# Fragments on 1 Corinthians

- Author: [Origen](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/origen/)
- Latin title: *Fragmenta in epistulam i ad Corinthios*
- Date: ca. 226-254 (approximate)
- Source: Claude Jenkins, 'Origen on I Corinthians. III', Journal of Theological Studies 9 (1908): 500-514 (sections XXXIII-XXXIX) (Greek text: C. Jenkins, JTS 9 (1908); OCR from the Internet Archive)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: Claude Jenkins, 'Origen on I Corinthians', JTS 9 (1908): 231-247, 353-372, 500-514; 10 (1909): 29-51
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/
- Passages: 8

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 33, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-33-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):500
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen explains that Paul answers the Corinthians' letter about spouses who were attempting continence by praising chastity while protecting the other spouse, and that the mutual debt and mutual authority of 1 Cor 7:3–4 show the equality of husband and wife.

### Greek text

Οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἁμαρτάνοντες γενικῷ λόγῳ διχῶς ἁμαρτάνουσιν, ὑποβαίνοντες τὰς ἐντολὰς ἢ ὑπερβαίνοντες. ὅταν γὰρ μὴ ἀπὸ ἐπιστήμης πολιτευώμεθα μηδὲ γινώσκοντες τὰ μέτρα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σφαλλζόγμεθα, καὶ ἔσθ᾽ ὅτε ὑπερβαίνοντες τὸν κανόνα φαντασίᾳ τοῦ ποιεῖν τι κρεῖττον ἐκπίπτομεν τοῦ προκειμέ στάθμιον οὖν ἐστιν, ὃ οὔτε μέγα ἐστὶν οὔτε μικρόν ἀλλὰ σύμμετρον, τὸ εἰδέναι πῶς δεῖ βιοῦν. Aédecar μετὰ γυναικός" ty στάθμιον μέγα ποιεῖς, οὐ φροντίζεις τῆς γυναικὸς ἀλλὰ λέγεις ᾿Εγὼ δύναμαι ἐγκρατεύεσθαι καὶ ζῆν καθαρώτερον: ἀλλ᾽ ὅρα ὅτι ἡ γυνή cov ἀπόλλγται, ob δυναμένη φέρειν τὴν καθαρότητά σου, δὲ ἣν Xpicréc ἀπέθανεν. Τοιοῦτόν τι γέγονεν ἐν Κορίνθῳ, καὶ ἣν ἀκαταστασία ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις τῶν ἀδελφῶν, πῇ μὲν ἀνδρῶν πῆ δὲ γυναικῶν ἐγκρατεύεσθαι πειρωμένων καὶ ἀλλήλων κατεξανισταμένων. ἔγραψαν οὖν περὶ τούτου ἐπιστολὴν οἱ ἐν Κορίνθῳ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιστόλην ταύτην ἀντιγράφει ὃ ἀπόστολος τὰ προγεγραμμένα" καὶ οὔτε ἐπέτεινεν τὸν περὶ ἁγνείας λόγον καὶ ἀνεῖλεν τὸν περὶ γάμον, οὔτε τ(ὸ)ν περὶ γάμου προκρίνας ἀνεῖλεν τὸν περὶ παρθενίας, ὡς καλὸς οἰκονόμος, ἀλλὰ τηρεῖ δ᾽ ὅλου τοῦ λόγου τὸ βούλημα αὐτοῦ τινα τρόπον καὶ προτρέπεται καθαρεύειν: καὶ συγχωρήσας συγκαταβαίνειν, προτρέπεται πάλιν ἀσκεῖν τὴν ἁγνείαν" καὶ προτρεψάμενος ἀσκεῖν τὴν ἁγνείαν, πάλιν φέρει ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ συγκαταβαίνειν τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων. ἥρξατο δὲ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων, οὐ γὰρ ἔπρεπεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν τελειοτέρων πραγμάτων, λέγων Περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐγράψατέ μοι, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι" οἷον: ᾿Επαινῶ ὑμᾶς ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ἠθεληκέναι ἁγνεύειν τοὺς ἀποστάντας τῆς μίξεως τῆς πρὸς THY γυναῖκα, ἀλλὰ λογίσασθε μὴ τὸ ἑλγτών μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς γυναικός: Ἢ γὰρ ἀγάπη οὐ Ζητεῖ τὰ ἑλγτῆς" διὰ γοῦν τὰς πορνείας ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐχέτω, καὶ ἑκάστη τὸν ἴδιον ἄνδρα. οὐ διὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πορνείαν ὁ ἰσχυρότερος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐχέτω, ἀλλὰ μή πως πορνεύσῃ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ (τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡ γυνὴ καὶ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ) τῆς γυναικὸς ὃ ἀνήρ. αἱρετώτερον γὰρ τοὺς δύο σωθῆναι εὑρισκομένους ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ γάμον ἣ τῇ προφάσει τοῦ ἑνὸς τὸν ἕτερον ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ἐλπίδος τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ" πῶς γὰρ καὶ σωθήσεται ἔνοχος ὧν τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς γυναικός; οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν καθαρὰ ἡ σεμνότης τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὅτε μὴ ἐκ συμφωνίας τῆς γυναικὸς γίνηται ἡ ἄσκησις ἀμφοτέροις ὑπὲρ τοῦ οχολάοδι ταῖς κατὰ θεὸν εὐχαῖς. [vii 3] Τῇ γυναικὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἀποδιδότω, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τῷ ἀνδρί. προενοήσατο καὶ τοῦ θεραπεῦσαι τὴν ἀσθένειαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην καὶ το(ῦ) εὐσχημονέστατα οἰκονομῆσαι τὸ κατὰ τοὺς τόπους διόπερ εἶπεν ὀφειλὴν ὀφείλεσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικός. εἶτα ἵνα μὴ δυσωπήσῃ τοὺς ἐν γάμῳ ὡς δούλους ἀλλήλων τυγχάνοντας μὴ χωρὶς συμφωνίας ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄσκησιν τῆς καθαρότητος φησίν: Ἢ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ἀνήρ' ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλ᾽ ἡ γυνή. ἐξουσίαν οὖν ἔχει ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ σώματος τῆς γυναικός, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχων ἐὰν θέλῃ μὴ χρήσθω τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ: ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐχρηοάμεθὰ τῇ eZoycia ταύτη, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, οἶμαι τοῦτο διδάσκων τί ᾧ) λέγειν μὴ οὐκ ἔχομεν EZ0ycian ἀδελφὴν γγναῖκα περιάγειν, ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπόστολοι Kai οἱ ἀλελφοὶ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ Κηφᾶς; ἐξουσίαν οὖν ἔχει ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ οὐ δύναται μὴ χρήσασθαι τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ; Τὸ δὲ ὁμοίως dis κείμενον δίδωσι νοεῖν ὅτι μὴ νομιζέτω ὃ ἀνὴρ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν γάμον πράγμασιν ὑπερέχειν τῆς γυναικός" ὁμοιότης ἐστὶ καὶ ἰσότης τοῖς γεγαμηκόσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους.

### English translation (Claude)

Human beings, when they sin, sin, speaking generally, in two ways: by falling short of the commandments or by overstepping them. For when we do not conduct our lives from knowledge, and do not know the measures of righteousness, we stumble; and sometimes, overstepping the rule in the fancy of doing something better, we fall away from what is set before us … The standard, then, which is neither great nor small but proportionate, is to know how one ought to live. Are you bound to a wife? If you make the standard great, you take no thought for your wife, but say, “I can be continent and live more purely.” But see that your wife is perishing, unable to bear your purity, she for whom Christ died. Something of this sort had happened in Corinth, and there was disorder in the households of the brothers, with men in some places and women in others attempting continence and rising up against one another. So those in Corinth wrote a letter about this to the apostle, and to this letter the apostle writes back what is written above. And, like a good steward, he neither stretched the teaching on chastity so far as to abolish the teaching on marriage, nor, preferring the teaching on marriage, abolished the teaching on virginity; but through the whole discourse he keeps his intention in a certain way: he urges them to keep pure; and having conceded, he condescends; he urges them again to practise chastity; and having urged them to practise chastity, he brings them back again to the need to condescend to the weakness of the weaker. He began, not from the lesser things, for that was not fitting, but from the more perfect matters, saying: “Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” As if to say: I praise you insofar as those who have withdrawn from intercourse with their wives wished to be chaste; but consider not only your own interest but also your wife's, for “love does not seek its own.” “Because of sexual immorality, then, let each man have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” It is not because of his own sexual immorality that the stronger is to have his own wife, but lest perhaps through the continence of the husband the wife commit sexual immorality, and through the continence of the wife the husband. For it is preferable that the two be saved, found in the works of marriage, than that on the pretext of the one the other fall from the hope that is in Christ. For how will he be saved who is answerable for his wife's death? The husband's modesty, then, is not pure when the discipline does not come about with the wife's agreement, so that both may devote themselves to prayers according to God. [vii 3] “Let the husband render to the wife what is due, and likewise also the wife to the husband.” He provided both for healing human weakness and for ordering the matter in these passages most decorously; that is why he said that a debt is owed by the husband, and to the husband by the wife. Then, so as not to shame those in marriage, as being slaves of one another, into not coming to the practice of purity without agreement, he says: “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.” The husband, then, has authority over the body of the wife; and having authority, if he wishes, let him not use the authority. “But we did not use this authority,” says the apostle, teaching this, I think, when he says, “Do we not have authority to take along a sister as a wife, as also the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” The wife, then, has authority over the body of the husband; and can she not refrain from using the authority? The word “likewise,” set down twice, gives us to understand that the husband should not think that he is superior to the wife in the affairs of marriage: there is likeness and equality between married people toward one another.

