Becoming all things; one prize for the one body; gift and remaining worthy
—the lawless. At the same time he keeps his own exactness. “I became to the Jews as a Jew”: he did not say here, “not being a Jew.” For he was a Jew in secret, no longer in the open. And again: “to those under law as under law, though not myself under law”—here he had to put “not myself under law,” for Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us; as if he said, “not being a Samaritan.” “To the lawless as lawless, not being lawless toward God.” Someone will suppose I have become an apostate from the law and lawless toward God; I say that even if I do not keep the law according to the letter, I am not lawless toward God but under Christ’s law, keeping the polity according to the gospel, that I may win the lawless.
“I became to the weak as weak”: he did not say here “not myself being weak.” For it would have been boastful and arrogant, and not according to the apostle, to say “not myself being weak,” when he had heard from the Lord that my power is perfected in weakness and for that reason boasts in weaknesses. How then was he weak to the weak? When he permits those who burn to marry; when he sympathizes with women who have lost husbands; when he says, because of porneias let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband, and the rest. In these he became weak to the weak, that he might win the weak. Then after this he says, “I have become all things to all, that I may save all or some.” Whichever person you take, he is one of the five: either Jew, or under law, or lawless, or weak, or “all.” The perfect is all; so to all—that is, to the perfect—I have become perfect, that I may win all. For he says, we speak wisdom among the perfect, and what follows. This one can say, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.”
[Origen:] Only the perfect can utter the perfect apostle’s word in the Lord: “I do all things for the sake of the gospel.” The one who sins cannot say this. If the one who does all for the gospel is a partner of the gospel, the one who commits porneia is a partner of the porneia of the spirit—and likewise with the other passions. Each becomes partner of that with which he shared. But someone among the hearers will say, “My life is mixed: I do not do all for the gospel, nor all for sin and pleasure.” To this we will say: God has these judgments; according to his many and varied judgments he repays.
44 on 1 Corinthians 9:24: “Do you not know that those who run in a stadium all run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain.” [Origen:] Then do we all run and one receives the prize, and the rest perish? For he said one receives the prize while many run. All who are being saved are one and one body; for if we all share one bread and the same bread, we are all Christ’s body. So all the saved are the one who receives the prize. In the stadium, then, all run who order their life by a doctrine—those from the heresies who live by a doctrine, and perhaps Jews, and those who live by Greek doctrines while philosophizing. These are all who run in the stadium; the church also runs; but one receives the prize—the one man of whom the apostle says, until we all attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of ChristYet every judgment of God must be found concerning all who run in the stadium, so that one may take first place and then each according to his worth.
45 on 1 Corinthians 10:5: “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were struck down in the wilderness.” [Origen:] The apostle wants to show us that it is not merely obtaining a gift of God that saves the one who obtained it, but that after obtaining the gift one must remain, having become worthy of it. For also—
Greek
ἀνόμους. ἅμα δὲ τηρεῖ καὶ τὸ ἀκριβὲς αὐτοῦ· Ἐγενόμην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος· οὐκ εἶπεν ἐνθάδε, Μὴ ὢν Ἰουδαῖος. Ἰουδαῖος γὰρ ἦν ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, οὐκέτι ἐν τῷ φανερῷ.καὶ πάλιν Τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον, μὴ ὢν αὐτὸς ὑπὸ νόμον· ἀναγκαίως ἐνθάδε ἔθηκεν τὸ Μὴ ὢν ὑπὸ νόμον· Χρι τὸ γὰρ ἡμᾶ ἐξηγόρα εν ἐκ τῆ κατάρα τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενο ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα· ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγεν, Μὴ ὢν Σαμαρεύς. Τοῖς δὲ ἀνόμοις ὡς ἄνομος, μὴ ὢν ἄνομος θεῷ. ἀλλ' ὑπολήψεταί μέ τις ἀπο στάτην τοῦ νόμου γεγονέναι καὶ ἄνομον τῷ θεῷ· φημὶ δὲ ὅτι εἰ καὶ μὴ τηρῶ τὸν νόμον κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν οὐκ εἰμὶ ἄνομος τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλ' ἔννομός εἰμι τοῦ Χριστοῦ τηρῶν τὴν πολιτείαν τὴν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἵνα κερδήσω τοὺς ἀνόμους. Ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἀσθενέσιν ὡς ἀσθενής· οὐκ εἶπεν ἐνθάδε Μὴ ὢν αὐτὸς ἀσθε νής· ἀλαζονικὸν γὰρ ἦν, ὑπερήφανον ἦν, οὐκ ἦν κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον εἰπεῖν Οὐκ ὢν αὐτὸς ἀσθενής, τὸν ἀπὸ κυρίου ἀκούσαντα ὅτι ἡ δύναμί μου ἐν ἀ θενείᾳ τελειοῦται καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ἀ θενείαι καυχώμενον. πῶς δὲ Τοῖς ἀσθενέσιν ἀσθενής; ὅτε ἐπιτρέπει τοὺς πυρουμένους γαμεῖν, ὅτε συμπάσχει ταῖς ἀπο βαλούσαις ἄνδρας, ὅτε φησὶ ∆ιὰ δὲ τὰ πορνεία ἕκα το τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐχέτω καὶ ἑκά τη τὸν ἴδιον ἄνδρα ἐχέτω καὶ τὰ λοιπά. ἐν τούτοις ἐγένετο τοῖς ἀσθε νέσιν ἀσθενής, ἵνα τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς κερδήσῃ. Εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα λέγει Τοῖς πᾶσι γέγονα τὰ πάντα ἵνα πάντας ἢ τινὰς σώσω. Ὃν ἐὰν λάβῃς ἄνθρωπον, ἓν τῶν πέντε ἐστίν· ἢ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, ἢ ὑπὸ νόμον, ἢ ἄνομος, ἢ ἀσθενής, ἢ πάντα ἐστίν. ὁ τέλειος πάντα ἐστίν· τοῖς οὖν πᾶσι, τοῦτ' ἐστὶ τοῖς τελείοις, γέγονα τέλειος, ἵνα πάντας κερδήσω. Σοφίαν γάρ φησι λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖ τελείοι καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οὗτος δύναται εἰπεῖν Ἕλλη ί τε καὶ βαρβάροι , οφοῖ τε καὶ ἀνοήτοι ὀφειλέτη εἰμί. [Ὠριγένους] Μόνος ὁ τέλειος δύναται εἰπεῖν τὴν τοῦ τελείου ἀποστόλου ἐν κυρίῳ φωνὴν τὴν Πάντα ποιῶ διὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον. ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτάνων οὐ δύναται τοῦτο εἰπεῖν. εἰ δὲ ὁ πάντα ποιῶν διὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κοινωνός ἐστι τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὁ ποιῶν δὲ τὴν πορνείαν κοινωνός ἐστι τῆς πορνείας τοῦ πνεύματος, ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν. ἕκαστος οὖν κοινωνὸς ἐκείνῳ ᾧ ἐκοινώνησεν γίνεται. ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις τῶν ἀκουόντων Ὁ βίος μου μικτός ἐστιν· οὔτε πάντα ποιῶ διὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, οὔτε πάντα ποιῶ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ τὴν ἡδονήν. πρὸς τοῦτο φήσομεν Ταῦτα ὁ θεὸς τὰ κρίματα ἔχει· κατὰ τὰ κρίματα τὰ πολλὰ ποικίλα ἀποδίδωσι. 44 ix 24 [Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες, πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον; οὕτως τρέχετε, ἵνα καταλάβητε.] [Ὠριγένους] Ἆρ' οὖν πάντες ἡμεῖς τρέχομεν καὶ εἷς λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπολλύμεθα; ἕνα γὰρ εἶπεν τὸν λαμβάνοντα τὸ βραβεῖον, πολλῶν τρεχόντων. πάντες οἱ σωζόμενοι ἕν εἰσιν καὶ ἓν ῶμα· οἱ γὰρ πάντες εἰ ἄρτο ἐ μὲν καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἄρτου μετέχομεν, καὶ πάντες ἐ τὲ ῶμα Χρι τοῦ. πάντες οὖν οἱ σωζό μενοι, εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ λαμβάνων τὸ βραβεῖον. ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ οὖν πάντες τρέχουσιν, ὅσοι πρὸς δόγμα πολιτεύονται· καὶ οἳ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων πρὸς δόγμα πολι τεύονται, καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι τάχα, καὶ οἳ τὰ Ἑλλήνων πρὸς δόγμα πολιτεύονται φιλοσοφοῦντες. καὶ οὗτοι εἰσὶ πάντες οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες· τρέχει καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία· ἀλλ' εἷς λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον ὁ εἷς ἄνθρωπος, περὶ οὗ φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος Μέχρι καταντή ωμεν εἰ ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰ μέτρον ἡλικία τοῦ πληρώματο τοῦ χρι τοῦ. πᾶσαν δὲ κρίσιν τοῦ θεοῦ δεῖ εὑρεθῆναι περὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ τρέχοντας, ἵν' ὁ μέν τις λάβῃ πρωτεῖα ἑξῆς δὲ ἕκαστος κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀξίαν. 45 x 5 [Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν αὐτῶν εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός, κατε τρώθη αν γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.] [Ὠριγένους] Βούλεται παραστῆσαι ἡμῖν ὁ ἀπόστολος ὅτι οὐ τὸ τυχεῖν δωρεᾶς θεοῦ σώζει τὸν τετυχηκότα αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ τυχεῖν τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐπιμεῖναι ἄξιον γενόμενον αὐτῆς. καὶ γὰρ
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam i ad Corinthios (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.