On Prayer 22.3
Summary: Only true children of God, whose lives and hearts agree with their words, can rightly call God “Father,” just as only a life of obedience truly says “Jesus is Lord.”
Greek text · Koetschau 2:347–348
εἰ μέντοι νοήσαιμεν, τί ἐστι τὸ „ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε· πάτερ, “ ὅπερ παρὰ τῷ Λουκᾷ γέγραπται, ὀκνήσομεν μὴ γενόμενοι υἱοὶ γνήσιοι προενέγκασθαι ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῷ, μή ποτε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἡμῶν ἁμαρτήμασι καὶ ἀσεβείας ἐγκλήματι ἔνοχοι γενώμεθα. ὃ δὲ λέγω, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι. φησὶν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ πρὸς Κορινθίους ὁ Παῦλος· „οὐδεὶς δύναται εἰπεῖν· κύριος Ἰησοῦς, εἰ μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ λαλῶν λέγει· ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς, “ τὸ αὐτὸ ὀνομάζων ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ πνεῦμα „θεοῦ.“ τί δὲ τὸ εἰπεῖν „ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ“ κύριον Ἰησοῦν, οὐ πάνυ ἐστὶ σαφὲς, προφερομένων τὴν φωνὴν ὑποκριτῶν μυρίων καὶ ἑτεροδόξων πλειόνων, ἐνίοτε καὶ δαιμόνων, νικωμένων ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι δυνάμεως. οὐδεὶς οὖν τολμήσει τινὰ τούτων ἀποφήνασθαι „ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ“ λέγειν κύριον Ἰησοῦν· διόπερ οὐδʼ ἂν δειχθεῖεν λέγειν κύριον Ἰησοῦν, μόνων τῶν ἀπὸ διαθέσεως λεγόντων ἐν τῷ δουλεύειν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μηδένα παρὰ τοῦτον ἐν τῷ ὅ τι ποτʼ οὖν πράττειν ἀναγορευόντων κύριον τό· „κύριος Ἰησοῦς.“ εἰ δὲ τοιοῦτοι οἱ λέγοντες· „κύριος Ἰησοῦς, “ τάχα πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων, διὰ τοῦ παρανομεῖν ἀναθεματίζων τὸν θεῖον λόγον, διὰ τῶν ἔργων κέκραγεν· „ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς.“ ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ τοιόσδε λέγει· „κύριος Ἰησοῦς“ καὶ ὁ τούτῳ ἐναντίως διακείμενος τὸ „ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς, “ οὕτως „πᾶς ὁ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγεννημένος“ καὶ μὴ ποιῶν „ἁμαρτίαν“ τῷ σπέρματος μετέχειν θεοῦ, πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἀποτρέποντος, διʼ ὧν πράττει λέγει· „πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, “ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πνεύματος συμμαρτυροῦντος „τῷ πνεύματι“ αὐτῶν „ὅτι“ εἰσὶ „τέκνα θεοῦ“ „καὶ κληρονόμοι“ αὐτοῦ „συγκληρονόμοι“ τε τοῦ „Χριστοῦ, “ ἐπεὶ συμπάσχοντες καὶ συνδοξάζεσθαι ἐλπίζουσιν εὐλόγως. ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐξ ἡμίσους λέγωσι τὸ „πάτερ ἡμῶν“ οἱ τοιοῦτοι. μετὰ τῶν ἔργων καὶ ἡ καρδία, ἡ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων πηγὴ καὶ ἀρχὴ, πιστεύει „εἰς δικαιοσύνην, “ οἷς συμφώνως τὸ στόμα ὁμολογεῖ „εἰς σωτηρίαν.“
English · Claude translation
If, however, we understand what is meant by “When you pray, say: Father,” as it is written in Luke, we shall hesitate to address this word to him unless we have become true sons, lest besides our other sins we also become liable to a charge of impiety. What I mean is this. Paul says in the First Letter to the Corinthians: “No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit; and no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed,” calling the same Spirit both Holy Spirit and Spirit “of God.” But what it means to say “Jesus is Lord” “in the Holy Spirit” is not at all clear, since countless hypocrites utter these words, and still more heterodox people, and sometimes even demons, overcome by the power in the name. No one, then, will dare to declare that any of these says “Jesus is Lord” “in the Holy Spirit.” Therefore they could not even be shown to say “Jesus is Lord”; only those say “Jesus is Lord” who say it from their disposition, in serving the Word of God and proclaiming no other as lord besides him in whatever they do. And if such are those who say “Jesus is Lord,” perhaps everyone who sins, cursing the divine Word by breaking the law, has cried out by his works, “Jesus is accursed.” Just as, then, such a person says “Jesus is Lord,” and the one disposed in the opposite way “Jesus is accursed,” so “everyone who has been born of God” and does not commit “sin,” because he shares in the seed of God, which turns him from every sin, says by what he does, “Our Father in heaven,” the Spirit himself bearing witness “with their spirit” “that” they are “children of God” “and heirs” of him and “fellow heirs” of “Christ,” since, suffering with him, they reasonably hope also to be glorified with him. And so that such people may not say “Our Father” by halves, together with their works their heart too, the source and beginning of good works, believes “unto righteousness,” and in harmony with these their mouth confesses “unto salvation.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Luke 11:2, 1 Cor 12:3, 1 John 3:9, Rom 8:16–17, and Rom 10:10.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 22.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/22/3/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 22.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/22/3/).
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