Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus

We speak, indeed, of the “wrath” of God. We do not, however, assert that it indicates any “passion” on His part, but that it is something which is assumed in order to discipline by stern means those sinners who have committed many and grievous sins. For that which is called God’s “wrath,” and “anger,” is a means of discipline; and that such a view is agreeable to Scripture, is evident from what is said in the sixth Psalm, “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure;”916 Cf. Ps. vi. 1. and also in Jeremiah. “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment: not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.”917 Cf. Jer. x. 24. Any one, moreover, who reads in the second book of Kings of the “wrath” of God, inducing David to number the people, and finds from the first book of Chronicles that it was the devil who suggested this measure, will, on comparing together the two statements, easily see for what purpose the “wrath” is mentioned, of which “wrath,” as the Apostle Paul declares, all men are children: “We were by nature children of wrath, even as others.”918 Cf. Eph. ii. 3. Moreover, that “wrath” is no passion on the part of God, but that each one brings it upon himself by his sins, will be clear from the further statement of Paul: “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” How, then, can any one treasure up for himself “wrath” against a “day of wrath,” if “wrath” be understood in the sense of “passion?” or how can the “passion of wrath” be a help to discipline? Besides, the Scripture, which tells us not to be angry at all, and which says in the thirty-seventh Psalm, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath,”919 Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 8. and which commands us by the mouth of Paul to “put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication,”920 Cf. Col. iii. 8. would not involve God in the same passion from which it would have us to be altogether free. It is manifest, further, that the language used regarding the wrath of God is to be understood figuratively from what is related of His “sleep,” from which, as if awaking Him, the prophet says: “Awake, why sleepest Thou, Lord?”921 Ps. xliv. 23. and again: “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.”922 Cf. Ps. lxxviii. 65. If, then, “sleep” must mean something else, and not what the first acceptation of the word conveys, why should not “wrath” also be understood in a similar way? The “threatenings,” again, are intimations of the (punishments) which are to befall the wicked: for it is as if one were to call the words of a physician “threats,” when he tells his patients, “I will have to use the knife, and apply cauteries, if you do not obey my prescriptions, and regulate your diet and mode of life in such a way as I direct you.” It is no human passions, then, which we ascribe to God, nor impious opinions which we entertain of Him; nor do we err when we present the various narratives concerning Him, drawn from the Scriptures themselves, after careful comparison one with another. For those who are wise ambassadors of the “word” have no other object in view than to free as far as they can their hearers from weak opinions, and to endue them with intelligence.

Ὀργὴν μὲν οὖν ὀνομάζομεν θεοῦ, οὐ πάθος δ' αὐτοῦ αὐτὴν εἶναι φαμεν ἀλλά τι παραλαμβανόμενον εἰς τὴν διὰ σκυθρωποτέρων ἀγωγῶν παίδευσιν τοῖς τὰ τοσάδε καὶ τοιάδε ἡμαρτηκόσιν. Ὅτι γὰρ παιδεύει ἡ καλουμένη ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ ὀνομαζόμενος θυμὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῦτ' ἀρέσκει τῷ λόγῳ, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἐν μὲν ἕκτῳ ψαλμῷ εἰρήσθαι· "Κύριε, μὴ τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐλέγξῃς με, μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου παιδεύσῃς με" ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ· "Παίδευσον ἡμᾶς, κύριε, πλὴν ἐν κρίσει καὶ μὴ ἐν θυμῷ, ἵνα μὴ ὀλίγους ἡμᾶς ποιήσῃς." Ἀναγνοὺς δέ τις ἐν μὲν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Βασι λειῶν "ὀργὴν" θεοῦ, ἀναπείθουσαν τὸν ∆αυὶδ ἀριθμῆσαι τὸν λαόν, ἐν δὲ τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Παραλειπομένων τὸν "διά βολον", καὶ συνεξετάζων ἀλλήλοις τὰ ῥητὰ ὄψεται ἐπὶ τίνος τάσσεται ἡ ὀργή· ἧς καὶ "τέκνα" πάντας ἀνθρώπους γεγονέναι φησὶν ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· "Ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί." Ὅτι δ' οὐ πάθος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ἡ ὀργή, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος αὑτῷ ταύτην δι' ὧν ἁμαρτάνει κατασκευάζει, δηλώσει ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῷ· "Ἢ τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει; Κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητά σου καὶ ἀμετανόητον καρδίαν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως δικαιο κρισίας τοῦ θεοῦ." Πῶς οὖν δύναται ἕκαστος "θησαυρίζειν ἑαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς", "ὀργῆς" νοουμένης τοῦ πάθους; Πῶς δὲ ὀργῆς πάθος παιδεύειν δύναται; Ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἂν ὁ διδάσκων λόγος ἡμᾶς μηδαμῶς ὀργίζεσθαι καὶ φάσκων ἐν τριακοστῷ ἕκτῳ ψαλμῷ· "Παῦσαι ἀπὸ ὀργῆς καὶ ἐγκατάλιπε θυμόν", λέγων δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ Παύλῳ· "Ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ πάντα, ὀργὴν θυμὸν κακίαν βλασφημίαν αἰσχρολογίαν", αὐτῷ τῷ θεῷ περιῆπτεν τὸ πάθος, οὗ ἡμᾶς πάντῃ ἀπαλλάξαι βούλεται. ∆ῆλον δὲ τὸ τροπολογεῖσθαι τὰ περὶ ὀργῆς θεοῦ ἐκ τοῦ καὶ ὕπνον αὐτοῦ ἀναγεγράφθαι, ἀφ' οὗ ὥσπερ διϋπνίζων αὐτὸν ὁ προφήτης λέγει· "Ἀνάστηθι, ἵνα τί ὑπνοῖς, κύριε"; Καὶ πάλιν φησί· "Καὶ ἐξηγέρθη ὡς ὁ ὑπνῶν κύριος, ὡς δυνατὸς κεκραιπαληκὼς ἐξ οἴνου." Εἴπερ οὖν ὁ ὕπνος ἄλλο τι σημαίνει καὶ οὐχ ὅπερ ἡ πρόχειρος ἐκδοχὴ τῆς λέξεως δηλοῖ, διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ ἡ ὀργὴ παραπλησίως νοηθήσεται; Καὶ αἱ ἀπειλαὶ δὲ ἀπαγγελίαι εἰσὶ περὶ τῶν ἀπαντησομένων τοῖς φαύλοις, ὡς εἰ ἀπειλάς τις ἔφασκεν εἶναι καὶ τοὺς τοῦ ἰατροῦ λόγους, λέγοντος τοῖς κάμνουσι· τεμῶ σε καὶ καυστῆρας προσάξω σοι, ἐὰν μὴ πεισθῇς μου τοῖς νόμοις καὶ οὑτωσὶ μὲν διαιτήσῃ οὑτωσὶ δὲ σαυτὸν ἀγάγῃς. Οὐκ ἀνθρώπινα οὖν πάθη προσάπτομεν τῷ θεῷ οὐδὲ δυσσεβεῖς δόξας ἔχομεν περὶ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ πλανώμενοι τὰς περὶ τοῦτον διηγήσεις ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν γραμμάτων συνεξεταζομένων ἀλλήλοις παρίσταμεν· οὐδὲ τὸ προκείμενον τοῖς ἐν ἡμῖν συνετῶς πρεσβεύουσι τοῦ λόγου ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ εὐηθείας μὲν ἀπαλλάξαι κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τοὺς ἀκούοντας ποιῆσαι δ' αὐτοὺς φρονίμους.