Origen’s “On First Principles” (Book II, 3.7)

Gary Pollard

[This is a continuing translation of Origen’s systematic theology in modern language]

We have described, to the best of our ability, the three main views about the end of all things and about humanity’s final state. Each reader should carefully decide for himself which (if any) of these possibilities should be accepted.¹ 

The first is the “future incorporeal existence” possibility. It could be that conscious beings will live without bodies entirely once all things have become subject to Christ and God the father (when God is “all in all”). 

Or, it may be that bodily nature itself will be joined to the purest spirits and changed into a celestial, radiant state. This would be when all things have been subjected to Christ and God, and when conscious beings will have become “one spirit” with God. This change would occur in proportion to the quality of each person, as the apostle said, “We will all be changed.” In this view, the body becomes shining and glorious and ethereal. 

Finally, it may be that the righteous will reach the stable place above the non-wandering sphere (the απλανης), the realm beyond the stars. This would be when the visible form of earth passes away, when all corruption is removed, and when we have left behind everything in the visible cosmos — including the planets. This region is described as “the good land,” “the land of the living,” and “the inheritance of the meek and gentle.” 

Above this land is the true sky, far greater and more beautiful, which surrounds our own sky. In this highest sky — and in its own earth — the end and perfection of all things may safely be placed. People who have been disciplined and purified may be granted a home in that land. This would fulfill the sayings, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” And, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of the heavens.” And then the psalm, “He will exalt you, and you will inherit the land.” 

Coming down to this present earth is called a “descent”. But entering that higher realm is called an “exaltation”. So, in this view, there appears to be some kind of road: the believer departs from this earth to those higher heavens. They don’t live forever in the “good land”, but stay there with the intention of progressing further until they ultimately receive the full inheritance of the kingdom of the heavens once they have reached the highest degree of perfection. 

¹ This entire passage has likely been heavily redacted and probably doesn’t reflect Origen’s views at all. 

1. Phrases like “supreme blessedness”, “fixed abode”, “pious and good”, etc. reflect Latin moral/legal thought, post-Nicene ascetic theology, and Rufinus’s personal vocabulary. Origen almost exclusively used words like λογος, νοητος, τοπος, θεωρια; he emphasized αποκατασταστις παντων (the restoration of all things), “movement” language like κινησις and νοερα φυσις, and an upgraded mind — not “purgation” or “discharging obligations” as this passage originally put it. 
2. The line, “After their apprehension and their chastisement for the offences…by way of purgation, having discharged every obligation” is not Origen. To him, purification came from intellectual correction, not “chastisements” or “obligations”. In Origen’s way of thinking, souls were purified through divine teaching through ages. 
3. The “good land” and two-tiered reward in this passage is not Origen. As stated in A, he believed in a gradual restoration of all things to God, resulting in re-integration into God (επιστροφη), when God is all-in-all. This section has suspiciously Latin, post-Nicene structure: the good land as a reward for purified believers, heaven as a higher reward for the “more perfect”, and the purged and meek inheriting the kingdom. Whether correct or not, it has little in common with Origen and much in common with a Latin moral hierarchy. 
4. This passage repeatedly emphasizes “inheritance of heaven”. Origen almost never used inheritance language, at least not as a final state. He spoke of restoration of conscious wills, an intellectual union with God, perpetual progress (επεκτασις), and the transformation of spiritual bodies. Today’s passage is reward-based and legally-framed. Very Latin, very Rufinus. 
5. This eschatological passage doesn’t even explicitly mention Origen’s beloved αποκαταστασις. His original Greek would almost certainly have tied the “final blessed state” to the restoration of all things. Rufinus did this many times in other similar passages. 
6. Finally, in the surviving Greek texts (mainly Contra Celsum, Commentary on John, and Commentary on Romans), Origen never used the Latin “purgation” language seen here. He never described “the good land” and “heaven” as separate eschatological places. He never talked about “discharging obligations”. He never created a multi-tier reward ladder. 

I’ve added this to today’s article because it’s important to understand that these historical texts can and have been interfered with. Don’t take my word for it — Origen scholars Crouzel, Daniélou, Torjesen, Heine, and Remelli have all noted that Books II & III of First Principles have been extensively re-written. This passage is just one example of the orthodox smoothing, moralizing, Latin eschatological redactions, and outright omissions of speculative cosmology that Rufinus was infamous for.