“We may therefore make bold to say that the Gospels are the first fruits of all the…”
We may therefore make bold to say that the Gospels are the first fruits of all the Scriptures, but that of the Gospels that of John is the first fruits.
Origen · Commentary on the Gospel of John · ANF IX, Commentary on John, Book I §6
The opening argument of the first commentary ever written on a book of the New Testament. Origen has been reading the priesthood of Israel as a figure of the church, and the firstfruits the priests offered as a figure of what Christians owe: the study of the gospels. He then ranks them, and puts John first, on the ground that John is the one who says plainly who Jesus is.
How this is known
These words were matched, word for word, against this project’s own copy of the volume cited.
Book I, section 6 of the Commentary on John, in the region of ANF vol. 9 that carries the first book, under the section number the locator names. The sentence follows a run of sayings of Christ in quotation marks and itself carries none, so the region’s quoted mask leaves it standing.
Read in Menzies, ANF vol. 9 (1897) · Allan Menzies
Also by
- Origen every saying recorded of this person, and their page