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 7:1: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:2: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:3: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:4: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 13:5: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 9:12: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 9:5: quotation, high confidence
- Rom 14:15: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 8:11: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:5: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- A catena fragment on 1 Cor 7:1–4, ascribed to Origen (Jenkins, JTS 9, 1908, § 33). No public-domain English translation exists; the translation was re-read against the Greek. The digital text is uncorrected OCR in which many words, especially the Scripture quotations, are misread into Latin letters; these are translated by sense without correction (e.g. “Aédecar” read as Δέδεσαι, “Are you bound”). After τοῦ προκειμέ- some words are lost in the OCR (marked “…”). Jenkins's verse marker “[vii 3]” is kept. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:1, 2, 3, 4; 1 Cor 13:5; 1 Cor 9:12, 5; allusion: Rom 14:15 / 1 Cor 8:11 (“for whom Christ died”); 1 Cor 7:5.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 33.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):500; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 34, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-34-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):501
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen argues from Moses at Sinai and the priest's question to David that married people should abstain for a time before prayer, and much more before receiving the eucharistic bread.

### Greek text

᾿οΟφείλετε γὰρ ἀμφότεροι εἰδέναι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ αὐτὴ εὐχὴ ἀπὸ καθαρότητος ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ εὐχὴ ἀπὸ κοινωνίας. εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰδώλων Ἕλληνες ἔστιν ὅτε ἁγνεύουσι, πόσῳ πλέον σὺ ὁ τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων εὐχόμενος; καλὸν οὖν ἐστι συγκαταβαίνειν μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἀνέχειν δὲ διὰ τὰς εὐχάς. καὶ Μωῦσῆς μὲν ἁγνίζει τὸν daly καὶ λέγει τρεῖς ἡμέρας mi προοέλθητε γυνδικὶ, ἵνα δυνηθῶσιν ἐκ τοῦ πρ ἀκροαταὶ γενέσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις δὲ ἁγίογς ἄρτογο βούλεται παραστῆσαι τῷ Δανεὶδ φεύγοντι τὴν τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἐπιβουλὴν ᾿Αβιάθαρ ἢ ᾿Αβιμέλεχ ὃ ἱερεύς, καὶ βουλόμενος drioye ἄρτογο παραθεῖναι τί φησι πλὴν Ei καθαρὰ τὰ πδιλάριὰ ἀπὸ γυνδικός; οὐχ οἷον δὲ ἀπὸ ἀλλοτρίας γυναικὸς ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ γαμετῆς. εἶτα ἵνα μὲν ἄρτογο mpobécewc λάβῃ τις, καθαρὸς εἶναι ὀφείλει ἀπὸ γγνδικός’ ἵνα δὲ τοὺς μείζονας τῆς προθέσεως λάβῃ ἄρτους, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, οὐ πολλῷ πλέον ὀφείλει τις εἶναι καθαρώτερος, ἵνα ἀληθῶς εἰς σωτηρίαν λάβῃ τοὺς ἄρτους καὶ μὴ εἰε κρίμα;

### English translation (Claude)

For you both ought to know that prayer offered from the purity of husband and wife is not the same as prayer offered from intercourse. For if the Greeks sometimes keep themselves chaste for their idols, how much more you who pray to the God of the universe? It is good, then, to condescend because of weakness, but to hold back for the sake of prayers. And Moses purifies the people and says, “For three days do not go near a woman,” so that they might be able … to become hearers of God. And in the Kingdoms, Abiathar or Abimelech the priest wishes to set holy loaves before David as he flees Saul's plot; and wishing to set out holy loaves, what does he say but, “If the young men are clean from a woman”? — not, of course, from another man's wife, but from their own wife. Then, if one is to receive the loaves of presentation, he ought to be clean from a woman; but to receive the greater loaves of presentation, over which the name of God and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit has been invoked, ought one not much more to be purer, so as to receive the loaves truly for salvation and not for judgment?

### Scripture references

- Exod 19:15: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Sam 21:4: quotation, high confidence
- Mark 2:26: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 11:29: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:5: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:5 (Jenkins § 34, first part). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. After ἐκ τοῦ πρ- a word is lost in the OCR (marked “…”). The priest who gave David the bread is Ahimelech in 1 Sam 21; Origen names Abiathar (as Mark 2:26) or Abimelech. “The greater loaves … over which the name of God and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit has been invoked” refers to the eucharist. Quotations: Exod 19:15; 1 Sam 21:4 (21:5 LXX); allusions: Mark 2:26; 1 Cor 11:29.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 34.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/34-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 34, part 2)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-34-2
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):502
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen explains that refusing the marital debt without agreement is “defrauding,” that abstinence belongs to times of prayer, fasting and menstruation, and that marriage between believers is a gift of the one God against Marcion's prohibition of marriage.

### Greek text

Οἱ πολλοὶ μὲν οἴονται τὸ ἀποστερεῖν ἐπὶ μόνου χρυσίον ἢ ἀργυρίου ἣ τινὸς τῶν τοιούτων λέγεσθαι: σαφῶς δὲ 6 ἀπόστολος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν γάμοις ὄντων καὶ ἀκαίρως καὶ χωρὶς συμφωνίας ἁγνείαν ἀσκούντων ἀποστέρησιν ὠνόμασεν. ἅπαξ δὲ ἁπλῶς ὁ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον μὴ ἀποδιδοὺς ἀποστερεῖ ἐκεῖνον ᾧ ὀφείλει, μὴ ἀποδιδοὺς τὸ ὀφειλόμενον. ἐνίοτε δὲ συγκλείεται ὃ ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἅμα δύο ὀφειλὰς ἀποδιδόναι" διὸ γέγραπται ἵνα τὴν ἀναγκαίαν ἀποδῷ ὀφειλήν. ὃ δὲ λέγω οὕτως ἔσται σαφές" οὐκ ἔνεστί καὶ θεῷ ἀποδιδόναι δεόντως τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ ἀποδοῦναι τὴν ὀφειλὴν τὸν γεγαμηκότα τῇ γυναικί: διόπερ τὸ ὀφείλημα τὸ εἰς θεὸν ἐὰν ἐπείγῃ, δεῖ τὸ ἕτερον ἀποστερεῖν. ἄκουε γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος Μὴ ἀποστερεῖτε ἀλλήλους, εἰ μή τι ἂν ἐκ συμφώνου πρὸς καιρὸν ἵνα σχολάσητε τῇ προσευχῃ καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ Fre ὡς μὴ καθαρᾶς ἀναπεμπομένης τῆς εὐχῆς τοῖς καὶ συνεληλυθύσιν, εἰ καὶ νομίμως συνεληλύθασιν. ἀπέχεσθαι δὲ δεῖ γυναικὸς καὶ ἐν κδιρῷ τῆς ἀφέδρογ, καὶ εἰς μέγα γε ἔγκλημα λογίζεται τὸ συνέρχεσθαι γυναικὶ οὔσῃ ἐν τῇ ἀφέδρῳ. ἐν γοῦν τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων καὶ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων παρὰ τῷ Ἐζεκιὴλ ἀναγέγραπται ὅτι καὶ πρὸς γγνδῖκα ἐν χωρισμῷ oF μὴ προσέλθῃ. καὶ δεῖ καθαρεύειν πάντως καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς ἐν καιρῷ εὐχῆς καὶ νηστείας. [vii 5-6] καὶ πάλιν, φησίν, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ Fre, ἵνα μὴ πειράζῃ ὁμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς ϑιὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ὑμῶν. τοῦτο δὲ λέγω κατὰ συγγνώμην, οὐ κατ᾽ ἐπιταγήν. Πανταχοῦ ἀνίησι διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τὸν λόγον, καὶ πάλιν ἐπιτείνει διὰ τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν; [vii 7] θέλω δὲ πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὡς καὶ ἐμαυτόν. ἀλλ᾽ ἕκαστος ἴδιον ἔχει χάρισμα ἐκ θεοῦ, ὃς μὲν οὕτως, ὃς δὲ οὕτως. Πνέει χαρίσματος ὃ γάμος, ὅτε τὰ μέτρα τηρεῖται, τοῦ ἐκ συμφωνίας. καὶ ἀληθῶς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ἐπὶ τινῶν ὅτι τούτῳ ὃ γάμος χάρισμά ἐστιν, ὅτε οὐκ ἀκατδοτδεία, ὅτε πᾶσα εἰρήνη, πᾶσα συμφωνία" εἰπεῖν μέντοιγε ὅτι χάρισμα ἐκ θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ γάμος πιστοῦ πρὸς ἐθνικὴν καὶ ἐθνικοῦ πρὸς πιστήν; τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι. οὐ γὰρ δύναται τὸ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ φθάνειν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐθνικούς" ἐὰν πιστεύσῃ, ἐὰν σωθῇ, τότε ἀρχὴν λήψεται τοῦ χαρίσματος. Χρῶνται δὲ τῷ ῥητῷ τούτῳ καὶ of ἀπὸ Μαρκίωνος, καὶ ἀναισθήτως κωλύουσι τὸν γάμον, λέγοντες τὴν ἁγνείαν πρόσταγμα εἶναι τοῦ ἄλλου θεοῦ ὃν ἀνέπλασαν παρὰ τὸν δημιουργόν. πλὴν ἐκ τοῦ ῥητοῦ ἔστιν αὐτοὺς συμβιβάσαι ὅτι κακῶς κωλύουσι τὸν γάμον, κακῶς καὶ διαιροῦσι τὴν θεότητα. εἰ γὰρ χάρισμά ἐστι τζῷ) μὲν οὕτως τ(ῷ)) δὲ οὕτως, χάρισμά ἐστι καὶ ὁ γάμος" εἰ χάρισμα καὶ ὃ γάμος, κακῶς κωλύεται τὸ χάρισμα ὃ γάμος" εἰ ὁ μὲν οὕτως ὁ δὲ οὕτως ἀπὸ θεοῦ, δῆλον ὅτι εἷς θεὸς ὁ δεδωκὼς τὴν ἁγνείαν καὶ ὃ δεδωκὼς τὸν γάμον, καὶ εἷς ὁ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου θεός ἐστιν, ὃν κατήγγειλαν πρότερον μὲν ot προφῆται ὕστερον δὲ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς.

