Now, it seems to me that fortuitous circumstance also is sometimes the cause of prophesying, as is true in the present case of Caiaphas. He was high priest of that year [in which] Jesus was to die for the people that the whole nation might not perish. For although others were high priests … no one prophesies except the high priest of the year in which Jesus was to suffer.And it was fortuitous circumstance that caused the messengers of Saul to prophesy when they were sent to David, along with Saul himself. For it is as if the fact that they were seeking David became the cause of their prophecy, such as it was, as has been recorded.
For by the arguments by which he [Eunomius] endeavors to destroy the truth, he is often himself unwittingly drawn into an advocacy of the very doctrines against which he is contending. Some such thing the history tells us concerning Saul … when moved with wrath against the prophets, he was overcome by grace and was found as one of the inspired (the Spirit of prophecy willing, as I suppose, to instruct the apostate by means of himself) whence the surprising nature of the event became a proverb … history records such an expression by way of wonder, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And though they come to the churches, they cannot be numbered among the children of God. That fountain of life does not belong to them. To have baptism is possible even for a bad person; to prophesy is possible even for a bad person. We find that king Saul prophesied: he was persecuting holy David, yet he was filled with the spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy.
The book of Kings [Samuel] gives us an example about prophecy. Saul was the persecutor of David. When he was persecuting him, he sent guards to drag him away to punishment, and those who were sent to bring David to be slain found him among the prophets; and Samuel was there too.… So he had fled to the place where besides Samuel, the most distinguished of all the prophets, there were also many other prophets. Pushing their way among them, while they were prophesying, came the emissaries of Saul, to drag him off, as I said, to death. The spirit of God leaped upon them and they began to prophesy, having come to lead a holy and just man of God to the execution block and snatch him away from among the prophets. They were suddenly filled with the spirit of God and turned into prophets. It’s possible this happened because of their innocence; after all, they hadn’t come of their own accord to arrest him but had been sent by their king. And perhaps they had indeed come to the place where David was but weren’t going to do what Saul had told them to; perhaps they too were intending to stay there. Because such things even happen today. Sometimes a bailiff is sent by high authority to drag somebody out of the church; he dare not act against God, and in order not to face execution himself he stays there, in the place he was sent, to haul someone out of it. So you could say, pleasantly surprised and relieved, that these men suddenly became prophets because they were innocent; the very gift of prophecy bore witness to their innocence. They came because they were sent, but they weren’t going to do what that bad man had told them to. Let us believe that about them.Others were sent; the Spirit of God leaped on them too, and they too began to prophesy. Let’s count them too with the first lot as being quite innocent. A third lot were sent; the same happened to them too; let them all be innocent. When they delayed and what Saul had ordered wasn’t done, he came himself. Was he too innocent? Was he also sent by some authority, and not ill-intentioned of his own free will? Yet the Spirit of God leaped on him too, and he began to prophesy. There you are, Saul is prophesying, he has the gift of prophecy, but he has not got charity. He has become a kind of instrument to be touched by the Spirit, not one to be cleansed by the Spirit. The Spirit of God, you see, touches some hearts to set them prophesying, and yet does not cleanse them.… And so the Spirit of God did not cleanse Saul the persecutor, but all the same it touched him to make him prophesy.
Caiaphas, the chief priest, was a persecutor of Christ; and yet he uttered a prophecy when he said, “It is right and proper that one man should die, and not the whole nation perish.” The Evangelist went on to explain this as a prophecy and said, “He did not, however, say this of himself, but being high priest, he prophesied.” Caiaphas prophesied, Saul prophesied; they had the gift of prophecy, but they didn’t have charity. Did Caiaphas have charity, considering he persecuted the Son of God, who was brought to us by charity? Did Saul have charity, who persecuted the one by whose hand he had been delivered from his enemies, so that he was guilty not only of envy but also of ingratitude? So we have proved that it is possible for you to have prophesy and not to have charity. But prophecy does you no good, according to the apostle: “If I do not have charity,” he says, “I am nothing.” He doesn’t say, “Prophesy is nothing,” or “Faith is nothing,” but “I myself am nothing, if I don’t have charity.” So while he has great gifts, he is nothing; although he has great gifts, he is nothing; because these great gifts which he has, he doesn’t have to his benefit but to his condemnation. It isn’t a great thing to have great gifts; but it is a great thing to use great gifts well; but you don’t use them well if you haven’t got charity. The fact is, it is only a good will that uses anything well; but there cannot be a good will where charity is not to be found.
And the Spirit of the Lord also came upon him, etc. Indeed, the Jewish persecutor of the Church recognized that holy men of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke; but knowing how to utter their words with his mouth, yet not knowing how to understand them rightly, he did not fear to enter furiously against Him by whom or about whom the words were spoken. However, he prophesied insanely, and indeed still prophesies today; that is, not understanding the true words of the prophets, he recites, reads, loves them, and extends the office of such prophecy to narrating the glory of that same higher beauty which we hope for in the heavens, giving sound without sense, and he reaches the mysteries of the height.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Samuel 19:20-24