Scripture’s well versus the leap of the water Jesus gives
We should also ask whether another kind of help — the help of those who have kept company with the truth itself — can be set apart from the help we think we get from the Scriptures even when they are read accurately. The sign is this: whoever drinks from Jacob’s spring thirsts again; whoever drinks the water Jesus gives has within him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.
Those who handle the Scriptures carefully and gather sound teaching from them drink from Jacob’s spring, as Jacob himself did, with his sons and his flocks. Those who twist the Scriptures and prop up ugly doctrines under the pretext of having understood them drink as the Samaritan woman drank before she believed in Jesus.
Greek
Ἔτι δὲ ἐπιστήσομεν εἰ δύναται δηλοῦσθαι τὸ ἑτερογενὲς τῆς τῶν αὐτῇ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὁμιλησάντων ὠφελείας παρὰ τὴν νομιζομένην ὠφέλειαν γίνεσθαι ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν, κἂν νοηθῶσιν ἀκριβῶς, ἐκ τοῦ τὸν μὲν πιόντα ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ διψῆν πάλιν, τὸν δὲ πιόντα ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ δίδωσιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πηγὴν ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀκριβοῦντες τὰς γραφὰς καὶ ὑγιαίνοντα δόγματα συνάγοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν πίνουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ πηγῆς, ὥσπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰακὼβ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ· οἱ δὲ παρεκδεχόμενοι τὰς γραφὰς καὶ δύσφημά τινα συνιστάντες προφάσει τοῦ νενοηκέναι αὐτὰς πίνουσιν ὡς ἡ πρὸ τοῦ πιστεῦσαι εἰς Ἰησοῦν Σαμαρεῖτις ἔπινεν.
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.