### English translation (Claude)

Most people think that “defrauding” is said only of gold or silver or something of that kind; but the apostle clearly called it defrauding also in the case of those who are in marriage and practise chastity out of season and without agreement. In a word, the one who does not render what is owed defrauds the one to whom he owes it, by not rendering what is owed. But sometimes a person is shut in so that he cannot render two debts at once; therefore it is written, so that he may render the necessary debt. What I mean will be clear in this way: it is not possible both to render prayers to God as one should and for the married man to render the debt to his wife; therefore, if the debt toward God presses, the other must be withheld. For hear him saying: “Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again” — since prayer is not sent up pure by those who have come together, even if they have come together lawfully. One must also abstain from a wife at the time of her menstruation, and coming together with a woman who is in her menstruation is reckoned a great charge. At any rate, in the list of good deeds and the list of sins in Ezekiel it is written that one should not approach a woman in her separation. And one must by all means keep pure even from one's own wife at a time of prayer and fasting. [vii 5–6] “And come together again,” he says, “so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this by way of concession, not of command.” Everywhere he relaxes the teaching because of weakness, and again tightens it in order to turn the hearers … [vii 7] “I wish all people to be as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that.” Marriage breathes of a gift when the measures are kept, the measures of agreement. And truly it may be said of some that for this person marriage is a gift, when there is no disorder, when there is all peace, all agreement. But to say that the marriage of a believer to a pagan woman, or of a pagan to a believing woman, is a gift from God? That I would not say. For the gift of God cannot reach pagans; if he believes, if he is saved, then he will receive the beginning of the gift. The followers of Marcion also use this saying, and senselessly forbid marriage, saying that chastity is a command of the other God, whom they invented besides the Creator. Yet from the saying itself one can show them that they wrongly forbid marriage and wrongly divide the Godhead. For if it is a gift, to one in this way and to another in that, marriage too is a gift; if marriage too is a gift, the gift, marriage, is wrongly forbidden; if the one in this way and the other in that are from God, it is clear that one God gave chastity and gave marriage, and that there is one God of the law and of the gospel, whom first the prophets proclaimed and afterwards Christ Jesus.

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 7:5: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:6: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:7: quotation, high confidence
- Ezek 18:6: allusion, high confidence
- Ezek 22:10: allusion, low confidence
- Lev 18:19: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Tim 4:3: echo, low confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:5–7 (Jenkins § 34, second part). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. The sentence “therefore it is written, so that he may render the necessary debt” is obscure in the Greek and translated literally. The last word of the sentence before [vii 7] (τὸν) is garbled in the OCR (marked “…”). The Ezekiel lists are Ezek 18:6 (cf. 22:10); the menstrual law is Lev 18:19. Origen denies that a mixed marriage of believer and pagan is a “gift” from God. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:5, 6, 7; allusions: Ezek 18:6; Lev 18:19; 1 Tim 4:3 (forbidding marriage).

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 34.2 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):502; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/34-2).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 35, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-35-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):503
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen rebukes those who exclude the twice-married from communion, allows second marriage as better than burning though not good in itself, and on 1 Cor 7:10–12 holds that a husband must not keep a wife who has committed sexual immorality, while the one who separates must remain unmarried or be reconciled.

