Unit 3 rem close
says: if our conscience does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God. It is a great thing not simply to have boldness, but boldness in confidence; and access again, because of firmness, in boldness. The beginning of boldness in confidence and of access is faith toward Christ. We have often said that the one who does everything by Word has believed in Christ the Word; the one who grasps Wisdom has believed in Christ the Wisdom; the one who clarifies the truth has believed in Christ the Truth; the one who lives by righteousness has believed in Christ the Righteousness.
Eph. 3:13: “Therefore I ask that you not lose heart in my afflictions for you, which is your glory.” Contending for those being discipled to Christ, he had many things that afflicted him. So “I ask,” he says, “that you not lose heart in my afflictions for you”—the speech of one who feels himself in danger of losing heart. After this we ask to what we should attach “which is your glory.”
Someone will say he answered “which is your glory” to the afflictions, as if he meant “which are your glory,” but because of the singular “glory,” as an untrained speaker, he put “which” singular instead of “which” plural. Another will refer “which is your glory” either to the boldness or the access or the faith: for boldness is glory of the one who has it, access glory of the one brought near to God, and faith may be called glory of the believer.
And “therefore I ask that you not lose heart in my afflictions for you” can mean: “therefore I ask for you, that you not lose heart in my afflictions, which are your glory.” What follows will seem to agree more with this reading: “for this reason I bow my knees to the Father, that he may give you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power”—for one who will not lose heart under afflictions needs to be strengthened with power.
Someone will say against the second: it made sense, if the Ephesians were afflicted, for Paul to ask about them that they not lose heart; but it will seem ridiculous that when Paul is afflicted the Ephesians need prayer so as not to lose heart in his afflictions. Against this set “your trial in my flesh you did not despise or spit out”: for through these it appears that a trial in Paul’s flesh was becoming a trial for others.
Otherwise mark whether what most troubles many in providence-talk is not this: when they see the holiest and most righteous meeting countless afflictions and straits, while the most lawless receive what people think goods. That Paul suffered much in Ephesus and about Asia is written also in the Acts of the Apostles, and one may learn from himself: “If according to man I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me if the dead are not raised?” And in the second to the Corinthians: “For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of our affliction that happened in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life; but we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great deaths and does deliver; in whom we have hoped that he will also still deliver.” See how great his afflictions were, that he says “who delivered us from so great deaths and does deliver.”
Eph. 3:14: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father.” Origen says: bowing the knees is a symbol of another kneeling that happens in being subject to God and having fallen under him. On this account the apostle also says that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow of heavenly and earthly and under-the-earth beings; and we say that the heavenly do not necessarily have bodies that have become, nor likewise the under-earth, nor besides the souls released from this body.
Eph. 3:15 patria (marginal note): Chrysostom: patriae as if tribes. Origen likewise. And he himself (that is, Origen) rendered “patrias,” not “phratrias” as Theodore.
Eph. 3:16–17a: “that he may give you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts.” His divinity seems especially to be named “his glory” according to Scripture. And he is rich in a divinity that is great and hard to grasp for the
Greek
φησιν] ἐὰν ἡ συνείδησις ἡμῶν μὴ καταγινώ κῃ, παρρη ίαν ἔχομεν πρὸ τὸν Θεόν. μέγα δέ ἐστιν οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἔχειν παρρη ίαν, ἀλλ' ἐν πεποιθήσει παρρησίαν· καὶ προσαγωγὴν διὰ τὸ βέβαιον πάλιν ἐν παρρησίᾳ. ἀρχὴ δὲ τῆς ἐν πεποιθήσει παρρησίας ἐστὶ καὶ προσαγωγῆς ἡ πίστις ἡ εἰς τὸν Χριστόν. πολλάκις δὲ εἴπομεν ὅτι ὁ πάντα λόγῳ ποιῶν πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν Λόγον, καὶ ὁ τὴν σοφίαν καταλαμβάνων πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν τὴν Σοφίαν, καὶ ὁ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τρανῶν πεπίστευκεν εἰς Χριστὸν τὴν Ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ὁ κατὰ δικαιοσύνην βιοὺς πεπίστευκεν εἰς Χριστὸν τὴν ∆ικαιοσύνην. [iii 13] διὸ αἰτοῦμαι μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσί μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν. ἀγωνιζόμενο ὑπὲρ τῶν Χριστῷ μαθητευομένων πολλὰ εἶχε τὰ θλίβοντα· διὸ αἰτοῦμαι φησὶ μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσί μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· αἰσθανομένου γὰρ ἑαυτοῦ ἐστιν οἷον κινδυνεύοντος ἐκκακεῖν τὸ ταῦτα λέγειν. μετὰ ταῦτα ζητοῦμεν τίνι ἐφαρμόσομεν τὸ ἥτις ἐστὶ δόξα ὑμῶν. ὁ μὲν οὖν τις ἐρεῖ ὅτι πρὸς τὰς θλίψεις ἀποδέδωκε τὸ ἥτις ἐστὶ δόξα ὑμῶν, ὡσεὶ ἔλεγεν «αἵτινές εἰσι δόξα ὑμῶν,» διὰ δὲ τὸ ἑνικὸν τῆς δόξης, ὡς ἰδιώτη τῷ λόγῳ, ἀποδέδωκεν ἀντὶ τοῦ «αἵτινες» τὸ ἥτις. ἄλλος δὲ τὸ ἥτις ἐστὶ δόξα ὑμῶν ἤτοι πρὸς τὴν παρρησίαν ἢ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἢ τὴν πίστιν ἀποδώσει· καὶ γὰρ ἡ παρρησία δόξα τοῦ ἔχοντός ἐστι, καὶ ἡ προσαγωγὴ δόξα τοῦ προσαγομένου Θεῷ, καὶ ἡ πίστις δόξα τοῦ πιστεύοντος ἂν εἶναι λέγοιτο. δύναται δὲ τὸ διὸ αἰτοῦμαι μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσί μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τοιοῦτο εἶναι, «διὸ αἰτοῦμαι ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, τὸ μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ὑμᾶς ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσί μου, αἵτινές εἰσιν ὑμετέρα δόξα.» καὶ δόξει γε τὰ ἑξῆς ταύτῃ μᾶλλον τῇ ἐκδοχῇ συνᾴδειν· τούτου γὰρ χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἵνα δῷ ὑμῖν κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι· χρεία γὰρ δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι τὸν μὴ ἐκκακήσοντα ἐπὶ θλίψεσιν. ἐρεῖ δέ τις πρὸς τὸ δεύτερον, λόγον μὲν εἶχεν θλιβομένων τῶν Ἐφεσίων αἰτεῖν τὸν Παῦλον περὶ αὐτ<ῶ>ν μὴ ἐκκακεῖν, γελοῖον δὲ εἶναι δόξει τὸ Παύλου θλιβομένου εὐχῆς δεῖσθαι τοὺς Ἐφεσίους ἵνα μὴ ἐκκακῶσιν ἐν ταῖς ἐκείνου θλίψεσιν. ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῦτο παραθετέον τὸν πειρα μὸν ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τῇ αρκί μου οὐκ ἐξουθενή ατε οὔτε ἐξεπτύ ατε· ἐμφαίνεται γὰρ διὰ τούτων ὅτι ἐν τῇ αρκὶ Παύλου πειρα μὸ ἑτέροις ἐγίνετο. ἄλλως δὲ καὶ ἐπιστήσωμεν εἰ μὴ τὸ μάλιστα το<ὺς> πολλοὺς ταράττον ἐν τοῖς περὶ προνοίας λόγοις ἔστιν, ὅτε τοῖς μὲν ἁγιωτάτοις καὶ δικαιοτάτοις ὁρῶσιν θλίψεις μυρίας καὶ περιστάσεις συμβαινούσας τοῖς δὲ ἀνομωτάτοις τὰ νομιζόμενα καλὰ γινόμενα. ὅτι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἐφέσῳ καὶ περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν πολλὰ πέπονθεν ὁ Παῦλος, γέγραπται μὲν καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀποστόλων πράξεσιν, ἔξεστι δὲ καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ μαθεῖν λέγοντος εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχη α ἐν Ἐφέ ῳ, τί μοι τὸ ὄφελο εἰ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται; καὶ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους, οὐ θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶ ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῆ θλίψεω ἡμῶν τῆ γενομένη ἐν τῇ Ἀ ίᾳ, ὅτι καθ' ὑπερβολὴν κατὰ δύναμιν ἐβαρήθημεν, ὥ τε ἐξαπορηθῆναι ἡμᾶ καὶ τοῦ ζῆν· ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖ τὸ ἀπόκριμα τοῦ θανάτου ἐ χήκαμεν, ἵνα μὴ πεποιθότε ὦμεν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖ ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ἐγείροντι τοὺ νεκρού , ὃ ἐκ τηλικούτων θανάτων ἐρρύ ατο ἡμᾶ καὶ ῥύεται, ἠλπίκαμεν γὰρ ὅτι καὶ ῥύ εται. ὅρα γὰρ ὅσα ἦν τὰ τῶν θλίψεων αὐτοῦ, ὡς λέγειν ὃ ἐκ τηλικούτων θανάτων ἐρρύ ατο ἡμᾶ καὶ ῥύεται. 15 Eph. iii 14 [τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα.] [Ὠριγένης φησί] τὸ κάμπτειν τὰ γόνατα σύμβολόν ἐστιν ἄλλης γονυκλισίας τῆς γινομένης ἐν τῷ ὑποτάσσεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ὑποπεπτωκέναι αὐτῷ. τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολός φησιν ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰη οῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμπτῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, καὶ λέγομεν μὴ πάντως τὰ ἐπουράνια ἔχειν σώματα γεγονατωμένα, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰ καταχθόνια ὁμοίως, πρὸς τούτοις οὐδὲ τὰς ἀπηλ λαγμένας τούτου τοῦ σώματος ψυχάς. 〚Eph. iii 15 πατριά [μαργιναλ νοτε]. ὁ Χρυσόστομος, πατριαί οἱονεὶ φυλαί. Ὠριγένης ὁμοίως. πατριὰς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς [scilicet Ὠριγένης] ἐξέδωκεν, οὐ φατρίας κατὰ Θεόδωρον.〛 [iii 16, 17a] ἵνα δῴη ὑμῖν κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ δυνάμει κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον κατοικῆσαι <τὸν> Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως, ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν. ἔοικεν ἡ θειότης αὐτοῦ ἰδίως κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν «δόξα» αὐτοῦ ὀνομάζεσθαι. πλουτεῖ δὲ θειότητι πολλῇ καὶ δυσκαταλήπτῳ οὔσῃ τῇ
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)
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.