Jeremias 2
Origen of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Jeremias 2:21
God did not make "death, and he does not delight in the destruction of living things; for he created all things that they might exist, and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, and the dominion of hades is not on earth." Passing over, then, a little passage, I will ask, From where, then, did death come? "By the envy of the devil, death came into the world." If, then, there is something excellent in our regard, God has made it, but we have created evil and sins for ourselves. For the same reason, the beginning of the passage just read from the prophet speaks in a rhetorical sense to those who have bitterness in the soul contrary to the sweetness that God fashioned for it: "How have you turned to bitterness, you strange vine?" as if he was saying, God did not make lameness, but he has made all things swift of foot, yet what cause arose that has made the lame lame? And God has made all limbs absolutely sound, but what cause arose that makes things suffer? In the same way, the soul, not only of the first man but of all people, arose according to the image—for the statement "Let us make man according to our image and according to our likeness," applies to all people. — HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 2:1.1
Jeremias 2:21
Thus does Paul also boast that the observance of the law and the whole glory of the Jewish system was to him like garbage, so that he might be found in Christ, having not his own justification that was of the law, but the justification from God. In this sense, therefore, Paul did not keep his own vineyard—that is to say, he did not keep the Jews' tradition after he had received the faith of Christ. Perhaps the reason why he did not keep it was that, though it had been planted by God as a true vine, it had turned into the bitterness of a strange vine. "For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah … their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps." — COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:3
Jeremias 2:21-22
God did not make "death, and he does not delight in the destruction of living things; for he created all things that they might exist, and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, and the dominion of hades is not on earth." Passing over, then, a little passage, I will ask, From where, then, did death come? "By the envy of the devil, death came into the world." If, then, there is something excellent in our regard, God has made it, but we have created evil and sins for ourselves. For the same reason, the beginning of the passage just read from the prophet speaks in a rhetorical sense to those who have bitterness in the soul contrary to the sweetness that God fashioned for it: "How have you turned to bitterness, you strange vine?" as if he was saying, God did not make lameness, but he has made all things swift of foot, yet what cause arose that has made the lame lame? And God has made all limbs absolutely sound, but what cause arose that makes things suffer? In the same way, the soul, not only of the first man but of all people, arose according to the image—for the statement "Let us make man according to our image and according to our likeness," applies to all people. — HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 2:1.1
Jeremias 2:21-22
Let us attempt to discuss also a third exposition at the moral level. If there is anyone who, while evils are increasing and vices are overflowing, can turn from the things that are in flux and passing away and fallen and can hear the word of God and the heavenly precepts, this person is building an ark of salvation within his own heart and is dedicating a library, so to speak, of the divine word within himself. He is erecting faith, love and hope as its length, breadth and height. He stretches out faith in the Trinity to the length of life and immortality. He establishes the breadth of love with the compassion of gentleness and kindness. He raises the height of hope to heavenly and exalted places. For while he walks on the earth, he has his "citizenship in heaven." But he brings the sum of his acts back to one. For he knows that "all indeed run, but one receives the palm of victory," of course, being that one who was not changeable with a variety of thoughts and instability of mind. But he does not construct this library from planks that are unhewn and rough but from planks that have been squared and arranged in a uniform line, that is, not from the volumes of secular authors but from the prophetic and apostolic volumes. For these authors, who have been hewn by diverse temptations, all vices having been curtailed and excised, contain life that has been squared and set free in every part. For the authors of secular books can indeed be called "lofty trees" and "shady trees"—for Israel is accused of having fornicated "under every lofty and shady tree"—because they speak indeed in a lofty manner and use flowery eloquence; they have not, however, acted as they have spoken. They cannot, therefore, be called "squared planks" because life and speech will by no means be equal in them. — HOMILIES ON GENESIS 2:6
Jeremias 2:21-22
Thus does Paul also boast that the observance of the law and the whole glory of the Jewish system was to him like garbage, so that he might be found in Christ, having not his own justification that was of the law, but the justification from God. In this sense, therefore, Paul did not keep his own vineyard—that is to say, he did not keep the Jews' tradition after he had received the faith of Christ. Perhaps the reason why he did not keep it was that, though it had been planted by God as a true vine, it had turned into the bitterness of a strange vine. "For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah … their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps." — COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:3
Jeremias 2:21-22
The God who "brings forth the sun on the evil and the good" is a desert to no one. To no one is he who "rains on the just and unjust" ever a land made dry. How is he a desert, when he brings forth the day and causes the night to rest? How is he a desert, when he causes the land to bear fruit? How is he a desert, when he provides for each person in his soul so that it is endowed with reason, so that it can grasp knowledge and exercise its intelligence, and in the body so that it has healthy sense faculties? And so with respect to the way of what is universal, God is not a desert. — HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 3:2.1