In his commentary on Psalm 36 Origen is talking of Christian preachers under the metaphor of arrows of God. 'All in whom Christ speaks, that is to say every upright man and preacher who speaks the word of God to bring men to salvation--and not merely the apostles and prophets--can be called an arrow of God. But, what is rather sad,' he continues, 'I see very few arrows of God. There are few who so speak that they inflame the heart of the hearer, drag him away from his sin, and convert him to repentance. Few so speak that the heart of their hearer is deeply convicted and his eyes weep for contrition. There are few who unveil the light of the future hope, the wonder of heaven and glory of God's kingdom to such effect that by their earnest preaching they succeed in persuading men to despise the visible and seek the invisible, to spurn the temporal and seek the eternal. There are too few preachers of this calibre.'"
From Michael Green's book Evangelism in the Early Church p. 245.
Oh that my words and life be an arrow of God!
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