Origen and the Interpretation of Scripture: Flesh, Soul and Spirit
Origen addresses what has been a common problem through much of Christian history - how to read the Holy Scriptures. In Book 4 chapter 2 of De Principiis (On First Principles) he shows how Jews, heretical sects and the simple plainly miss the point. It is in this chapter that he lays out his own plan for interpreting Scripture, and the pattern he uses is his tripartite view of humanity: Flesh, Soul and Spirit. “One must therefore portray the meaning of the sacred writings in a threefold way upon one’s soul, so that the simple man may be edified by what we call the flesh of the scripture, this name being given to the obvious interpretation; while the man who has made progress may be edified by its soul, as it were; and the man who is perfect and like those mentioned by the apostle: ‘We speak wisdom among the perfect; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, which are coming to nought; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden...