Through the will of God; saints who are; spiritual blessing (Eph 1:1–3)
Fragments from the commentaries on the Letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God.”
Let us hear what Origen also says about this: if the preposition “through” (διά) marks a serving role—as we examined at length when treating “all things came to be through him,” and set out the counter-objections that seemed to us to bear on that point—then we must ask how Paul is an apostle of Christ Jesus not “from” the will of God but “through” the will of God. One person will say that Paul is not everywhere precise about the special force of prepositions, and that he behaves the same way with other meanings. Another, knowing the difference between “through God” and “through the will of God,” will say it would have been absurd if it had been written “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God”; but if God’s will is a servant while the one who uses it is the governing agent, that would not be unreasonable. You should also notice, concerning the will of God, whether it can be ranked of Christ, so that just as there is power of God and wisdom of God, so also there may be his will, having him as God’s hypostasis. If it seems awkward to someone to say that God’s will is given substance, let him consider whether the apparent awkwardness is much the same for power of God and wisdom of God and Word of God, and for truth and resurrection and way; for it seems to me much the same about all these, as being given substance in the only-begotten Word.
Ephesians 1:1b: “to the saints who are, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Origen says: only in Ephesians do we find lying there the phrase “to the saints who are.” And we ask, if “who are” is not redundant when added to “to the saints,” what it can mean. See, then, whether—just as in Exodus the one who speaks to Moses names his own name “the One who is”—so those who share in the One who is become “beings,” called as if from not-being into being. For God chose the things that are not, says the same Paul, in order to abolish the things that are. And someone will ask how he abolishes the things that are; but let us hear him adding “so that no flesh may boast before God.” For if someone who has shared in being, forgetting the share, credits himself with the cause of being and does not bring all thanksgiving up to the one who, from not-being, gifted him being like God and according to the image, then the “being” is abolished.
Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Someone will say that because of the blessings in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and wherever else in Scripture such things are recorded, the spiritual blessing is spoken by way of contrast with those, as if the God and Father of Jesus Christ blesses us not in a bodily blessing like those, but in a spiritual one. And the heterodox will take it that way, thinking they would also gain from such a reading a pretext for cutting apart the Godhead. But we, having shown that even under the law the blessings, if understood bodily, were not given to those entrusted with the law and who had lived soundly, will prove that those who have supposed this either make the giver of the blessings a liar, or that what was promised to those who lived as he commanded is not what the ready surface reading understands. For it follows, if the law is spiritual, that the blessings in it are spiritual too. The prophets, for example, have not obtained the blessings bodily: people who went about in sheepskins and goatskins, lacking, oppressed, mistreated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth, did not lend to many nations, nor were they blessed in city or field; nor were their storehouses blessed, which they never even owned in the first place. And see whether from these things we shall not compel those who understand otherwise to change their mind (if they keep the dignity of the one who gave the
Greek
Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam ad Ephesios Eph. i 1 Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ. ἀκούσωμεν τί καὶ Ὠριγένης φησὶ περὶ τούτου εἰ ἡ διὰ πρόθεσις τὸ ὑπηρετικὸν ἐμφαίνει (ὥσπερ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐξητάσαμεν διηγούμενοι τὸ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, τιθέντες καὶ τὰς φαινομένας ἡμῖν εἰς τοῦτο ἀνθυποφοράς), ζητητέον πῶς ἀπόστολός ἐστι Παῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἐκ θελήματος Θεοῦ ἀλλὰ διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ. ὁ μὲν οὖν τις ἐρεῖ, μὴ πάνυ ἀκριβοῦν πανταχοῦ τὸν Παῦλον τὰ τῶν προθέσεων ἰδιώματα, ὅπερ αὐτὸν ποιεῖν καὶ ἐπ' ἄλλων σημαινομένων. ἄλλος δέ, διαφορὰν εἰδὼς τοῦ «διὰ Θεοῦ» καὶ τοῦ διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ, ἐρεῖ ὅτι ἄτοπον ἂν ἦν εἰ ἐγέγραπτο Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ διὰ Θεοῦ· εἰ δὲ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπηρετικόν ἐστιν, ἡγουμένου ὄντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρωμένου αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἂν εἴη τοῦτο ἄλογον. ἐπιστήσεις δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ θελήματος τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰ δύναται τάσσεσθαι ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ· ἵν' ὥσπερ ἐστὶ Θεοῦ δύναμι καὶ Θεοῦ οφία, οὕτως ᾖ καὶ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, Θεοῦ ὑπόστασιν ἔχον αὐτόν· ἐὰν δέ τινι ἀπεμφαῖνον φαίνηται οὐσιῶσθαι λέγειν τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ θέλημα, ἐπιστησάτω εἰ μὴ ἡ δοκοῦσα ἀπέμφασις παραπλήσιός ἐστι καὶ ἐπὶ δυνάμεω Θεοῦ καὶ οφία Θεοῦ καὶ λόγου Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀληθεία καὶ ἀνα τά εω καὶ ὁδοῦ· παραπλήσιος γάρ μοι δοκεῖ τυγχάνειν περὶ πάντων τούτων, ὡς οὐσιωμένων ἐν τῷ μονογενεῖ Λόγῳ. 2 Eph. i 1b [τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.] [Ὠριγένης δέ φησι] ἐπὶ μόνων Ἐφεσίων εὕρομεν κείμενον τὸ τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσι· καὶ ζητοῦ μεν, εἰ μὴ παρέλκει προσκείμενον τῷ τοῖς ἁγίοις <τὸ> τοῖς οὖσι, τί δύναται σημαίνειν. ὅρα οὖν εἰ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ ὄνομά φησιν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ χρηματίζων Μωσεῖ τὸ <ὁ> ὤν, οὕτως οἱ μετέχοντες τοῦ ὄντος γίνονται ὄντες, καλούμενοι οἱονεὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι εἰς τὸ εἶναι· ἐξελέξατο γὰρ ὁ Θεὸ τὰ μὴ ὄντα, φησὶν ὁ αὐτὸς Παῦλος, ἵνα τὰ ὄντα καταργή ῃ. καὶ ζητήσει τις, πῶς τὰ ὄντα καταργεῖ· ἀλλὰ ἀκούωμεν ἐπιφέροντος αὐτοῦ τὸ ὅπω μὴ καυχή ηται πᾶ α ὰρξ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. ἐὰν γάρ τις μετεσχηκὼς τοῦ εἶναι, ἐπιλαθόμενος τῆς μετοχῆς, ἑαυτῷ καταχαρίσηται τὴν τοῦ εἶναι αἰτίαν, καὶ μὴ τὴν πᾶσαν εὐχαριστίαν ἀναφέρῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι τὸ εἶναι αὐτῷ ὅμοιον καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα χαρισάμενον, τότε καταργεῖται τὸ ὄν. [i 3] εὐλόγητος ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ. ὁ μέν τις ἐρεῖ, διὰ τὰς ἐν Λευιτικῷ καὶ ∆ευτερονομίῳ εὐλογίας καὶ εἴ που ἄλλοθι τῆς γραφῆς τοιαῦται εἰσὶν ἀναγεγραμμέναι, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἐκείνων δέ, λέγεσθαι τὴν πνευματικὴν εὐλογίαν· ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡμᾶς εὐλογοῦντος οὐκ ἐν σωματικῇ ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις εὐλογίᾳ, ἀλλὰ πνευματικῇ. καὶ οὕτω γε ἐκδέξονται οἱ ἑτερόδοξοι, νομίσαντες ἂν καὶ ἀφορμὴν τοῦ διακόπτειν τὴν θεότητα ἐκ τοιαύτης ἐκδοχῆς λήψεσθαι. ἡμεῖς δὲ παραστήσαντες ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ νόμον δέδονται αἱ εὐλογίαι, εἰ σωματικῶς νοηθεῖεν, τοῖς πεπιστευμένοις κατὰ τὸν νόμον καὶ ὑγιῶς βεβιωκέναι, ἐλέγξομεν τοὺς οὕτως ὑπειληφότας ἤτοι ψεύδεσθαι τὸν τὰς εὐλογίας δεδωκότα, ἢ τὸ μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς προχείρου ἐκδοχῆς νοούμενον ἐπηγγέλθαι τοῖς βιώσασι καθὼς προσέταξεν. ἀκόλουθον γάρ ἐστι τῷ ὁ νόμο πνευματικό ἐ τι καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ εὐλογίας εἶναι πνευματικάς. οὐ τετεύχασι δὲ σωματικῶς τῶν εὐλογιῶν, φέρ' εἰπεῖν, οἱ προφῆται· οὐ γὰρ ἐδάνει αν ἔθνε ι πολλοῖ ἄνθρωποι περιελθόντε ἐν μηλωταῖ , ἐν αἰγίοι δέρμα ιν, ὑ τερούμενοι, θλιβόμενοι, κακουχούμενοι, ἐν ἐρημίαι πλανώμενοι καὶ ὄρε ι καὶ πηλαίοι καὶ ταῖ ὀπαῖ τῆ γῆ , οὐδὲ εὐλόγηνται ἐν πόλει ἢ ἐν ἀγρῷ· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αἱ ἀποθῆκαι αὐτῶν εὐλόγηνται, ἃς οὐδὲ ἐκτήσαντο τὴν ἀρχήν. καὶ ὅρα εἰ μὴ ἐκ τούτων ἀναγκάσομεν τοὺς ἄλλως νοοῦντας μεταθέσθαι (εἰ τηροῖεν τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ τὰς
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam ad Ephesios (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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