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Translated by Frederick Crombie.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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128 Pages
Page 39
But what saith the Scripture? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." [2007] By which he means that Christ is in the heart of all, in respect of His being the word or reason, by participating in which they are rational beings. That declaration also in the Gospel, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin," [2008] renders it manifest and patent to all who have a rational knowledge of how long a time man is without sin, and from what period he is liable to it, how, by participating in the word or reason, men are said to have sinned, viz., from the time they are made capable of understanding and knowledge, when the reason implanted within has suggested to them the difference between good and evil; and after they have already begun to know what evil is, they are made liable to sin, if they commit it. And this is the meaning of the expression, that "men have no excuse for their sin," viz., that, from the time the divine word or reason has begun to show them internally the difference between good and evil, they ought to avoid and guard against that which is wicked: "For to him who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." [2009] Moreover, that all men are not without communion with God, is taught in the Gospel thus, by the Saviour's words: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! but the kingdom of God is within you." [2010] But here we must see whether this does not bear the same meaning with the expression in Genesis: "And He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." [2011] For if this be understood as applying generally to all men, then all men have a share in God.
[2007] Rom. x. 6-8.
[2008] John xv. 22.
[2009] Jas. iv. 17.
[2010] Luke xvii. 20, 21.
[2011] Gen. ii. 7.
Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/principia.asp?pg=39
