{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">In the next place, throwing a slur<a id=\"r424\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f424\"><sup>[424]</sup></a> upon the exhortations\r\nspoken and written to those who have led wicked lives, and\r\nwhich invite them to repentance and reformation of heart, he\r\nasserts that we say “that it was to sinners that God has been\r\nsent.” Now this statement of his is much the same as if he\r\nwere to find fault with certain persons for saying that on\r\naccount of the sick who were living in a city, a physician had\r\nbeen sent them by a very benevolent monarch. God the Word\r\nwas sent, indeed, as a physician to sinners, but as a teacher of\r\ndivine mysteries to those who are already pure and who sin no\r\nmore. But Celsus, unable to see this distinction,—for he had no\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_142\">142</span>desire to be animated with a love of truth,—remarks, “Why\r\nwas he not sent to those who were without sin? What evil is\r\nit not to have committed sin?” To which we reply, that if by\r\nthose “who were without sin” he means those who sin no\r\nmore, then our Saviour Jesus was sent even to such, but not\r\nas a physician. While if by those “who were without sin” he\r\nmeans such as have never at any time sinned,—for he made no\r\ndistinction in his statement,—we reply that it is impossible for\r\na man thus to be without sin. And this we say, excepting, of\r\ncourse, the man understood to be in Christ Jesus,<a id=\"r425\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f425\"><sup>[425]</sup></a> who “did no\r\nsin.” It is with a malicious intent, indeed, that Celsus says of\r\nus that we assert that “God will receive the unrighteous man\r\nif he humble himself on account of his wickedness, but that\r\nHe will not receive the righteous man, although he look up to\r\nHim, [adorned] with virtue from the beginning.” Now we assert\r\nthat it is impossible for a man to look up to God [adorned]\r\nwith virtue from the beginning. For wickedness must necessarily\r\nfirst exist in men. As Paul also says, “When the commandment\r\ncame, sin revived, and I died.”<a id=\"r426\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f426\"><sup>[426]</sup></a> Moreover, we do\r\nnot teach regarding the unrighteous man, that it is sufficient\r\nfor him to humble himself on account of his wickedness in\r\norder to his being accepted by God, but that God will accept\r\nhim if, after passing condemnation upon himself for his past\r\nconduct, he walk humbly on account of it, and in a becoming\r\nmanner for the time to come.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK III.","Chapter LXII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-199"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e058a866f39c67a0f064b82bd777750ff4504e63f70e9e2daa5506172e188dde","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-f425","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":"f425","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f425\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r425\">425</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">ὑπεξαιρομένου τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ζησοῦν νοουμένου ἀνθρώπου.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f425","text_sha256":"5159d04a11e5a9fa6298e160b00febe938cf9146822ac70dba110cfe4492857c","verified":false,"work_id":null}