Homilies on Genesis — Homily 1
Latin source: Origen, In Genesim homiliae (Rufinus's Latin translation), from the public-domain critical text of W. A. Baehrens, GCS 29 = Origenes Werke VI (Leipzig, 1920). This English translation is released into the public domain.On the beginning of Genesis.
[§1] "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." What is the beginning of all things except our Lord and "the Savior of all," Jesus Christ, "the firstborn of all creation"? In this beginning, then, that is, in his Word, "God made heaven and earth," just as the Evangelist John also says at the beginning of his Gospel, declaring: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made." Here, then, he does not speak of some temporal beginning, but he says that "in the beginning," that is, in the Savior, heaven and earth and all things that were made were made. "But the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters." "The earth was invisible and unformed" before God said, "Let there be light," and before "he divided between the light and the darkness," according to what the order of the account declares. But since in what follows he commands the firmament to be made and calls this heaven, when we come to that very passage, there the reasoning for the difference between heaven and firmament will be stated, why the firmament too was called heaven. But now he says: "Darkness was over the abyss." What is "the abyss"? That one, surely, in which "the devil and his angels" will be. Indeed, this is most clearly indicated in the Gospel as well, when it is said of the Savior: "And the demons, which he was casting out, begged him not to command them to go into the abyss." Therefore God dissolved the darkness, as Scripture says: "And God said: Let there be light, and light was made. And God saw the light, that it is good; and God divided between the midst of the light and the midst of the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day." According to the letter, God calls both the light day and the darkness night. But according to the spiritual understanding let us see what it is that, although God in that beginning of which we spoke above "made heaven and earth," also said that "light should be made," and "divided between the midst of the light and the darkness, and called the light day, and the darkness night," and said that "there was evening, and there was morning," he did not say: the first day, but he said: "one day." Because time did not yet exist, before the world existed. But time begins to exist from the days that follow. For the second day and the third and the fourth and all the rest begin to designate time.[§2] "And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be dividing between the midst of water and water. And it was made so. And God made the firmament." Since God had already before made heaven, now he makes the firmament. For he made heaven first, of which he says: "Heaven is my seat." But after that he makes the firmament, that is, the corporeal heaven. For every body is without doubt firm and solid; and this is what "divides between the water which is above heaven and the water which is below heaven." For since all the things that God was going to make consisted of spirit and body, for this reason "in the beginning" and before all things heaven is said to have been made, that is, every spiritual substance, upon which, as upon a kind of throne and seat, God rests. But that heaven, that is, the firmament, is corporeal. And therefore that first heaven, which we called spiritual, is our mind, which is itself also spirit, that is, our spiritual man who sees and beholds God. But that corporeal heaven, which is called the firmament, is our exterior man, who beholds bodily. Just as, then, the firmament was called heaven from the fact that it divides between those waters which are above it and those which are below it, so also the man who is placed in the body, if he is able to divide and discern which are the waters that are higher "above the firmament" and which are those that are "below the firmament," will himself also be called heaven, that is, a heavenly man, according to the sentence of the Apostle Paul who says: "But our citizenship is in heaven." Thus, then, the very words of Scripture continue: "And God made the firmament, and divided between the midst of the water which is below the firmament, and the midst of the water which is above the firmament. And God called the firmament heaven. And God saw that it is good; and there was evening, and there was morning, the second day." Let each one of you, then, strive to become a divider of that water which is above and which is below, so that, namely, receiving the understanding and participation of the spiritual water which "is above the firmament," he may bring forth "from his belly rivers" of "living water" "leaping up into eternal life," being without doubt set apart and separated from that water which is below, that is, the water of the abyss, in which darkness is said to be, in which "the prince of this world" and the adversary "the dragon and his angels" dwell, as was indicated above. By participation, then, in that upper water, which is said to be above the heavens, each of the faithful is made heavenly, that is, when he holds his mind on lofty and exalted things, thinking nothing of earth but everything of heavenly things, seeking "the things that are above," where Christ is at the right hand of the Father. For then he too will be held worthy by God of that praise which is here written, when it says: "And God saw that it was good." Indeed, the things too which are described in what follows about the third day agree with this same understanding. For it says: "And God said: Let the water which is below heaven be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear. And it was so." Let us, then, labor to gather "the water which is below heaven," and to cast it away from us, so that, when this has been done, "the dry land" may appear, which are our works done in the flesh, "so that, namely, men seeing our good works may glorify our Father who is in heaven." For if we do not separate from ourselves those waters which are below heaven, that is, the sins and vices of our body, our dry land will not be able to appear nor to have confidence to come forth into the light. "For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that *** his works may be made manifest, and it may be seen whether they are done in God." This confidence surely will not otherwise be given, unless we cast away as it were the waters from ourselves and set apart the vices of the body, which are the matter of sins. When this is done, our dry land will no longer remain "dry," as is shown from what follows. For it says: "And the water which is below heaven was gathered into its gatherings, and the dry land appeared. And God called the dry land earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called seas." Just as, then, this dry land, when the water was separated from it, as we said above, no longer remained "dry," but is now named "earth," in this way also our bodies, if this separation from those waters be made, will no longer remain "dry," but will be called "earth" from the fact that they will now be able to bear fruit to God. For "in the beginning God made heaven and earth," but afterward he made "the firmament" and "the dry land"; and "the firmament" indeed he "called heaven," granting to it the name of that heaven which he had created before, but "the dry land" he called "earth" for the reason that he bestowed on it the capacity of bearing fruits. If, then, anyone by his own fault still remains dry and bears no fruit, but "thorns and thistles," carrying as it were fuel for fire, according to the things which he has brought forth from himself, he too is made "fuel for fire." But if by his own zeal and diligence, the waters of the abyss having been separated from himself, which are the senses of demons, he has shown himself to be fruitful earth, he ought to hope for like things, that he too may be led by God into "the land flowing with milk and honey."
[§3] But let us see from what follows what are the fruits which God commands that earth to produce to which he himself granted this name. "And God saw," it says, "that it is good, and God said: Let the earth bring forth the grass of hay sowing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-bearing tree making fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its likeness upon the earth. And it was made so." According to the letter, the fruits are evident which the "earth" that is not "dry" produces. But again let us refer this also to ourselves. If we have now become "earth," if we are no longer "dry," let us bear abundant and varied fruits to God, so that we too may be blessed by the Father who says: "Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed," and so that what the Apostle says may be fulfilled in us: "For the earth which receives the rain that frequently comes upon it, and brings forth grass suitable for those by whom it is cultivated, will receive blessings from God. But that which brings forth thorns and thistles is rejected and near to a curse, whose end is in burning."
[§4] "And the earth brought forth the grass of hay sowing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-bearing tree making fruit, whose seed is in itself making fruit according to its kind upon the earth. And God saw that it is good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day." He commands the earth not only to bring forth "the grass of hay," but also to bring forth "seed," so that it may always be able to bear fruit. And he commands not only "the fruit-bearing tree," but also that which "makes fruit whose seed is in itself, according to its kind," that is, so that it may always be able to bear fruit from these seeds which it has in itself. And we too, then, ought thus both to bear fruit as fruit and to have seeds in our very selves, that is, to contain in our heart the seeds of all good works and of all virtues, so that, having these fixed in our minds, we may from them now carry out according to justice all the acts which come upon us. For these are the fruits of that seed, our acts, which are brought forth "from the good treasure of our heart." But if we indeed hear "the word" and from the hearing "immediately" our earth produces grass, and this grass, before it comes to maturity or to fruit, "withers," our earth will be called "rocky." But if the things that are said rest on deeper roots in our heart, so that they both "bear fruit" of works and have in themselves the seeds of future ones, then truly the earth of each one of us bears fruit according to its power, one "a hundredfold," another "sixtyfold," another "thirtyfold." But we have thought it necessary to give this warning also, that our fruit nowhere have "tares," that is, nowhere have "darnel," so that it may not be "along the way," but may be sown in the very way, in that which says: "I am the way," so that "the birds of heaven" may not eat our fruits nor our vineyard. Yet if any of us has deserved to be a vineyard, let him see that he does not bear "thorns" instead of grapes; and on account of this it will then "neither be pruned, nor dug, nor committed to the clouds that they should rain rain upon it," but on the contrary it will be left "deserted," so that "thorns" may grow up upon it.
