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Translated by Frederick Crombie.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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128 Pages
Page 96
They do not read what is written respecting the hope of those who were destroyed in the deluge; of which hope Peter himself thus speaks in his first Epistle: "That Christ, indeed, was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which He went and preached to the spirits who were kept in prison, who once were unbelievers, when they awaited the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah, when the ark was preparing, in which a few, i.e., eight souls, were saved by water. Whereunto also baptism by a like figure now saves you." [2127] And with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah, let them tell us whether they believe the prophetic words to be those of the Creator God--of Him, viz., who is related to have rained upon them a shower of fire and brimstone. What does Ezekiel the prophet say of them? "Sodom," he says, "shall be restored to her former condition." [2128] But why, in afflicting those who are deserving of punishment, does He not afflict them for their good?--who also says to Chaldea, "Thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; they will be a help to thee." [2129] And of those also who fell in the desert, let them hear what is related in the seventy-eighth Psalm, which bears the superscription of Asaph; for he says, "When He slew them, then they sought Him." [2130] He does not say that some sought Him after others had been slain, but he says that the destruction of those who were killed was of such a nature that, when put to death, they sought God. By all which it is established, that the God of the law and the Gospels is one and the same, a just and good God, and that He confers benefits justly, and punishes with kindness; since neither goodness without justice, nor justice without goodness, can display the (real) dignity of the divine nature.
[2127] 1 Pet. iii. 18-21.
[2128] Ezek. xvi. 55, cf. 53.
[2129] Isa. xlvii. 14, 15. The Septuagint here differs from the Hebrew: echeis anthrakas puros, kathisai ep' autous, houtoi esontai soi boetheia.
[2130] Ps. lxxviii. 34.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/principia.asp?pg=96
