Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/809

 the "glowing iron" (ib. ii. 6, 6) made an epoch in Christology. Here and there his language is liable to misconception, or even proved erroneous by later investigations, but he laid down outlines of the faith, on the basis of Scripture, which remain unshaken. He maintained the true and perfect manhood of Christ, subject to the conditions of natural growth, against all forms of Docetism; and, on the other hand, the true and perfect divinity of the" God-Word" (θεὸς λόγος), so united with "the man Christ Jesus" through the human soul as to be one person, against all forms of Ebionism and Patripassionism (ib. ii. 6, 3).

His doctrine of the Incarnation of the God-Word rests in part upon his doctrine of the Godhead. "All," he held, "who are born again unto salvation have need of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and would not obtain salvation unless the Trinity were entire" (ib. i. 3, 5). Hence he speaks of baptism as "the beginning and fountain of divine gifts to him who offers himself to the divinity of the power of the invocations of the adorable Trinity" (τῶν τῆς προσκυνητῆς τριάδος ἐπικλήσεων) (in Joh. vi. 17). But there is, in his judgment, a difference in the extent of the action of the Persons in the Holy Trinity. The Father, "holding all things together, reaches (φθάνει) to each being, imparting being to each from that which is His own, for He is absolutely (ὢν γὰρ ἔστιν). The Son is less than the Father (ἐλάττων παρὰ τ. π.), reaching only to rational beings, for He is second to the Father; and, further, the Holy Spirit is less (ἧττοϖ), and extends (διικνούμενον) to the saints only. So that in this respect (κατὰ τοῦτο) the power of the Father is greater in comparison with (παρά) the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that of the Son more in comparison with the Holy Spirit; and, again, the power of the Holy Spirit more exceeding (διαφέρουσα μᾶλλον) in comparison with all other holy beings." To rightly understand this passage it is necessary to observe that Origen is not speaking of the essence of the Persons of the Godhead, but of their manifestation to creatures (cf. de Princ. i. 3, 7). Essentially the three Persons are of one Godhead, and eternal. The subordination which Origen teaches is not of essence but of person and office. His aim is to realize the Father as the one Fountain of Godhead, while vindicating true deity for the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this respect he worked out first the thought of "the eternal generation" of the Son, which was accepted from him by the Catholic church as the truest human expression of one side of the mystery of the essential Trinity.

The peculiar connexion which Origen recognizes between the Son (the God-Word) and rational beings establishes (so to speak the fitness of the Incarnation. The Son stood in a certain affinity with rational souls; and the human soul with which He was united in the Incarnation had alone remained absolutely pure, by the exercise of free choice, in its pre-existence (ib. ii. 6, 5). Through this union all human nature was capable of being glorified, without violating its characteristic limitations (cf. c. Cels. iii. 41 f.). The body of Christ was perfect no less than His soul (ib. i. 32 f.).

The work of Christ was, Origen emphatically maintained, for all men and for the whole of man (cf. ib. iii. 17; iv. 3 f.). It was therefore so revealed that it could be apprehended according to the several powers and wants of believers (in Matt. t. xii. 36, 41, xv. 241, xvii. 19; c. Cels. iv. 15, vi. 68; in Joh. ii. 12). Christ became, in a transcendent sense, "all things to all men" (de Princ. iv. 31; in Joh. t. xix. 1, xx. 28; Cf. c. Cels. iii. 79).

Origen thus insists on the efficacy of Christ's work for the consummation of humanity and of the individual, as a victory over every power of evil. He dwells no less earnestly upon the value of the life and death of Christ as a vicarious sacrifice for sin. He seeks illustrations of the general idea of the power of vicarious sufferings in Gentile stories of self-sacrifice (c. Cels. i. 31), and extends it to the case of martyrs (Exh. ad Mart. c. 42; Cf. in Joh. t. vi. 36; xxviii. 14). Though he does not attempt to explain how the sacrifice of Christ was efficacious, he frequently presents it as a ransom given to redeem man from Satan, to whom sin had made man a debtor. Christ, in His own person, freely paid the debt, by bearing the utmost punishment of sin, and so set man free, "giving His soul (ψυχή) as a ransom for him" (in Matt. t. xvi. 8; in Rom. ii. 13, p. 140 L.; Comm. Ser. in Matt. § 135). At other times he regards it as a propitiation for the divine remission of sins (Hom. in Num. xxiv. 1; in Lev. i. 3; cf. c. Cels. vii. 17).

Origen held that the death of Christ was of avail for heavenly beings, if not for the expiation of sin yet for advancement in blessedness (Hom. in Lev. i. 3, ii. 3; in Rom. v. s. f., p. 409 L.; ib. i. 4; Hom. in Luc. x.). Thus in a true sense angels themselves were disciples of Christ (in Matt. t. xv. 7). At times indeed Origen speaks as if he supposed that the Word was actually manifested to other orders of being in a manner corresponding to their nature, even as He was revealed as soul to the souls in Hades (Sel. in Ps. iii. 5, xi. p. 420 L.). In this sense also he thinks that "He became all things to all," an angel to angels (in Joh. t. i. 34); and he does not shrink from allowing that His passion may be made available, perhaps in some other shape, in the spiritual world (de Princ. iv. frag. Gr. 2; Cf. iv. 25, L.).

The work of the Holy Spirit, according to Origen, is fulfilled in believers. His office is specially to guide to the fuller truth, which is the inspiration of nobler life. Through Him revelation comes home to men. He lays open the deeper meanings of the word. Through Him, "Who proceeds from the Father," all things are sanctified (de Princ. iii. 5, 8). Through Him every divine gift, wrought by the Father and ministered by the Son, gains its individual efficiency (in Joh. t. ii. 6). Thus there is a unity in the divine operations, which tends to establish a unity in created beings. (For the doctrine of the Holy Spirit generally see de Princ. i. 3, iii. 7; in Joh. t. ii. 6.)

(3) The Consummation of Being.—These characteristic lines of speculation lead to Origen's view of the consummation of things. All human thought must fail in the endeavour to give distinctness to a conception which ought to embrace the ideas of perfect rest and perfect