[§5] But after these things the firmament now deserves to be adorned also with luminaries. For God says: "Let there be luminaries in the firmament of heaven, that they may give light upon the earth, and divide between day and night." Just as in that firmament, which had now been called heaven, God commands luminaries to be made, that "they may divide between the midst of day and night," so also it can be done in us, if only we too strive both to be called and to be made heaven; we shall have luminaries in us which enlighten us, Christ and his Church. For he himself is "the light of the world," who also enlightens the Church with his light. For just as the moon is said to receive light from the sun, so that through it even the night can be enlightened, so also the Church, having received the light of Christ, enlightens all who dwell in the night of ignorance. But if anyone advances in this so that he now becomes "a son of God," "so as to walk honorably as in the day," as "a son of the day and a son of light": this one is enlightened by Christ himself, as the day by the sun.
[§6] "And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years; and let them be for giving light in the firmament of heaven, that they may give light upon the earth. And it was made so." Just as these luminaries of heaven which we see are set "for signs and for seasons and days and years," that they may give light from the firmament of heaven to those who are upon the earth, in this way also Christ, enlightening his Church, gives signs through his precepts, so that one may know how, having received the sign, he may flee "from the wrath to come," so that "that day may not seize him like a thief," but that he may rather be able to attain to "the acceptable year of the Lord." Christ, then, is "the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world," from whose light the Church, being enlightened, is itself also made "the light of the world," enlightening those "who are in darkness," as Christ himself also testifies to his disciples, saying: "You are the light of the world." From which it is shown that Christ indeed is the light of the Apostles, but the Apostles are "the light of the world." For they themselves are "having no stain or wrinkle or anything of the kind," the true Church, as the Apostle also says: "That he might present to himself a glorious Church having no stain or wrinkle or anything of the kind."
[§7] "And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary for the rule of the day, and the lesser luminary for the rule of the night, and the stars. And God set them in the firmament of heaven, that they may give light upon the earth, and have power over the day and the night, and divide between the midst of the light and the midst of the darkness. And God saw that it is good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day." Just as the sun and moon are said to be the great luminaries in the firmament of heaven, so also in us are Christ and the Church. But since God also set stars in the firmament, let us see which are the stars also in us, that is, in the heaven of our heart. Moses is a star in us, which shines and enlightens us by his acts. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and David and Daniel and all to whom Holy Scripture has given testimony that they pleased God. For just as "star differs from star in glory," so also each one of the saints, according to his greatness, pours his light into us. And just as the sun and moon enlighten our bodies, so also our minds are enlightened by Christ and the Church. Yet we are enlightened thus, if we are not blind in our minds. For just as the sun and moon, although they shine upon those who are blind in bodily eyes, yet those cannot receive the light, so also Christ furnishes his light to our minds; but he will then enlighten us only if in no way blindness of mind hinders. And even if this should happen, first it behooves those who are blind to follow Christ, saying and crying out: "Have mercy on us, son of David," so that, receiving also their sight from him, they may thereafter be able to be irradiated by the splendor of his light too. But not all who see are equally enlightened by Christ, but each is enlightened according to that measure by which he is able to receive the force of the light. And just as the eyes of our body are not equally enlightened by the sun, but the higher one ascends into lofty places and beholds its rising by the gazing of a more elevated watchtower, so much the more will he receive both of its splendor and its heat; so also our mind, the more loftily and highly it approaches Christ and presents itself nearer to the splendor of his light, so much the more magnificently and clearly will it be irradiated by his light, as he himself also says through the prophet: "Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you, says the Lord." And again he says: "I am a God drawing near, and not a God from afar." Yet we do not all come to him in the same way, but each one "according to his own power." For either we come to him with the crowds, and he refreshes us through parables only to this end, that we may not faint from much fasting "on the way"; or else we sit always and unceasingly at his feet, being free for this alone, that we may hear "his word," in no way troubled "about much serving," but choosing "the best part, which shall not be taken away" from us. And surely those who thus approach him obtain much more from his light. But if, like the Apostles, we are never at all moved away from him, but always remain with him in all his tribulations, then he expounds to us in secret the things which he had spoken to the crowds and "dissolves" them, and enlightens us much more clearly. But if anyone is even such that he can also ascend into the mountain with him, like Peter and James and John, this one will be enlightened not only by the light of Christ, but also by the voice of the Father himself.
