For she [wisdom] is a breath
of the power of God and an emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. (Wisdom 7:25 | NETS)
In his commentary on the Gospel of John (13.152-53),
Origen, appealing to Wisdom 7:25, wrote:
(152) But although the
Savior transcends in his essence, rank, power, divinity (for the Word is
living), and wisdom, beings that are so great and of such antiquity,
nevertheless, he is not comparable with the Father in any way.
(153) For he is an image of
the goodness and brightness, not of God, but of God’s glory and of his eternal
light; and he is a vapor, not of the Father, but of his power; and he is a pure
emanation of God’s almighty glory, and an unspotted mirror of his activity. It
is through this mirror that Paul and Peter and their contemporaries see God,
because he says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father who sent me.” (Origen,
Commentary on the Gospel According to John Books 13-32 [trans. Ronald E.
Heine; The Fathers of the Church 89; The Catholic University of America Press,
1993], 100)
Commenting on this, Christopher Stead noted that:
Origen interprets the verse
in a strongly subordinationist sense. He writes that the Son, though superior
to the angels, is in no way comparable to the Father: ‘For he is the image of
his goodness, and the effulgence, not of God, but of his glory and his eternal
light, and the breath, not of the Father, but of his power.’ It seems that
God’s glory, light, and power are conceived as attributes which in some way
mediate between the Father and the Son. God’s power (virtus = δυναμις) is treated in this way in de
Principiis i. 2. 9, part of which has been quoted by Pamphilus in ch.3; and
it is not impossible that the same turn of thought lurks beneath Rufinus’
rather repetitive Latin phrases in our present passage. (Christopher Stead, Divine
Substance [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977], 213)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
