Which thirst Jesus means; deep words that leave the same aporia
We must also ask, in “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,” which thirst is meant. Taken bodily, the point is likely this: even if a drink fills you for the moment, as soon as it settles the same feeling returns — you thirst again, back where you began.
He adds, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will have in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” Who can still thirst while a spring is within him?
But the leading sense is this: the person who takes a share in deep words may rest for a little, accepting the deepest thoughts he draws up and thinks he has found; yet when he looks again he will raise fresh difficulties about the very points on which he rested, because the “depth” he supposed cannot give a clear, sharp grasp of what he seeks.
So even if someone is swept along and assents to the persuasiveness of what is said, later he finds in himself the same perplexity he had before he learned these things. My word, by contrast, is such that the spring of the life-giving drink arises in the one who receives what I announce; and the one who takes my water is helped so far that a spring welling up within him finds out everything sought.
Greek
Ζητητέον οὖν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τούτου τοῦ ὕδατος διψήσει πάλιν· ποῖον διψήσει λέγεται. πρῶτον ὡς ἐπὶ σωματικοῦ τάχα τὸ δηλούμενόν ἐστιν ὅτι κἂν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν κορεσθῇ, ἀλλ’ εὐθέως ὑποβιβασθέντος τοῦ ποτοῦ τὸ αὐτὸ πάθος πείσεται ὁ πιὼν, τουτέστι διψήσει πάλιν, εἰς ὅμοιον τῷ ἀρχῆθεν ἀποκαταστάς.
ἐπιφέρει δὲ τό· Ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, γενήσεται πηγὴ ἐν αὐτῷ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. τίς δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων πηγὴν διψῆσαι οἷός τε ἔσται;
τὸ μέντοι προηγουμένως δηλούμενον τοιοῦτον ἂν εἴη· ὁ μεταλαμβάνων, φησί, βάθους λόγων, κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀναπαύσηται παραδεξάμενος τὰ βαθύτατα τὰ ἀνιμώμενα καὶ εὑρίσκεσθαι δοκοῦντα νοήματα, ἀλλά γε πάλιν δεύτερον ἐπιστήσας ἐπαπορήσει περὶ τούτων ὅσοις ἐπανεπαύσατο, ἐπεὶ τρανὴν καὶ ἔκτυπον περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων κατάληψιν οὐ δύναται τὸ νομιζόμενον ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ βάθος παρασχεῖν.
διόπερ κἂν συναρπασθεὶς συγκαταθῆταί τις τῇ πιθανότητι τῶν λεγομένων, ἀλλά γε ὕστερον εὑρήσει τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπορίαν τυγχάνουσαν ἐν αὐτῷ, ἥνπερ εἶχεν πρὶν τάδε τινὰ μαθεῖν. ἐγὼ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἔχω λόγον, ὥστε τὴν πηγὴν τοῦ ζωτικοῦ πόματος γενέσθαι ἐν τῷ παραδεξαμένῳ τὰ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ ἀπαγγελλόμενα· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὁ λαβὼν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὕδατος εὐεργετηθήσεται, ὥστε πηγὴν εὑρετικὴν πάντων τῶν ζητουμένων ἀναβλύζειν ἐν αὐτῷ.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on John, Book 13 (later tomoi). Complete on this page: §§1–64.
English follows Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV (GCS 10, 1903). Heine FOTC was not used as wording. This page is Book 13 §§1–64 of the later books (13, 19, 20, 28, 32).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV = GCS 10 (1903) (Greek · Book 13 §§1–64)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.