Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Exceedingly weak is his assertion, that “the disciples of\r\nJesus wrote such accounts regarding him, by way of extenuating\r\nthe charges that told against him: as if,” he says, “any\r\none were to say that a certain person was a just man, and yet\r\nwere to show that he was guilty of injustice; or that he was\r\npious, and yet had committed murder; or that he was immortal,\r\nand yet was dead; subjoining to all these statements\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_22\">22</span>the remark that he had foretold all these things.” Now his\r\nillustrations are at once seen to be inappropriate; for there is\r\nno absurdity in Him who had resolved that He would become\r\na living pattern to men, as to the manner in which they were\r\nto regulate their lives, showing also how they ought to die for\r\nthe sake of their religion, apart altogether from the fact that His\r\ndeath on behalf of men was a benefit to the whole world, as we\r\nproved in the preceding book. He imagines, moreover, that\r\nthe whole of the confession of the Saviour’s sufferings confirms\r\nhis objection instead of weakening it. For he is not acquainted\r\neither with the philosophical remarks of Paul,<a id=\"r84\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f84\"><sup>[84]</sup></a> or the statements\r\nof the prophets, on this subject. And it escaped him\r\nthat certain heretics have declared that Jesus underwent His\r\nsufferings in appearance, not in reality. For had he known,\r\nhe would not have said: “For ye do not even allege this, that\r\nhe seemed to wicked men to suffer this punishment, though\r\nnot undergoing it in reality; but, on the contrary, ye acknowledge\r\nthat he openly suffered.” But we do not view His sufferings\r\nas having been merely in appearance, in order that His\r\nresurrection also may not be a false, but a real event. For he\r\nwho really died, actually arose, if he did arise; whereas he\r\nwho appeared only to have died, did not in reality arise. But\r\nsince the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a subject of mockery\r\nto unbelievers, we shall quote the words of Plato,<a id=\"r85\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f85\"><sup>[85]</sup></a> that Herus\r\nthe son of Armenius rose from the funeral pile twelve days\r\nafter he had been laid upon it, and gave an account of what\r\nhe had seen in Hades; and as we are replying to unbelievers,\r\nit will not be altogether useless to refer in this place to what\r\nHeraclides<a id=\"r86\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f86\"><sup>[86]</sup></a> relates respecting the woman who was deprived of\r\nlife. And many persons are recorded to have risen from their\r\ntombs, not only on the day of their burial, but also on the day\r\nfollowing. What wonder is it, then, if in the case of one who\r\nperformed many marvellous things, both beyond the power of\r\nman and with such fulness of evidence, that he who could not\r\ndeny their performance, endeavoured to calumniate them by\r\ncomparing them to acts of sorcery, should have manifested also\r\nin His death some greater display of divine power, so that His\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_23\">23</span>soul, if it pleased, might leave its body, and having performed\r\ncertain offices out of it, might return again at pleasure? And\r\nsuch a declaration is Jesus said to have made in the Gospel of\r\nJohn, when He said: “No man taketh my life from me, but\r\nI lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I\r\nhave power to take it again.”<a id=\"r87\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f87\"><sup>[87]</sup></a> And perhaps it was on this\r\naccount that He hastened His departure from the body, that\r\nHe might preserve it, and that His legs might not be broken,\r\nas were those of the robbers who were crucified with Him.\r\n“For the soldiers broke the legs of the first, and of the other\r\nwho was crucified with Him; but when they came to Jesus,\r\nand saw that He was dead, they brake not His legs.”<a id=\"r88\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f88\"><sup>[88]</sup></a> We\r\nhave accordingly answered the question, “How is it credible\r\nthat Jesus could have predicted these things?” And with\r\nrespect to this, “How could the dead man be immortal?”\r\nlet him who wishes to understand know, that it is not the\r\ndead man who is immortal, but He who rose from the dead.\r\nSo far, indeed, was the dead man from being immortal, that\r\neven the Jesus before His decease—the compound being, who\r\nwas to suffer death—was not immortal.<a id=\"r89\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f89\"><sup>[89]</sup></a> For no one is immortal\r\nwho is destined to die; but he is immortal when he\r\nshall no longer be subject to death. But “Christ, being raised\r\nfrom the dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion\r\nover Him;”<a id=\"r90\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f90\"><sup>[90]</sup></a> although those may be unwilling to admit this\r\nwho cannot understand how such things should be said.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK II.","Chapter XVI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-56"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d87767ae896092f0eb036a0d37b0428fc8991e4c5a040467659bfb1a605dfaa5","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f89","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f89","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f89\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r89\">89</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">Οὐ μόνον οὖν οὐχ ὁ νεκρὸς ἀθάνατος, ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὁ πρὸ τοῦ νεκροῦ Ἰησοῦς ὁ\r\nσύνθετος ἀθάνατος ἦν, ὅς γε ἔμελλε τεθνήξεσθαι.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f89","text_sha256":"f5b674eadfbc94e266ce4441dae2416fc35842386e8c3fae17cbb794eaa9b646","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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