[§8] "And God said: Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls and flying things flying over the earth according to the firmament of heaven. And it was made so." According to the letter, by the command of God there are brought forth from the waters "creeping things" and "flying things," and we know by whom these things which we see were made. But let us see how, according to our own firmament of heaven, that is, the solidity of our mind or heart, these same things come to be. I think that, if our mind has been enlightened by our sun, Christ, it is afterward commanded to bring forth from the waters which are in it "creeping things" and "flying things flying," that is, to bring forth into the open good or evil thoughts, so that a distinction may be made of the good from the evil, both of which surely proceed from the heart. For from our heart, as from waters, there are brought forth both good thoughts and evil ones. But let us by the word and precept of God bring forth both into the sight and judgment of God, so that with his enlightenment we may be able to discern from the good what is evil, that is, so that we may separate from ourselves the things that creep upon the earth and carry earthly cares; but the things that are better, that is, "the flying things," let us allow to fly not only "over the earth," but also "according to the firmament of heaven"; that is, so that we may treat within ourselves the meaning and reason both of earthly and of heavenly things, and may also be able to understand which in us are harmful among the creeping things. If we look "upon a woman to lust after her," that is in us a venomous reptile; but if there is in us the sense of sobriety, even if the Egyptian mistress falls in love with us, we are made birds and, leaving the Egyptian garments in her hands, we shall fly away from the obscene snares. If there is in us a sense provoking us to steal, that is a most wicked reptile; but if there is in us a sense that, even if we have "two mites," we may offer these very things out of mercy "into the gifts of God," this sense is a bird, thinking nothing of earthly things, but tending by its flights to the firmament of heaven. If there comes to us a sense persuading us that we ought not to endure the torments of martyrdom, that will be a venomous reptile; but if there ascends in us such a sense and thought that we should strive even unto death for the truth, this will be a bird striving from earthly things to the things above. Similarly also concerning the other kinds either of sins or of virtues one must judge and discern which are "creeping things" and which are "flying things," which our waters are commanded to bring forth for discernment in the sight of God.
[§9] "And God made the great whales, and every soul of the creeping animals which the waters brought forth according to their kind, and every winged flying thing according to its kind." And concerning these too, as concerning those which we spoke of above, one must judge that we ought to bring forth also "the great whales" and "the soul of the creeping things according to their kind." By these great whales I think there are indicated impious thoughts and any wicked senses against God. All of which nevertheless must be brought forth before the sight of God and placed before him, so that we may divide and separate the good from the evil, so that to each its own place may be assigned by the Lord, as is shown from the things that follow.
