some shape . And if they shall say that a body is that which is fashioned according to no shape , they will show themselves to be the most ignorant and foolish of mankind . For no one will deny this , save him who is altogether without any learning . But if , as a matter of course , they say that every body is certainly fashioned according to some definite shape , we shall ask them if they can point out and describe to us the shape of a spiritual body ; a thing which they can by no means do . We shall ask them , moreover , about the differences of those who rise again . How will they show that statement to be true , that there is “ one flesh of birds , another of fishes ; bodies celestial , and bodies terrestrial ; that the glory of the celestial is one , and the glory of the terrestrial another ; that one is the glory of the sun , another the glory of the moon , another the glory of the stars ; that one star differeth from another star in glory ; and that so is the resurrection of the dead ? ” According to that gradation , then , which exists among heavenly bodies , let them show to us the differences in the glory of those who rise again ; and if they have endeavoured by any means to devise a principle that may be in accordance with the differences in heavenly bodies , we shall ask them to assign the differences in the resurrection by a comparison of earthly bodies . Our understanding of the passage indeed is , that the apostle , wishing to describe the great difference among those who rise again in glory , i . e . , of the saints , borrowed a comparison from the heavenly bodies , saying , “ One is the glory of the sun , another the glory of the moon , another the glory of the stars . ” And wishing again to teach us the differences among those who shall come to the resurrection , without having purged themselves in this life , i . e . , sinners , he borrowed an illustration from earthly things , saying , “ There is one flesh of birds , another of fishes . ” For heavenly things are worthily compared to the saints , and earthly things to sinners . These statements are made in reply to those who deny the resurrection of the dead , i . e . , the resurrection of bodies .
Section 3 3 . We now turn our attention to some of our own ( believers ) , who , either from feebleness of intellect or want of proper instruction , adopt a very low and abject view of the resurrection of the body . We ask these persons in what manner they understand that an animal body is to be changed by the grace of the resurrection , and to become a spiritual one ; and how that which is sown in weakness will arise in power ; how that which is planted in dishonour will arise in glory ; and that which was sown in corruption , will be changed to a state of incorruption . Because if they believe the apostle , that a body which arises in glory , and power , and incorruptibility , has already become spiritual , it appears absurd and contrary to his meaning to say that it can again be entangled with the passions of flesh and blood , seeing the apostle manifestly declares that “ flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God , nor shall corruption inherit incorruption . ” But how do they understand the declaration of the apostle , “ We shall all be changed ? ” This transformation certainly is to be looked for , according to the order which we have taught above ; and in it , undoubtedly , it becomes us to hope for something worthy of divine grace ; and this we believe will take place in the order in which the apostle describes the sowing in the ground of a “ bare grain of corn , or of any other fruit , ” to which “ God gives a body as it pleases Him , ” as soon as the grain of corn is dead . For in the same way also our bodies are to be supposed to fall into the earth like a grain ; and ( that germ being implanted in them which contains the bodily substance ) although the bodies die , and become corrupted , and are scattered abroad , yet by the word of God , that very germ which is always safe in the substance of the body , raises them from the earth , and restores and repairs them , as the power which is in the grain of wheat , after its corruption and death , repairs and restores the grain into a body having stalk and ear . And so also to those who shall deserve to obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven , that germ of the body’s restoration , which we have before mentioned , by God’s command restores out of the earthly and animal body a spiritual one , capable of inhabiting the heavens ; while to each one of those who may be of inferior merit , or of more abject condition , or even the lowest in the scale , and altogether thrust aside , there is yet given , in proportion to the dignity of his life and soul , a glory and dignity of body , — nevertheless in such a way , that even the body which rises again of those who are to be destined to everlasting fire or to severe punishments , is by the very change of the resurrection so incorruptible , that it cannot be corrupted and dissolved even by severe punishments . If , then , such be the qualities of that body which will arise from the dead , let us now see what is the meaning of the threatening of eternal fire .
