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Translated by Frederick Crombie.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 69
And how is this statement correct: [2504] "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad," [2505] since they who have done evil have advanced to this pitch of wickedness [2506] because they were created vessels unto dishonour, while they that have lived virtuously have done good because they were created from the beginning for this purpose, and became vessels unto honour? And again, how does not the statement made elsewhere conflict with the view which these persons draw from the words which we have quoted (that it is the fault of the Creator that one vessel is in honour and another in dishonour), viz., "that in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work;" [2507] for if he who purges himself becomes a vessel unto honour, and he who allows himself to remain unpurged [2508] becomes a vessel unto dishonour, then, so far as these words are concerned, the Creator is not at all to blame. For the Creator makes vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour, not from the beginning according to His foreknowledge, [2509] since He does not condemn or justify beforehand [2510] according to it; but (He makes) those into vessels of honour who purged themselves, and those into vessels of dishonour who allowed themselves to remain unpurged: so that it results from older causes [2511] (which operated) in the formation of the vessels unto honour and dishonour, that one was created for the former condition, and another for the latter. But if we once admit that there were certain older causes (at work) in the forming of a vessel unto honour, and of one unto dishonour, what absurdity is there in going back to the subject of the soul, and (in supposing) that a more ancient cause for Jacob being loved and for Esau being hated existed with respect to Jacob before his assumption of a body, and with regard to Esau before he was conceived in the womb of Rebecca?
[2504] hugies.
[2505] 2 Cor. v. 10.
[2506] epi touto praxeos.
[2507] 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21.
[2508] aperikatharton heauton periidon.
[2509] prognosin.
[2510] prokatakrinei e prodikaioi.
[2511] ek presbuteron aition.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/principiis.asp?pg=69
