Origen of Alexandria

In his own words on Genesis

• Genesis 1:1

  Scripture is not speaking here of any temporal beginning, but it says that the heavens and the earth and all things that were made were made "in the beginning," that is, in the Savior.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.1

• Genesis 1:1

  What is the beginning of all things except our Lord and "Savior of all," Jesus Christ "the firstborn of every creature?" In this beginning, therefore, that is, in his Word, "God made heaven and earth" as the evangelist John also says in the beginning of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.1

• Genesis 1:8

  Although God had already previously made heaven, now he makes the firmament. For he made heaven first, about which he says, "Heaven is my throne." But after that he makes the firmament, that is, the corporeal heaven. For every corporeal object is, without doubt, firm and solid; and it is this that "divides the water which is above heaven from the water which is below heaven."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.2

• Genesis 1:9

  Let us labor, therefore, to gather "the water that is under heaven" and cast it from us that "the dry land," which is our deeds done in the flesh, might appear. When this has been done, "men seeing our good works may glorify our Father who is in heaven." For if we have not separated from us those waters that are under heaven, that is, the sins and vices of our body, our dry land will not be able to appear nor have the courage to advance to the light.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.2

• Genesis 1:10

  The dry land, after the water was removed from it, did not continue further as "dry land" but was named "earth" by God. In this manner also our bodies, if this separation from them takes place, will no longer remain "dry land." They will, on the contrary, be called "earth" because they can now bear fruit for God.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.2

• Genesis 1:16

  Just as the sun and the moon are said to be the great lights in the firmament of heaven, so also are Christ and the church in us. But since God also placed stars in the firmament, let us see what are also stars in us, that is, in the heaven of our heart. Moses is a star in us, which shines and enlightens us by his acts. And so are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, David, Daniel, and all to whom the Holy Scriptures testify that they pleased God. For just as "star differs from star in glory" so also each of the saints, according to his own greatness, sheds his light upon us.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.7

• Genesis 1:17

  As those lights of heaven that we see have been set "for signs and seasons and days and years," that they might give light from the firmament of heaven to those who are on the earth, so also Christ, illuminating his church, gives signs by his precepts, that one might know how, when the sign has been received, to escape the "wrath to come," lest "that day overtake him like a thief," but that rather he can reach "the acceptable year of the Lord." Christ, therefore, is the "true light which enlightens every man coming into this world." From his light the church itself also having been enlightened is made "the light of the world" enlightening those "who are in darkness," as also Christ himself testifies to his disciples saying, "You are the light of the world."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.6

• Genesis 1:20

  According to the letter"swimming creatures" and "birds" are brought forth by the waters at the command of God, and we recognize by whom these things that we see have been made. But let us see how also these same things come to be in our firmament of heaven, that is, in the firmness of our mind or heart. I think that if our mind has been enlightened by Christ, our sun, it is ordered afterward to bring forth from these waters that are in it "swimming creatures" and "birds that fly," that is, to bring out into the open good or evil thoughts that there might be a distinction of the good thoughts from the evil, which certainly both proceed from our heart as from the waters. But by the word and precept of God let us offer up both to God's view and judgment so that, with his enlightenment, we may be able to distinguish what is evil from the good.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.8

• Genesis 1:24

  In the present text, I think the impulses of our outer man, that is, of our carnal and earthly man, are indicated by this which is said: "Let the earth bring forth the living creatures according to their kind, four-footed creatures, creeping creatures and beasts on the earth according to their kind." In brief the text indicated nothing winged in these things that are said about the flesh, but only "four-footed creatures, creeping creatures and beasts of the earth." According to that, to be sure, which is said by the apostle, that "no good dwells in my flesh" and that "the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God," those are certainly things that the earth, that is, our flesh, produces.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.11

• Genesis 1:26

  In recording the first creation of man, Moses before all others says, "And God said, Let us make man in our own image and likeness." Then he adds afterwards, "And God made man; in the image of God made he him; male and female made he them, and he blessed them." Now the fact that he said "he made him in the image of God" and was silent about the likeness points to nothing else but this, that man received the honor of God's image in his first creation, whereas the perfection of God's likeness was reserved for him at the consummation. The purpose of this was that man should acquire it for himself by his own earnest efforts to imitate God, so that while the possibility of attaining perfection was given to him in the beginning through the honor of the "image," he should in the end through the accomplishment of these works obtain for himself the perfect "likeness."

  ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.1

• Genesis 1:26

  We do not understand, however, this man indeed whom Scripture says was made "according to the image of God" to be corporeal. For the form of the body does not contain the image of God, nor is the corporeal said to be "made" but "formed," as is written in the words that follow. For the text says, "And God formed man," that is fashioned, "from the slime of the earth." But it is our inner man, invisible, incorporeal, incorruptible and immortal, that is made "according to the image of God." For it is in such qualities as these that the image of God is more correctly understood. But if anyone supposes that this man who is made "according to the image and likeness of God" is made of flesh, he will appear to represent God himself as made of flesh and in human form. It is most clearly impious to think this about God.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.13

• Genesis 1:27

  It seems to be worth inquiring in this passage how, according to the letter, when the woman was not yet made, the Scripture says, "Male and female he made them." Perhaps, as I think, it is because of the blessing with which he blessed them saying, "Increase and multiply and fill the earth." Anticipating what was to be, the text says, "Male and female he made them," since indeed man could not otherwise increase and multiply except with the female. Therefore, that there might be no doubt about his blessing that is to come, the text says, "Male and female he made them." For in this manner man, seeing the consequence of increasing and multiplying to be from the fact that the female was joined to him, could cherish a more certain hope in the divine blessing. For if the Scripture had said, "Increase and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it," not adding this, "Male and female he made them," doubtless he would have disbelieved the divine blessing.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.14

• Genesis 1:27

  Our inner man consists of spirit and soul. The spirit is said to be male; the soul can be called female. If these have concord and agreement between themselves, they increase and multiply by the very accord among themselves and they produce sons, good inclination and understandings or useful thoughts, by which they fill the earth and have dominion over it.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.15

• Genesis 1:29

  The historical meaning, at least, of this sentence indicates clearly that originally God permitted the use of foods from vegetation, that is, vegetables and the fruits of trees. But the opportunity of eating flesh is given to men later when a covenant was made with Noah after the flood.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 1.17

• Genesis 2:15

  How would God have placed what was altogether imperfect in paradise to work and guard it? For he who is capable of tending "the tree of life" and everything that God planted and caused to spring up afterwards would not reasonably be called imperfect. Perhaps, then, although he was perfect, he became imperfect in some way because of his transgression and was in need of one to perfect him from his imperfection. And the Savior was sent for these reasons.

