Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 8
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] The prophet of God, having taken up as it were three excellences of His—His strength, His wisdom, and His understanding—assigns to each of them a work proper to it: to the strength the earth, to the wisdom the inhabited world, and to the understanding the heaven. For listen to the passage as it says: "The Lord who made the earth in His strength, who set upright the inhabited world in His wisdom, and in His understanding stretched out the heaven." And we too, as regards our earth (for it was said to Adam, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart"), have need of the strength of God, and apart from the power of God we are not able to accomplish these things, all that is not according to "the mind-set of the flesh." And when "the members that are upon the earth" have been put to death, then there will be what is according to the will of the Spirit, since "by the Spirit the deeds of the flesh," according to the apostle, are put to death. "The Lord," then, "who made the earth in His strength." And if you come also to this earth, if you are able to see what is written in Job, as we found in the more accurate copies, that He set it "upon nothing," you will see that by the strength of God it lies at the very midmost point.
I come also to the inhabited world. I know of a soul that is inhabited, I know of a soul that is desolate. For if it does not have God, if it does not have Christ, who said, "I and my Father will come to him, and we will make our abode with him," if a soul does not have the Holy Spirit, it is desolate. But it is inhabited when it has been filled with God, when it has Christ, when the Holy Spirit is in it. And these things are said in the Scriptures in various and diverse ways—that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are in the soul of a human being. David, at any rate, in the psalm of confession, asks the Father concerning these spirits, saying: "With a governing spirit uphold me," "renew an upright spirit in my inward parts," "and take not your Holy Spirit from me." What are these three spirits? The governing one is the Father, the upright one is Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit—these to establish that the inhabited world is inhabited in no other way than in the wisdom of God. For "wisdom will help the wise man more than ten rulers who are in the city." "But he who despises wisdom and instruction is wretched, and his hope is empty, and his labors are unprofitable, and his works are useless," says the Wisdom inscribed to Solomon. On this account, so far as is possible, since the inhabited world is set upright in the wisdom of God, let us ourselves also wish to have our own inhabited world set upright, which has perhaps fallen. For this inhabited world has fallen when we came to the place of affliction; this inhabited world has fallen when "we sinned, we acted impiously, we did wrong," and it needs to be set upright. It is God, then, who has set upright the inhabited world. But if you do not take "who has set upright the inhabited world" in this way, but understanding the inhabited world more commonly, seek from what condition He is the one who set the inhabited world upright, seek the fall of the inhabited world, so that having found its fall you may see its being set upright. If, then, anyone is in this inhabited world, if you understand the inhabited world in that way, before being set upright it had fallen. And if it has fallen, it is clear that it needs to be set upright, but no one who has not fallen needs to be set upright. And if it was set upright, let us see—it is clear that each of those in the inhabited world has fallen from sin. And "the Lord is the one who sets upright those who have been broken down," and "He supports all who are falling," "in Adam all die," and thus the inhabited world has fallen and needs to be set upright, so that "in Christ all" may be made alive. So then I have rendered the matters concerning the inhabited world in two ways, in one place showing with respect to each single person how each soul is either an inhabited world or a desolation, and in another place setting the discourse upon the inhabited world itself.
[§2] "And in His understanding He stretched out the heaven." It was not by chance that he took up understanding in connection with the heaven. For you will find it said in the Proverbs: "God in wisdom founded the earth, and He prepared the heavens in understanding." There is, then, a certain understanding of God, which you should not seek except in Christ Jesus. For all such things as are of God, Christ is. He Himself is the wisdom of God, He Himself the power of God, He Himself the righteousness of God, He Himself sanctification, He Himself redemption; thus He Himself is the understanding of God. But the underlying subject is one, and by conceptions the many names apply to different aspects. And you do not conceive the same thing about Christ when you conceive Him as wisdom and when you conceive Him as righteousness. For when you conceive Him as wisdom, you take up the knowledge of things divine and human; and when as righteousness, the power that distributes according to desert in the whole; and when as sanctification, that which brings it about that those who believe and are devoted to God become holy. Thus, then, you will conceive Him also as understanding, when it is the knowledge of goods and evils and things that are neither. Since, then, it is distinguished for those who dwell in heaven or for those who bear the heavenly man, † having separated the evils from the goods, so that that heaven may no longer be defiled—because the heaven has been stretched out by the understanding of God—neither the one who is a righteous heaven (and the righteous man too is heaven, as has been said). "And He stretched out the heaven by His understanding."
