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On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

“Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” Luke passes over these words in silence, …

THY WILL BE DONE, AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH
(Chapter XXVI)

“Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.”1 Luke passes over these words in silence,2 and after “Thy kingdom come” places “Give us day by day our daily bread.”3 Therefore let us examine the words cited above, as found in Matthew alone, agreeably with preceding context. Let us who pray, being still “on earth,” and understanding that “the will” of God is “done in heaven” by all those who dwell4 in heaven, pray that “the will” of God may be “done” in all things by us also “on earth” even as it is by them: which things will come to pass if we do nothing contrary to his “will.” But whenever “the will” of God is accomplished by us who are “on earth as it” in fact is “in heaven,” we are made like unto those in heaven, inasmuch as we “bear” as they do “the image of the heavenly,”5 and shall “inherit the kingdom” of heaven,6 while those who come after us “on earth” will pray to be made like unto us who are “in heaven.”

But the words “as in heaven, so on earth,” to be found in Matthew alone, can be taken with all three clauses,7 with the result that we are commanded thus to say in the prayer: “Hallowed be thy name, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy kingdom come, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” For “the name” of God has been “hallowed” by those “in heaven,” and “the kingdom” of God has come for them, and “the will” of God has been “done” in them: all these things are lacking to us who are “on earth,” yet they can become ours as we make ourselves worthy to gain the hearing of God concerning them all.

But, with reference to “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth,” some one may ask as follows: How has “the will” of God been “done in heaven,” where there are “the spiritual hosts of wickedness,”8 whence it comes to pass that “the sword” of God shall be “filled with blood” even “in heaven”9? If we pray that “the will” of God be “done on earth as” it is done “in heaven,” perhaps we may without knowing it pray that these opposing forces may remain “on earth,” to which they came from “heaven”; for there are many evil things “on earth” because of “the” victorious “spiritual hosts of wickedness”8 which are “in the heavenly places.” Anyone, however, will easily resolve the question by allegorizing “heaven,” and saying that it is Christ, and that the Church is “earth” (for who is so worthy to be “the throne of God” as Christ? and what is “the footstool of his feet”10 equally with the Church?); and that every member of the Church ought to pray that he may so achieve11 “the” Father’s “will” as Christ achieved11 it,12 who came to “do the will”13 of his Father and “accomplished”14 it in its entirety. For it is possible by being “joined unto” him to become “one spirit”15 with him, in this way achieving11 “the will,” in order that “as” it has been accomplished “in heaven,” so it may also be accomplished “on earth.” For, according to Paul, “he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”15 And I think that this interpretation will not be lightly dismissed by anyone who pays careful attention to it.

16 But an objector to it will quote the saying of the Lord after the resurrection to “the eleven disciples,” to be found at the close of this Gospel: “All authority hath been given to me as in heaven so also on earth.”17 For having “authority” over the things “in heaven,” he says that there has been added authority “on earth,” the things in heaven having been formerly enlightened by the Word, but at “the end of the world”18 the things “on earth” also will imitate the perfect state of the things “in heaven” over which the Saviour received “authority.” Therefore, as it were, by means of prayer he wishes to take as his fellow workers before the Father those who are being “made disciples” by him, in order that he may bring the things “on earth” (in like manner as the things “in heaven” which have been subjected to truth and the Word), when they are emended by the “authority,” which he received “as in heaven so” also “on earth,” to the blessed end that awaits whatsoever has been placed under his authority. But he who maintains that the Saviour is “heaven” and the Church “earth,” alleging that “the firstborn of all creation,”19 on whom the Father rests as on a throne, is “heaven,” would find that the “man” whom he put on, when he had fitted him for that power by having “humbled himself” and “becoming obedient unto death,”20 said after the resurrection, “All authority hath been given unto me as in heaven so also on earth,”21 the “man” as Saviour having received “authority” over the things “in heaven,” as things that appertain to “the only begotten,”22 in order that he may share them with him, being mingled with his deity23 and united with him.

