Origen — On First Principles 4

24. This descent of the holy fathers into Egypt will appear as granted to this world by the providence of God for the illumination of others, and for the instruction of the human race , that so by this means the souls of others might be assisted in the work of enlightenment. For to them was first granted the privilege of converse with God , because theirs is the only race which is said to see God ; this being the meaning, by interpretation, of the word Israel . And now it follows that, agreeably to this view, ought the statement to be accepted and explained that Egypt was scourged with ten plagues, to allow the people of God to depart, or the account of what was done with the people in the wilderness, or of the building of the tabernacle by means of contributions from all the people, or of the wearing of the priestly robes, or of the vessels of the public service, because, as it is written, they truly contain within them the shadow and form of heavenly things. For Paul openly says of them, that they serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. There are, moreover, contained in this same law the precepts and institutions, according to which men are to live in the holy land. Threatenings also are held out as impending over those who shall transgress the law; different kinds of purifications are moreover prescribed for those who required purification, as being persons who were liable to frequent pollution, that by means of these they may arrive at last at that one…

25. We have to see, however, whether this deeper meaning may not perhaps be indicated, viz., that as in Deuteronomy the legislation is made known with greater clearness and distinctness than in those books which were first written, so also by that advent of the Saviour which He accomplished in His state of humiliation, when He assumed the form of a servant, that more celebrated and renowned second advent in the glory of His Father may not be pointed out, and in it the types of Deuteronomy may be fulfilled, when in the kingdom of heaven all the saints shall live according to the laws of the everlasting Gospel ; and as in His coming now He fulfilled that law which has a shadow of good things to come, so also by that (future) glorious advent will be fulfilled and brought to perfection the shadows of the present advent. For thus spoke the prophet regarding it: The breath of our countenance, Christ the Lord, to whom we said, that under Your shadow we shall live among the nations; at the time, viz., when He will more worthily transfer all the saints from a temporal to an everlasting Gospel , according to the designation, employed by John in the Apocalypse, of an everlasting Gospel .

26. But let it be sufficient for us in all these matters to adapt our understanding to the rule of religion, and so to think of the words of the Holy Spirit as not to deem the language the ornate composition of feeble human eloquence, but to hold, according to the scriptural statement, that all the glory of the King is within, and that the treasure of divine meaning is enclosed within the frail vessel of the common letter. And if any curious reader were still to ask an explanation of individual points, let him come and hear, along with ourselves, how the Apostle Paul , seeking to penetrate by help of the Holy Spirit , who searches even the deep things of God , into the depths of divine wisdom and knowledge , and yet, unable to reach the end, so to speak, and to come to a thorough knowledge , exclaims in despair and amazement, Oh the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God! Now, that it was from despair of attaining a perfect understanding that he uttered this exclamation, listen to his own words: How unsearchable are God's judgments! And His ways, how past finding out! For he did not say that God's judgments were difficult to discover, but that they were altogether inscrutable; nor that it was (simply) difficult to trace out His ways, but that they were altogether past finding out. For however far a man may advance in his investigations, and how great soever the progress that he may make by unremitting study, assisted even by the grace of God , and with his…

27. Let every one, then, who cares for truth , be little concerned about words and language, seeing that in every nation there prevails a different usage of speech; but let him rather direct his attention to the meaning conveyed by the words, than to the nature of the words that convey the meaning, especially in matters of such importance and difficulty: as, e.g., when it is an object of investigation whether there is any substance in which neither color, nor form, nor touch, nor magnitude is to be understood as existing visible to the mind alone, which any one names as he pleases; for the Greeks call such ἀσώματον , i.e., incorporeal, while holy Scripture declares it to be invisible, for Paul calls Christ the image of the invisible God , and says again, that by Christ were created all things visible and invisible. And by this it is declared that there are, among created things, certain substances that are, according to their peculiar nature, invisible. But although these are not themselves corporeal, they nevertheless make use of bodies, while they are themselves better than any bodily substances. But that substance of the Trinity which is the beginning and cause of all things, from which are all things, and through which are all things, and in which are all things, cannot be believed to be either a body or in a body, but is altogether incorporeal. And now let it suffice to have spoken briefly on these points (although in a digression, caused by the nature of the subject),…