Preserving Scriptural Harmony: Origen on Jude 3 and συμφωνία in the Commentary on John

Moore, Nicholas J.

Abstract

Only one allusion to the phrase “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) survives from the early church, in Book 10 of Origen’s Commentary on John. This article establishes that Origen is offering a close paraphrase of this saying, and suggests that it appears as a slogan, possibly reflecting use by other Christians, in favour of overriding the implications of the spiritual reading of John 2.20–22. It shows how Origen’s interpretative procedures – distinguishing literal and spiritual senses, and invoking the key principle of Scripture’s internal harmony – interact and combine to resist this deployment of Jude 3. Although this requires Origen to admit some kind of “change of good things once given to the saints”, it constitutes an application and further elucidation of his careful exegetical method which, ultimately, “preserves the harmony of the narrative of the Scriptures”.

Citation

Moore, N. J. (2022). Preserving Scriptural Harmony: Origen on Jude 3 and συμφωνία in the Commentary on John. Vigiliae Christianae: A Review of Early Christian Life and Language, 76(1), 94-106. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10037

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Oct 7, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Deposit Date: Oct 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 29, 2021
• Journal: Vigiliae Christianae
• Print ISSN: 0042-6032
• Electronic ISSN: 1570-0720
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 94-106
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-bja10037