Although at the
moment of justification the justified are ungodly, Origen gives no place to
simul iustus et peccator. “For it is not possible that righteousness can
be reckoned to a person who has any unrighteousness dwelling in him, even if he
believes in him who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead.” (Commentary on the
Epistle to the Romans, Book 1-5, 275) Properly speaking, says, Origen
(commenting on Rom 5:9), it is not faith that justifies but the blood of
Christ. (Ibid., 298) Enemies are reconciled, but in varying degrees, with the
most worthy as “God’s ultimate friends because of the merits of their virtues.”
(Ibid., 299-300) Salvation is never a one-size-fits-fall proposition. Just as the
differing ranks in the world are based on merits in the spiritual realm before
creation, so too the ladder for final beatitude is based on merits.
Pelagius could appeal
reasonable to some statements, but Origen does not reject “original sin”
outright: “We have already said above that by means of Adam’s transgression a
certain access, as it were, was given by which sin, or the death of sin, or
condemnation, spread to all men.” Condemnation is death and vice versa.
(Ibid., 340) On one occasion he can say, “So then Adam offered sinners a model
through his disobedience, but Christ, in contrast, gave the righteous a model
by his obedience.” (Ibid., 344) Yet later he states, “For all of us human
beings who have been conceived from the seed of a man coming together with a
woman, must of necessity employ that utterance in which David says, ‘in
iniquities I have been conceived and in sins did my mother conceive me.’” Only
Christ is excepted for “He possessed in no respect whatsoever the contamination
of sin, which is passed down to those who are conceived by the operation of
lust.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books 6-10, 49) Origen
continues to emphasize that justification through faith is merely the
beginning. The final judgment constitutes the real moment of justification
according to meritorious virtues. In Romans 5:17, Paul does not say that “life
reigns” but “will reign” (βασιλευσουσιν). When? After all, those who are saved finally are
those who are not hear the word but obey it.
For although it is
promised that a person may eventually come out of prison, nevertheless it is
ordained that no one can come out from there unless each one pays back even the
last penny [Mt 5:26]. But if not even the penalty of one penny, which is that
of the smallest sin, is remitted until it is atoned for in prison by means of
punishments, how it is possible for someone to be set free by the hope of being
exempted from punishment, or how will he regard the gift of grace as a license
to sin? (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books 1-5, 335) (Michael
Horton, Justification, 2 vols. [New Studies in Dogmatics; Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan, 2018], 1:60-61)
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