### Greek text

Τινὲς τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται διδάσκουσι" καὶ οἰόμενοί τι ποιεῖν, δέον προτρέπειν ἐπὶ μονογαμίαν μετὰ τοῦ μὴ Βρόχον ἐπιτιθέναι τοῖς μὴ δυναμένοις, τοῦτο μὲν οὐ ποιοῦσιν, ἀνάγκην δὲ ἐπιτιθέασι καὶ θέλουσι μὴ συνάγειν τοὺς διγάμους μηδὲ κοινωνεῖν αὐτοῖς ὡς παραβεβηκόσιν, οὐκ αἷδούμενοι οὐδὲ τὰς τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνάς. ὃ γὰρ λέγων τοῖς ἀγάμοις καὶ ταῖς χήραις, εἰ οὐκ ἐγκρατεύονται γαμησάτωσαν, ἄντικρυς ἐπέτρεψεν μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον γάμον μετὰ τὸ χηρεῦσαι γυναῖκα γαμῆσαι, μετὰ τοῦ λοιδορῆσαι τὸν γαμοῦντα, μετὰ τοῦ λοιδορῆσαι τὴν γαμουμένην' εἶπεν γὰρ Εἰ οὐκ ἐγκρατεύονται, γαμησάτωσαν: ὅρα γὰρ εἰ μὴ ἤδη κατηγορία ἐστὶ τὸ μὴ ἐγκρατεύεσθαι, οἷον ἔστι λέγεσθαι ἀνθρώποις χριστιανοῖς Κάλλιον γαμῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσϑαι, πύρωσιν ὀνομάσαντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιθγμίαν τῆς οἀρκὸς μὴ σβεννυμένη(ν) ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἀλλὰ κρατοῦσαν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ. Ἡμεῖς οὖν διδαχθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου οὐ κωλύομεν τὴν διγαμίαν, συγκρίσει γὰρ πυρώσεως αἱρετωτέρα διγαμία' ὅταν δὲ κακοῖς συγκρινόμενον κρεῖττον εἶναί τι νομίζεται, ἐκεῖνο ἄντικρυς οὐκ ἔστι καλόν. οὐκ ἔστιν σωφροσύνη ὃ δεύτερος γάμος: οὐκ ἔστιν κατὰ φύσιν ᾿Αδὰμ τῷ πρωτοπλάστῳ" οὐ γὰρ δύναται τῇ δευτέρᾳ λέγεσθαι γυναικὶ Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν moy καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός moy. ἔσχεν ᾿Αβραὰμ καὶ τὴν “Ayap, γέγονεν καὶ μετὰ τῆς Χεττούρας" ὅτε δὲ ἐτελεύτα, οὐδεμία ἐτέθη σὺν αὐτῷ ἀλλ᾽ ἡ φύσει γυνή" ᾿Αβραὰμ γὰρ καὶ Σάρρα ἦν ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ. καὶ ᾿Ιακὼβ δέ, tet καὶ ἔσχεν μετὰ Ῥαχὴλ καὶ μετὰ Aiast γεγένηται καὶ μετὰ τῶν παιδισκῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ μόνη Δία ἐγένετο σὺν αὐτῷ. +Mera τοῦ τῆς τῶν πατέρων ἔσεσθαι οἰκονομίας μυστικῆς οὐ δήπου δὲ καὶ νῦν ὁ λαμβάνων δευτέραν λέγει ὅτι Τελῶ οἰκονομίαν μυστικήν. ἐλεύσεται γὰρ ὃ Παῦλος λέγων λέγετέ μοι οἱ τὸν νόμον ἀναγινώσκοντες, τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε; γέγραπται γὰρ Ὃ δεῖνα ayo yioyc ἔσχεν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς οὐ μέλλει καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ λέγεσθαι “Ατινά ἔστιν ἀλληγορούήμενα, καὶ ayral γὰρ εἰσι AYO διαθῆκαι" ταῦτα γὰρ τγπικῶς cynéBainen ἐκείνοις, ἐγράφη δὲ δι᾽ ἡμᾶς εἰς οὖς τὰ τέλη τῶν δἰώνων κατήντηκεν. Λέγω δὲ ταῖς χήραις καὶ τοῖς ἀγάμοις, καλὸν αὐτοῖς ἐὰν μείνωσιν ὡς κἀγώ, τοῦτο δὲ δεύτερον καλόν ἐστιν’ ἔστι γὰρ πρῶτον τούτου ἄλλο καλόν: καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι. ποῖον δεύτερον καλόν; καλὸν αὐτοῖς ἐὰν μείνωσιν ὡς κἀγώ’ εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἐγκρατεύονται, γαμησάτωσαν" κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστι γαμῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσθαι. διὰ τοῦτο οἱ ἐν γάμοις πρώτοις ὄντες καὶ μηδέπω πεπειραμένοι δευτέρων ἀσκείτωσαν τὴν ἁγνείαν, ἵνα ἐὰν γένηταί τι ἀνθρώπινον μὴ ἀνάσκητοι καταληφθέντες ἀσχημονήσωσιν. κρεῖττον οὖν τὸ γαμῆσαι δεύτερον γάμον, οὐ γὰρ τὸν πρῶτον λέγει ἐνθάδε ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν ἐκ τῆς λέξεως τῆς πυροῦσθαι. Ἐντεῦθεν εἰς ἑτέραν μεταβαίνει νομοθεσίαν Τοῖς δὲ γεγαμηκόσι παραγγέλλω, οὐκ ἐγὼ ἀλλ᾽ ὁ κύριος: ἡ νομοθεσία ἡ πρὸς τοὺς γεγαμηκότας οὐκ ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου. ἅμα δὲ τηρεῖ ἀναγκαῖον παρατήρημα, ὅτι γεγαμηκότας ὠνόμασεν ὅταν ἀμφότεροι ὦσι πιστοὶ καὶ ὃ ἀνὴρ καὶ ἣ γυνή. ὅὄζτ)ι δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ὅσοι ἑτεροζγγοῖοιν οὐκ ὠνόμασεν ἐν γεγαμηκόσιν, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἐπιφέρειν αὐτὸν Τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς λέγω ἐγώ, οὐχ ὁ κύριος. οὕκουν οἱ λοιποὶ οὐκ εἰσὶ γεγαμηκότες; οὐ γὰρ μετρεῖ αὐτοὺς γεγαμηκότας" οὗ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτων ἁρμόζεται γυνὴ ἀνδρὶ παρὰ θεοῦ ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πιστῶν, ὅτε ἀμφότεροι κοινωνοῦσι καὶ εὐχῶν καὶ παιδοποιίας ἁγίας καὶ πάντων ὧν χριστιανοὺς κοινωνεῖν δεῖ, λέγει ὅτι ὃ γάμος οὐκ ἀλλότριός ἐστι θεοῦ. Παραγγέλλω οὖν, οὐκ ἐγὼ ἀλλ᾽ ὁ κύριος, γυναῖκα ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς μὴ χωρίζεσθαι. τὸ μὲν προηγούμενον τοῦτό ἐστιν, συζυγίαν φθάσασαν δεδέοθδι μὴ λγθῆνϑδι. *Edv δὲ καὶ χωρισθῇ" πολλὰ γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο αἴτια τοῦ καὶ χωρισθῆναι: οἷον πορνεία ἐὰν yév(n)r(at) τῇ γυναικί, ἁμαρτία ἐστὶ κατέχειν τὴν πεπορνευκυῖαν γυναῖκα. ἐὰν οὖν καὶ χωρισθῇ καὶ γένζη τ(αί) τι (αἴτι)γον χωρισμοῦ, μενέτω ἄγαμος ἢ τῷ ἀνδρὶ καταλλαγήτω. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἄνδρα θέλω τοιοῦτον εἶναι, ἵνα μὴ ἀφίῃ γυναῖκα. Τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς λέγω ἐγώ, οὐχ ὁ κύριος. τοῖς μὲν γεγαμηκόσιν οὐκ ἐγὼ νομοθετῶ, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ κύριος: τοῖς δὲ μὴ γεγαμηκόσιν ἀλλ᾽ érepozyroycin ἀπίοτοις οὐκ ἔχω νόμον δοῦναι ἀπὸ θεοῦ" οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄξιοί εἰσι νόμων θεοῦ’ ἀλλ᾽ ἀκουέτωσαν ἡμῶν. καὶ χρήσομαι εἰς τὸ νοηθῆναι τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ νόμῳ. οἱ νόμοι οἱ κατὰ Μωσέα οἱ μὲν θεοῦ εἰσιν, οἱ δὲ Μωσέως. καὶ τοῦτο ἐπιστάμενος ὃ κύριος διαφορὰν νόμων θεοῦ καὶ νόμων Μωσέως εἶπεν ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ὑπὸ θεοῦ νενομοθετημένων Ὃ rap θεὸς εἶπεν Tima τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ὑπὸ Μωσέως Muyerc διὰ τὴν cKAMpokaphian Ὑμῶν ἐπέτρεψεν ὑμῖν ἀπολῆοδι τὰς γγναῖκας, τηρήσας γοῦν τὰ τοῦ Βιβλίογ τοῦ ἀποοτλοίογ εὑρήσεις οὐκ ἐκ προστάγματος κυρίου τὸν νόμον γεγραμμένον. Μωῦσῆς μὲν οὖν ὑπηρετῶν θεῷ νόμους ἔδωκεν δευτέρους παρὰ τοὺς νόμους τοῦ θεοῦ: Παῦλος δὲ ὑπηρετῶν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ νόμους ἔδωκεν δευτέρους τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς μετὰ τοὺς νόμους τοὺς ἀπὸ θεοῦ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. καὶ καλόν ἐστιν ἀκούειν νόμων ἀπὸ κυρίου ἢ ἀκούειν νόμων ΠΠαύλον τοῦ ἀποστόλου. κἂν γὰρ ἅγιος ἦ, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ ὑποδεεστέρους ἔχει νόμους τῶν νόμων τοῦ κυρί Ρ

### English translation (Claude)

Some among us teach beyond what is written; and thinking they are doing something, when they ought to urge people toward a single marriage while not putting a noose on those who are unable, this they do not do, but they impose compulsion and want neither to admit those who have married twice to the assembly nor to have communion with them, as transgressors, not respecting even the words of the apostle. For he who says to the unmarried and the widows, “If they are not self-controlled, let them marry,” plainly permitted a woman, after her first marriage, after being widowed, to marry — though with a reproach to the man who marries, with a reproach to the woman who is married. For he said, “If they are not self-controlled, let them marry”: see whether not being self-controlled is not already an accusation, such as can be said to Christian people: “It is better to marry than to burn,” since he named as “burning” the desire of the flesh that is not quenched by the Word but masters the soul of the sinner. We, then, taught by the apostle, do not forbid second marriage, for compared with burning, second marriage is preferable; but when something is thought better by comparison with evils, that thing is plainly not good. Second marriage is not chastity; it is not according to nature for Adam, the first-formed; for it cannot be said to a second wife, “This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Abraham had Hagar too, and was also with Keturah; but when he died, none was laid with him except the wife by nature: for Abraham and Sarah were in the tomb. And Jacob too, … though he had children with Rachel and was with Leah and also with the maidservants, yet in the tomb only Leah was with him. … that the dispensation of the fathers was a mystical one; but surely the man who now takes a second wife does not say, “I am carrying out a mystical dispensation.” For Paul will come, saying, “Tell me, you who read the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that So-and-so had two sons,” and what follows; it will not be said of him too, “These things are allegorized; for these are two covenants.” For these things happened to them as types, but were written for our sake, “on whom the ends of the ages have come.” “I say to the widows and the unmarried: it is good for them if they remain as I am.” This is a second good; for there is another good before it: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” What is the second good? “It is good for them if they remain as I am; but if they are not self-controlled, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.” Therefore let those who are in first marriages and have not yet experienced second ones practise chastity, so that if something human happens, they may not be caught unpractised and behave unseemly. It is better, then, to marry a second marriage — for he is not speaking here of the first, as is clear from the word “burn.” From here he passes on to another legislation: “To the married I command, not I but the Lord.” The legislation for the married is not from me but from the Lord. At the same time he keeps a necessary distinction, that he called “married” those of whom both are believers, the husband and the wife. That he did not name among the married the others, all who are unequally yoked, is clear from his adding, “To the rest I say, not the Lord.” Are the rest, then, not married? He does not count them as married; for in their case a woman is not joined to a husband by God; but in the case of the believers, when both share in prayers and in holy childbearing and in all things in which Christians must share, he says that marriage is not foreign to God. “I command, then, not I but the Lord, that a wife not separate from her husband.” The leading principle is this: that a union once bound should not be loosed. “But if she does separate” — for there could be many causes for separating; for instance, if sexual immorality occurs on the wife's part, it is a sin to keep the wife who has committed sexual immorality. “If, then, she does separate,” and some cause of separation occurs, “let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.” And likewise I want the husband to be such that he does not put away his wife. “To the rest I say, not the Lord.” To the married it is not I who legislate but the Lord; but to those who are not married but unequally yoked with unbelievers I cannot give a law from God, for they are not worthy of the laws of God; but let them hear us. And to make what is in this passage understood I will use what is written in the law. Of the laws given through Moses, some are God's and some are Moses'. And the Lord, knowing this difference between the laws of God and the laws of Moses, said of those legislated by God, “For God said, Honour your father and your mother,” but of those by Moses, “Moses, because of your hardness of heart, permitted you to put away your wives.” Indeed, if you observe the contents of the book of divorce, you will find that the law was not written by the Lord's command. Moses, then, serving God, gave second laws besides the laws of God; and Paul, serving the gospel, gave second laws to the members of the church after the laws from God through Jesus Christ. And it is better to hear laws from the Lord than to hear laws of Paul the apostle. For even if he is holy, he has laws much inferior to the laws of the Lord …

