Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Origen's Affirming of Free Will in Commentary on Psalms (c. A.D. 244)

  

I might say that just as an agricultural good, the production of fruits, is brought about through a blending of the farmer’s free will in accord with his technical skill, along with that which is not under his free will but issues forth from providence, such as temperate climate and sufficient rainfall, so also is the good of a rational creature a blend of his own free will and divine power coming to the aid of that man who chooses the most virtuous way. In order that a man may be good and virtuous, therefore, there is necessity not only of his own free will, along with the divine help which is not within his choosing, but there is the necessity also that he who has become good and virtuous persevere in virtue. (Origen, Commentary on Psalm 4, c. A.D. 244, in The Faith of the Early Fathers, 3 vols. [trans. William A. Jurgens; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1970], 1:203)