  COMMENTARY ON JOHN 13.240-41

• Genesis 3:7

  The eyes of sense were then opened, which they had done well to keep shut, that they might not be distracted and hindered from seeing with the eyes of the mind. It was those eyes of the mind which in consequence of sin, as I imagine, were then closed. To that time they had enjoyed the delight of beholding God and his paradise. This twofold kind of vision in us was familiar to our Savior, who said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who see not might see and that those who see might be made blind"—meaning by "the eyes that see not" the eyes of the mind, which are enlightened by his teaching; and "the eyes that see," meaning the eyes of sense, which his words render blind.

  AGAINST CELSUS 7.39

• Genesis 3:19

  Scripture says, "A consecrated linen tunic will be put on." Think of flax thread that comes from the earth. Imagine that the flax thread becomes a sanctified linen tunic that Christ, the true high priest, puts on when he takes up the nature of an earthly body. Remember that it is said about the body that "it is earth and it will go into the earth." Therefore, my Lord and Savior, wanting to resurrect that which had gone into the earth, took an earthly body that he might carry it raised up from earth to heaven. And the assertion in the law that the high priest is clothed "with a linen tunic" contains this mystery. But that it added "consecrated" must not be heard as superfluous. For the "tunic" that was the flesh of Christ was "consecrated," for it was not conceived from the seed of man but begotten of the Holy Spirit.

  HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 9.2.3

• Genesis 3:19

  Our flesh indeed is considered by the uneducated and by unbelievers to perish so completely after death that nothing whatever of its substance is left. We, however, who believe in its resurrection, know that death only causes a change in it and that its substance certainly persists and is restored to life again at a definite time by the will of its Creator and once more undergoes a transformation. What was at first flesh, "from the earth, a man of dust," and was then dissolved through death and again made dust and ashes—for "dust you are," it is written, "and unto dust shall you return"—is raised again from the earth. Afterwards, as the merits of the indwelling soul shall demand, the person advances to the glory of a spiritual body.

  ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.5

• Genesis 3:21

  It is said that God made those miserable garments with which the first man was clothed after he had sinned. "For God made skin tunics and clothed Adam and his wife." Therefore, those were tunics of skin taken from animals. For with such as these, it was necessary for the sinner to be dressed. It says, "with skin tunics," which are a symbol of the mortality that he received because of his skin and of his frailty that came from the corruption of the flesh. But if you have been already washed from these and purified through the law of God, then Moses will dress you with a garment of incorruptibility so that "your shame may never appear"and "that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."

  HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 6.2.7

• Genesis 3:24

  Throughout martyrdom Jesus is with you to show you the way to the paradise of God and how you may pass through the cherubim and the flaming sword that turns every way and guards the way to the tree of life. For both, even if they guard the way to pass through to the tree of life, guard it so that no one unworthy may turn that way to pass through to the tree of life. The flaming sword will hold fast those who have built upon the foundation that is laid, Jesus Christ, with wood, hay or straw, and the wood of denial, if I may call it that, which catches fire very easily and burns all the more. But the cherubim will receive those who by nature cannot be held by the flaming sword, because they have built with nothing that can catch fire. They will escort them to the tree of life and to all the trees God planted in the east and made to grow out of the ground.

  EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 36

• Genesis 4:5

  In the case of Cain his wickedness did not begin when he killed his brother. For even before that God, who knows the heart, had no regard for Cain and his sacrifice. But his baseness was made evident when he killed Abel.

  ON PRAYER 29.18

• Genesis 4:10

  We also know that what was said of Abel, when he was slain by the wicked murderer Cain, is suitable for all whose blood has been shed wickedly. Let us suppose that the verse "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground" is said as well for each of the martyrs, the voice of whose blood cries to God from the ground.

  EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 50

• Genesis 5:3

  Christ is the invisible image of the invisible God, just as according to the Scripture narrative we say that the image of Adam was his son Seth. It is written thus: "And Adam begot Seth after his own image and after his own kind." This image preserves the unity of nature and substance common to a father and a son. For "whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise." In this very fact—that the Son does all things just as the Father does—the Father's image is reproduced in the Son, whose birth from the Father is as it were an act of his will proceeding from the mind.

  ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.2.6

• Genesis 5:29

  By ascending through the individual levels of the dwellings [in the ark built by Noah during the flood], one arrives at Noah himself, whose name means rest or righteous, who is Jesus Christ. For what Lamech his father says is not appropriate to the ancient Noah. For "this one," he says, "shall give us rest from the labors and the sorrows of our hands and from the earth that the Lord God cursed." For how shall it be true that the ancient Noah gave rest to that Lamech or to that people who were then contained in the lands? How is there a cessation from the labors and sorrows in the times of Noah? Jesus only has given rest to humanity and has freed the earth from the curse with which the Lord God cursed it.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 2.3

• Genesis 6:2

  Not only man, but also the "sons of God, seeing the daughters of men that they are fair, took for themselves wives of all whom they chose," and consistently all those who left "their own dwelling" and did not preserve their own principality—and by "principality" I mean not in reference to power but to the beginning and foundation; just as for man, the beginning was to be in paradise, but the end perhaps due to transgression in Hades below or some such place, so also for each of the fallen ones a particular beginning is given.

  Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 13

• Genesis 11:1-9

  But I do not understand how he can imagine the overturning of the tower (of Babel) to have happened with a similar object to that of the deluge, which effected a purification of the earth, according to the accounts both of Jews and Christians. For, in order that the narrative contained in Genesis respecting the tower may be held to convey no secret meaning, but, as Celsus supposes, may be taken as true to the letter, the event does not on such a view appear to have taken place for the purpose of purifying the earth; unless, indeed, he imagines that the so-called confusion of tongues is such a purificatory process. But on this point, he who has the opportunity will treat more seasonably when his object is to show not only what is the meaning of the narrative in its historical connection, but what metaphorical meaning may be deduced from it. Seeing that he imagines, however, that Moses, who wrote the account of the tower, and the confusion of tongues, has perverted the story of the sons of Aloeus, and referred it to the tower, we must remark that I do not think any one prior to the time of Homer has mentioned the sons of Aloeus, while I am persuaded that what is related about the tower has been recorded by Moses as being much older not only than Homer, but even than the invention of letters among the Greeks. Who, then, are the perverters of each other's narratives? Whether do they who relate the story of the Aloadæ pervert the history of the time, or he who wrote the account of the tower and the confusion of tongues the story of the Aloadæ? Now to impartial hearers Moses appears to be more ancient than Homer. The destruction by fire, moreover, of Sodom and Gomorrha on account of their sins, related by Moses in Genesis, is compared by Celsus to the story of Phæthon — all these statements of his resulting from one blunder, viz., his not attending to the (greater) antiquity of Moses. For they who relate the story of Phæthon seem to be younger even than Homer, who, again, is much younger than Moses. We do not deny, then, that the purificatory fire and the destruction of the world took place in order that evil might be swept away, and all things be renewed; for we assert that we have learned these things from the sacred books of the prophets. But since, as we have said in the preceding pages, the prophets, in uttering many predictions regarding future events, show that they have spoken the truth concerning many things that are past, and thus give evidence of the indwelling of the Divine Spirit, it is manifest that, with respect to things still future, we should repose faith in them, or rather in the Divine Spirit that is in them.

  Contra Celsum, Book IV, Chapter 21

• Genesis 17:5

  Many responses are given to Abraham by God, but they are not all delivered to one and the same man. For some are to Abram and some to Abraham; that is, some are expressed after the change of name and others while he was still known by his name given at birth. And first indeed, before the change of name, God delivered to Abraham the oracle that says, "Go out from your country and from your kindred and from your father's house," and the rest. But no order is given in this about the covenant of God, no order about circumcision. For it was not possible while he was still Abram and was bearing the name of his physical birth to receive the covenant of God and the mark of circumcision. But when "he went out from his country and his kindred," then responses of a more sacred kind are delivered to him at this time. First God says to him, "You shall no longer be called Abram, but Abraham shall be your name." Then at once he received the covenant of God and accepted circumcision as a sign of faith that he could not accept while he was still in his father's house and in the relationship of flesh and while he was still called Abram.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 3.3

• Genesis 17:11

  We, therefore, instructed by the apostle Paul, say that just as many other things were made in the figure and image of future truth, so also that circumcision of flesh was bearing the form of spiritual circumcision about which it was both worthy and fitting that "the God of majesty" give commands to mortals. Hear, therefore, how Paul, "a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth," teaches the church of Christ about the mystery of circumcision. "Behold," he says, "the mutilation"—speaking about the Jews who are mutilated in the flesh—"for we," he says, "are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit and have no confidence in the flesh." This is one opinion of Paul about circumcision. Hear also another: "For he is not a Jew who is so outwardly; nor is that circumcision which is outwardly in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly with circumcision of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter." Does it not seem more appropriate to you to speak of such a circumcision among the saints and friends of God than to speak of a pruning of the flesh?But the novelty of the expression may perhaps deter not only the Jews but even some of our brothers. For Paul, who introduces "circumcision of the heart," seems to assume things that are impossible. For how shall it be possible that a member be circumcised that, covered by the internal viscera, lies hidden even from the view of men?

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 3.4

• Genesis 18:1

  But let us see what this tree represents, under which Abraham stood and provided a meal for the Lord and the angels. "Under the tree of Mamre" the text says. Mamre in our language is translated "vision" or "sharpness of sight." Do you see what kind of place it is where the Lord can have a meal? Abraham's vision and sharpness of sight pleased the Lord. For he was pure in heart so that he could see God. In such a place, therefore, and in such a heart the Lord can have a meal with his angels. In fact, earlier prophets were called seers.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.3

• Genesis 18:2

  Now let us see how each man receives his guests. "Abraham saw," the text says, "and ran to meet them." Notice that Abraham immediately is energetic and eager in his duties. He runs to meet them, and when he had met them, "he hastens back to the tent," the text says, "and says to his wife: 'Hasten to the tent.' " Behold in the individual matters how great is his eagerness to receive them. He makes haste in all things; all things are done urgently; nothing is done leisurely.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.1

• Genesis 18:2

  Let us compare, first of all, if you please, this appearance with that one which Lot experienced. "Three men" come to Abraham and stand "before him"; "two" come to Lot and sit "in the street." See if, in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, these events did not occur as each man deserved. For Lot was far inferior to Abraham. For if he had not been inferior, he would not have been separate from Abraham, nor would Abraham have said to him, "If you go to the right, I will go to the left; if you go to the left, I will go to the right." And if he had not been inferior, the land and habitation of Sodom would not have pleased him.Three men, therefore, come to Abraham at midday; two come to Lot and in the evening. For Lot could not receive the magnitude of midday light, but Abraham was capable of receiving the full brightness of the light. Let us see now how Abraham received those who came and how Lot did, and let us compare each man's preparation of hospitality. First, however, observe that the Lord also was present with Abraham with two angels, but two angels alone proceed to Lot. And what do they say? "The Lord has sent us to consume the city and destroy it." He therefore received those who would give destruction. He did not receive him who would save. But Abraham received him who saves and those who destroy.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.1

• Genesis 18:2

  But let us now, meanwhile, pursue what Abraham does with the three men who "stood before him." Behold what sort of expression this is itself, that they come "before him," not against him. He had, to be sure, subjected himself to the will of God; therefore God is said to stand "before him."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.2