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 4:6: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:8: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:9: quotation, high confidence
- Gen 2:23: quotation, high confidence
- Gen 16:3: allusion, medium confidence
- Gen 25:1: allusion, medium confidence
- Gen 25:9: allusion, medium confidence
- Gen 49:31: allusion, medium confidence
- Gal 4:21: quotation, high confidence
- Gal 4:22: quotation, high confidence
- Gal 4:24: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 10:11: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:1: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:10: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:11: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:12: quotation, high confidence
- 2 Cor 6:14: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 15:4: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 19:8: quotation, high confidence
- Deut 24:1: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:8–12 (Jenkins § 35). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. Terms: μονογαμία “a single marriage” (one marriage in a lifetime), διγαμία / δίγαμοι “second marriage” / “those who have married twice” (after a spouse's death, as the context shows), χωρίζεσθαι “separate”, ἀφιέναι “put away” (7:11), ἀπολῦσαι “put away” (Matt 19:8), βιβλίον τοῦ ἀποστασίου “book of divorce” (Deut 24:1). Origen calls keeping a wife who has committed sexual immorality a sin, and reads 7:11 (“let her remain unmarried or be reconciled”) of a separation for such a cause. Two places are corrupt in the OCR and marked “…”: before “though he had children with Rachel” and the clause before “that the dispensation of the fathers was a mystical one” (the dagger-marked words †Μετὰ τοῦ τῆς τῶν πατέρων ἔσεσθαι οἰκονομίας μυστικῆς are translated by sense). The fragment breaks off at the end (τοῦ κυρί…). Quotations: 1 Cor 7:8, 9, 1, 10, 11, 12; Gen 2:23; Gal 4:21–22, 24; 1 Cor 10:11; Matt 15:4; Matt 19:8; allusions: 1 Cor 4:6; Gen 16:3; 25:1; 25:9–10; 49:31; 2 Cor 6:14; Deut 24:1.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 35.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/35-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 36, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-36-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):505
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen argues that a believing and an unbelieving spouse influence one another for good or ill, so that one should either not marry or marry only in the Lord, and notes that 1 Cor 7:39 permits a widow to remarry “only in the Lord.”

### Greek text

Ὡς κρᾶσίς τις γίνεται τῶν δύο, ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικός, εἰς CApKA ian ὥσπερ οἶνον καὶ ὕδατος" καὶ ὥσπερ μεταδίδωσιν ὁ πιστὸς ἁγιασμοῦ τῇ ἐθνικῇ γαμετῇ, ἢ τὸ ἐναντίον 4 πιστὴ τῷ ἀπίστῳ ἀνδρί, οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἄπιστος μεταδίδωσι μολυσμοῦ τῇ πιστῇ γυναικὶ ἢ τῷ πιστῷ ἀνδρὶ ἡ ἄπιστος γυνή. διὰ τί γὰρ φησὶν Ἡγίασται ἡ ἄπιστος ἢ ὁ ἄπιστος τζῷ) λαμβάνειν τι ἀπὸ τοῦ πιστοῦ ἣ ἀπὸ τῆς πιστῆς, καὶ οὐχὶ βεβηλοῦται τί ῷ) λαμβάνειν τι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀπίστου μέρους; ἕκαστος γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ mepicceymaroc τῆς Kaphiac διαλεγόμενος τῷ ἑτέρῳ ἢ μεταδίδωσιν ἢ μεταλαμβάνει, καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ πάντως νικᾷ τὸ ἕτερον. καὶ τίς χρεία, φησί, τοιούτου ἀγῶνός τε καὶ κινδύνου; ἣ γὰρ ἐπιτεύξεται ἣ ἀποτεύξεται, καὶ ἦτοι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ προσαπολέσει ἣ πολλὰ καμὼν μόγις κερδῆσαι δυνήσεται. διὰ τοῦτο καλόν ἐστι πρὶν προληφθῆναι ἄνθρωπον ἐπιμελῶς οὐ μόνον τοῦτο ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μέλλον σκοπεῖν, καὶ σκοπήσαντα ἣ μὴ γαμεῖν ἣ γαμοῦντα ἐν κγρίῳ γαμεῖν. Γγνιὰ γὰρ δέδεται ἐφ᾽ ὅοον χρόνον Ζῇ ὁ Anup’ ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, ἐλεγθέρὰ ἐστὶν ᾧ θέλει γαμηθεῖνδι, μόνον ἐν κγρίῳ. οὐκ ἀκούομεν τοῦ μόνον ἐν κγρίῳ, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐλεγθέρά ἐοτὶν ᾧ θέλει ΓΑμηθῆνδι ἀναγινώσκομεν, οὐκέτι δὲ συνετάξαμεν τὸ μόνον ἐν κυρίῳ. καίτοι γε κἀκεῖ ὅτε εἶπεν Monon ἐν κυρίῳ, πάλιν ἀνέκρουσεν τὸν λόγον εἰπὼν μδκδριωτέρὰ δέ ἐετιν ἐὰν οἥτως μείνῃ, κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν γνώμην, τὸ οὖν εὐφημότερον εἰπὼν ὁ ἀπόστολος, τὸ ᾿Αγιάζεται γάρ, ἀφῆκεν ἡμῖν τὸ ἄλλο νοεῖν.

### English translation (Claude)

As a kind of mixing of the two, husband and wife, takes place into one flesh, like that of wine and water; and as the believing husband imparts sanctification to his pagan wife, or conversely the believing wife to her unbelieving husband, so also the unbelieving husband imparts defilement to the believing wife, or the unbelieving wife to the believing husband. For why, he says, is the unbelieving wife or the unbelieving husband sanctified by receiving something from the believing husband or from the believing wife, and the believer not defiled by receiving something from the unbelieving partner? For each, speaking to the other out of the abundance of the heart, either imparts or receives, and in time one altogether prevails over the other. And what need, he says, of such a contest and danger? For he will either succeed or fail, and either lose his own soul besides, or after much toil barely manage to gain the other. For this reason it is good, before a person is taken, to consider carefully not only this but also the future, and having considered, either not to marry or, if marrying, to marry in the Lord. “For a wife is bound for as long a time as her husband lives; but if the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” We do not hear the “only in the Lord”; we read “she is free to be married to whom she wishes,” but we no longer join to it the “only in the Lord.” And yet there too, when he said “only in the Lord,” he drew back his word again, saying, “But she is more blessed if she remains as she is, in my judgment.” So the apostle, in saying the more auspicious thing, “is sanctified,” left the other for us to understand.

### Scripture references

- Gen 2:24: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:14: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 12:34: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:16: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:39: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:40: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:14, with 7:39–40 (Jenkins § 36). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. Origen holds that Paul, by saying only that the unbelieving partner “is sanctified,” left unsaid that the believer may also be defiled. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:14, 39, 40; allusions: Gen 2:24; Matt 12:34; 1 Cor 7:16.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 36.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/36-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 37, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-37-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):506
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen reads Paul's words on circumcision and slavery in 1 Cor 7:18–24 as figures for the married and the unmarried: the man who has cast off his wife should not marry another, the married should not cast off his wife, and celibacy and marriage are in themselves indifferent.