How, then, is the heaven stretched out? By wisdom stretching it out. And it is made clear that wisdom stretches out in the words "since I stretched out words and you did not attend," and it speaks of there being a certain stretching-out of words; thus the heaven is stretched out. And in the one hundred and third psalm it is said, "who stretches out the heaven like a curtain," and our soul too, previously contracted, is stretched out, so that it may be able to contain the wisdom of God. But let us return to what is before us. We were speaking about the heaven having come to be in understanding. And we say that those who bear the heavenly man are themselves also heaven. For if it is said to the one who sins, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," would it not be said to the righteous man, whose is the kingdom of the heavens, "Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Or rather, on account of the earthy man will it be said to the one who bears "the image of the earthy," "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," but on account of the heavenly man, when you have borne "the image of the heavenly," it will no longer be fitting to say it—"Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Each of us, then, has works heavenly and works earthly. Earthly are the works which bring down to the earth akin to them the one who lays them up as treasure upon the earth and does not lay up treasure in heaven. Again, to the regions akin to the works, those in heaven, they lead up the one who lays up treasure in heaven, the one who has borne "the image of the heavenly," the things done according to virtue.
[§3] "And He brought up clouds from the end of the earth." This saying fell to us recently also in the psalm, and we were saying how God "brought up clouds from the end of the earth." Which things it is necessary to take up again—for those who know, for the clarification and reminder of what has been said, but for those who have forgotten or were not present, for the plain understanding of this, whether it be revealed and made manifest or however it may be understood. And we were saying that the saints are clouds. For the phrase "your truth is unto the clouds" cannot be referred to the lifeless clouds; but the truth of God is unto the clouds, which hear the commandment of God and know where they should send forth rain and from what places they should withhold it. For, as of clouds which exist, to which God gives command not to rain or to rain, it is written, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Now in the case of these clouds, when there is no rain, God does not command the clouds not to rain rain upon the vineyard or upon the land, but no cloud appears at all, as is written in the third book of Kingdoms, where, during the time of the drought, no cloud appeared; but when, according to the word of the prophecy of Elijah, the rain was about to come, a trace of a cloud appeared "like the trace of a man," and it became a cloud producing the rain. But as of clouds that do exist, yet are ordered not to rain when the soul happens to be unworthy of the rain, it is said, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Therefore each of the saints is a cloud. Moses was a cloud, and as a cloud he said: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my utterance be awaited like rain." If he were not a cloud, he would never have said, "Let my utterance be awaited like rain, and let my words come down like dew." As a cloud he says: "As a shower upon the grass, and as snowfall upon the herbage; because I have called upon the name of the Lord." Thus, as a cloud, Isaiah too says: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, because the Lord has spoken." And since he too was a cloud, and called those who prophesied together with him clouds, he says, prophesying: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it."
[§4] And if it has been understood by us who the clouds are, let us see how God is the one who brings up "clouds from the end of the earth." How from "the end of the earth"? The Savior says, "He who wishes to be first among you shall be last of all." Paul kept this commandment, and he was last in this world. Therefore he says: "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last, as men doomed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men." If, then, anyone keeps the commandment of the Savior and becomes last as regards this life, this man becomes a cloud. And God brings up clouds not from the foremost of the earth, not from men of consular rank does He bring up clouds, not from rulers does He bring up clouds, not from the rich; for "blessed are the poor, because yours is the kingdom of God." Do you see how from the last God brings up and gives bodily form to the clouds? On this account, if we wish to become clouds, upon which the truth of God arrives, let us become last of all and say, in works and in disposition, "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last"; and even if I am not an apostle, it is possible for me to become last, so that God, bringing up clouds from "the end of the earth," may bring me up.
"And He made lightnings into rain." Those skilled in these matters say that the generation of lightnings comes from the clouds rubbing against one another. For what happens with the fire-striking stones on the earth, so that when two stones strike together fire is produced, this they say happens also in the case of the clouds. When the clouds strike together during storms, the lightning is produced. Therefore, for the most part, the lightning occurs together with thunder, the thunder manifesting the sound of the collision of the clouds, and the lightning generating the light.
[§5] If you have understood the illustration, look with me also at the spiritual cloud. Moses was a cloud, Jesus the son of Nave was a cloud. These, indeed, converse with one another, and from their words lightning is produced. Jeremiah was a cloud, Baruch was a cloud. They discourse with one another, the lightning came from the words of Jeremiah and the words of Baruch. Thus, if you can, gather from the Scriptures in what manner the lightning comes. And in the new covenant Paul and Silvanus were two clouds. They came together, the lightning of the epistle came to be.