It still remains to resolve the second difficulty24 put forward, namely, how “the will” of God is “in heaven,” when there are “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”25 wrestling against those “on earth.” The question may be resolved in this way. It is not because of place but of choice that he who is still “on earth” has his “citizenship in heaven,”26 “lays up treasure in heaven,”27 has his heart “in heaven, bears the image of the heavenly,”28 and “is” no longer “of the earth”29 nor “of the world”30 below, but of heaven and of the heavenly world that is “better”31 than this one. Similarly, “the spiritual hosts of wickedness” that still reside “in the heavenly places,”32 having their “citizenship33 on earth,” and, by the evil designs wherewith they wrestle against men, “laying up treasure on earth,”34 “bearing the image of the earthy,”35 such as he who “was first formed by the Lord, having been made for the angels to play with,”3637 are not heavenly, nor do they dwell “in heaven” because of their evil disposition. When, therefore, it is said, “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth,”38 it is not to be reckoned that they are “in heaven,” since they have fallen in mind39 with him who “fell from heaven” after the manner of “lightning.”40

And perhaps when our Saviour says that we ought to pray that “the will” of the Father be “done, as in heaven,” so in like manner “on earth,” he is not in any way bidding prayers to be made for those who are in a place “on earth,” in order that they are to be made like unto those who are in a heavenly place; but his command to pray arises from his desire that all the things “on earth,” that is to say, inferior things, suited to those of the earth, should be made like unto better things, that have their “citizenship in heaven,”41 that is, to all things that have become “heaven.” For he who sins, wheresoever he may be, is “earth,”4243 and, unless he repent, will be returning somehow to his kindred [earth].44 But “he that doeth the will of God45 and does not disobey the saving spiritual laws is “heaven.” If, therefore, we are still “earth” because of sin, let us pray that the “will” of God may extend to us also for our correction, in like manner as it reached those before us who became “heaven” or were “heaven.” And if we are reckoned by God not as “earth” but as already “heaven,” let us make our request that the “will” of God may be fulfilled “on earth” (I mean, persons of bad character) in like manner as it is “in heaven,” for the heaven-making (if I may use the expression) of earth, so that there may no longer be any “earth,” but all things may become “heaven.” For if, according to this interpretation, the “will” of God is so “done on earth as in heaven,” the earth will not remain earth. To take a clearer example. If the “will” of God were to be “done” for the licentious as it had been “done” for the temperate, the licentious will be temperate; or, if the “will” of God were so to be “done” for the unjust as it had been “done” for the just, the unjust will be just. Therefore, if the “will” of God is “done on earth as in heaven,” we shall all be “heaven”: for “the flesh,” which does “not profit,”46 “and blood,” which is akin to it, “cannot inherit the kingdom of God,”47 but they would be said to inherit it, were they to change from flesh and earth and dust48 and blood to the heavenly substance.