[§10] "And God saw that they are good, and blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters which are in the sea, and let the flying things be multiplied over the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day." In the sea indeed he commands "the great whales" and "every soul of the creeping animals which the waters brought forth" to dwell, where "that dragon too, whom God formed to mock them," inhabits. But the birds he commands to be multiplied over the earth, which once was "dry," but now is already called "earth," as we explained above. But someone asks how the great whales and the creeping things are taken in an evil sense and the flying things in a good sense, when it was said of all together: "And God saw that they are good"? To the saints themselves those things are good which are opposed to them, because they can conquer them, and, when they have conquered them, they are made of greater glory before God. Indeed, when the devil had asked that power be given him against Job, the adversary, assailing him, became for him the cause of a double glory after victory. This is shown from the fact that the things which he had lost in the present he received in double, being about to receive them in like manner also, without doubt, in the heavenly things. And the Apostle says that "no one is crowned unless he has striven lawfully." And indeed how will there be a contest, if there is no one who resists? How great is the beauty and splendor of light would not be discerned, unless the obscurity of night came between. Whence are some praised for chastity, unless because others are condemned for unchastity? Whence are brave men magnified, unless there existed the unwarlike and the timid? If you apply something bitter, then the sweet becomes more praiseworthy. If you consider the black, the things that are bright will seem more pleasing to you. And to say it briefly, from the consideration of evils the beauty of good things is shown more brightly. Therefore, then, concerning all these things Scripture says: "And God saw that they are good." Yet why is it not written: And God said that they are good, but: "God saw that they are good"? That is, he saw their usefulness and that reason by which, although they were in themselves such, they could nevertheless make good men best. Therefore, then, he said: "Increase and multiply, and fill the waters which are in the sea, and let the flying things be multiplied over the earth," that is, so that the great whales indeed and the creeping things should be in the sea, as we explained above, and the flying things over the earth.
[§11] "And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind, four-footed things and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind. And it was made so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind, and all the creeping things of the earth according to their kind. And God saw that they are good." According to the letter indeed there is no question. For it is plainly said that either the animals or the four-footed things or the beasts or the serpents upon the earth were created by God. But to fit these to the things which we explained above, according to the spiritual understanding, is not an idle matter. There indeed it was said: "Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls and flying things flying over the earth according to the firmament of heaven," but here it says: "Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind, four-footed things and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind." And those things indeed which were brought forth from the waters, we said, ought to be understood as the movements and thoughts of our mind, which are brought forth from the depth of the heart. But now this which is said: "Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind, of the four-footed things and creeping things and beasts upon the earth according to their kind," I think indicates the movements of our exterior man, that is, of the carnal and earthly man. Indeed he indicated nothing flying among those things which he speaks of concerning the flesh, but only "four-footed things" and "creeping things" and "beasts of the earth." According indeed to that which was said by the Apostle, that "there dwells no good in my flesh" and that "the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God," these surely are the things which the earth, that is, our flesh, brings forth, concerning which the Apostle again instructs, saying: "Mortify your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, unchastity, avarice, idolatry," and the rest. When, therefore, all these things which are seen came to be by the command of God through his Word, and this immense visible world was being prepared, and at the same time it was being shown through the figure of allegory what the things were that could adorn the lesser world, that is, man, then man himself is now created according to the things which are declared in what follows.
[§12] "And God said: Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let him hold rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the animals and all the earth and all the things that creep upon the earth." Consequently, according to the things which we explained above, he wills such a man as we have described to hold rule over the aforesaid beasts and birds and creeping things and four-footed things and all the rest. How these ought to be understood through allegory we have explained, when we said that the water, that is, his mind, is commanded to bring forth the spiritual sense and the earth to bring forth the sense of the flesh, so that the mind may rule over them and they may not rule over it. For God wills that this great "handiwork" of God, man, for whose sake also the whole world was created, be not only unstained by those things which we spoke of above, and immune from them, but also that he rule over them. But now let us consider from the very words of Scripture what kind of animal man is. All the other creatures come to be by the command of God, as Scripture says: "And God said: Let there be a firmament," "And God said: Let the water which is below heaven be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear," "And God said: Let the earth bring forth the grass of hay." So also in the rest he speaks. But let us see which are the things that God himself made, and through these let us observe how great the greatness of man is. "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." Similarly he says: "And he made two great luminaries," and now again: "Let us make man." In these alone the handiwork of God himself is ascribed, but in no others; but only heaven and earth, sun and moon and stars, and now man were made by God, but all the rest are said to have been made by his command. From this, then, consider how great is the greatness of man, who is made equal to such great and such preeminent elements, who has the honor of heaven, on account of which "the kingdom of heaven" too is promised to him. He has also the honor of earth, since indeed he hopes to enter into the good land and "the land of the living flowing with milk and honey." He has the honor of the sun and moon, having the promise that he will shine "like the sun in the kingdom of God."
