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Translated by Frederick Crombie.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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This Part: 66 Pages
Page 46
21. Such, then, being the state of the case, the apostle, elevating our power of discernment (above the letter), says somewhere, "Behold Israel after the flesh," [2930] as if there were an Israel "according to the Spirit." And in another place he says, "For they who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God;" nor are "they all Israel who are of Israel;" [2931] nor is "he a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that 'circumcision' which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one 'inwardly;' and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." [2932] For if the judgment respecting the "Jew inwardly" be adopted, we must understand that, as there is a "bodily" race of Jews, so also is there a race of "Jews inwardly," the soul having acquired this nobility for certain mysterious reasons. Moreover, there are many prophecies which predict regarding Israel and Judah what is about to befall them. And do not such promises as are written concerning them, in respect of their being mean in expression, and manifesting no elevation (of thought), nor anything worthy of the promise of God, need a mystical interpretation? And if the "spiritual" promises are announced by visible signs, then they to whom the promises are made are not "corporeal." And not to linger over the point of the Jew who is a Jew "inwardly," nor over that of the Israelite according to the "inner man"--these statements being sufficient for those who are not devoid of understanding--we return to our subject, and say that Jacob is the father of the twelve patriarchs, and they of the rulers of the people; and these, again, of the other Israelites. Do not, then, the "corporeal" Israelites refer their descent to the rulers of the people, and the rulers of the people to the patriarchs, and the patriarchs to Jacob, and those still higher up; while are not the "spiritual" Israelites, of whom the "corporeal" Israelites were the type, sprung from the families, and the families from the tribes, and the tribes from some one individual whose descent is not of a "corporeal" but of a better kind,--he, too, being born of Isaac, and he of Abraham,--all going back to Adam, whom the apostle declares to be Christ? For every beginning of those families which have relation to God as to the Father of all, took its commencement lower down with Christ, who is next to the God and Father of all, [2933] being thus the Father of every soul, as Adam is the father of all men. And if Eve also is intended by the apostle to refer to the Church, it is not surprising that Cain, who was born of Eve, and all after him, whose descent goes back to Eve, should be types of the Church, inasmuch as in a pre-eminent sense they are all descended from the Church.
[2930] 1 Cor. x. 18.
[2931] Rom. ix. 6, 8.
[2932] Rom. ii. 28, 29.
[2933] Pasa gar arche patrion ton hos pros ton ton holon Theon, katotero apo tou Christou erxato tou meta ton ton holon Theon kai patera.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/principles.asp?pg=46
