One God, Old and New Testaments
Origen of Alexandria, On First Principles 4
Since we are examining matters of such magnitude, we do not let common opinions or the obviousness of what we see guide us. Instead, we bring forward as evidence for the apparent proof of what is being said the testimonies from the writings we believe to be divine — both the so-called Old Covenant and the so-called New Covenant — and we try to strengthen our faith with reason. We have not yet discussed the writings as divine; come then, let us take up a few things about them in brief, setting forth the considerations that move us concerning divine writings for this very purpose.
First, before we use the writings themselves and the words expressed in them, we must discuss Moses and Jesus Christ: the lawgiver of the Hebrews and the introducer of the saving doctrines according to Christianity. For among the many lawgivers who have arisen among many peoples and barbarians, and among the teachers who proclaimed doctrines promising truth, we have found no lawgiver able to inspire zeal in other nations to accept his words. Many have brought forward a great preparation along with the apparent logical proof, promising to philosophize about truth, yet no one has been able to inspire the truth he believed in among different nations, or even among worthy multitudes of a single nation. And indeed the lawgivers would have wanted, if possible, to make the laws that appeared good prevail among all humanity, and the teachers would have wanted their teaching to be considered or to seem true everywhere in the world. But because they were not able to summon those from other languages and many nations to the observance of the laws and the acceptance of the teachings, they did not even attempt to do so from the beginning — not thoughtlessly, but having considered the impossibility of such a thing for them.
Yet all Greece and the barbarian world throughout our inhabited world have countless zealots who have left behind their ancestral laws and the gods they believed in, for the observance of the laws of Jesus Christ and the discipleship of his words — even though they are hated by those who cherish idols and are devoted to the law of Moses, and even though they face danger of death because of the hatred of those who have accepted the word of Jesus Christ.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ (δὲ) περὶ τηλικούτων ἐξετάζοντες πραγμάτων, οὐχ ἀρχούμενοι ταῖς κοιναῖς ἐνγοίαις καὶ τῇ ἐναργείᾳ τῶν βλεπομένων, προσπαραλαμβάνομεν εἰς τὴν φαινομένην ἡμῖν ἀπόδειξιν τῶν λεγομένων μαρτύρια τὰ ἐκ τῶν πεπιστευμένων ἡμῖν εἶναι ϑείων γραφῶν, τῆς τε λεγομένης παλαιᾶς διαϑήκης καὶ τῆς καλουμένης καινῆς, λόγῳ τε πειρώμεθα χρατύνειν ἡμῶν τὴν πίστιν, καὶ οὐδέπω περὶ τῶν γραφῶν ὡς ϑείων διελέχϑημεν᾽ φέρε καὶ περὶ τούτων ὀλίγα ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ διαλάβωμεν, τὰ κινοῦντα ἡμᾶς Oc περὶ ϑείων γραμμάτων εἰς τοῦτο παρατιϑέμενοι. καὶ πρῶτόν γε, (πρὸ) τοῦ ar αὐτῶν τῶν γραμμάτων xoi τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς δηλουμένων ῥητοῖς χρήσασϑαι, περὶ Μωσέως καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ νομοϑέτου τῶν Ἑβραίων καὶ τοῦ εἰσηγητοῦ τῶν χατὰ χριστιανισμὸν σωτηρίων δογμάτων, ταῦτα διαληπτέον. Πλείστων γὰρ ὅσων νομοϑετῶν γεγενημένων ἐν “Πλλησι καὶ βαρ- 10 βάροις, καὶ διδασκάλων δόγματα καταγγελλόντων ἐπαγγελλόμενα τὴν ἀλήϑειαν, οὐδένα ἱστορήσαμεν νομοϑέτην ζῆλον ἐμποιῆσαι δεδυνημένον τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔϑνεσι περὶ τοῦ παραδέξασϑαι τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ" πολλήν τε παρασκευὴν τὴν μετὰ τῆς δοκούσης ἀποδείξεως λογικῆς εἰσενεγκαμένων τῶν περὶ ἀληϑείας φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαγγελλομένων, οὐδεὶς δεδύνηται τὴν νομισϑεῖσαν αὐτῷ ἀλήϑειαν ἔϑνεσι διαφόροις ἐμποιῆςσαι, ἢ ἕνὸς ἔϑνους ἀξιολόγοις πλήϑεσι. καίτοιγε ἐβούλοντο ἂν καὶ οἱ νομοϑέται χρατῦναι τοὺς φανέντας νόμους εἶναι καλοὺς εἰ δυνατὸν παρὰ παντὶ τῷ τῶν ἀνϑρώποων γένει, οἵ τε διδάσκαλοι ἐπινεμηϑῆναι ἢ“ ἐφαντάσϑησαν εἶναι ἀλήϑειαν πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰχουμένης. ἀλλ᾽ ὡς οὐ δυνάμενοι προσκαλέσασϑαι τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἑτέρων διαλέχτων καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἐϑνῶν ἐπὶ τὴν τήρησιν τῶν νόμων καὶ τὴν“ παραδοχὴν τῶν μαϑημάτων, τοῦτο ποιῆσαι οὐδὲ ἐπεβάλοντο τὴν ἀρχήν, οὐκ ἀφρόνως γε σκοπήσαντες περὶ τοῦ ἀδύνατον αὐτοῖς τὸ τοιοῦτον τυγχάνειν. πᾶσα δὲ Ἑλλὰς καὶ βάρβαρος ἡ κατὰ τὴν οἰχουμένην ἡμῶν ζηλωτὰς ἔχει μυρίους, καταλιπόντας τοὺς πατρῴους νόμους καὶ νομιζομένους ϑεούς, τῆς τηρήσεως τῶν δὶιωσέως νόμων καὶ τῆς μαϑητείας τῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγων" καίτοιγε μισουμένων μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν τὰ ἀγάλματα προσχυνούντων τῶν τῷ Moofoc νόμῳ προστιϑεμένων, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ ϑανάτῳ δὲ πρὸς τῷ μισεῖσϑαι κινδυνευόντων τῶν τὸν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον παραδεξαμένων.