• Genesis 18:4

  But how does he continue again as if speaking to men: "Let water be received," the text says, "and your feet be washed"?Abraham, the father and teacher of nations, is indeed teaching you by these things how you ought to receive guests and that you should wash the feet of guests. Nevertheless even this is said mysteriously. For he knew that the mysteries of the Lord were not to be completed except in the washing of feet. But he was not unaware of the importance of that precept, indeed, in which the Savior says, "If any shall not receive you, shake off even the dust which clings to your feet for a testimony to them. Truly I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for that city." He wished, therefore, to anticipate that and to wash their feet lest perhaps any dust should remain, which, shaken off, could be reserved "in the day of judgment" for a testimony of unbelief. For that reason, therefore, wise Abraham says, "Let water be received and your feet be washed."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.2

• Genesis 18:6

  Therefore he says to his wife Sarah, "Hasten to the tent and mix three measures of fine wheat flour and make bread upon the hearth." The Greek is en-kryphia, which indicates secret or hidden bread.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.1

• Genesis 18:6

  He serves therefore bread mixed "with three measures of fine wheat flour." He received three men; he mixed the bread "with three measures of fine wheat flour." Everything he does is mystical; everything is filled with mystery.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.2

• Genesis 18:7

  "But he ran," the text says, "to the cattle and took a calf." What kind of calf? Perhaps the first one he encountered? Not at all, but "a good and tender" calf. And although he would hasten in all things, nevertheless he knows that what is excellent and great should be offered to the Lord or to angels. He took therefore or chose from the herd a "good and tender" calf and delivered it to his servant. "The servant," the text says, "hastened to slaughter it." He himself runs, his wife hastens, the servant makes haste. No one is slow in the house of a wise man. He serves therefore a calf and at the same time with it bread and fine wheat flour, but also milk and butter. These were the courtesies of hospitality of Abraham and Sarah.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.1

• Genesis 18:7

  A calf is served; behold, another mystery. The calf itself is not tough but "good and tender." And what is so tender, what so good as that One who "humbled himself" for us "to death" and "laid down his life for his friends"? He is the "fatted calf" which the father slaughtered to receive his repentant son. "For he so loved this world, as to give his only Son" for the life of this world. Nevertheless the wise man is not ignorant of whom he has received. He runs to three men and adores one, and he speaks to the one saying, "Turn aside to your servant, and refresh yourself under the tree."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.2

• Genesis 18:9

  What then does the Lord say to Abraham? "Where," the text reads, "is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "Lo, she is in the tent." But the Lord said, "I will certainly come to you at this time in due season, and Sarah your wife will have a son." But Sarah, standing behind the door of the tent behind Abraham, heard.Let the wives learn from the examples of the patriarchs; let the wives learn, I say, to follow their husbands. For not without cause is it written that "Sarah was standing behind Abraham," but that it might be shown that if the husband leads the way to the Lord, the wife ought to follow. I mean that the wife ought to follow if she sees her husband standing by God.… But we can also perceive something mystical in this passage if we see how in Exodus "God went before them by night in a pillar of fire and by day in a pillar of a cloud" and the congregation of the Lord followed behind him. So therefore I understand also Sarah to have followed or stood "behind Abraham." What is said next? "And they were both," the text says, "presbyters"—that is, old—"and far advanced in their days." So far as pertains to bodily age, many before them lived for more numerous years, but no one was called presbyter. It appears that this title is ascribed to the saints not by reason of longevity but of maturity.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.4

• Genesis 18:21

  So also now, therefore, it is said of these who live in Sodom, that if indeed, on his examination, "their deeds are completed as the cry" that has ascended to God, they would be considered unworthy. But if there is any conversion among them, if even ten just men might be found among them, so, at last, God would know them. And for this reason the text said, "But if not, that I might know." It did not say that I might know what they are doing but that I might know them and make them worthy of knowledge of me, if I should find some among them just, if I should find some repentant, if some such as I ought to know.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.6

• Genesis 18:21

  These are the words of the divine Scripture. Let us see, therefore, now what is fitting to be understood in them. "I have descended," the text says, "to see." When responses are delivered to Abraham, God is not said to descend but to stand before him, as we explained above: "Three men," the text says, "stood before him." But now, because sinners are involved, God is said to descend. Beware lest you think of ascending and descending spatially. For this is frequently found in the sacred literature, as in the prophet Micah: "Behold," Scripture says, "the Lord departed from his holy place and came down and will tread upon the high places of the earth." Therefore God is said to descend when he deigns to have concern for human frailty. This should be discerned especially of our Lord and Savior, who "thought it not robbery to be equal with God but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Therefore he descended. For "no other has ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven." For the Lord descended not only to care for us but also to bear these things that are ours. "For he took the form of a servant," and although he himself is invisible in nature, inasmuch as he is equal to the Father, nevertheless he took a visible appearance "and was found in appearance as a man." But also when he descends he is below with some, but he ascends with others and is above. For he goes up with the chosen apostles "into a high mountain and there is transfigured before them." Therefore he is above with those whom he teaches about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But he is below with the crowds and Pharisees, whose sins he reproaches, and he is there with them.… He could not, however, be transfigured below, but he ascended above with those who could follow him, and there he is transfigured.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.5

• Genesis 18:32

  Finally, because no one besides Lot is found who would repent, no one would be converted. He alone is known; he alone is delivered from the conflagration. Neither his children, having been admonished, nor his neighbors nor his next of kin followed him. No one wished to know the mercy of God; no one wished to take refuge in his compassion. Consequently also no one is known.These things indeed have been said against those who "speak iniquity on high." But let us give attention to make our acts such, our manner of life such, that we may be held worthy of knowledge of God; that he may see fit to know us; that we may be held worthy of knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and knowledge of the Holy Spirit; that we, known by the Trinity, might also deserve to know the mystery of the Trinity fully, completely and perfectly, the Lord Jesus Christ revealing it to us. "His is the glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 4.6

• Genesis 19:1

  Lot was not inside Sodom "but at the gate." I might have said, just as Abraham was sitting outside his tent, out of hospitality, even at an inconvenient time (for it was the middle of the day) on the lookout for travelers, so his relative and the imitator of his morality "was sitting at the gate" ready to invite those passing through the land, even though evening had now come. For he surely knew the impiety of the Sodomites and that there was no rest for the stranger in that place.