Notes

  1. Matt. 6:10.
  2. XXVI, 1. Luke passes over these words in silence] It is noteworthy that Origen seems to be unaware of the existence of MSS. containing “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth” in the text of Luke 11:3, inasmuch as these words are found in the Codex ℵ (? of Egyptian origin) and the Bohairic version.
  3. Luke 11:2, 3.
  4. τοῖς οἰκείοις.
  5. I Cor. 15:49.
  6. Cf. Matt. 25:34.
  7. XXVI, 2. can be taken with all three clauses] F. H. Chase, The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church (Texts and Studies, vol. I, no. 3, pp. 40, 41), gives reasons for holding that the words “as in heaven, so on earth” may appropriately be construed with “Hallowed be thy name” and “Thy kingdom come” as well as with “Thy will be done.” It is natural that the thought of God as “Father” and “in heaven” “should exercise a continuous influence on the petitions which immediately follow, rather than it should at once fall into the background to re-appear at a later part of the prayer.” Further, many passages of Scripture which speak of the coming of the Kingdom are in harmony with this interpretation, as for example, I Chron. 29:11; Dan. 2:44; 7:14; Matt. 3:2; 16:28; Luke 11:20; 17:20; 22:29; Rev. 11:15. Chase, however, does not notice that Origen had suggested it. Bengel on Matt. 6:10 quotes from the Catechismus Romanus put forth by the Council of Trent: “Pastoris erunt partes monere fidelem populum verba illa ‘sicut in coelo, et in terra,’ ad singulas referri posse singularum (trium) primarum postulationum, ut, ‘Sanctificetur nomen tuum, sicut in coelo, et in terra.’ Item, ‘adveniat regnum tuum, sicut in coelo, et in terra’. Similiter, ‘Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, et in terra.’”
  8. Eph. 6:12.
  9. Isa. 34:5.
  10. Matt. 5:34, 35.
  11. See note.
  12. XXVI, 3. achieve the Father’s will as Christ achieved it] The verb is χωρεῖν, which, when used transitively, usually means “to contain,” “to have room for,” and hence “to be capable of,” and (as apparently here) “to fulfil.” But the expression is somewhat strange.
  13. John 4:34.
  14. Cf. John 17:4.
  15. I Cor. 6:17.
  16. XXVI, 4. An objector urges that if you allegorize “heaven” as “Christ” and “earth” as “the Church,” how can Christ say after the resurrection, “All authority hath been given to me as in heaven so also in earth”? Origen replies, in effect, that it was Christ as man who said this: as man he co-ordinates himself with his disciples for the work of bringing things on earth under the subjection of God, and as man united with the Word he has received authority over the things in heaven.
  17. Matt. 28:16, 18.
  18. Matt. 28:20.
  19. Col. 1:15.
  20. Phil. 2:8.
  21. Matt. 28:18.
  22. John 1:14, etc.
  23. XXVI, 4. being mingled with his deity] A similar passage is In Joh., I, 32: “the man of the Son of God, who has been mingled with his deity.”
  24. XXVI, 5. the second difficulty] See section 3 of this chapter.
  25. Eph. 6:12.
  26. Phil. 3:20.
  27. Matt. 6:20; cf. Luke 12:33.
  28. I Cor. 15:49.
  29. John 3:31.
  30. John 15:19.
  31. Cf. Heb. 11:16.
  32. Eph. 6:2.
  33. Phil. 3:20.
  34. Matt. 6:19.
  35. I Cor. 15:49.
  36. Job 40:19 (LXX).
  37. XXVI, 5. he who was first formed by the Lord, having been made for the angels to play with] Job 40:19 (LXX). The reference is to the “behemoth” (v. 15, according to the Hebrew: the LXX has wild beasts). Behemoth is the intensive plural of behemah, “cattle”: the idea that it was the first animal formed is an inference from Gen. 1:24, where “cattle” is the first living creature named. It is usually identified with the hippopotamus. The latter half of Job 40:19 is corrupt. That behemoth was made for the angels to play with (according to LXX) is an idea paralleled in 41:5: “Wilt thou play with him [i.e., leviathan, the crocodile] as with a bird?” Cf. also Ps. 104:26, which may be rendered: “There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to play with him.” It is clear from In Joh., XX, 22, that Origen allegorizes the beast referred to in Job 40:19 as the devil, who is the prototype of those who are of the earth earthy.
  38. Matt. 6:10.
  39. XXVI, 5. have fallen in mind] Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, I, 254:
    The mind is its own place, and in itself
    Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.
    A similar line of thought is found in In Jerem. hom., VIII, 2 (C.B., VI, 57, 58).
  40. Luke 10:18.
  41. Phil. 3:20.
  42. Adopting a conjecture of Bentley.
  43. XXVI, 6. he who sins, wheresoever he may be, is earth] A convincing emendation of Bentley. Cf. “he that doeth the will of God is heaven.” T has “wheresoever there is earth.”
  44. Cf. Gen. 3:19.
  45. I John 2:17.
  46. John 6:63.
  47. I Cor. 15:50.
  48. Cf. Gen. 2:7.

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