Translated by Thomas P. Scheck
This volume completes the first English translation of Rufinus' Latin version of Origen of Alexandria's "Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans" and contains Origen's detailed exegesis of Romans 6:12-16:27. Origen's much neglected commentary, which stands out in isolation at the fountainhead of Greek and Latin exegesis, is now completely accessible to English readers. In Books 6-10 Origen carries through to completion his programme, begun in Books 1-5, of defending human freedom and of opposing the natural predestinarian doctrine of the sects founded by the Gnostic heretics Marcion, Valentinus and Basilides. These schools relied heavily on texts from Paul, interpreted in isolation from the rest of Scripture, not only to deny free will but to support the doctrine that salvation is determined by the nature one receives at birth, whether good or evil. In contrast, Origen clarifies passages in Romans by citations from Paul's other letters, from the Gospels, and from the Old Testament. He attempts to construct a coherent and unified "biblical theology". Origen views human beings as chosen or rejected by God deservedly; everyone has it within his own power whether he becomes a servant of God or of sin, a vessel of wrath or of mercy. This book contains interesting and thought-provoking discussions of all the important theological themes and terms of Romans: faith, hope, love, works, justification, election, law, Israel, Gentiles, Church, sin, death, flesh, body and glory. The importance of these discussions is magnified by the fact that they stand alone in their detail and breadth and stem from the Church's most important theologian of the third century. Moreover, because Origen's work was productive in subsequent centuries in Rufinus' Latin translation, the commentary is of importance for the history of New Testament exegesis.