  SELECTIONS ON GENESIS

• Genesis 19:15

  When the angels who were sent to destroy Sodom desired to expedite the task with which they were charged, they first had concern for their host, Lot, that, in consideration of his hospitality, they might deliver him from the destruction of the imminent fire.Hear these words, you who close your houses to strangers; hear these words, you who avoid a guest as an enemy. Lot was living in Sodom. We do not read of other good deeds of his. The hospitality alone occurring at that time is mentioned. He escapes the flames, he escapes the conflagration for this reason alone: because he opened his house to strangers. Angels entered the hospitable house; fire entered the houses closed to strangers. Let us therefore see what the angels say to their host on account of his services of hospitality. "Save your life in the mountain," the text says, "lest perchance you be included." Lot was indeed hospitable. And, as the Scripture has borne testimony to him, he was hidden from destruction when the angels had been hospitably received. But he was not so perfect that immediately on departing from Sodom, he could ascend the mountain; for it belongs to the perfect to say, "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me." He therefore was neither such that he should perish among the inhabitants of Sodom, nor was he so great that he could dwell with Abraham in the heights. For if he had been such, Abraham would never have said to him, "If you go to the right, I will go to the left, or if you go to the left I will go to the right," nor would the dwellings of Sodom have pleased him. He was therefore somewhere in the middle between the perfect and the doomed. And knowing that it is not appropriate with his strength to ascend the mountain, he piously and humbly excuses himself saying, "I cannot be saved on the mountain, but, behold, this city is small. Here I shall be saved; and it is not small?" To be sure, when he entered the small city of Zoar he is saved in it. And after this he went up into the mountain with his daughters. For there was no possibility of ascending from Sodom into the mountain, although it is written of the land of Sodom before it was overthrown, in that time when Lot chose it as his dwelling place, that "it was as the paradise of God and as the land of Egypt." And yet, to digress slightly, what similarity does there appear to be with the paradise of God and the land of Egypt that Sodom should be compared fittingly with these? Now I think it is in this way: before Sodom sinned, when it still preserved the simplicity of the unstained life, it was "as the paradise of God," but when it began to be discolored and to be darkened with the stains of sins it became "as the land of Egypt." But since indeed the prophet says, "Your sister Sodom shall be restored to her ancient state," we inquire also whether her restoration also recovers this, that she be "as the paradise of God" or only "as the land of Egypt." I, at least, doubt if the sins of Sodom can be diminished to such an extent and its evils purged to the point that its restoration be so great that it be compared not only with the land of Egypt but also with the paradise of God. Those, however, who wish to establish this will press us especially from that word that appears added to this counterpromise. For the Scripture did not say "Sodom will be restored," and stop, but it says, "Sodom will be restored to its ancient state." And they will assert strongly that its ancient state was not "as the land of Egypt" but "as the paradise of God."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.1

• Genesis 19:26

  But let us return to Lot, who, fleeing the destruction of Sodom with his wife and daughters after he had received the command from the angels to not look back, was proceeding to Zoar. But his wife became negligent of the command. "She looked back"; she violated the imposed law; "she became a little statue of salt." Do we think there was so much evil in this transgression, that the woman, because she looked behind her, incurred the destruction that she appeared to be fleeing by divine favor? For what great crime was it, if the concerned mind of the woman looked backward whence she was being terrified by the excessive crackling of the flames?But because "the law is spiritual" and the things that happened to the ancients "happened figuratively," let us see if perhaps Lot, who did not look back, is not the rational understanding and the courageous soul, and his wife here represents the flesh. For it is the flesh which always looks to vices; when the soul is proceeding to salvation, the flesh looks backward and seeks after pleasures. For concerning that the Lord also said, "No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." And he adds, "Remember Lot's wife." But the fact that "she became a little statue of salt" appears to be an open indication of her folly. For salt represents the prudence which she lacked. Lot therefore pushed on to Zoar. After he had gained strength there for a while, which he could not have in Sodom, he ascended the mountain and dwelt there, as the Scripture says, "he and his two daughters with him."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.2

• Genesis 19:33-35

  After these things now that well-known story is related in which it is written that Lot's daughters cunningly lay with their father by stealth. In this matter I do not know if anyone can so excuse Lot as to free him from sin. Nor again do I think he should be so accused that he ought to become party to such serious incest. For I do not find him to have plotted against or to have violently snatched away the chastity of his daughters but rather to have been the victim of a plot and cunningly ensnared. But neither would he have been ensnared by the girls unless he could have been inebriated. Thus he seems to me to be found partly culpable and partly excusable. For indeed he can be excused because he is free of the offense of concupiscence and pleasure, and because he is shown neither to have wished nor to have consented to those wishing. But he is at fault because he could be trapped, because he indulged in wine too much, and this not once, but he did it a second time.For instance, even Scripture seems to me to make excuse for him in a certain manner when it says, "For he did not know when he slept with them and when he arose." This is not said of the daughters, who intentionally and cunningly deceive their father. He, however, was so senseless from wine that he did not know that he lay with his older daughter or with the younger. Hear what drunkenness does. Hear what an outrage intoxication produces. Hear and beware, you who do not hold that evil to be a fault but practice it. Drunkenness deceives him whom Sodom did not deceive. He whom the sulphurous flame did not burn is burned by the flames of women.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.3

• Genesis 19:36

  After these things, therefore, Lot ascends into the mountains, and there "he dwells in a cave," as the Scripture says, "he and his two daughters." The law also should be thought to have ascended, because an embellishment was added to it by the temple built by Solomon, when it became indeed "the house of God, a house of prayer." Evil inhabitants, however, made it "a den of thieves." Therefore "Lot and his two daughters dwelt in a cave." The prophet evidently describes these two daughters saying that Oholah and Oholibah are two sisters, and Oholah indeed is "Judah" and Oholibah is "Samaria." The people therefore divided into two parts made the two daughters of the law. Those daughters, desiring carnal offspring to be preserved and the forces of earthly dominion to be fortified by an abundant posterity, depriving their father of sense and making him sleep, that is, covering and obscuring his spiritual understanding, draw only carnal understanding from him. Then they conceive. Then they give birth to such sons as their father neither perceives nor recognizes. For it was neither the understanding nor the will of the law to beget carnally. But the law is deprived of its sense that such posterity might be begotten that "shall not enter the assembly of the Lord." "For the Ammonites," Scripture says, "and Moabites shall not enter the assembly of the Lord unto the third and fourth generation and forever."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.5