[§13] This indeed I see as even more eminent in the condition of man, which I do not find said elsewhere: "And God made man, according to the image of God he made him." Which we find ascribed neither to heaven nor to earth nor to the sun or moon. This man, surely, whom he says was made "according to the image of God," we do not understand to be corporeal. For the fashioning of the body does not contain the image of God, nor is the corporeal man said to have been made, but formed, as is written in what follows. For it says: "And God formed man," that is, molded him "from the mud of the earth." But he who was made "according to the image of God" is our interior man, invisible and incorporeal and incorrupt and immortal. For in such things as these the image of God is more rightly understood. But if anyone thinks that he who was made "according to the image and likeness of God" is corporeal, he seems to introduce God himself as corporeal and of human form; which to think concerning God is most manifestly impious. Indeed these carnal men, who are ignorant of the understanding of divinity, if anywhere in the Scriptures they read concerning God that "heaven is my seat, but the earth is the footstool of my feet," suspect that God is of so huge a body that they think he, sitting in heaven, stretches out his feet all the way to the earth. But they think this because they do not have those ears which can worthily hear the words of God concerning God which are reported through Scripture. For that which says: "Heaven is my seat," is thus worthily understood concerning God, so that we may know that in those whose "citizenship is in heaven" God rests and resides. But in those who still bear an earthly purpose, the last part of his providence is found, which is figuratively indicated in the appellation of feet. If any of these perhaps take up zeal and desire to be made heavenly by the perfection of life and the height of understanding, they too are made seats of God, having first become heavenly through their warfare and manner of life; who also say: "He raised us up with Christ, and made us sit together in the heavenly places." But those too whose "treasure is in heaven" can be called heavenly and seats of God, since "there is their heart, where their treasure is." And God not only rests upon them, but also dwells in them. But if anyone can become so great that he can say: "Or do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ?", in this one God not only dwells, but also walks about. And therefore all the perfect, having become heavenly or made heavens, "declare the glory of God," as it says in the Psalm. Indeed for this reason the Apostles too, who were heavens, are sent to declare the glory of God, and receive the name "Boanerges," "which is sons of thunder," so that through the power of thunder we may believe that they are truly heavens. "God made," then, "man, according to the image of God he made him." It behooves us to see what this image of God is, and to inquire to the likeness of whose image man was made. For he did not say: God made man according to his own image or likeness: but: "according to the image of God he made him." What, then, is that other image of God, to the likeness of whose image man was made, except our Savior? who is "the firstborn of all creation"; concerning whom it is written that he is "the splendor of eternal light, and the express figure of the substance of God"; who also himself says concerning himself: "I in the Father, and the Father in me," and "He who has seen me has seen the Father also." For just as he who has seen someone's image sees him whose image it is, so also through "the Word of God," which is the image of God, one sees God. And thus it will be true, which he said: "He who has seen me has seen the Father also." To the likeness of this image, then, man was made, and therefore our Savior, who is the image of God, moved with mercy for man, who had been made to his likeness, seeing him, his own image having been laid aside, to have put on the image of the evil one, himself moved with mercy, having assumed the image of man, came to him, as the Apostle also testifies, saying: "Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being found in habit as a man, he humbled himself even unto death." Whoever, therefore, come to him and strive to be made partakers of the rational image, through their progress "are renewed daily according to the interior man" to the image of him who made them; so that they can be made "conformed to the body of his brightness," but each one according to his powers. The Apostles reshaped themselves to his likeness so much that he himself said of them: "I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and