### Greek text

[vii 18] Δόξει ἀκαίρως παραβεβληκέναι τῷ περὶ γάμου καὶ ἁγνείας λόγῳ, μηδεμιᾶς ζητήσεως γενομένης περὶ τοῦ μὴ δεῖν τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστεύοντας ἐπισπάσθαι καὶ πάλιν τοὺς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ περιτέμνεσθαι, καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ δλοῆλος ἐκλήθης; μή COI μελέτω, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. μή ποτ᾽ οὖν παράδειγμα ἔλαβεν τὴν δουλείαν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῶν γεγαμηκότων καὶ ἀγάμων, περιτετμημένον μὲν καλῶν τὸν ἀποβεβληκότα τὴν γυναῖκα ἀπερίτμητον δὲ τὸν γεγαμηκότα; ὡς γὰρ ἔσονται οἱ Ayo εἰς σάρκα μίαν καὶ εἰσὶ μία σὰρξ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ὃ ἀνήρ, ἀποβέβληκε δὲ τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ὃ περιτετμημένος, οὕτως ὁ ἀποβαλὼν τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ οἱονεὶ περιτέτμηται τὴν σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ οὕτω καὶ δοῦλον καλεῖ: ἐπζε)ὲ γάρ φησι καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις οὐ δελούλωται ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἡ ἀλελφιὶ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις, ὡς δούλων ὄντων τῶν γεγαμηκότων, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐνθάδε ϑοῦλον ὀνομάζει τὸν μετὰ τὸν γάμον κεκλημένον, ἐλεύθερον δὲ τὸν ἄγαμον Λέγεται οὖν ὡς περὶ περιτομῆς καὶ περὶ δούλων τὰ εἰρημένα εἰς τὸν τόπον. πλὴν οὐκ ἄτοπόν ἐστι τῷ ῥητῷ χρήσασθαί ποτε πρὸς τοὺς οἰομένους μετὰ τὴν πίστιν δεῖν περιτέμνεσθαι ἐξ εὐλαβείας, εὐλαβείας δὲ τῆς oF κατ᾽ ἐπίγνωοιν, διὰ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ περὶ περιτομῆς. πάλιν οὐ καλόν ἐστι διά τινας τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστεύοντας (καὶ) οἰομένους αἰσχύνην φέρειν αὐτοῖς τὴν περιτομήν, καὶ βουλομένοζυ)ς ἀκροβυστίαν περισπᾶσθαι, χρῆσθαι ῥητῷ τῷ λέγοντι Περιτετμημένος τις ἐκλήθη; μὴ ἐπισπάσθω; καὶ ἔχει γε λόγον λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους, ὅτι κατ᾽ αὐτὸ ἡ περιτομὴ πρᾶγμα ἀδιάφορόν ἐστιν. οὔτε οὖν περὶ περιτομῆς νῦν ἐστιν οὔτε περὶ ἀκροβυστίας, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ ἀγάμου καὶ τοῦ γεγαμηκότος: Περιτετμημένος τις ἐκλήθη; μὴ ἐπισπάσθω- ὡσεὶ ἔλεγεν Μὴ ἐπισπάσθω γυναῖκα’ ἤδη περιετμήθη: ἀπέβαλεν γυναῖκα, μὴ γαμείτω ἄλλην. Ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ ἐκλήθη τις; μὴ περιτεμνέσθω" οἷον: Ἔν γάμῳ ἐκλήθης; μὴ ἀπόβαλέ σου τὴν γυναῖκα. ‘H περιτομὴ οὐδέν ἐστι, καὶ ἡ ἀκροβυστία οὐδέν ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ τινὲς οἴονται τὸν ἄγαμον πλέον τι ἔχειν κατὰ τοῦτο τοῦ γεγαμηκότος, τὸν δὲ γεγαμηκότα ἧττόν τι ἔχειν παρ᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ γεγαμηκέναι τοῦ ἀγάμου, θέλομεν, φησί, διδάξαι ὅτι τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ἡ ἀγαμία ἀδιάφορόν ἐστιν καὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ὁ γάμος ἀδιάφορό(ν) ἐστιν. δύναται γὰρ καὶ ὃ ἄγαμος ὧν καὶ ἀληθῶς καθαρεύων ἀπὸ πάσης μίξεως, ἄλλως δὲ κακῶς βιούς, μὴ ὠφελεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγαμίας" δύναται δέ τις καὶ ἐν γάμῳ ὧν καὶ τὰ τοῦ γάμου πράττων τάξει δὲ καὶ καιρῷ αὐτὰ ποιῶν, τὴν ἄλλην πόλιτείαν σώζων, μὴ ἐλάττων εἶναι τοῦ ἀγάμου. ὅτι γὰρ ἀδιάφορόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀγαμία καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ καθαρότης, οὕτως ἀποδείξ(ο) μεν. εἰ μὲν μόνοι οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας Hoxow τὴν ἀγαμίαν, ἦν ἂν εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἡ ἀγαμία τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ καθαρόν τι καὶ θεῖον πρᾶγμά ἐστιν" νῦν δὲ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν καὶ μοχθηρᾷ προθέσει ἀγάμους. οἱ γοῦν ἀπὸ Μαρκίωνος ἀσκοῦσι καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀγαμίαν καὶ τὴν καθαρότητα, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὡς οἱ ἐκκλησιαστικοί: οὗτοι γὰρ ἵνα ἀρέσωσι τῷ κτίσαντι τὸν κόσμον θεῷ, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἵνα μὴ συνεργήσωσι τῷ τοῦ κόσμον θεῷ. κοσμεῖται δὲ ἡ ἀγαμία ἐκκλησιαστικῷ βίῳ καὶ λόγῳ, γνώσει καθαρᾷ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ. οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἄγαμος ἀδιάφορός ἐστι τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ’ ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἐν γάμῳ ὄντα ἀνεγκλήτως εἶναι, καθὰ καὶ προαποδεδώκαμεν. ἡ περιτομὴ οὖν οὐδέν ἔστι καὶ ἡ ἀκροβυστία οὐδέν ἐστι, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν καὶ κατὰ τὰ προκείμενα. ἀλλὰ τί ἐστι τὸ σῶζον; Τήρησις ἐντολῶν θεοῦ. πᾶς γὰρ ὃς ἐὰν μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τούτων AYCH τῶν ἐλαχίοτων καὶ διδάξει οἴτως Toye ἀνθρώπογο, οὐκ εἶπεν Οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀλλ᾽ ἐλάχιοτος κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ Βαοιλεί τῶν οὐρανῶν. εἰ δὲ ὁ λύσας μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τῶν ἐλαχίστων ἐλάχιοτος KAHOHCETAl ἐν τῇ Βδοιλείά τῶν OYPAN@N, ὁ δύο λύσας ἐντολὰς ποῦ εὑρεθήσεται; ἕκαστος οὖν ἐν τῇ κλήσει 7 ἐκλήθη, ἐν ταύτῃ μενέτω. ἐκλήθης ἐν γάμῳ; μὴ ζήλου τὸν (ἄγγαμον. ἐκλήθης ἄγαμος; μὴ πάντως ἐπισπῶ, εἰ δύνασαι καθαρώτερον ζῆν.

### English translation (Claude)

[vii 18] He will seem to have brought in out of season, into the discussion of marriage and chastity — when no inquiry had arisen about whether those who believe from the circumcision ought not to draw up the foreskin, or again whether those in uncircumcision ought not to be circumcised — also the passage “Were you called a slave? Do not be concerned,” and what follows. Perhaps, then, he took slavery and freedom as an example for the married and the unmarried, calling “circumcised” the man who has cast off his wife, and “uncircumcised” the married man? For as “the two will be one flesh,” and the wife and the husband are one flesh, and the circumcised man has cast off what belongs to the flesh, so the man who has cast off his wife has, as it were, circumcised his own flesh. So too he calls him a slave; for since he says elsewhere also, “The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases,” as though the married were slaves, for this reason here too he names as a “slave” the one called after marriage, and as “free” the unmarried. What is said in the passage, then, is said as though about circumcision and about slaves. Yet it is not out of place sometimes to use the saying against those who think that after faith one must be circumcised out of piety — but a piety “not according to knowledge” — because of what is written in the Old Testament about circumcision. Again, it is not good, because of some who believe from the circumcision and think that circumcision brings them shame and want to draw on a foreskin, to use the saying, “Was anyone called circumcised? Let him not draw up the foreskin.” And indeed there is reason to say to such people that in itself circumcision is an indifferent matter. So the passage is now neither about circumcision nor about uncircumcision, but about the unmarried and the married: “Was anyone called circumcised? Let him not draw up,” as though he said, “Let him not draw a wife to himself; he has already been circumcised: he has cast off his wife; let him not marry another.” “Was anyone called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised,” as if to say: “Were you called in marriage? Do not cast off your wife.” “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing”: since some think that the unmarried man has something more in this respect than the married, and the married something less than the unmarried by the very fact of being married, we wish, he says, to teach that by its own account celibacy is indifferent and by its own account marriage is indifferent. For even the unmarried man who truly keeps pure from all intercourse, but otherwise lives badly, may get no benefit from celibacy; and one who is in marriage and does the things of marriage, but does them in order and season, preserving the rest of his way of life, may be no less than the unmarried. That celibacy, and purity itself, is indifferent we will show in this way. If only those of the church practised celibacy, one could say that celibacy by its own account is a pure and divine thing; but in fact one can also find people unmarried with a wicked intention. The followers of Marcion, at any rate, also practise celibacy and purity, but not as the members of the church do: these do it to please God who created the world, those so as not to cooperate with the God of the world. Celibacy is adorned by the church's way of life and teaching, by pure knowledge and truth. So the unmarried man too is indifferent by his own account; and it is possible for one in marriage to be blameless, as we have shown earlier. Circumcision, then, is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, both according to the letter and according to the matter before us. But what is it that saves? “Keeping the commandments of God.” For “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people so” — he did not say “will not enter the kingdom of heaven,” but “will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” But if the one who breaks one of the least commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, where will the one who breaks two commandments be found? “Let each, then, remain in the calling in which he was called.” Were you called in marriage? Do not envy the unmarried. Were you called unmarried? Do not by all means draw a wife to yourself, if you can live more purely.