• Genesis 19:36

  As we have been able, we have carved out these explanations according to the spiritual understanding of Lot and his wife and daughters. We pass no judgment on those who have been able to perceive something more sacred from this text.But above, in the moral sense, we referred Lot indeed to the rational understanding and the courageous soul; but his wife, who looked back, we said to be the flesh given to concupiscence and pleasures. Do not, O hearer, receive these things carelessly. For you ought to watch lest perhaps even when you have fled the flames of the world and have escaped the fires of the flesh, even when you have risen above "Zoar, the city" that is "small and not small," which is somewhere in the middle … you seem to have ascended to the height of knowledge, as to some mountain peak. Beware lest those two daughters lie in wait for you, who do not depart from you but follow you even when you ascend the mountain. They are vainglory and her older sister, pride. Beware lest with their embraces those daughters constrict you, deprived of sense and sleeping, while you seem neither to perceive nor know. They are called daughters because they do not come upon us from outside but proceed from us and from a kind of innocence, as it were, of our acts. Be vigilant, therefore, as much as you can, and watch lest you beget sons from these daughters, because those who have been born from them "shall not enter the assembly of the Lord." But if you wish to beget, beget in the spirit, since "he who sows in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." If you wish to embrace, embrace wisdom and "say wisdom is your sister," that Wisdom also may say of you: He "who shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus Christ our Lord is this wisdom, "to whom be glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.5-6

• Genesis 19:37

  But I know that some, so far as the story pertains to a spiritual interpretation, have referred Lot to the person of the Lord and his daughters to the two Testaments. But I do not know if anyone freely accepts these views who knows what the Scripture says about the Ammonites and Moabites who descend from Lot's race. For how will one be able to apply to Christ the statement that those who descend from his seed "shall not enter the assembly of the Lord" "to the third and fourth generation"?But we, as we are able to perceive, consider Lot to be a figure of the law. Let not the fact that the word law is declined in the feminine gender in Latin appear incongruous, since it preserves the masculine gender in Greek. We consider his wife to represent the people who, after they had set out from Egypt and had been delivered from the Red Sea and the persecution of Pharaoh, as if from the fires of Sodom, again desiring the meat and "pots of Egypt and onions and cucumbers," looked back and fell in the desert. Those people too became a memorial of concupiscence in the wilderness. In regard to that first people, therefore, it was there that the law, like Lot, lost and left his wife looking back. Then Lot comes and dwells in Zoar, about which he says, "This city is small, and my life shall be saved in it; and it is not small." Let us see, therefore, so far as it pertains to the law what "the city" is that is "small and not small." A city is so named from the manner of life of the multitude, because it orders and holds together the lives of many in one place. These therefore who live by the law have a small and petty manner of life as long as they understand the law literally. For there is nothing great in observing sabbaths and new moons and circumcision of the flesh and distinctions between foods in a fleshly manner. But if someone should begin to understand spiritually, these same observances, which in the literal sense were small and petty, in the spiritual sense are not small but great.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 5.5

• Genesis 20:1

  We have read from the book of Genesis the story where it is related that after the appearance of the three men, after the destruction of Sodom and the salvation of Lot, either due to his hospitality or because of his kinship to Abraham, "Abraham departed thence," the text says, "to the south" and came to the king of the Philistines. It is related also that he made an agreement with Sarah his wife that she should not say that she was Abraham's wife but his sister. It is also said that King Abimelech took her, but God went in to Abim-elech at night and said to him, "You have not touched this woman, and I have not permitted you to touch her, etc." But after this Abimelech gave Sarah back to her husband and at the same time rebuked Abraham for not having told him the truth. It is also related that, as a prophet, Abraham prayed for Abimelech, "and the Lord healed Abimelech and his wife and his handmaids." And the omnipotent God was concerned to heal even the handmaids of Abimelech, "since he had closed up their wombs that they might not bear." But they began to bear because of Abraham's prayer.If anyone wishes to hear and understand these words literally, he ought to gather with the Jews rather than with the Christians. But if he wishes to be a Christian and a disciple of Paul, let him hear Paul saying that "the law is spiritual," declaring that these words are "allegorical" when the law speaks of Abraham and his wife and sons. And although no one of us can by any means easily discover what kind of allegories these words should contain, nevertheless one ought to pray that "the veil might be removed" from the heart. "If there is anyone who tries to turn to the Lord"—"for the Lord is Spirit"9—the Lord might remove the veil of the letter and uncover the light of the Spirit. [Then] we might be able to say that "beholding the glory of the Lord with open face we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 6.1

• Genesis 20:2

  I think, therefore, that Sarah, which means "princess" or "one who governs empires," represents aretē, which is the virtue of the soul. This virtue then is joined to and clings to a wise and faithful man, even as that wise man who said of wisdom, "I have desired to take her for my spouse." For this reason therefore God says to Abraham, "In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice." This saying, at any rate, is not appropriate to physical marriage, since that well known statement was revealed from heaven which says to the woman concerning the man, "In him shall be your refuge, and he shall have dominion over you." If therefore the husband is said to be lord of his wife, how is it said again to the man, "In all that Sarah has said to you, pay attention to her voice"? If anyone therefore has married virtue, let him listen to her voice in all which she shall counsel him.Abraham therefore does not now wish that virtue be called his wife. For as long as virtue is called his wife, she belongs to him and can be shared with no one. And it is proper that until we reach perfection, virtue of the soul be within us and personal. But when we reach perfection so that we are capable also of teaching others, let us then no longer enclose virtue within our bosom as a wife but as a sister; let us unite her also with others who desire her. For to those who are perfect the divine Word says, "Say that wisdom is your sister." In this way therefore Abraham too said Sarah was his sister.… Nevertheless Pharaoh too once wished to receive Sarah, but he did not wish with a pure heart; and virtue cannot unite except with purity of heart. For this reason, therefore, Scripture relates that "the Lord afflicted Pharaoh with afflictions which were grievous and most severe." For virtue could not dwell with a destroyer—for this is what Pharaoh means in our language.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 6.1-2

• Genesis 20:4

  The expression "had not touched" is emphatic, like the statement "it is good for a man not to touch a woman," which means, even apart from sexual union, in no other way either to gaze at or to touch a woman with passion. God, of course, did not permit Abimelech to touch Sarah, though perhaps too because he had perfect self-control in all matters. Such a quality is truly a divine gift.