Section 4 4 . We find in the prophet Isaiah , that the fire with which each one is punished is described as his own ; for he says , “ Walk in the light of your own fire , and in the flame which ye have kindled . ” By these words it seems to be indicated that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire , and is not plunged into some fire which has been already kindled by another , or was in existence before himself . Of this fire the fuel and food are our sins , which are called by the Apostle Paul “ wood , and hay , and stubble . ” And I think that , as abundance of food , and provisions of a contrary kind and amount , breed fevers in the body , and fevers , too , of different sorts and duration , according to the proportion in which the collected poison supplies material and fuel for disease ( the quality of this material , gathered together from different poisons , proving the causes either of a more acute or more lingering disease ) ; so , when the soul has gathered together a multitude of evil works , and an abundance of sins against itself , at a suitable time all that assembly of evils boils up to punishment , and is set on fire to chastisements ; when the mind itself , or conscience , receiving by divine power into the memory all those things of which it had stamped on itself certain signs and forms at the moment of sinning , will see a kind of history , as it were , of all the foul , and shameful , and unholy deeds which it has done , exposed before its eyes : then is the conscience itself harassed , and , pierced by its own goads , becomes an accuser and a witness against itself . And this , I think , was the opinion of the Apostle Paul himself , when he said , “ Their thoughts mutually accusing or excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ , according to my Gospel . ” From which it is understood that around the substance of the soul certain tortures are produced by the hurtful affections of sins themselves .
Section 5 5 . And that the understanding of this matter may not appear very difficult , we may draw some considerations from the evil effects of those passions which are wont to befall some souls , as when a soul is consumed by the fire of love , or wasted away by zeal or envy , or when the passion of anger is kindled , or one is consumed by the greatness of his madness or his sorrow ; on which occasions some , finding the excess of these evils unbearable , have deemed it more tolerable to submit to death than to endure perpetually torture of such a kind . You will ask indeed whether , in the case of those who have been entangled in the evils arising from those vices above enumerated , and who , while existing in this life , have been unable to procure any amelioration for themselves , and have in this condition departed from the world , it be sufficient in the way of punishment that they be tortured by the remaining in them of these hurtful affections , i . e . , of the anger , or of the fury , or of the madness , or of the sorrow , whose fatal poison was in this life lessened by no healing medicine ; or whether , these affections being changed , they will be subjected to the pains of a general punishment . Now I am of opinion that another species of punishment may be understood to exist ; because , as we feel that when the limbs of the body are loosened and torn away from their mutual supports , there is produced pain of a most excruciating kind , so , when the soul shall be found to be beyond the order , and connection , and harmony in which it was created by God for the purposes of good and useful action and observation , and not to harmonize with itself in the connection of its rational movements , it must be deemed to bear the chastisement and torture of its own dissension , and to feel the punishments of its own disordered condition . And when this dissolution and rending asunder of soul shall have been tested by the application of fire , a solidification undoubtedly into a firmer structure will take place , and a restoration be effected .
