Annotation CLXXVII
”This man came for a testimony, that he might bear witness of the light.” — John 1:7
The soul of John the Baptist existing before [his] body.
Origen, in the second tome on John, narrating this clause, brings forth three [things] beside the common opinion of the theologians.
The first is, that the soul of John the Baptist was more ancient than his body — in these words: “For he who observes that nothing is done unjustly, nor by chance, nor by lot, [for him] it is necessary to approve that the soul of John [is] more ancient and prior to [his] body; and that this same soul — since it previously cohered [existed] and was — was sent unto the ministries of testimony concerning the truth.”
The second is, that many angels were of old incarnated, and that perhaps one of these was John the Baptist. Which position he explains thus: “Since we are engaged in a discourse about John, we will conveniently add our opinion which we hold about him. For since we read this prophecy about him —1 ‘Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee’ — let us consider whether he, [being] one of the holy angels, is sent to the ministry [as] the forerunner of our Savior. Nor is it a wonder if, when the firstborn of all creation had, out of his love toward the human race, put on a body, there were some rivals and imitators of Christ,
who wished, with a like body, to minister to his benignity among men; but that a certain [one] did not imitate [him], who venerated [him], leaping with joy, even when he was in the womb — as though surpassing the common nature of men. But if anyone accepts also the prayer of Joseph, ascribed among the mysteries [apocrypha] which are current among the Hebrews, he will take thence a dogma and decree like to this — namely, that those who were from the beginning, since they had something special beyond other men, and were much better than the rest in [their] souls, descended from the nature of angels into the nature of men. For Jacob says: ‘For I speak to you, [I] Jacob and Israel: I am the angel of God, and a chief spirit; and Abraham and Isaac were created before every work.’”
The third is, that Jacob and Esau were reckoned worthy of God’s hatred and love for this [reason] — that their souls acted in heaven before they descended into bodies. This opinion he embraces in these words: “Consider whether that common and celebrated saying about Jacob and Esau has [this] explanation:2 ‘When they had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand — not of works, but of him that calleth — it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What, then, shall we say? Is there injustice with God? By no means.’ But if, when they had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, [and yet] ‘that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,’ it was said [thus] — and if we do not run to works which precede this life — how is that true, that there is no injustice with God [in] the elder serving the younger, and being held in hatred before he did the [things] worthy both of servitude and of hatred?”3 Read Annotation 182 of the preceding book.