On Prayer 29.12
Summary: Paul says God “gave up” sinners to their desires; this refutes those who divide the Godhead into a just God of the law and a merely good Father who never judges.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:386–387
χρήσιμον οὖν εἰς ταῦτα παραθέσθαι τὰ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ὑπὸ τοῦ Παύλου εἰρημένα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· „φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν, καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν. διὸ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀκαθαρσίαν, τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, “ καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγα· „διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας· αἵ τε γὰρ θήλειαι αὐτῶν μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν· ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας ἐξεκαύθησαν“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· καὶ πάλιν μετʼ ὀλίγα· „καὶ καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα.“ πλὴν ταῦτα πάντα προσεκτέον τοῖς διακόπτουσι τὴν θεότητα, καὶ λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτοὺς. ἕτερον νομίζοντας εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν παρὰ τὸν τοῦ νόμου θεὸν. εἰ ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς τὸν μὴ τυγχάνοντα τῆς εὐχῆς εἰσάγει „εἰς πειρασμὸν, “ καὶ εἰ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου παραδίδωσιν „ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῶν καρδιῶν“ τοὺς προημαρτηκότας τι „εἰς ἀκαθαρσίαν, τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐν αὑτοῖς, “ καὶ εἰ, ὡς αὐτοί φασι, τοῦ κρίνειν καὶ κολάζειν ἀπηλλαγμένος παραδίδωσιν „εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας“ καὶ „εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα, “ οὐκ ἂν „ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῶν καρδιῶν ἑαυτῶν“ γεγενημένων τῶν μὴ παραδοθέντων αὐταῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐδʼ ἂν πάθεσιν „ἀτιμίας“ ὑποπεπτωκότων τῶν μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ παραδοθέντων αὐτοῖς, οὐδʼ ἂν „εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν“ καταπιπτόντων χωρὶς τοῦ παραδίδοσθαι αὐτῷ ὑπὸ θεοῦ τοὺς οὕτω καταδικασθέντας;
English · Claude translation
It is useful, then, to set beside these things what is said by Paul in the Letter to the Romans in this way: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves”; and a little after: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions; for their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature; and likewise the men also, leaving the natural use of the woman, were inflamed,” and so on; and again a little after: “And since they did not see fit to have God in knowledge, God gave them up to an unfit mind, to do what is not proper.” All these things must be put to those who divide the Godhead, and we must say to them, since they think that the good Father of our Lord is other than the God of the law: if the good God brings “into temptation” the one who does not obtain his prayer, and if the Father of the Lord gives up “in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” those who have first sinned somewhat, and if, being, as they say, free from judging and punishing, he gives them up “to dishonorable passions” and “to an unfit mind, to do what is not proper”—then those not given up to them by God would not have come to be “in the desires of their own hearts,” nor would those not given up to them by God have fallen under passions “of dishonor,” nor would those so condemned have fallen “into an unfit mind” without being given up to it by God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 1:22–24, 1:26–27, and 1:28. “Those who divide the Godhead” are the Marcionites and some Gnostics, who held that the good Father of Jesus is a different God from the just God of the law. The final clause is compressed: no one falls into these states unless God gives him up, so on their view the “good” Father would himself be judging and punishing.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 29.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/12/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 29.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/12/).
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