God, then, "made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." Are, then, these winds in treasuries? Or is not their nature apparent, when they blow upon the earth, in what manner it subsists? But there are certain treasuries of winds, treasuries of spirits: "a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and piety," "a spirit of the fear of God," "a spirit of power and love and self-control." And you yourself can gather these winds from the Scriptures. These spirits are in treasuries; who are the treasuries? "In whom are the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge hidden"? These treasuries are in Christ. From there, then, come these winds, these spirits, so that one may be wise, another faithful, another may have knowledge, and another may have taken up whatever gift of God: "for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit."
[§6] "He brought up," then, "clouds from the end of the earth, and made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." And we too, on account of God, hope to arrive at these treasuries. And since there are many treasuries, perhaps according to the ranks of those who are raised up there will be places of rest in the treasuries of God. What I mean is such as this. The resurrection of the dead comes about in certain ranks; for the apostle says, "but each in his own rank." And since the ranks are not jumbled together as it may chance, this rank will be in a certain treasury of God, and that rank in another treasury of God, and a third, another rank, will be in yet another treasury. All these treasuries, however, have one treasury, in which they dwell. Therefore it is said in Paul: "in whom are the treasuries both of wisdom and of knowledge hidden." And just as I acquire the "one precious pearl" through the many pearls, so I come to the treasury of the treasuries, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, when I have become worthy of the spirits from the treasuries of God; for "He brought forth winds from His treasuries."
[§7] "Every man was made foolish from knowledge." If every man was made foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, Paul was made foolish from knowledge; for "knowing in part and prophesying in part," he was made foolish from knowledge; "seeing through a mirror," seeing in an enigma, seeing and grasping a small fraction, and, if one may say so, an infinitesimal fraction of things. But you will understand from the contrary "every man was made foolish from knowledge." There are sins of Jerusalem, and sins also of Sodom, but by comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness; for it says, "Sodom was justified from you." As, then, the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, yet as compared with the greater injustice it is righteousness, so, from the contrary, knowledge—the knowledge that belongs to Paul—as compared with that knowledge which is in the heavens, as compared with the perfect knowledge, is foolishness. On this account "every man was made foolish from knowledge." Some such thing, I think, Ecclesiastes was grasping when he said: "I said, I will become wise; and it withdrew from me, far beyond what it was, and a deep depth—who will find it?"
[§8] The discourse is about to venture something and to say that the one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, so that by his emptying the world might be filled. And if that one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, that very emptying was wisdom. "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than men." If I had said, "the foolish thing of God," how would the fault-finders have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How would I have been charged—while the other things said, which are reckoned even by them to be noble, were approved, but this, as they suppose, not being nobly said—because I said "the foolish thing of God"? But now Paul, as one who is wise and has apostolic authority, dared to say that all the wisdom upon earth, both that in himself and that in Peter and the apostles, all that has come to sojourn in the world, is "the foolish thing of God." For as compared with that wisdom which no place upon earth can contain, as compared with that supra-celestial wisdom, this thing that has come to sojourn is the foolish thing of God. But this "foolish thing of God is wiser than men." Than which men? I do not mean than the foolish, but it is wiser even than the wise men. And even if you name the wise men of this age, whether rulers or prophets, than the rulers of this age "the foolish thing of God," which I have expounded, "is wiser than men."
[§9] The discourse is about to say something paradoxical, that "the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God," and "God made foolish the wisdom of the world." Did He, then, in wisdom make foolish the wisdom of the world? And can the wisdom of the world contain the wisdom, so as to be proved foolish? For does the wisdom of God contend against the wisdom of the world, in order to be tested against it? But there is need of some little thing, which is the little foolish thing of God, so that by this small foolish thing of God the wisdom of the world may be made foolish and refuted; for the wisdom of this world did not endure the wisdom of God. As, for example—so that you may understand that "the foolish thing of God" "made foolish the wisdom of the world"—let it be granted that I am contending, I who seem to know many things and more, against someone senseless and uninstructed and understanding nothing and not contending on behalf of noble words of any sort whatever. Do I, then, have need of dialectic against that man, or of deeper speculations, if his notions are foolish? Do I not have need of one little word slightly sharper than his diction, so that I may be able to refute his foolishness? Thus, in order that the wisdom of this world may be made foolish, there is no need of the wisdom of God contending against it (for it itself is below), but the foolish thing of God suffices, since "the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men." And my Savior and Lord took up all the contrary things, so that by the contraries he might dissolve the contraries, and that we might be made strong from the weakness of Jesus and made wise from the foolish thing of God, and, being introduced through these things, might be able to ascend to the wisdom, to the strength of God, Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.