Commentary on Sirach

Origen of Alexandria (185–253)

"I stretched out my words, and you did not listen." It is reasonable that he said he stretched out words in his heart because … God granted him a large heart. For one who can explain what is briefly said in mysteries in conjunction with the larger teachings asserted in Scripture has an enlarged heart. Therefore, it is necessary, in agreement with the teaching of the wise Solomon, for the person who desires to know wisdom to begin with moral training and to understand what is written: "You have desired wisdom; keep the commandments, and it will be given to you by God."

When we come to the grace of baptism, renouncing all the other gods and masters, we confess one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But confessing this, if "we do not love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul" and do not adhere to him "with all our strength," we have not become the Lord's portion. Rather, like those who sit on the fence, on the one side we allow to continue the very offenses we were fleeing to remain in our lives, while on the other we do not appease the Lord to whom we fled because we do not love him with a complete and honest heart. The prophet cries over us because of this, because he…

See also

• More works by Origen of Alexandria

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