Section 6 6 . There are also many other things which escape our notice , and are known to Him alone who is the physician of our souls . For if , on account of those bad effects which we bring upon ourselves by eating and drinking , we deem it necessary for the health of the body to make use of some unpleasant and painful drug , sometimes even , if the nature of the disease demand , requiring the severe process of the amputating knife ; and if the virulence of the disease shall transcend even these remedies , the evil has at last to be burned out by fire ; how much more is it to be understood that God our Physician , desiring to remove the defects of our souls , which they had contracted from their different sins and crimes , should employ penal measures of this sort , and should apply even , in addition , the punishment of fire to those who have lost their soundness of mind ! Pictures of this method of procedure are found also in the holy Scriptures . In the book of Deuteronomy , the divine word threatens sinners with the punishments of fevers , and colds , and jaundice , and with the pains of feebleness of vision , and alienation of mind and paralysis , and blindness , and weakness of the reins . If any one , then , at his leisure gather together out of the whole of Scripture all the enumerations of diseases which in the threatenings addressed to sinners are called by the names of bodily maladies , he will find that either the vices of souls , or their punishments , are figuratively indicated by them . To understand now , that in the same way in which physicians apply remedies to the sick , in order that by careful treatment they may recover their health , God so deals towards those who have lapsed and fallen into sin , is proved by this , that the cup of God’s fury is ordered , through the agency of the prophet Jeremiah , to be offered to all nations , that they may drink it , and be in a state of madness , and vomit it forth . In doing which , He threatens them , saying , That if any one refuse to drink , he shall not be cleansed . By which certainly it is understood that the fury of God’s vengeance is profitable for the purgation of souls . That the punishment , also , which is said to be applied by fire , is understood to be applied with the object of healing , is taught by Isaiah , who speaks thus of Israel : “ The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons or daughters of Zion , and shall purge away the blood from the midst of them by the spirit of judgment , and the spirit of burning . ” Of the Chaldeans he thus speaks : “ Thou hast the coals of fire ; sit upon them : they will be to thee a help . ” And in other passages he says , “ The Lord will sanctify in a burning fire ” and in the prophecies of Malachi he says , “ The Lord sitting will blow , and purify , and will pour forth the cleansed sons of Judah . ”
Section 7 7 . But that fate also which is mentioned in the Gospels as overtaking unfaithful stewards who , it is said , are to be divided , and a portion of them placed along with unbelievers , as if that portion which is not their own were to be sent elsewhere , undoubtedly indicates some kind of punishment on those whose spirit , as it seems to me , is shown to be separated from the soul . For if this Spirit is of divine nature , i . e . , is understood to be a Holy Spirit , we shall understand this to be said of the gift of the Holy Spirit : that when , whether by baptism , or by the grace of the Spirit , the word of wisdom , or the word of knowledge , or of any other gift , has been bestowed upon a man , and not rightly administered , i . e . , either buried in the earth or tied up in a napkin , the gift of the Spirit will certainly be withdrawn from his soul , and the other portion which remains , that is , the substance of the soul , will be assigned its place with unbelievers , being divided and separated from that Spirit with whom , by joining itself to the Lord , it ought to have been one spirit . Now , if this is not to be understood of the Spirit of God , but of the nature of the soul itself , that will be called its better part which was made in the image and likeness of God ; whereas the other part , that which afterwards , through its fall by the exercise of free - will , was assumed contrary to the nature of its original condition of purity , — this part , as being the friend and beloved of matter , is punished with the fate of unbelievers . There is also a third sense in which that separation may be understood , this viz . , that as each believer , although the humblest in the Church , is said to be attended by an angel , who is declared by the Saviour always to behold the face of God the Father , and as this angel was certainly one with the object of his guardianship ; so , if the latter is rendered unworthy by his want of obedience , the angel of God is said to be taken from him , and then that part of him — the part , viz . , which belongs to his human nature — being rent away from the divine part , is assigned a place along with unbelievers , because it has not faithfully observed the admonitions of the angel allotted it by God .
Section 8 8 . But the outer darkness , in my judgment , is to be understood not so much of some dark atmosphere without any light , as of those persons who , being plunged in the darkness of profound ignorance , have been placed beyond the reach of any light of the understanding . We must see , also , lest this perhaps should be the meaning of the expression , that as the saints will receive those bodies in which they have lived in holiness and purity in the habitations of this life , bright and glorious after the resurrection , so the wicked also , who in this life have loved the darkness of error and the night of ignorance , may be clothed with dark and black bodies after the resurrection , that the very mist of ignorance which had in this life taken possession of their minds within them , may appear in the future as the external covering of the body . Similar is the view to be entertained regarding the prison . Let these remarks , which have been made as brief as possible , that the order of our discourse in the meantime might be preserved , suffice for the present occasion .