  SELECTIONS ON GENESIS

• Genesis 20:5

  But let us see what Abimelech said to the Lord. "You know, Lord," the text says, "that I have done this with a pure heart." This Abimelech acts very differently from Pharaoh. He is not so ignorant and vile but knows that he ought to prepare a "pure heart" for virtue. And because he wished to receive virtue with a pure heart, therefore God heals him when Abraham prays for him. And God heals not only Abimelech but also his handmaids.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 6.2

• Genesis 20:6

  But what is the meaning of that which Scripture adds: "And the Lord did not permit him to touch her"? If Sarah represents virtue and Abimelech wished to receive virtue "with a pure heart," why is it said that "the Lord did not permit him to touch her"?Abimelech means "my father is king." It seems to me therefore that this Abimelech represents the studious and wise men of the world, who by giving attention to philosophy, although they do not reach the complete and perfect rule of piety, nevertheless perceive that God is the Father and King of all things. Those, therefore, so far as it pertains to ethics (that is, moral philosophy), are acknowledged also to have given attention in some respects to purity of heart and to have sought the inspiration of divine virtue with all their mind and zeal. But "God did not permit" them "to touch" her. For this grace was designed to be delivered to the Gentiles not by Abraham, who, although he was great was nevertheless a servant, but by Christ.… Abraham was eager that what was said to him be fulfilled through and in himself, that "all the nations shall be blessed in you." Nevertheless the promise to him is established in Isaac, that is, in Christ, as the apostle says: "He did not say, And to his seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, which is Christ."26 Nevertheless "the Lord heals Abimelech and his wife and his handmaids."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 6.2

• Genesis 20:17

  But it does not seem to me superfluous that mention is made not only of Abim-elech's wife but also of his handmaids, especially in that place that says, "God healed them, and they bore children. For he had closed [their wombs] that they might not bear." So far as we can perceive in such difficult passages, we think natural philosophy can be called Abimelech's wife, but his handmaids represent the contrivances of dialectic which are diverse and various by virtue of the nature of the schools.Abraham, meanwhile, desires to share the gift of divine virtue also with the Gentiles, but it is not yet time for the grace of God to pass over from the former people to the Gentiles. For the apostle also, although under another viewpoint and figure, says nevertheless, "A woman is bound to the law so long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is loosed from the law so that she is no longer an adulteress if she is with another man." First, therefore, the law of the letter must die so that, thus free at last, the soul may now marry the spirit and receive the marriage of the New Testament. Now this present time is the time of the calling of the Gentiles and of the death of the law, in which time free souls, at last loosed from the law of the husband, can marry a new husband, Christ. But if you wish to be taught how the law is dead, look and see. Where now are the sacrifices? Where now is the altar? Where is the temple? Where are the purifications? Where is the celebration of the Passover? Is not the law dead in all these things? Or let those friends and defenders of the letter keep the letter of the law if they can. According to this spiritual interpretation, therefore, Pharaoh, that is, an impure man and a destroyer, could not at all receive Sarah, that is, virtue. Later Abimelech, that is, he who was living purely and philosophically, could indeed receive her, because he was seeking "with a pure heart," but "the time had not yet come." Virtue therefore remains with Abraham; it remains with circumcision, until the time should come that in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom "dwells all the fullness of deity corporeally," complete and perfect virtue might pass over to the church of the Gentiles. At that time, therefore, the house of Abim-elech and his handmaids, whom the Lord healed, will bear sons of the church. For this is the time in which "the barren" will bear and in which "many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband." For the Lord opened the womb of the barren and made it fruitful, so that she bears a nation "all at once." But also the saints cry out and say, "Lord, from fear of you we have conceived in the womb and given birth; we have produced the spirits of your salvation on the earth." Whence also Paul likewise says, "My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you."15 Such sons, therefore, the whole church of God produces, and such it brings forth. For "he who sows in the flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption." Now the sons of the Spirit are those about whom also the apostle says, "The woman shall be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith and purity."17 Let the church of God therefore in this way understand the births, in this way receive the procreations, in this way uphold the deeds of the fathers with a fitting and honorable interpretation, in this way not disgrace the words of the Holy Spirit with foolish and Jewish fables but reckon them to be full of honor, full of virtue and usefulness. Otherwise, what edification will we receive when we read that Abraham, such a great patriarch, not only lied to king Abimelech but also surrendered his wife's chastity to him? In what way does the wife of so great a patriarch edify us if she is supposed to have been exposed to defilements through marital indulgence? These things are what the Jews suppose, along with those who are friends of the letter, not of the spirit. But we, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual," are made spiritual in deed and understanding in Christ Jesus our Lord, "to whom belongs glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 6.3

• Genesis 21:4

  Let us ask the Lord lest, in accordance with the apostle's word, even with us, "when Moses is read the veil be upon" our "heart." For it has been read that Abraham begot a son, Isaac, when he was a hundred years old. "And Sarah said, 'Who will announce to Abraham that Sarah nurses a child?' " "And then," the text says, "Abraham circumcised the child on the eighth day." Abraham does not celebrate his son's birthday, but he celebrates the day of this weaning "and makes a great feast."6Why? Do we think that it is the Holy Spirit's intention to write stories and to narrate how a child was weaned and a feast was made, how he played and did other childish things? Or should we understand by these things that he wishes to teach us something divine and worthy that the human race might learn from the words of God?