to your God." For he had already asked the Father for his disciples, that the former likeness might be restored to them, when he says: "Father, grant that, as I and you are one, so these too may be one in us." Let us therefore always gaze upon this image of God, so that we may be able to be reshaped to his likeness. For if man, made according to the image of God, contrary to nature, gazing upon the image of the devil, was made like him through sin, much more, gazing upon the image of God, to whose likeness he was made by God, he will receive through the Word and through his power that form which had been given him by nature. And let no one, seeing his likeness to be more with the devil than with God, despair that he can again recover the form of the image of God, because the Savior did not come "to call the just, but sinners to repentance." Matthew was a tax collector, and surely his image was like the devil, but coming to the image of God, our Lord and Savior, and following it, he was transformed to the likeness of the image of God. "James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother," "were fishermen" and "men without letters," who surely then bore a likeness rather to the image of the devil, but these too, following the image of God, were made like him, as also the other Apostles. Paul was a persecutor of that very image of God; but as soon as he was able to behold its beauty and comeliness, having seen it he was so far reshaped to its likeness that he said: "Or do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ?"
[§14] "Male and female he made them, and God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it." It seems worthy in this place to inquire according to the letter how, the woman not yet having been made, Scripture says: "Male and female he made them." Perhaps, as I think, on account of the blessing with which he blessed them, saying: "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth," anticipating what was going to be, he says: "Male and female he made them," since indeed man could not otherwise increase and multiply except with the woman. Therefore, so that his blessing might without doubt be believed to be about to be, he says: "Male and female he made them." For in this way man, seeing that the consequence of increasing and multiplying was from the fact that a woman was joined to him, could bear a more certain hope in the divine blessing. For if Scripture had said: "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it," without adding this, that "male and female he made them," surely he would have proved incredulous of the divine blessing, just as Mary too, at that blessing with which she was blessed by the angel, said: "How shall I know this? since I do not know a man." Or perhaps because all things that were made by God are said to be joined and fitted together, as heaven and earth, as sun and moon: so, then, that it might be shown that man too is the work of God and was not brought forth without harmony or fitting conjunction, therefore anticipating he says: "Male and female he made them." These things indeed have been said to that question which can be raised according to the letter.
[§15] But let us also see through allegory how man, made according to the image of God, is male and female. Our interior man consists of spirit and soul. The spirit is called male, the soul can be named female. If these have concord and agreement between themselves, being in harmony with each other, they increase and multiply and beget sons, good senses and useful understandings or thoughts, through which they fill the earth and have dominion over it; that is, they convert the sense of the flesh, subjected to them, to better instituted ways and rule over it, namely when the flesh in no way grows insolent against the will of the spirit. But now if the soul, joined to the spirit and coupled, so to speak, in its marriage, sometimes turns aside to bodily pleasures and inclines its sense to the delight of the flesh, and sometimes indeed seems to obey the salutary admonitions of the spirit, but sometimes yields to carnal vices, such a soul, as though stained by the adultery of the body, is said neither to increase nor to multiply lawfully, since indeed Scripture designates the sons of adulterers as imperfect. For such a soul, which, having deserted the conjunction of the spirit, prostrates itself wholly to the sense of the flesh and to bodily desires, as though turned away from God will impudently hear that "you have made yourself the face of a harlot, you have become without shame toward all." Therefore as a harlot she will be punished, and her sons are commanded to be prepared for slaughter.