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 7:18: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:19: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:20: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:21: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:24: quotation, high confidence
- Gen 2:24: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 19:5: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:15: quotation, high confidence
- Rom 10:2: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 5:19: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:18–24 (Jenkins § 37). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. Origen's reading is figurative: “circumcised” = the man who has “cast off” (ἀποβεβληκότα, ἀπέβαλεν) his wife, of whom he says “let him not marry another”; the Greek does not say whether the wife was cast off by separation or by renouncing intercourse. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:21, 18, 19, 20, 24; Gen 2:24 (Matt 19:5); 1 Cor 7:15; Rom 10:2; Matt 5:19. In the last sentence ἐπισπῶ is taken as “draw a wife to yourself”, as Origen glosses ἐπισπάσθω earlier.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 37.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):506; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/37-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 38, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-38-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):508
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen continues reading the slave and the free of 1 Cor 7:21–24 as the married and the unmarried, and notes that other interpreters take the passage literally.

### Greek text

Δοῦλον ὠνόμασεν ἀναγκαίως τὸν γεγαμηκότα' δοῦλος γὰρ τῆς γυναικὸς ὃ ἀνήρ, μὴ ἔχων ἐξουσίαν τοῦ idioy οὠμάτος, καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡ γυνή οὐκ ἐξογοιόξει γὰρ τοῦ idioy οὦματος ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ἀνήρ, δοῦλος οὖν ἐκλήθης; μή σοι μελέτω" ἀλλ᾽ εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, μᾶλλον χρῆσαι’: τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, εἰ μὴ παρανομεῖς κατὰ τὸν λόγον, δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος εἶναι’ πῶς; ἐκ ογμφώνογ ina οχολάσητε τῇ προςεγχῇ μετὰ πάσης ὁμονοίας. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν κυρίῳ κληθεὶς δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερος κυρίου ἐστίν: οἷόν: ᾿Εκλήθης ϑοῦλος; τοῦτο ἴσθι ὅτι οὐ μόνον οὐκ εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔχεις τι ἐλευθερίας διὰ τὸν κύριον. ὃ γὰρ ἀπελεύθερος οὔτε καθαρῶς ἐλεύθερός ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἔτι δοῦλος, ὡς εἶναι τὸν μὲν καθαρὸν πάντῃ ἐλεύθερον τὸν δὲ ἐν γάμῳ ϑοῦλον" ὅταν δὲ ἐν κυρίῳ 7 δοῦλος, Tore λέγομεν ὅτι ἀπελεύθερος κυρίου ἐστίν. & δὲ ἐλεύθερος κληθεὶς δοῦλός ἐστιν οὐ γυναικός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ. Τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε: μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων. ὅση δύναμις νοήσατε τὸν ἐξαγοράοαντα imac τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ: τὸ aima τὸ ἐκχγθὲν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐξευμενίσωμεν. λέγομεν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ ἀγάμων καὶ γεγαμηκότων ὅτι ἐπιτείνει καὶ ἀνίησι τὸν λόγον. οὕτως καὶ ἐνθάδε πεποίηκεν εἰπὼν Μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων: οἱονεὶ γὰρ ἐπιτείνει καὶ σφοδρότερον ποιεῖ τὸν λόγον, προτρεπόμενος τοὺς κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν οἵους τε καθαρεύειν καὶ καθαρεύειν ἕκαστον ἐν τῇ κλήσει ἡ ἐκλήθη. Ἰστέον δὲ ὡς οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταὶ περὶ ἀκροβυστίας καὶ περιτομῆς κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκδεδώκασι τὴν ἔννοιαν’ συνήθως γάρ, φασίν, ἀπὸ τοῦ προκειμένου εἰς ἕτερα μεταβαίνει, πᾶσι νομοθετῶν τὰ κατάλληλα.

### English translation (Claude)

He was right to name the married man a slave; for the husband is the wife's slave, not having authority over his own body, and the wife is the husband's, for she does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. “Were you called a slave, then? Do not be concerned; but even if you can become free, rather make use of it.” That is: if you do not transgress against the teaching, you can be free. How? “By agreement, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer,” with all concord. “For the one called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord.” As if to say: Were you called a slave? Know this, that not only are you not a slave, but you also have something of freedom through the Lord. For the freedman is neither purely free nor any longer a slave; so that the pure man is entirely free, and the one in marriage a slave; but when he is a slave in the Lord, then we say that he is a freedman of the Lord. “Likewise the one called free is a slave” — not of a wife, but of the Word of God. “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” As far as you can, consider the Word of God who redeemed you; let us propitiate the blood shed for us. We say in the discussion of the unmarried and the married that he tightens and relaxes the teaching. So too he has done here, saying, “Do not become slaves of men”; for he as it were tightens it and makes the teaching more forceful, urging those who, as far as possible, are able to keep pure, to keep pure, each in the calling in which he was called. One should know that the other interpreters have rendered the sense of the passage about uncircumcision and circumcision according to the letter; for, they say, he habitually passes from the subject at hand to other matters, legislating for all what fits them.

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 7:4: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:21: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:5: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:22: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:23: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:24: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:21–24 (Jenkins § 38). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. Quotations: 1 Cor 7:4, 21, 5, 22, 23, 24.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 38.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):508; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/38-1).

## Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 39, part 1)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/33-1/#p-39-1
- Source: Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):508
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21

Summary: Origen distinguishes commanded duties from voluntary counsels such as virginity, notes that Paul calls chastity “good” but marriage only “not sin,” and on 1 Cor 7:27 says the married must not seek release nor the released seek a wife.