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 7.1

• Genesis 21:6

  Isaac means "laughter" or "joy." Who is it, then, who begets such a son? It is doubtless he who said of these whom he begot through the gospel: "For you are my joy and crown of glory." For sons of this kind, there is a feast and great joy when they are weaned, for these who "no longer need milk, but strong meat, who by taking up their power have their senses exercised to the discerning of good or evil." There is a great feast for such as these, when they are weaned. But a feast cannot be offered nor joy possessed for those of whom the apostle says, "I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet, but neither indeed are you able still. And I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to little ones in Christ." Let those who wish the divine Scripture to be understood straightforwardly tell us what it means: "I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to little ones in Christ; I gave you milk to drink, not meat." Can these words be taken straightforwardly?

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 7.1

• Genesis 21:8

  Isaac, Scripture says, "grew" and became strong; that is, Abraham's joy grew as he looked not at those things "which are seen but at the things which are not seen." For Abraham did not rejoice about present things or about the riches of the world and the activities of the age. But do you wish to hear why Abraham rejoiced? Hear the Lord saying to the Jews: "Abraham your father desired to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." In this way, therefore, "Isaac grew." That vision of Abraham, in which he saw the day of Christ and the hope which is in Christ, were increasing his joys. And would that you too might be made Isaac and be a joy to your mother the church!

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 10.1

• Genesis 21:9

  Spiritually, therefore, all indeed who come to the recognition of God through faith can be called sons of Abraham; but among these some cling to God on the basis of love, others on the basis of dread and fear of future judgment. Whence also the apostle John says, "He who fears is not perfected in love, but perfect love casts out fear." He therefore who "is perfected in love" is born of Abraham and is "a son of the free woman." But he who keeps the commandments, not in perfect love but in dread of future torment and in fear of punishments is, indeed, also himself a son of Abraham. He too receives gifts, that is, the reward of his work (because even "he who shall give a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward"). Nevertheless he is inferior to that person who is perfected, not in slavish fear but in the freedom of love.The apostle also shows something similar when he says, "As long indeed as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father." He is "a child," therefore, who is nourished "with milk" and "is unskillful in the word of justice"; nor is he able to receive the "solid food" of the divine wisdom and knowledge of the law. He cannot "compare spiritual things with spiritual." He cannot yet say, "But when I became a man, I put away the things of a child." He "differs," therefore, "nothing from a servant." But if "leaving the word of the first principles of Christ," he be borne to perfection and "seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, not the things that are on the earth" and "look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen," nor in the divine Scriptures follow "the letter which kills" but "the spirit which quickens," from those things he will doubtless be one who does not receive "the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 7.4

• Genesis 21:9

  Sarah is angry because the son of the bondwoman plays with the son of the free woman, and she considers that play to be a disaster. She counsels Abraham and says, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac."I shall not now consider how these words ought to be understood. The apostle discussed them in this way, saying, "Tell me, you who have read the law, have you not heard the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman and the other by a free woman. But he indeed who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are allegorical." What then? Is Isaac not "born according to the flesh"? Did Sarah not bear him? Is he not circumcised? In regard to this very incident, that he played with Ishmael, did he not play in the flesh? This indeed is what is astonishing in the apostle's understanding, that he called things "allegorical" that are quite obviously done in the flesh. His purpose is that we might learn how to treat other passages, and especially these in which the historical narrative appears to reveal nothing worthy of the divine law. Ishmael, therefore, is born "according to the flesh," the son of the bondwoman. But Isaac, who was "the son of the free woman," is not born "according to the flesh" but "according to promise." And the apostle says of these words that "Hagar engendered" a carnal people "unto bondage." But Sarah, who was free, engendered a people which is not "according to the flesh" but has been called to freedom, by which "freedom Christ has made him free." For Christ himself said, "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." But let us see what the apostle adds to these words as he expounds them: "But as then he," Scripture says, "who was according to the flesh, persecuted him who was according to the spirit, so also it is now." Notice how the apostle teaches us that in all things the flesh is opposed to the spirit, whether that carnal people is opposed to this spiritual people, or even among ourselves, if someone is still carnal, he is opposed to the spiritual. For even you, if you live "according to the flesh" and direct your life "according to the flesh," are a son of Hagar and for this reason are opposed to these who live "according to the spirit." Or even if we inquire in ourselves, we find that "the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another," and we find "a law in our members flighting against the law of our mind and leading us captive in the law of sin." Do you see how great the battles of the flesh against the spirit are? There is yet also another battle more violent perhaps than all these. These who understand the law "according to the flesh" are opposed to and persecute these who perceive it "according to the spirit." Why? Because "the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the spirit of God. For it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand because it is spiritually discerned."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 7.2

• Genesis 21:14

  Let us see what Abraham does meanwhile after Sarah is displeased. He casts out the bondwoman and her son, but nevertheless he gives him a bottle of water. For his mother does not have a well of living water, nor could the boy draw water from a well. Isaac has wells for which he also suffers strife against the Philistines, but Ishmael drinks water from a bottle. This bottle, as it is a bottle, fails, and therefore he is thirsty and does not find a well.But you, who are a son "of promise as Isaac," "drink water from your own fountains, and let not the waters flow forth from your wells, but let your waters run in your streets." But one "who is born according to the flesh" drinks water from a bottle, and the water itself fails him, and he lacks in many things. The bottle of the law is the letter, from which carnal people drink and thence receives understanding. This letter frequently fails them. It cannot extricate itself, for the historical understanding is defective in many things. But the church drinks from the evangelic and apostolic fountains that never fail but "run in its streets," because they always abound and flow in the breadth of spiritual interpretation. The church drinks also "from wells" when it draws and examines certain deeper things from the law. On account of this mystery also, I think, our Lord and Savior said to the Samaritan woman, when, as if he were speaking with Hagar herself he said, "Whoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again; but he who shall drink of the water which I give him shall not thirst forever." But she says to the Savior, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." After this the Lord says to her, "There shall come to be in him who believes in me a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting."

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 7.5