Saturday, February 17, 2018

"every Scripture, because it is theopneustic, is profitable."

πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος οὖσα ὠφέλιμός ἐστι.
every scripture, being theopneustic, is profitable.
"every scripture, because it is theopneustic, is profitable" [(Warfield)].

. . . πιστεύομεν, ὅτι πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος οὖσα ὠφέλιμός ἐστι.  Τὸ γὰρ ἓν τῶν δύο δεῖ σε παραδέξασθαι ἐπὶ τούτων τῶν γραφῶν, ἢ ὅτι οὔκ ἑισι θεόπνευστοι, ἑπεὶ οὔκ εἰσιν ὠφέλιμοι, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνοι ἂν ὁ ἄπιστος·  ἢ, ὡς πιστός, παραδέξασθαι, ὅτι, ἐπεί εἰσιν θεόπνευστοι, ὠφέλιμοί εἰσιν [(Origen, Homily 20.2 on Joshua; Philocalia of Origen xii.2, ed. Robinson (1893), p. 63, ll. 23 ff.)].

. . . we believe that all Scripture being [(οὖσα] inspired by God is profitable.  For as regards these Scriptures, you must admit one of two things:  either that they are not inspired because [(ἑπεὶ] they are not profitable, as an unbeliever might suppose; or, as a believer, you must allow that because [(ἐπεί)] they are inspired they are profitable [(Origen, Homily 20.2 on Joshua; Philocalia of Origen xii.2, trans. Lewis (1911), p. 56)].

. . . 'omnis scriptura divinitus inspirata utilis est'.  Si ergo 'divinitus inspirata' est, et 'utilis' est; etiamsi non sentiamus utilitatem, credere tamen debemus quia 'utilis est' [(Origen, Homily 20.2 on Joshua, Origenes Werke 7, ed. Baehrens (1921), p. 419, ll. 9 ff. (Latin) and 22 ff. (Greek))].

. . . 'all Scripture inspired by divine influence is useful.'  Thus if it is 'inspired by divine influence and is useful,' we ought to believe that it is useful even if we do not observe the usefulness [(Origen, Homily 20.2 on Joshua, trans. Bruce, FC 105 (2002), 177)].

     I was put onto this by Dr. Laura Holmes.

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