Origen’s skill as an “interpreter” of the Bible was due to his skill as a philosopher, which consisted in making evident things that had no existence. The EVCO 155.3
Bible was used by him and his companions, as were the writings of the philosophers, as a thing upon which to display their mental skill. To read a simple statement, and to believe it as it reads, and to set plain truth before the minds of students, leading the minds of the people to the Word of God, was considered too childish, and altogether beneath the dignity of a great teacher. Anybody could do that, they thought. Their work was to seem to draw from the Sacred Word something which the common people would never find there, for the reason that it was not there, but was the invention of their own minds. EVCO 156.1