On First Principles (De Principiis)

Summary

On First Principles is the first attempt by a Christian writer to set out the whole of the faith as an ordered system. Origen wrote it in Alexandria in the 220s, while he was head of the city's school for Christian instruction. The preface lists the points the apostles' teaching handed down clearly: one God, the Creator; Jesus Christ, born of the Father before all creatures, who became man, truly suffered, died and rose; the Holy Spirit, equal in honour; the soul's future reward or punishment; free will; the devil and his angels; the world's creation in time; and the inspiration of the Scriptures, which have a hidden as well as an obvious meaning. Where the apostles left matters open, Origen says, a careful thinker may inquire. Book I treats God as pure, bodiless mind, the Son as the Father's eternal Word and Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, and the rational beings God created, including angels. Book II discusses the world, the incarnation, the soul, the resurrection and the final judgment. Book III defends human free will at length and treats temptation, the opposing powers, and the end of the world, when God will be all in all. Book IV explains how to read the Bible: like a human being, Scripture has a body, a soul and a spirit, a literal sense for simple readers and deeper moral and spiritual senses for those who are growing. The Greek original is mostly lost. It survives chiefly in a Latin translation made by Rufinus in 398, who admitted smoothing passages he thought had been corrupted, and in Greek extracts preserved in the Philocalia. Several of Origen's bolder speculations here, such as the pre-existence of souls and the possible restoration of all rational beings, were later rejected by the church, and some were condemned in the sixth century. Origen himself often presents them as questions for discussion rather than settled doctrine.

Plot or Argument

• Preface

  The rule of faith handed down from the apostles, and the questions it leaves open for inquiry.

• Book I: God and rational beings

  God is incorporeal mind; the Son is the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father; the Holy Spirit; the fall of rational creatures and the orders of angels.

• Book II: The world, Christ and the soul

  The created world, the one God of both Testaments, the incarnation, the soul, the resurrection and judgment.

• Book III: Free will and the end

  A long defence of free will against readings of Scripture that seem to deny it; spiritual warfare, temptation and the consummation of all things.

• Book IV: Reading Scripture

  The divine inspiration of the Bible and its threefold sense, literal, moral and spiritual, followed by a summary of the whole doctrine.

Lessons

• Faith and inquiry

  Origen separates what he believes the apostles taught plainly from questions they left open, and invites careful inquiry into the latter. The method shows how a believer can think hard without abandoning a shared creed.

  • Which points does Origen treat as settled, and which as open?
  • Is it possible to explore freely while holding to fixed beliefs?

• Free will and responsibility

  Book III argues that praise, blame and judgment make sense only if people are truly free. Origen reads hard biblical passages, such as the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, in light of that conviction.

  • Why does Origen think free will is necessary for justice?
  • How does he handle verses that seem to say God controls human choices?

• Layers of meaning

  Origen compares Scripture to a person with body, soul and spirit and teaches readers to look beyond the literal sense. His approach influenced Christian interpretation for a thousand years.

  • What are the benefits and dangers of reading a text allegorically?
  • Can you think of a story that means more than its literal events?

• For the Christian reader

  Origen was a devoted teacher who suffered torture for his faith, yet some of his speculations were later judged mistaken. Reading him shows how the church tested ideas against Scripture and the rule of faith over centuries. Read it with 2 Timothy 3:16–17 and 1 Corinthians 2:6–10.

  • Why might the church honour Origen's scholarship while rejecting some of his conclusions?
  • How does his preface compare with the creeds you know?

Context

Alexandria in the early third century was a center of Greek learning, home to Platonist philosophers, a large Jewish community and rival Christian teachers, including Gnostic groups who taught that the material world was evil and that people were saved or lost by nature.

Composition

Origen wrote the four books in Greek in Alexandria, probably between about 220 and 230, before he moved to Caesarea. He aimed both to instruct educated Christians and to answer Gnostic teaching, especially on free will and on the goodness of the Creator.

Reception

The work provoked controversy within Origen's lifetime and long after. Rufinus's Latin translation of 398 set off a bitter quarrel over Origen's orthodoxy, and the Greek original was largely lost after Origenist teachings were condemned in the sixth century. The surviving text remains a foundational document of Christian theology.

Comparisons

• Against Celsus (Contra Celsum)

  Origen's other great work, written about twenty years later, defends the faith to outsiders instead of setting it out for believers.

• Against Heresies

  Irenaeus also answered the Gnostics a generation earlier, but by appealing to apostolic tradition rather than building a speculative system.

• On the Incarnation of the Word

  Athanasius, another Alexandrian, inherited Origen's teaching on the eternal Word but drew it in a more strictly Nicene direction.

• An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

  John of Damascus wrote the later standard Greek summary of doctrine, avoiding the speculations for which Origen was faulted.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The list of apostolic teachings in the Preface, and the questions Origen says remain open.
• How Origen describes God as incorporeal mind in Book I.
• The defence of free will in Book III, chapter 1.
• The body, soul and spirit of Scripture in Book IV.

Key terms and names

Rule of faith

The summary of core teaching handed down from the apostles, used as a test of interpretation.

Incorporeal

Having no body; Origen's description of God's nature.

Allegory

Reading a text for a deeper meaning beyond its literal sense.

Pre-existence of souls

Origen's speculation that souls existed before birth, later rejected by the church.

Apokatastasis

The restoration of all things, a hope Origen discussed and later councils condemned in its Origenist form.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What teachings does Origen say the apostles delivered plainly?
2. Comprehension What are the three senses of Scripture in Book IV?
3. Interpretation Why does Origen consider free will essential to the justice of God?
4. Interpretation Why might Origen offer some ideas as questions rather than doctrines?
5. Interpretation How does Origen use the Proverbs verse about describing things 'in a threefold manner' to support his method?
6. Big Question Where should the line fall between faithful inquiry and speculation?

Faith Connections

• 2 Timothy 3:16 (Scripture)

  'All scripture is given by inspiration of God': the conviction behind Book IV.

• 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 (Scripture)

  Paul's 'wisdom among them that are perfect', which Origen cites for the spiritual sense.

• Augustine, On Christian Doctrine (Great Conversation)

  A later Latin guide to interpreting Scripture that also weighs literal and figurative senses.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Starting from the apostolic rule of faith, reason can explore what the apostles left unsaid, and Scripture, inspired by God, carries deeper senses beneath its literal words.

Rhetorical device: analogy. Origen compares Scripture to a human being made of body, soul and spirit to explain its three levels of meaning.

Debate: Resolved: that allegorical interpretation does more to enrich than to distort a sacred text.

Memory Work

in order that the simple man may be edified by the "flesh," as it were, of the Scripture, for so we name the obvious sense

God, therefore, is not to be thought of as being either a body or as existing in a body, but as an uncompounded intellectual nature, admitting within Himself no addition of any kind

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Origen's threefold method of reading Scripture and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

Comparison with Against Heresies: Compare how Irenaeus and Origen respond to the Gnostic claim that the Creator of the world is not the highest God.

Creative Prompts

• Essay

  Using Origen's image of Scripture as body, soul and spirit, explain one familiar parable or fable at all three levels, then judge whether the deeper readings are fair to the story.

• Classroom

  Hold a short debate on Origen's claim in Book III that praise and blame make no sense without free will.

• Essay

  Write a letter from a third-century student to Origen asking about one of the open questions in his preface, and draft his likely reply.

Further Reading

• Origen Against Celsus, Origen

• The History of the Church, Eusebius

  Book VI is the main ancient account of Origen's life.