### Greek text

Τῶν ἐντολῶν αἱ μὲν εἰσὶν ἐπιτεταγμέναι, αἱ δὲ οὐκ ἐπιτεταγμέναι ἀλλ᾽ αὐτεξούσιοι καὶ τῇ προαιρέσει ἐπιτετραμμέναι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ai μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνευ σωθῆναι, αὗταί εἰσιν al xpocreraypévar αἱ δὲ μείζονες τῶν προστεταγμένων, ἃς κἂν μὴ ποιήσωμεν σωζόμεθα, οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐπίταγμα τοῦ θεοῦ. ἄκονε γάρ, φησίν, τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διδάσκοντος ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ λέγοντος Stan ποιήσητε πάντα TA διατεταγμένα ὑμῖν, ὀφείλετε λέγειν λοῆλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν, ὃ ὀφείλομεν ποιῆολι πεποιήκαμεν. καὶ el, ἐὰν ποιήσω πάντα τὰ διατεταγμένα, δοῦλός εἶμι ἀχρεῖος, πότε φεύξομαι τὸ εἶναι δοῦλος ἀχρεῖος; ἐὰν φιλοτιμ(ζό)τερος ὧν ἐπαναβαίνῃς ἀπὸ τῶν διατεταγμένων᾽ οἷον" TS οΥ̓ μοιχεύοεις ἐὰν τηρήσω καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐμβλέψαι τγυνοικὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθγμῆςαι, ὃ ὥφειλον πονῖολι πεποίηκα. ἐὰν δὲ παρθένος μείνω, οὐ κελευσθεὶς οὐδὲ διαταχθείς, οὐκέτι λέγω ἐπὶ τῷ τῆς παρθενίας κατορθώματι δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν, ὃ ὀφείλομεν ποιῆςδι πεποιήκαμεν. οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐντολῶν, ἐὰν μὴ {κ)λέψω ἢ πλεονεκτῶ, ὀφείλομεν λέγειν ἀχρεῖον δοῦλοι ἐομέν. ἐὰν δὲ πωλήσω πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μογ καὶ δώσω πτωχοῖς, οὐκέτι λέγω ᾿Αχρεῖός εἶμι, ὃ ὥφειλον ποιῆσαι πεποίηκα. διὰ τοῦτο λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος Περὶ δὲ τῶν παρθένων ἐπιταγὴν κυρίου οὐκ ἔχω, γνώμην δὲ δίδωμι ὡς ἠλεημένος ὑπὸ κυρίου πιστὸς εἶναι, ἐν γὰρ τῷ λέγειν τοῖς μαθηταῖς τὸν κύριον οὗ πάντες ywpoyc! τὸν λόγον AAN οἷς λέλοται καὶ ἐπιφέρει ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω᾽ οὐκ ἐπέταξεν, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτεξούσιον εἴασεν. Γνώμην οὖν, φησὶν ὃ ἀπόστολος, δίδωμι, καὶ ἵνα παραστήσῃ ὅτι κύριος ἐν αὐτῷ λέγει εἶπεν ὡς ἡλεημένος ὑπὸ κυρίου πιστὸς εἶναι. [vii 26] Νομίζω οὖν τοῦτο καλὸν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην, ὅτι καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ οὕτως εἶναι. ᾿Ανάγκην φησὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ σώματι διατριβήν, ὡς καὶ ἑτέρωθί φησι τὸ δὲ ἐπιμεῖναι τῇ Capki ἀναγκδιότερον Ai ὑμᾶς. τετράκις δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τὸ καλὸν ὠνόμασεν ὃ ἀπόστολος" φησὶ γὰρ πρῶτον μὲν καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γγνδικὸς mH ἅπτεοθαι" δεύτερον δὲ καλὸν αὐτοῖς ἐὰν meinwcin ὡς κἀγώ" τρίτον Νομίζω οὖν τοῦτο καλὸν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην τέταρτον Καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ οὕτως εἶναι. ὁρᾷς, ὅσα περὶ ἁγνείας εἴρηται, ταῦτα μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ ὠνόμασται" ὅσα δὲ περὶ τοῦ γάμου, μετὰ τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν τὸν γαμοῦντα. [vii 27] Δέδεσαι γυναικί; μὴ ζήτει λύσιν. λέλυσαι ἀπὸ γυναικός; μὴ ζήτει γυναῖκα. Ai ὅλου τοῦ λόγου, καθὰ εἴρηται, ἐπιτείνει καὶ ἀνίησιν, ἵνα ὁ ἀκροατὴς ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ λαβὼν κρίνῃ εἴ τι δύναται καὶ ποίᾳ ἀσκήσει ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι δυνηθῇ. οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐνθάδε ἀπέτρεψε μὲν τοῦ λύειν τὸν γάμον, προτρέπεται δὲ πάλιν καθαρεύειν. οὐκοῦν δεδεμένον μὲν εἶπεν τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν γεγαμηκότα᾽ εἰ δὲ περίστασίς ἐστι τὸ δεδέσθαι, καὶ δεῖ φεύγειν τὰς παριστάσεις ὅση δύναμις. καὶ τὸ δεδέσθαι γυναικὶ μὴ ζήτει λύειν, ὃ δὲ μὴ δεδεμένος ὀφείλει φυλάττεσθαι ἵνα μὴ δεθῇ" ἀληθῶς γὰρ εὑρήσεις αὐτοὺς δεδεμένους τῷ φίλτρῳ τῷ γαμικῷ. οὐκ ἔξεστιν οὖν τὸν ἐν γάμῳ προληφθέντα ζητῆσαι ἄκαιρον ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλὰ μένειν ἐν τῇ δουλείᾳ: καὶ εἰ λέλυταί τις, μὴ ζητεῖν α. [vii a] "Edy δὲ καὶ γήμῃς, φησίν, οὐχ ἥμαρτες. οὐκ εἶπεν ᾿Εὰν γαμήσῃς, καλόν" ἀλλ᾽ ᾿Εὰν γήμῃς, οὐχ ἥμαρτες τήρει τὴν διαφοράν. καὶ ἐὰν γήμῃ ἡ παρθένος, οὐχ ἥμαρτεν’ οὐκ εἶπεν πάλιν Καλόν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ἥμαρτεν. [vii 4] Θλίψιν δὲ τῇ σαρκὶ ἕξουσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι. Πῶς yap οὐχ ἕξουσι θλίψιν ὅτε τὰ εἰρημένα πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὴν γεγαμημένην “En λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνὰ καὶ πρός τὸν ἄνδρα Coy Hi ἀποστροφή Coy καὶ αὐτός Coy Kypieycer. τούτων δὲ πάντων ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἡ παρθένος, ἐλευθερωθεῖσα ἀπὸ τῆς καθαρότητος, νυμφίον εὐλογίας περιμένουσα. πᾶς γάμος ἐν σκότῳ γίνεται, διὸ mii κοίταις καὶ ἀσελγείλιο᾽ ὁ δὲ Χριστοῦ γάμος, ὅταν ἀπολάβῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν τῷ φωτὶ γίνεται. διὰ τί γὰρ μετὰ λαμπάδων καὶ ἐλαίου διαρκοῦντος εἰσέρχονται παρθένοι εἰς τὸν γάμον; διότι εὐσχημοσύνης ἐστὶν ὁ γάμος ἐκεῖνος. ὃ σαρκὶ κολλώμενος En οῶμά écTIN’ πνεύματι δὲ ὁ κολλώμενος ἕν πνεῦμά Ectin. τί δὲ εὐσχημονέστερον ψυχῆς πνεύματι κολλωμένης καὶ ἑνουμένης αὐτῷ, καὶ μηκέτι οὔσης ψυχῆς ἀλλὰ γινομένης ὅπερ τὸ πνεῦμα; ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ γάμου εἴρηται ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς Go «εἀρκὰ mian® ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ κγρίῳ ἔσται En πνεῦμα.

### English translation (Claude)

Of the commandments some are enjoined, others are not enjoined but left to free will and entrusted by God to our choice. For those without which it is not possible to be saved are the ones that are ordered; but those greater than the ordered ones, which even if we do not do them we are saved, are not an injunction of God. For hear, he says, the gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching in it and saying, “When you have done all that has been commanded you, you ought to say, We are unworthy slaves; we have done what we ought to do.” And if, when I do all that is commanded, I am an unworthy slave, when shall I escape being an unworthy slave? If, being more ambitious, you go up beyond what is commanded. For instance: if I keep “You shall not commit adultery,” and also not looking at a woman to desire her, I have done what I ought to do. But if I remain a virgin, not ordered or commanded, I no longer say upon the achievement of virginity, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done what we ought to do.” So too with the other commandments: if I do not steal or covet, we ought to say, “We are unworthy slaves.” But if I sell all my possessions and give to the poor, I no longer say, “I am unworthy; I have done what I ought to do.” For this reason the apostle says, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.” For when the Lord says to the disciples, “Not all receive the saying, but those to whom it has been given,” and adds, “Let the one who is able to receive it receive it,” he did not command, but left it to free will. “I give an opinion,” then, says the apostle; and to show that the Lord speaks in him, he said, “as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.” [vii 26] “I think, then, that this is good because of the present necessity, that it is good for a person to be so.” By “necessity” he means the sojourn in the body, as he also says elsewhere, “but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” Four times in the passage the apostle used the word “good”: for he says first, “it is good for a man not to touch a woman”; second, “it is good for them if they remain as I am”; third, “I think, then, that this is good because of the present necessity”; fourth, “it is good for a person to be so.” You see: whatever is said about chastity is named with “good”; but whatever is said about marriage, with the one who marries “not sinning.” [vii 27] “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.” Through the whole discourse, as has been said, he tightens and relaxes, so that the hearer, taking it into his own authority, may judge whether he can do anything, and to what discipline he can give himself. So here too he turned them away from dissolving marriage, and again urges them to keep pure. Accordingly he called the married man “bound”; and if being bound is a hardship, one must also flee hardships as far as possible. And if you are bound to a wife, do not seek to loose it; but the one not bound must guard himself so as not to be bound; for truly you will find them bound by the love-charm of marriage. It is not permitted, then, for one already taken in marriage to seek an untimely freedom, but to remain in the slavery; and if someone has been released, not to seek a wife. [vii 28] “But if you marry,” he says, “you have not sinned.” He did not say, “If you marry, it is good,” but “If you marry, you have not sinned”: keep the difference. “And if the virgin marries, she has not sinned”; again he did not say “good,” but “she has not sinned.” “But such people will have affliction in the flesh.” For how will they not have affliction, when what was said to the woman comes upon the married woman, “In pains you will bear children,” and, toward her husband, “your turning will be to him, and he will rule over you”? From all these things the virgin is free, freed by her purity, awaiting the bridegroom of blessing. Every marriage takes place in darkness, hence “not in beds and licentiousness”; but the marriage of Christ, when he receives his church, takes place in the light. For why do virgins enter the wedding with lamps and oil that lasts? Because that marriage is one of decorum. “The one who joins himself to flesh is one body; but the one who joins himself to the spirit is one spirit.” What is more decorous than a soul joined to the Spirit and united with it, no longer being soul but becoming what the Spirit is? For of marriage it is said, “the two will become one flesh”; but of the other, “the one who joins himself to the Lord will be one spirit.”

### Scripture references

- Luke 17:10: quotation, high confidence
- Exod 20:14: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 5:28: allusion, high confidence
- Exod 20:15: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 19:21: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:25: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 19:11: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:26: quotation, high confidence
- Phil 1:24: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:1: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:8: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:27: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence
- Gen 3:16: quotation, high confidence
- Rom 13:13: quotation, medium confidence
- Matt 25:1: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 6:16: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 6:17: quotation, high confidence
- Gen 2:24: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Fragment on 1 Cor 7:25–28 (Jenkins § 39). Re-read against the Greek; no public-domain English. Jenkins's verse markers “[vii a]” and “[vii 4]” are OCR misreadings of [vii 28]; they are rendered as [vii 28] and omitted respectively. On 7:27 Origen says “it is not permitted” (οὐκ ἔξεστιν) for one in marriage to seek release, and that one who has been released should not seek a wife; he does not say here how the release came about. “Hence ‘not in beds and licentiousness’” renders a damaged clause (διὸ μὴ κοίταις καὶ ἀσελγείαις, Rom 13:13) by sense. The quotation of 1 Cor 6:17 first reads “to the spirit”, then “to the Lord”. Quotations: Luke 17:10; Exod 20:14; Matt 5:28; Matt 19:21; 1 Cor 7:25; Matt 19:11–12; 1 Cor 7:26; Phil 1:24; 1 Cor 7:1, 8, 27, 28; Gen 3:16; Rom 13:13; 1 Cor 6:16–17; Gen 2:24; allusion: Matt 25:1–10.

### Citation (SBL)

Origen, Frag. 1 Cor. 39.1 (Jenkins JTS 9 (1908):508; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/origen-fragmenta-1-corinthios/39-1).