[§16] "And have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the beasts of burden and all the things that are upon the earth, and the creeping things which creep upon the earth." These things have already been interpreted according to the letter, when we spoke of what God said: "Let us make man," and the rest, where he says: "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven," and so on. Yet according to allegory, in the fish and the flying things or the animals and the creeping things of the earth there seem to me to be indicated those things concerning which we spoke nonetheless above, that is, either those which proceed from the sense of the soul and the thought of the heart, or those which are brought forth from bodily desires and the movements of the flesh; of which all the saints, keeping also the blessing of God in themselves, exercise dominion, driving the whole man according to the will of the spirit; but over sinners those things rather have dominion which are brought forth from the vices of the flesh and the pleasures of the body.
[§17] "And God said: Behold, I have given you all the seed-bearing hay which sows seed, which is over all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed-bearing seed, it shall be to you for food, and to all the beasts of the earth and to all the birds of heaven, and to all the creeping things which creep upon the earth, which have in themselves the soul of life." The history of this passage plainly indicates that the use of foods was first permitted by God from herbs, that is, vegetables and the fruits of trees. But afterward, when the testament was made to Noah after the flood, the faculty of eating flesh is given to men. For which reasons indeed it will be more rightly explained in their proper places. Yet according to allegory the herb of the earth and its fruit, which is granted to men for food, can be understood of the bodily affections; for example, anger and concupiscence are a shoot of the body. The fruit of this shoot, that is, the work, is common to us rational beings and to the beasts of the earth. For when we are angry toward justice, that is, toward the correction of the offender and the amendment of his salvation, we feed on this fruit of the earth, and our food becomes bodily anger, through which we repress sin, we restore justice. And lest we seem to you to bring these things forth rather from our own understanding than from the authority of divine Scripture, return to the book of Numbers and recall what Phinehas the priest did, who, when he had seen a harlot of the Midianite nation clinging in impure embraces with an Israelite man before the eyes of all, filled with the anger of divine zeal, seized a sword and drove it through the breast of both. Which work was reckoned to him by God unto justice, the Lord saying: "Phinehas has assuaged my fury, and it shall be reckoned to him unto justice." This earthly food of anger, then, becomes our food, when we use it rationally unto justice. But if anger is exercised irrationally, so as to punish the innocent, so as to boil over against those who commit no offense, this will be the food of the beasts of the field and of the serpents of the earth and of the birds of heaven. For with these foods the demons too are nourished, who are both fed by our evil acts and favor them. For the token of this work is Cain, who deceived his innocent brother through the anger of envy. Similarly also concerning concupiscence and concerning each of the affections of this kind one must judge. For when "our soul concupisces and faints for the living God," concupiscence is our food. But when we either look upon another's wife to lust after her or covet some of the things of our "neighbor," concupiscence is made a bestial food; as concupiscence can be exemplified by Ahab and the deed of Jezebel concerning the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Surely the caution of Holy Scripture must be observed also in the reasoning of its words, which, when it had said concerning men that God said: "Behold, I have given you all the seed-bearing seed which is upon the earth, and every tree which is upon the earth, it shall be to you for food," concerning the beasts did not say: that I have given them all these things for food, but: "it shall be to them for food," so that, according to the spiritual reasoning which we have explained, these affections may be understood to have been given by God to man indeed, yet foretold by God that they will also be for food to the beasts of the earth. Therefore, then, divine Scripture used most cautious language, which to men indeed says that God says: "I have given you these things for food," but where it comes to the beasts, it speaks not with the signification of one commanding, but as of one foretelling, that these things will also be for food to the beasts and the birds and the serpents. But let us, according to the sentence of the Apostle Paul, attend to the reading, so that we may be able, as he himself says, to receive "the mind of Christ" and to know "the things that have been given us by God," and that the things which have been given us for food we may not make the foods of swine or dogs, but may prepare them in ourselves as such things by which it may be worthy for the Word and Son of God to be received in the lodging of our heart, coming with his Father and willing to make a dwelling with us in the Holy Spirit, whose temple through holiness we ought first to be. To him be glory unto the eternal ages of ages. Amen.