of God, and Jesus shown to be the Son of God both before His incarnation and when He became incarnate.1 We agree with the Jews as to the inspiration of their Scriptures, but differ as to their interpretation.2 We can defend them by a better apology than the Jews themselves can furnish, because we have a more intelligent apprehension of their meaning.3 Jews who become Christians do not dishonour the law of their fathers. In the narrative in Acts' of his intercourse with Cornelius, as well as by what is indicated in the Epistle to the Galatians, we see how Peter had to be taught to ascend from the letter of the law to the spirit. Christ was unable to teach His disciples "many things" in the true law, and the heavenly realities of which the Jewish service was only a type and a shadow. Had He sought before the fitting time to root out opinions which were a part of their very being, and which they held to be divine, it would have tended to overturn their belief in Him as the Christ.5 We, then, who are "of the Church," do not transgress the law, but escape the mythologies of the Jews by being instructed in the mystic understanding of the law and the prophets. The law has a twofold sense one according to the letter, one according to the thought. By means of this principle Origen seeks to 6 1 iii. 14. 2 v. 60. 3 ii. 76. 4 ii. 1. 5 ii. 2. 6 ii. 6. 7 ὁ νόμος διττός ἐστιν· ὁ μέν τις πρὸς ῥητὸν, ὁ δὲ πρὸς διάνοιαν— vii. 20. 3 show that there was no antagonism between Moses and Christ. In interpreting the law literally Celsus was subject to a very vulgar delusion. How could the wealth promised by Moses be material wealth, when the sight of many righteous men in extreme poverty showed to the people the incredibility of such a message? Would they have retained their faith and contended for the law, when they saw that according to the letter he had plainly deceived them ?2 The riches promised is spiritual insight, riches in all word and knowledge. The precept about slaying enemies cannot be taken literally. How could the Psalmist, for example, after giving expression to manly and good thoughts, add a resolution to cut off all sinners from the earth "in the morning" ?4 The children of Babylon who are to be dashed to pieces are confusing thoughts, the offspring of evil.5 The promised land was not the land of Judea; for it, like the rest of the world, is under a curse, and could not be such as Moses described it. Moreover, for some of the precepts of Jesus quoted by Celsus, passages exactly parallel could be quoted from the Old Testament: some of the promises to the Jews have been fulfilled to the letter.7 1 πέπονθε δὴ . 2 vii. 18. πρᾶγμα ἰδιωτικώτατον—vii. 18. 3 vii. 21. 5 vii. 22. Cf. Ps. cxxxvii. 9. 4 vii. 19. Cf. Ps. ci. 8. 6 vii. 28. 7 The prophecy about the whole earth being filled with the seed of the Hebrews has been fulfilled; though the literal fulfilment has come rather from the wrath of God than from His granting a blessing— vii. 19. When untrammelled by his allegorical theorising Origen displays keen insight into the true relation of the older faith to Christianity, the causes of its decline, and the necessity of its being superseded. The Judaic polity was not exempt from that instability which governs all the affairs of men, and gradually gave way to corruption and degeneracy. The venerable system was remodelled by God so as to be adapted to all men everywhere.1 The Jewish laws were adapted only to one nation, whose princes were of their own kindred and kept similar customs; the new laws are in harmony with every existing constitution in every part of the world. With the continuance of the polity according to the letter of the Mosaic law, the calling of the Gentiles who were under the sway of the Romans would have been impossible; nor could the Jews obey the law of the Gospel had their polity remained unchanged. Christians, for example, may not slay their enemies, nor can the Jews now do so; but to deprive the ancient Jews of such power would have been fatal to their existence. The destruction of their city, and with it their temple and temple service, proves that God, who gave both the Law and the Gospel, does not wish the Jews to prevail.3 Christ came to reform the whole world. By His teaching He invites all to the pure 1 iv. 32. 2 νόμους καινοὺς καὶ ἁρμόζοντας τῇ πανταχοῦ καθεστώσῃ πολιτεία iv. 22. 3 vii. 26. 4 iv. C. service of God, and in order to benefit many, He abrogated the burdensome code of external ordinances, which was an obstacle to the acceptance of Judaism.1 The divine favour once granted to the Jews has passed to the Christians; the Romans have failed to exterminate them; for a divine hand fights for them, whose will it is to scatter the seed from one corner in the land of Judea throughout the whole world. The kingdom of heaven has passed from them to the Gentiles, and all the tenets of the Jews of to-day are only myths and trifles. They no longer possess prophets, or signs, or other evidence of divinity; but such signs are with the Christians: "we speak from experience." In brief, Origen's position was this: Judaism, alike in its constitution and in its ceremonial code, was essentially a national religion; Christianity is a universal and spiritual religion. The Christian is not concerned with the letter, but only with the spiritual truth, of Mosaism. There is no more conflict between them than was inevitable in the elimination of temporary and accidental elements from Judaism, on its transformation from a local into a world-wide religion, from a religion of ceremonies into a religion of principles.5 1 viii. 24. 4 2 v. 50. 3 πάντα μὲν τὰ Ἰουδαίων τῶν νῦν μύθους καὶ λήρους—ii. 5. 5 Cf. Tertull. Adv. Judæos, c. 4. 6. 153 CHAPTER III. DEFENCE OF THE INCARNATION. CELSUS made an elaborate attack on the doctrine of an Incarnation. He maintained that it was impossible, alike because of the nature of God Himself and His relation to the universe; that its professed end the salvation of sinners-was a chimera; that it assumed a divine relation to man and a dignity in him which was incompatible with man's real insignificance; and that the time and method adopted were unworthy of the goodness and greatness of God. I. The contention of Celsus that the conception of a divine descent was monstrous is disproved by the popular beliefs in all countries about the visitation of the earth by gods. When Celsus asked whether God could not have reformed men without coming down Himself, or sending His Son, to what method of reformation did he allude? "Did he mean that the minds of men should be so impressed by a divine vision that wicked 1 v. 2. |