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On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

It seems to me that Luke in the words: “Bring us not into temptation” has virtually …

DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE
(Chapter XXX)

It seems to me that Luke in the words: “Bring us not into temptation”1 has virtually taught also “Deliver us from the evil one.”23 Probably to “the disciple,”4 inasmuch as he had already profited,5 the Lord spoke the more concise saying, but to the many, who were in need of clearer teaching, that which was plainer. But God “delivers us from the evil one,” not when the enemy that wrestles against us6 in no way attacks us by any of his methods whatsoever or by the ministers of his will, but when we conquer bravely, taking a firm stand against circumstances. It is thus that we understand also the saying: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and he delivereth them out of them all.”7 For God “delivereth” from “afflictions,” not where there are no longer “afflictions” (seeing that Paul says, “afflicted on every side,”8 as never not “afflicted”),9 but when “afflicted” by the help of God we are “not straitened”8: to be afflicted, according to a customary Hebrew usage,10 indicates a critical happening which occurs independently of choice, while to be “straitened” is a matter of choice,11 when a man is conquered by affliction and gives in to it. Therefore Paul well says: “Afflicted on every side, yet not straitened.”8 And I think that the saying in Psalms is similar to this: “In affliction thou didst set me at large.”12 For by the co-operation and presence of the Word of God, who encourages and saves us, the gladness and cheerfulness of our mind that comes to us from God in the season of critical circumstances is termed enlargement.13

Similarly is to be understood the “deliverance” of anyone “from the evil one.” For God “delivered” Job, not by the devil not receiving authority to involve him with this or that temptation (for he did receive it),14 but by the fact that “in all these happenings Job sinned not before the Lord,”15 but was shown to be righteous: He who said: “Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not fortified what is outside and what is within his house and what is outside all that he hath round about? His works thou hast blessed and his cattle thou hast made abundant upon the earth. But put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath, verily he will curse thee to thy face”16—he who said this was put to shame, as having thereby uttered a falsehood against Job: who after so many sufferings does not, as the adversary says, “curse” God “to” his “face,”17 but even when given up to the tempter continues blessing God, and rebukes his wife when she says: “Speak a word to the Lord, and die,”18 chiding her and saying, “Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish women: if we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil”?19 And the second time also the devil spake concerning Job to the Lord, “Skin for skin, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Only put forth thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh: verily, he will curse thee to the face.”20 Howbeit, conquered by this champion of virtue, he was shown to be a liar: for though undergoing the most severe sufferings Job remained “not sinning with his lips before God.”21 And having undergone two wrestlings and conquered, Job did not sustain a third contest of this sort: for it must needs be that the threefold wrestling was reserved for the Saviour, such as is recorded in the three Gospels,2223 our Saviour as man being seen to have conquered the enemy three times.

Having carefully examined these words and given them our personal scrutiny in order that we may intelligently ask God that we “enter not into temptation”24 and that we be “delivered from the evil one”25 and having become worthy through hearing God of being heard by him: let us when tempted beseech him that we be not put to death, and when attacked by “the fiery darts of the evil one”26 that we be not set on fire by them. All they are set on fire by them whose hearts, according to one of the twelve [prophets], have become “like an oven.”27 But they are not set on fire who with “the shield of faith quench all the fiery darts”26 that are sent against them by “the evil one”25; so often as they have within themselves “rivers of water springing up unto eternal life,”28 which do not allow the dart of the evil one to prevail, but easily bring it to nought by the flood of inspired and saving thoughts, which are stamped by the contemplation of the truth upon the soul of him who trains himself to be spiritual.

Notes

  1. Luke 11:4.
  2. Matt. 6:13.
  3. XXX, 1. Luke . . . has virtually taught also “Deliver us from the evil one”] Because, as Origen has maintained (XXIX, 11), the prayer, “Bring us not into temptation,” really means, “May we not be encompassed or overcome by temptation.” It is unnecessary to labour the point that Origen takes τοῦ πονηροῦ as masculine, not neuter, since the whole chapter, and especially the quotations from Job and Eph. ch. 6, imply belief in a personal devil.
  4. Luke 11:1.
  5. Sc., by our Lord’s teaching.
  6. Cf. Eph. 6:11, 12.
  7. Ps. 34:19.
  8. II Cor. 4:8.
  9. XXX, 1. as never not “afflicted”] The phrase translated “afflicted on every side” in II Cor. 4:8 is literally “afflicted in every thing.”
  10. XXX, 1. by a customary Hebrew usage] The root of the Hebrew word translated “afflictions” in Ps. 34:19 means “evil,” “distress,” or “calamity.”
  11. XXX, 1. to be “straitened” is a matter of choice] This is questionable. The word in II Cor. 4:8 means: “not in hopeless straits,” “not in a situation from which there is no way out.” Here the question of choice does not seem to be involved, although Paul’s courage in adverse circumstances is manifest. But in II Cor. 6:12, “ye are straitened in your own affections,” Paul clearly attributes to the Corinthians something that they might have avoided.
  12. Ps. 4:1.
  13. XXX, 1. is termed enlargement] A good illustration of Origen’s words is to be found in Ps. 18:18, 19: “They came upon me in the day of my calamity: But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place (LXX, “into enlargement’).” Cf. also Ps. 118:5; 119:45.
  14. Job. 1:12.
  15. Cf. Job 1:22
  16. Job. 1:9–11.
  17. XXX, 2. “curse” God “to” his “face”] Job 2:9. But the word translated “curse” (Revised Version “renounce”) is in the LXX and the Hebrew “bless.” It must be supposed that the word “curse” stood originally in the Hebrew text, and was altered subsequently from motives of reverence, but in defiance of the sense of the passage, to “bless.”
  18. Job 2:9.
  19. Job 2:10.
  20. Job 2:4, 5.
  21. Job 2:10.
  22. Cf. Matt. 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13.
  23. XXX, 2. recorded in the three Gospels] A slip on the part of Origen. Mark does not record three temptations.
  24. Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 22:40.
  25. Matt. 6:13.
  26. Eph. 6:16.
  27. Hos. 7:6.
  28. John 7:38; 4:14.

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