some men being disposed not towards spirital things but teaching like dice-players, and others deceiving with all craftiness and cunning, because error uses a myriad of methods against us. And when the saints attain to the aforementioned perfect man, then, having understood love, speaking the truth in it, they will grow up into Christ in all the seeds of truth that were given to them, using Christ as a body uses its head. But since he says, that we may no longer be infants, we ask whether he said these things out of modesty, including himself though he was not an infant, or whether, seeing how far he who knows in part and prophesies in part falls short of perfection, he truly says he is an infant. However, the one who says he spoke these things out of modesty will use the text, When I was as an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. But the other will reply to this that, by comparison with the many, Paul had indeed become a man, but in relation to the ends laid up for the saints, he was still an infant; for the prophetic word also calls all men children, saying, Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. After this you will consider whether Paul, not out of modesty, says he is not only an infant, but also tossed by waves and carried about with every wind of doctrine and the rest. However, the one who says this was not spoken by him out of modesty will say that he was a sharp and perceptive man and saw that the arguments attempted on either side were capable of distracting and causing the one contemplating their plausibility to be in a storm-tossed state; and for this reason, as a man, he was carried about by every wind of doctrine, not being dragged down nor shipwrecked, but like a ship wrestling with various winds; and he saw that the arguments of his opponents, as if teaching in a game of dice, were not to be despised but were spoken most craftily, so as to be able to deceive; and he hoped someday to obtain help from God in order to put away all distraction and to speak the truth without wandering and in love to grow up into Christ, whom he knew to be his head and of the whole body of the church. 18 Eph. iv17-19 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. [Origen says] When the mind is occupied either with the things of this life, misusing its own power for these things, or with certain doctrines fabricated as if they were true, though they are not true, it is in futility; for every worldly care is futile, and all false reasonings that pretend to be truth; but when the understanding, which is a rational process, is somewhat confused, neither perceiving the nature of what is being said nor able to follow the various things being said, then it would reasonably be said to be darkened. Therefore, we must be neither in futility of mind nor darkened in understanding, so that we may not be alienated from the life of God, with ignorance and hardness of heart existing in us. But if these things spread further in our soul—I mean futility of mind and darkness of understanding, which alienate from the life of God and allow the infiltration of ignorance and permit the hardening of the heart—then we will fall into a state of insensibility, pushing away our conscience regarding sins committed, and we will give ourselves over, not resisting even a little the desires of the flesh, to lewdness, to the working of all uncleanness, along with defrauding those whose marriages we commit adultery with. But if we wish to understand the phrase who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, let us compar e those with a bad conscience who are tormented for having recognized some evil in themselves with those who sin manifold more with all impunity. For the former have not yet become past feeling,

