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How can Peter say the Spirit spoke if the words are the Savior's?
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Origen is raising the objection that the Psalm's words seem to be spoken by the Savior, yet Peter attributes them to the Holy Spirit, and he is about to introduce the principle that resolves this.
How then can Peter say, “It was necessary for Scripture to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David” (Acts 1:16 ), if the Savior is the one saying these things? Perhaps what we are taught here is of such a kind.
Greek Πῶς οὖν, εἰ
ὁ Σωτήρ ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα λέγων, φησὶν ὁ Πέτρος· Ἔδει πληρωθῆναι τὴν Γραφὴν, ἣν
προεῖπε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ στόματος ∆αυΐδ; Μήποτε οὖν ὃ διδασκόμεθα
ἐνταῦθα, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι.
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About this text A short passage from Origen's homilies on Acts: how Peter can say the Holy Spirit spoke the Psalm about Judas, when the words seem to be Christ's.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was an early Christian theologian and biblical scholar who led the Catechetical School of Alexandria and later founded the Christian School of Caesarea. He delivered seventeen homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, but only one fragment survives, from the fourth homily. It was preserved in the Philocalia, a collection of Origen's writings compiled by Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus.
The fragment addresses a problem raised by Acts 1:16, where Peter says that the Holy Spirit spoke through David about Judas. An objector points out that the words in the Psalm appear to be spoken by the Savior, not by the Holy Spirit. Origen responds by explaining how the Holy Spirit personifies different speakers in the prophets.
The words of the Savior are quoted as part of the objection, and Peter's words from Acts are quoted in Origen's questioning. Origen argues that when the Holy Spirit personifies God, it is not God speaking but the Holy Spirit speaking from God's person, and likewise for Christ. He extends this to the prophet, to that people, to this people, or whatever the Spirit personifies. The word office is used for the position held by Judas that is to be given to another.
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