Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Origen: "Jerusalem" refers to both the City and Its Adjacent Territory

Origen, in On First Principles 4.1.22 understood "Jerusalem" to refer, not simply to the city, but the adjacent territory thereof:

 

Whatever, then, is either narrated or predicted of Jerusalem, must, if we accept the words of Paul as those of Christ speaking in him, be understood as spoken in conformity with his opinion regarding that city which he calls the heavenly Jerusalem, and all those places or cities which are said to be cities of the holy land, of which Jerusalem is the metropolis. (ANF 4:371)