μὲν ἀνθρώπων οὐ <πρὸς τὸ ψεύδεσθαι> διακειμένων ἀλλὰ κυβευτικῶς διδασκόντων, ἄλλων δὲ μετὰ πάσης πανουργίας καὶ ἐντρεχείας ἀπατώντων, τῷ τὴν πλάνην μεθόδοις χρῆσθαι μυρίαις καθ' ἡμῶν. καὶ ὅταν γε καταντήσωσιν οἱ ἅγιοι εἰς τὸν προειρημένον τέλειον ἄνδρα, τότε τῷ νενοηκέναι τὴν ἀγάπην ἀληθεύοντες ἐν αὐτῇ αὐξήσ<ουσιν> εἰς τὸν Χρίστον πάντα τὰ δοθέντα αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας σπέρματα, χρώμενοι ὡς σῶμα κεφαλῇ τῷ Χριστῷ. ἐπειδὴ δέ φησιν ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι, ζητοῦμεν πότερον ταῦτα κατὰ μετριότητα εἶπε, συμπεριλαμβάνων ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ὄντα νήπιον, ἢ ὁρῶν ὅσον ἀπολείπεται ὁ ἐκ μέρου γινώκων καὶ ἐκ μέρου προφητεύων τῆς τελειότητος ἀληθῶς φησιν εἶναι νήπιος. πλὴν ὁ λέγων αὐτὸν κατὰ μετριότητα ταῦτα εἰρηκέναι, χρήσεται τῷ ὅτε ἤμην ὡς νήπιο, ἐλάλουν ὡ νήπιο, ἐφρόνουν ὡ νήπιο· ὅτε δὲ γέγονα ἀνήρ, κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου. ὁ δὲ ἕτερος πρὸς τοῦτο ἀποκρινεῖται, ὅτι συγκρίσει μὲν τῶν πολλῶν ἐγεγόνει μὲν ὁ Παῦλος ἀνήρ, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἀποκείμενα τοῖς ἁγίοις τέλη ἔτι νήπιος ἦν· καὶ πάντας γὰρ ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος παιδία ὀνομάζει λέγων ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεό. μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστήσεις εἰ μὴ κατὰ μετριότητα ὁ Παῦλος οὐ μόνον νήπιος εἶναί φησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κλυδωνιζόμενος καὶ περιφερόμενος παντὶ ἀνέμῳ διδα σκαλίας καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ὁ μέντοιγε καὶ τοῦτο λέγων μὴ ἀπὸ μετριότητος αὐτ<ῷ> εἰρῆσθαι, φήσει ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὀξὺς καὶ εὐεπήβολος καὶ ἑώρα τοὺς ἐπὶ ἑκάτερα ἐπιχειρουμένους λόγους ἱκανοὺς ὄντας περισπάσαι καὶ ἐν κλύδωνι ποιῆσαι γενέσθαι τὸν θεωροῦντα τὰς πιθανότητας· διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος περιεφέρετο παντὶ ἀνέμῳ διδασκαλίας, οὐ κατασπώμενος μὲν οὐδὲ ναυαγῶν, ὥσπερ δὲ ναῦς παλαίων ποικίλοις πνεύμασιν· ἑώρα δὲ καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἀντικει μένων λόγους οἱονεὶ ἐν κυβείᾳ διδασκόντων οὐκ ὄντας εὐκαταφρονήτους ἀλλὰ πανουργότατα λεγομένους, ὥστε ἱκανοὺς εἶναι πλανῆσαι· καὶ ἤλπιζε τεύξεσθαί ποτε τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας πρὸς τὸ ἀποθέθαι πάντα περισπασμὸν καὶ ἀληθεῦσαι ἀπεριπάτω καὶ ἐν ἀγάπῃ αὐξῆσαι εἰς τὸν Χριστόν, ὃν ᾔδει αὐτοῦ ὄντα κεφαλὴν καὶ παντὸς τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας σώματος. 18 Eph. iv17-19 τοῦτο οὖν λέγω καὶ μαρτύρομαι ἐν Κυρίῳ, μηκέτι ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καθὼς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν, ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ ὄντες, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν π<ώ>ρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν, οἵτινες ἀπηλγηκότες ἑαυτοὺς παρέδωκαν τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ εἰς ἐργασίαν ἀκαθαρσίας πάσης ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ. [Ὠριγένης φησίν] ὅτε μὲν ὁ νοῦς ἤτοι πρὸς τοῖς βιωτικοῖς ἐστι, τῇ δυνάμει ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς ταῦτα καταχρώμενος, ἢ πρός τισι δόγμασιν ἀναπεπλασμένοις ὡς ἀληθέσιν, οὐκ οὖσιν ἀληθέσιν, ἐν ματαιότητί ἐστιν· ματαία γὰρ καὶ πᾶσα φροντὶς βιωτικὴ καὶ πάντες οἱ προσποιούμενοι εἶναι ἀλήθεια ψευδεῖς λόγοι· ὅτε δὲ ἡ διάνοια, ἥτις ἐστὶν διέξοδος λογική, ὑποσυγκέχυται, οὔτε τὴν φύσιν τῶν λεγομένων θεωροῦσα οὔτε ἐφέπεσθαι τοῖς ποικίλοις τῶν λεγομένων δυναμένη, τότε ἐσκοτῶσθαι εὐλόγως ἂν λέγοιτο. οὔτε οὖν ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς εἶναι δεῖ οὔτε ἐσκοτισμένους τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἵνα μὴ ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τυγχάνωμεν τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀγνοίας ἐνυπαρχούσης ἡμῖν καὶ πωρώσεως καρδίας. ταῦτα δὲ ἐὰν ἐπίπλεον νεμηθῇ τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν-λέγω δὲ ματαιότης νοὸς καὶ σκότωσις διανοίας, τὰ ἀλλοτριοῦντα τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ παρείσδυσιν διδόντα ἀγνοίᾳ πώρωσίν τε τῆς καρδίας ἐπιτρέποντα-τότε εἰς ἀναισθησίαν ἐμπεσούμεθα, συνωθοῦντες ἡμῶν τὸ συνειδὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτανομένοις, καὶ παραδώσομεν ἑαυτούς, οὐδὲ κατά ποσον ἀνθιστάμενοι ταῖ αρκικαῖ ἐπιθυμίαι, τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ εἰς ἐργασίαν ἀκαθαρσίας ἁπάσης, μετὰ τοῦ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐκείνους δέ, ὧν τοὺς γάμους νοθεύομεν. εἰ δὲ θέλομεν νοῆσαι τὸ οἵτινες ἀπηλγηκότες ἑαυτοὺς παρέδωκαν τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ, συγκρίν<ω>μεν τοὺς δυσσυνειδητοῦντας καὶ βασανιζομένους ἐπὶ τῷ συνεγνωκέναι τι ἑαυτοῖς φαῦλον τοῖς μετὰ πάσης ἀδείας πολλαπλασίονα πταίουσιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὐδέπω ἀπηλγήκασιν,