Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">3. But as those who uphold this heresy are sometimes\r\naccustomed to mislead the hearts of the simple by certain\r\ndeceptive sophisms, I do not consider it improper to bring\r\nforward the assertions which they are in the habit of making,\r\nand to refute their deceit and falsehood. The following,\r\nthen, are their declarations. It is written, that “no man\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_95\">95</span>hath seen God at any time.”<a id=\"r195\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f195\"><sup>[195]</sup></a> But that God whom Moses\r\npreaches was both seen by Moses himself, and by his fathers\r\nbefore him; whereas He who is announced by the Saviour\r\nhas never been seen at all by any one. Let us therefore\r\nask them and ourselves whether they maintain that he whom\r\nthey acknowledge to be God, and allege to be a different\r\nGod from the Creator, is visible or invisible. And if they\r\nshall say that he is visible, besides being proved to go against\r\nthe declaration of Scripture, which says of the Saviour, “He\r\nis the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every\r\ncreature,”<a id=\"r196\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f196\"><sup>[196]</sup></a> they will fall also into the absurdity of asserting\r\nthat God is corporeal. For nothing can be seen except by\r\nhelp of form, and size, and colour, which are special properties\r\nof bodies. And if God is declared to be a body, then He\r\nwill also be found to be material, since every body is composed\r\nof matter. But if He be composed of matter, and\r\nmatter is undoubtedly corruptible, then, according to them,\r\nGod is liable to corruption! We shall put to them a second\r\nquestion. Is matter made, or is it uncreated, <i>i.e.</i> not made?\r\nAnd if they shall answer that it is not made, <i>i.e.</i> uncreated,\r\nwe shall ask them if one portion of matter is God, and the\r\nother part the world? But if they shall say of matter that\r\nit is made, it will undoubtedly follow that they confess Him\r\nwhom they declare to be God to have been made!—a result\r\nwhich certainly neither their reason nor ours can admit.\r\nBut they will say, God is invisible. And what will you do?\r\nIf you say that He is invisible by nature, then neither ought\r\nHe to be visible to the Saviour. Whereas, on the contrary,\r\nGod, the Father of Christ, is said to be seen, because “he\r\nwho sees the Son,” he says, “sees also the Father.”<a id=\"r197\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f197\"><sup>[197]</sup></a> This\r\ncertainly would press us very hard, were the expression not\r\nunderstood by us more correctly of understanding, and not\r\nof seeing. For he who has understood the Son will understand\r\nthe Father also. In this way, then, Moses too must\r\nbe supposed to have seen God, not beholding Him with the\r\nbodily eye, but understanding Him with the vision of the\r\nheart and the perception of the mind, and that only in some\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_96\">96</span>degree. For it is manifest that He, viz., who gave answers\r\nto Moses, said, “You shall not see my face, but my hinder\r\nparts.”<a id=\"r198\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f198\"><sup>[198]</sup></a> These words are, of course, to be understood in\r\nthat mystical sense which is befitting divine words, those old\r\nwives’ fables being rejected and despised which are invented\r\nby ignorant persons respecting the anterior and posterior\r\nparts of God. Let no one indeed suppose that we have\r\nindulged any feeling of impiety in saying that even to the\r\nSaviour the Father is not visible. Let him consider the\r\ndistinction which we employ in dealing with heretics. For\r\nwe have explained that it is one thing to see and to be seen,\r\nand another to know and to be known, or to understand\r\nand to be understood.<a id=\"r199\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f199\"><sup>[199]</sup></a> To see, then, and to be seen, is a\r\nproperty of bodies, which certainly will not be appropriately\r\napplied either to the Father, or to the Son, or to the Holy\r\nSpirit, in their mutual relations with one another. For the\r\nnature of the Trinity surpasses the measure of vision, granting\r\nto those who are in the body, <i>i.e.</i> to all other creatures,\r\nthe property of vision in reference to one another. But to a\r\nnature that is incorporeal and for the most part intellectual,\r\nno other attribute is appropriate save that of knowing or\r\nbeing known, as the Saviour Himself declares when He says,\r\n“No man knoweth the Son, save the Father; nor does any\r\none know the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the\r\nSon will reveal Him.”<a id=\"r200\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f200\"><sup>[200]</sup></a> It is clear, then, that He has not\r\nsaid, “No one has seen the Father, save the Son;” but, “No\r\none knoweth the Father, save the Son.”</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK II.","CHAPTER IV. THE GOD OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IS THE SAME GOD."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-145"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"809f73d579e5c80eec6a6b47972f1dd3de70fd27e7c47651e21f648930856cd4","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f198","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 1869 English translation; translator died 1889. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f198","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f198\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r198\">198</a>.  </span><abbr title=\"Exodus\">Ex.</abbr> <abbr title=\"thirty-three\">xxxiii.</abbr> 20, <abbr class=\"spell\">cf.</abbr> 23.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f198","text_sha256":"6d8092e397ea1db0bfc748ebfeb31aa4b093457eda04b26bc8a004a741709637","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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