Origen — On First Principles Preface

1. All who believe and are assured that grace and truth were obtained through Jesus Christ , and who know Christ to be the truth , agreeably to His own declaration, I am the truth , derive the knowledge which incites men to a good and happy life from no other source than from the very words and teaching of Christ . And by the words of Christ we do not mean those only which He spoke when He became man and tabernacled in the flesh; for before that time, Christ, the Word of God , was in Moses and the prophets . For without the Word of God , how could they have been able to prophesy of Christ? And were it not our purpose to confine the present treatise within the limits of all attainable brevity, it would not be difficult to show, in proof of this statement, out of the Holy Scriptures , how Moses or the prophets both spoke and performed all they did through being filled with the Spirit of Christ . And therefore I think it sufficient to quote this one testimony of Paul from the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which he says: By faith Moses , when he had come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God , than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the Egyptians . Moreover, that after His ascension into heaven He spoke in His apostles , is shown by Paul in these words: Or do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?

2. Since many, however, of those who profess to believe in Christ differ from each other, not only in small and trifling matters, but also on subjects of the highest importance, as, e.g., regarding God , or the Lord Jesus Christ , or the Holy Spirit ; and not only regarding these, but also regarding others which are created existences, viz., the powers and the holy virtues ; it seems on that account necessary first of all to fix a definite limit and to lay down an unmistakable rule regarding each one of these, and then to pass to the investigation of other points. For as we ceased to seek for truth (notwithstanding the professions of many among Greeks and Barbarians to make it known ) among all who claimed it for erroneous opinions, after we had come to believe that Christ was the Son of God , and were persuaded that we must learn it from Himself; so, seeing there are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ , and yet some of these think differently from their predecessors, yet as the teaching of the Church , transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles , and remaining in the Churches to the present day, is still preserved, that alone is to be accepted as truth which differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition.

3. Now it ought to be known that the holy apostles , in preaching the faith of Christ , delivered themselves with the utmost clearness on certain points which they believed to be necessary to every one, even to those who seemed somewhat dull in the investigation of divine knowledge ; leaving, however, the grounds of their statements to be examined into by those who should deserve the excellent gifts of the Spirit , and who, especially by means of the Holy Spirit Himself, should obtain the gift of language, of wisdom, and of knowledge : while on other subjects they merely stated the fact that things were so, keeping silence as to the manner or origin of their existence ; clearly in order that the more zealous of their successors, who should be lovers of wisdom, might have a subject of exercise on which to display the fruit of their talents — those persons , I mean, who should prepare themselves to be fit and worthy receivers of wisdom.

4. The particular points clearly delivered in the teaching of the apostles are as follow:— First , That there is one God , who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed , called all things into being — God from the first creation and foundation of the world — the God of all just men, of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch , Noe, Sere, Abraham , Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses , and the prophets ; and that this God in the last days, as He had announced beforehand by His prophets , sent our Lord Jesus Christ to call in the first place Israel to Himself, and in the second place the Gentiles , after the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel . This just and good God , the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , Himself gave the law and the prophets , and the Gospels , being also the God of the apostles and of the Old and New Testaments. Secondly , That Jesus Christ Himself, who came (into the world), was born of the Father before all creatures; that, after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things — For by Him were all things made — He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory ), became a man , and was incarnate although God , and while made a man remained the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit : that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer, and did not endure this death common (to man) in appearance…