Commentarii in romanos (iii.5-v.7) (p. cair. 88748 cod. vat. gr. 762) of origen, on the [epistle] to the ṛọṃạns, book 5. [rom. 3, 5-8] «but if our

 Had not so many and plausible falsehoods crept in for this reason [is it asked?] how 130 the truth of god in human falsehood <abounded> *** and under

 136 how they would have come to be under sin, when paul says: but sin is not counted where there is no law. but to this we will say other ‖ ... just

 Destruction and all misery *** and it is the same thing to have the fear of god before one's eyes as to have knowledge about the fear of god, which th

 Examining the things commanded by it | and observing the things forbidden, one knows sin existing in the one who neglects what should be done and in t

 It will become manifest, then after this the hidden and deceitful thing of the adversaries will be revealed and, as it were, refuted *** and those who

 Of the commandments of the lord which should not be done, and they transgress, and the sin which they have committed in it becomes known to them, then

 Boasting, such as was paul's when he said: but far be it from me to boast except | in the cross of my lord jesus, through whom the world has been cru

 Especially that which the apostle says is in secret so that it is better to be justified out of faith than through faith, just as from a man, insof

 Of god *** but we say that .h..[...]...s men the one justified by works has a boast [...] every rational nature which is outside 180 of such bodies [.

 And all who are shown kindness are not shown kindness because kindness is owed to them, but because god wills by his own grace to show kindness to who

 Of the eighth day beginning from isaac *** and after the justification from faith he receives a sign of circumcision as if it were a seal, enclosing a

 Christ faith to be reckoned the righteousness *** [rom. 4, 13] for if no promise had been spoken to him or to his seed | before he believed god and i

 No one was in transgression before moses but if no one was, neither is anyone blameworthy therefore, neither cain nor all those who on account of th

 Gave him favor in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison.” for “joseph found favor in the sight of his master” is not the same as “and the lord g

 Paul says: for in hope we were saved but hope that is seen is [not] hope for what a man sees, why does he hope for it? but if we hope for what we d

 By his own faith he considered his own body already dead, being about a hundred years old,” and he will say that abraham was not about a hundred years

 He was justified with righteousness beginning to be in him from the ····· faith which was reckoned to him as righteousness *** how each one must do th

 For we know that tribulation produces endurance, as would be agreed by all that endurance creates a tested character in the one who has endured *** an

gave him favor in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison.” For “Joseph found favor in the sight of his master” is not the same as “And the Lord gave him favor in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison.” And even more is written about | Esther than about Joseph finding favor in the sight of his master; for Scripture says of her that “Esther was finding favor with all who saw her,” and a little later, “Esther found favor, it says, beyond all the virgins, and the king placed ‖[the] women’s diadem” *** But it seems necessary to examine how it follows from being by faith and by grace that the promise is sure. For if it were by the law, would it not be possible for the promise to be sure? Consider, then, lest some indelible dye from faith comes to be on the soul, and especially of the faith reckoned as righteousness, so that through it grace and the promise have their sureness on account of its being unwashable or 208 unchangeable, which is not evident in the works of the law. At any rate, a righteous man is said at some point to turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity; but I do not know if it is also written of faith that someone has turned from faith, once having been attested to have believed and been justified through faith. <<Then the divine apostle also seals what he has said with a testimony.>> *** For justifying faith cannot ·[····]··| do the works of the law, and by law we now mean accord·[·····] but when the Gentiles who do not have the law *** but to all the seed, that is, to the one from the law or to the one from his faith, and not only to the one from the law but if it should have, in addition to being from the law, that which is from faith. For if we do not understand it this way, the promise will belong to those from Ishmael and those from Keturah; which is not pleasing *** but a father of us all, that is, of those who are not only of the law but also of faith and are justified by the faith of Abraham *** such as were the many nations of whom God, who gave him the promises, has made him a father *** For I think he now speaks of those who have been put to death on account of sin, whose soul has become dead in a living body; for the soul that sins, it shall die; and if| a dead person, deprived of the senses, is dead 210 and has none of the five, why would you not call dead the soul that is deprived of the so-called divine senses? *** But if those who trust in their so-called gods become like them, perhaps those who trust | in God also become like him, receiving through such trust what is lacking to “Let us make man in our image,” which is “according to our likeness.” *** But what are the things that are not, if not those who are deprived of Being and do not partake of it, so called in contrast to those partaking of the one who said, “I am who I am”? *** And we have found such a prayer also in Esther: “Do not give over, Lord, your scepter to those who are not,” instead of “to those who do not partake of you, inasmuch as you are Being.” *** But he calls the things that are not, so that when they have obeyed, he may grant them being. But perhaps someone will say to this, how does the apostle say elsewhere: “But God chose the foolish things of the world | to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the base things of the world and the things that are despised, the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are?” But it is clear that this is a different meaning of “being” and “not being,” so far as concerns the entire context there. For here, those who “are” are the wise according to the flesh, and the powerful, and the noble, while those who “are not” are those disposed otherwise than these, who, in the estimation of the former, are the foolish of the world and weak | in it and base *** but another foolish according to the flesh on the pretext of a bodily constitution that impedes understanding, such as are those with very small heads or even monstrous ones *** 212 [Rom. 4, 18-22] when the word defines or describes faith in the epistle to the Hebrews, it says: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things ‖not seen”; and in the following parts of the epistle to the Romans these things

ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ χάριν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρχιδεσμοφύλακος». Οὐ γὰρ ταὐτὸν τῷ «Εὗρεν Ἰωσὴφ χάριν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου αὐτοῦ» τὸ «Καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ Κύριος χάριν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρχιδεσμοφύλακος». Πλεῖον δ' ἔτι παρὰ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ εὑρόντος χάριν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου αὐτοῦ ἀναγέγραπται περὶ τῆς | Αἰσθήρ· φησὶν γὰρ περὶ αὐτῆς ἡ γραφὴ ὡς «Ἦν Αἰσθὴρ εὑρίσκουσα χάριν παρὰ πάντων τῶν βλεπόντων αὐτήν», καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα «Εὗρεν, φησίν, χάριν Αἰσθὴρ παρὰ πάσας τὰς παρ θένους καὶ ἐπέθη‖[κεν τὸ] διάδημα τὸ γυναικεῖον ὁ βασιλεύς» *** Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἐξετάσαι φαίνεται πῶς ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ ἐκ πίστεως καὶ τῷ κατὰ χάριν τὸ βεβαίαν εἶναι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν· ἆρα γὰρ εἰ ἦν ἐκ νόμου, οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν βεβαίαν τυγχάνειν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν; Πρόσχες οὖν μήποτε δευσοποιός τις βαφὴ γίνεται ἐκ πίστεως περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μάλιστα τῆς λελογισμένης εἰς δικαιοσύνην, ὥστε δι' αὐτῆς τὴν χάριν καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἴσχειν διὰ τὸ ἀνέκπλυτον αὐτῆς ἢ 208 ἀμετάβολον τήν γε βεβα|ιότητα, ἥτις οὐκ ἐμφαίνεται περὶ τὰ ἐκ νόμου ἔργα. Ἀποστρέφειν γοῦν ποτε δίκαιος ἐκ τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ λέγεται καὶ ποιεῖν ἀδικίαν· οὐκ οἶδα δὲ εἰ καὶ περὶ τῆς πίστεως γέγραπται ὅτι ἀπέστρεψέν τις ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως, ἅπαξ μαρτυρηθεὶς πεπιστευκέναι καὶ δικαιωθεὶς διὰ τὴν πίστιν. <<Εἶτα καὶ τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ ἐπισφραγίζει ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τὸ εἰρημένον αὐτῷ.>> *** Οὐ δύναται γὰρ ἡ δικαιουμένη πίστις ·[····]··| ἔργα τοῦ νόμου ποιεῖν, νόμον δὲ νῦν λέγομεν καθο·[·····] ὅταν δὲ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ νόμον ἔχοντα *** παντὶ δὲ τῷ σπέρματι, ἤτοι τῷ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου ἢ τῷ ἐκ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μόνον τῷ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου ἀλλ' εἰ ἔχοι πρὸς τῷ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου τὸ ἐκ τῆς πίστεως. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ οὕτως ἐκλάβοιμεν, ἔσται ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσμαὴλ καὶ τοῖς ἐκ Χεττούρας· ἅπερ οὐκ ἀρέσκει *** πατὴρ δὲ πάντων ἡμῶν τουτ̣έστιν τῶν οὐκ ἐκ νόμου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ πίστεως ὄντων καὶ πίστει τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ δικαιουμένων *** ὁποῖα τὰ πολλὰ ἔθνη ἦν ὧν τέθεικεν αὐτὸν πατέρα ὁ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας αὐτῷ διδοὺς Θεός *** Περὶ γὰρ τῶν διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν νενεκρωμένων, ὧν ἡ ψυχὴ νεκρὰ γεγένητο ἐν ζῶντι σώματι οἴομαι νῦν αὐτὸν λέγειν· ψυχὴ γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη ἀποθανεῖται· καὶ εἴ|περ ὁ νεκρὸς τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐστερημένος ἐστὶν νεκρὸς 210 καὶ μηδεμίαν ἔχων τῶν πέντε, διὰ τί οὐκ ἂν λέγοις ψυχὴν νεκρὰν τὴν ἐστε ρημένην τῶν λεγομένων θείων αἰσθήσεων; *** Εἴπερ δὲ ὅμοιοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν τοιούτοις λεγομένοις θεοῖς γίνονται οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, μήποτε ὅμοιοι γίνονται τῷ Θεῷ καὶ οἱ πεποιθότες | ἐπ' αὐτῷ, ἀπολαμβάνοντες διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης πεποιθήσεως τὸ λεῖπον τῷ «Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν», ὅπερ ἐστὶν τὸ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν *** Τίνα δὲ τὰ μὴ ὄντα ἢ οἱ ἐστερημένοι τοῦ ὄντος καὶ μὴ μετέχοντες αὐτοῦ, οὕτω καλού μενοι πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν μετεχόντων τοῦ εἰπόντος· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν»; *** Εὕρομεν δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ Αἰσθὴρ τοιαύτην τινὰ εὐχήν· «Μὴ παραδῷς, Κύριε, τὸ σκῆπτρόν σου τοῖς μὴ οὖσιν» ἀντὶ τοῦ «τοῖς μὴ μετέχουσίν σου καθὸ ὢν τυγχάνεις» *** Καλεῖ δὲ τὰ μὴ ὄντα ἵνα ὑπακούσασιν αὐτοῖς χαρίσηται τὸ εἶναι. Ἀλλ' ἴσως τις πρὸς ταῦτα ἐρεῖ πῶς ὁ ἀπόστολος ἑτέρωθί φησι· «Ἀλλὰ τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου | ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεὸς ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τοὺς σοφούς, καὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεός, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τὰ ἰσχυρά, καὶ τὰ ἀγενῆ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τὰ ἐξουθενημένα ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεός, τὰ μὴ ὄντα, ἵνα τὰ ὄντα καταργήσῃ;» Ἀλλ' εὔδηλον ὡς ἕτερόν ἐστι τοῦτο σημαινόμενον τοῦ ὄντος καὶ μὴ ὄντος ὅσον ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς ἐκεῖσε συμφράσεως· ὄντες μὲν γὰρ ἐνθάδε οἱ κατὰ σάρκα σοφοὶ καὶ δυνατοὶ καὶ εὐγενεῖς, μὴ ὄντες δὲ οἱ ἄλλως παρὰ τούτους διακείμενοι ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων ὑπόληψιν μωροὶ κόσμου καὶ ἀσθενεῖς | αὐτῷ καὶ ἀγενεῖς *** ἕτερος δὲ μωρὸν μὲν κατὰ σάρκα προφάσει σωματικῆς κατασκευῆς ἐμποδιζόμενον τοῦ νοεῖν ὁποῖοί εἰσιν οἱ πάνυ μικροκέφαλοι ἢ καὶ τερατώδεις *** 212 [Rom. 4, 18-22] ὁριζόμενος ἢ ὑπογράφων ὁ λόγος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῇ τὴν πίστιν φησίν· «Ἔστιν δὲ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμά‖των ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων»· καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς δὲ τῆς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ταῦτά