He who alone has immortality; life set before us
Origen went on: But if the soul comes to be in firmness of blessedness so as to be incapable of death, the one that has the eternal life is no longer mortal, but has become immortal according to this signification too.
How has it been said by the apostle, He who alone has immortality, of God? I am searching in order to find that Christ Jesus died for all apart from God. You have how God alone has immortality.
Let us take up the eternal life, then; let us take it up from what is in our power. God does not give it to us, but sets it before us: See, I have given life before your face. It is in our power to stretch out the hand, to act with good deeds, and to take the life and store it in the soul.
This life is Christ, who said, I am the life. This life which now is present to the righteous in a shadow, but then face to face. For the spirit before our face is Christ the Lord, of whom we said: In his shadow we shall live among the nations. If your shadow of the life grants such goods — such as Moses had when prophesying, such as Isaiah had when seeing the Lord Sabaoth sitting on a throne high and lifted up, such as Jeremiah had when hearing, Before I formed you in the belly I know you, and before I formed you in the belly I know you, and before you came out of the womb I consecrated you — such as Ezekiel had when seeing the cherubim, seeing the wheels, the unspeakable mysteries — how shall we live when we no longer live under the shadow of the life, but come to be in the life itself?
Greek
ἐν βεβαιώσει τῆς μακαριότητος ὥστε ἀνεπίδεκτος εἶναι τοῦ θανάτου, ἡ δὲ ἔχουσα τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν οὐκέτι ἐστὶν θνητή, ἀλλὰ γέγονεν καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον ἀθάνατος. Πῶς εἴρηται παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ «Ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν» ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ζητῶ ἵν' εὕρω ὅτι Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς «ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν χωρὶς Θεοῦ». Ἔχεις ὅπως μόνος ὁ Θεὸς ἔχει τὴν ἀθανασίαν. Ἀναλαμβάνωμεν οὖν τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν· ἀναλαμβάνωμεν ἐκ τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. Οὐ δίδωσιν αὐτὴν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός, ἀλλὰ παρατίθησιν· «Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα πρὸ προσώπου σου τὴν ζωήν.».
Ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἐκτεῖναι τὴν χεῖρα, πρᾶξαι πράξεσιν ἀγαθαῖς καὶ λαβεῖν τὴν ζωὴν καὶ ἐναποθέσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ. Αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ Χριστός ἐστιν εἰπών· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή», αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ ἣ νῦν μὲν δικαίοις πάρεστιν ἐν σκιᾷ, «τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον»· «Πνεῦμα» γὰρ «πρὸ προσώπου ἡμῶν Χριστὸς [Κύριος] οὗ εἴπωμεν· Ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ αὐτοῦ ζησόμεθα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν».
Εἰ τοσαῦτα ἀγαθὰ παρέχει ἡ σκιά σου τῆς ζωῆς, οἵαν εἶχεν Μωϋσῆς προφητεύων, ὁποίαν εἶχεν Ἡσαΐας βλέπων «τὸν Κύριον Σαβαὼθ καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου», ὁποίαν εἶχεν Ἱερεμίας ἀκούων «Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ, ἐπίσταμαί σε, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ, ἐπίσταμαί σε, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