Against Celsus 2.4
Summary: Christians begin from the Jewish Scriptures and honor them more by uncovering their deeper meaning; the gospel's roots in the law, as Jesus and Mark say, do not bind believers to its letter.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:130–131
Εἶτα λέγει ὁ παρʼ αὐτῷ Ἰουδαῖος πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ πιστεύσαντας ὅτι χθὲς καὶ πρώην καὶ ὁπηνίκα τοῦτον ἐκολάζομεν βουκολοῦντα ὑμᾶς, ἀπέστητε τοῦ πατρίου νόμου, οὐδὲν ἀκριβὲς εἰδὼς ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν, ὡς ἐδείξαμεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δοκεῖ μοι δεινότητος ἔχεσθαι τὸ ἢ πῶς ἄρχεσθε μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἱερῶν, προϊόντες δὲ αὐτὰ ἀτιμάζετε, οὐκ ἔχοντες ἄλλην ἀρχὴν εἰπεῖν τοῦ δόγματος ἢ τὸν ἡμέτερον νόμον; ἀληθῶς μὲν γὰρ Χριστιανοῖς ἡ εἰσαγωγή ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητικῶν γραμμάτων· καὶ μετὰ τὴν εἰσαγωγὴν ἐν τῇ διηγήσει καὶ σαφηνείᾳ αὐτῶν ἐστι τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις ἡ προκοπὴ, ζητοῦσι τὸ „κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν“ μυστήριον, „χρόνοις αἰωνίοις“ σεσιγημένον (φανερωθὲν „δὲ νῦν“) ἐν ταῖς προφητικαῖς φωναῖς καὶ τῇ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείᾳ. οὐχ, ὡς λέγετε δὲ, οἱ προϊόντες ἀτιμάζουσι τὰ ἐν νόμῳ γεγραμμένα ἀλλὰ πλείονα τιμὴν αὐτοῖς περιτιθέασιν ἀποδεικνύντες, ὅσον ἔχει βάθος σοφῶν καὶ ἀποῤῥήτων λόγων ἐκεῖνα τὰ γράμματα τὰ ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων οὐ τεθεωρημένα τῶν ἐπιπολαιότερον καὶ μυθικώτερον αὐτοῖς ἐντυγχανόντων. τί δὲ ἄτοπον τὸ ἀρχὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου δόγματος, τουτέστι τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, εἶναι τὸν νόμον; ἅτε καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν λέγοντος πρὸς τοὺς μὴ πιστεύοντας αὐτῷ· „εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν. εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου γράμμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασι πιστεύσετε;“ ἀλλὰ καὶ εἷς τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, ὁ Μάρκος, φησίν· „ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου“, δεικνὺς ὅτι ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἀρχὴ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν γραμμάτων ἤρτηται. τί οὖν καθʼ ἡμῶν λέγεται ὑπὸ τοῦ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαίου ἐν τῷ· εἴτε γὰρ προηγόρευσέ τις ὑμῖν ὅτι ἄρα ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παῖς εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἀφίξεται, οὗτος ἡμέτερος ἦν ὁ προφήτης καὶ τοῦ ἡμετέρου θεοῦ· ποῖον δὲ ἔγκλημα χριστιανισμῷ ἐστιν, εἰ ὁ βαπτίσας τὸν Ἰησοῦν Ἰωάννης Ἰουδαῖος ἦν; οὐ γὰρ, ἐπεὶ Ἰουδαῖος ἦν, συνάγεται ὅτι δεῖ πάντα τὸν πιστεύοντα, εἴτʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσέρχεται τῷ λόγῳ εἴτε ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων, [δεῖν] κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τὸν Μωϋσέως τηρεῖν νόμον.
English · Claude translation
Then his Jew says to believers from the people: "Yesterday and the day before, when we were punishing this man who was leading you like cattle, you abandoned the law of your fathers"—knowing nothing accurately in what he said, as we have shown. After this, what follows seems to me to have some cleverness: "Or how is it that you begin from our sacred writings, but as you go on you dishonor them, though you have no other origin to name for your doctrine than our law?" Truly the introduction for Christians is from the sacred writings of Moses and the prophetic writings; and after the introduction, progress for those being introduced lies in the interpretation and clarification of them, as they seek the mystery "according to revelation," kept silent "for long ages" but "now made manifest" in the prophetic words and in the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not, as you say, that those who go on dishonor what is written in the law; rather, they give it more honor, showing what a depth of wise and secret meanings those writings have, which have not been perceived by the Jews who read them rather superficially and as myths. And what is absurd in the law being the origin of our doctrine, that is, of the gospel? Our Lord himself says to those who did not believe him: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" And one of the evangelists, Mark, says: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you," showing that the beginning of the gospel depends on the Jewish writings. What, then, is said against us by Celsus's Jew in the words: "For if anyone foretold to you that the son of God would come to men, he was our prophet and the prophet of our God"? And what charge against Christianity is it if John, who baptized Jesus, was a Jew? For it does not follow, because he was a Jew, that every believer, whether he comes to the teaching from the nations or from the Jews, must keep the law of Moses according to the letter.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 16:25–26, John 5:46–47, and Mark 1:1–2 (Mal 3:1). The bracketed [δεῖν] is deleted by the editor. The (??) in the digital text is in the name Μωϋσέως, which is certain.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misplaced period (belongs after ἐντυγχανόντων); misplaced period (moved from after τεθεωρημένα); missing accent; unread character in a certain name; word wrongly split in the digital text): ἱερῶν Μω(??)σέως → ἱερῶν Μωϋσέως; τὸν Μω(??)σέως τηρεῖν → τὸν Μωϋσέως τηρεῖν; ζητουσι → ζητοῦσι; αἰω νί οις → αἰωνίοις; τεθεωρημένα. τῶν → τεθεωρημένα τῶν; ἐντυγχανόντων τί δὲ → ἐντυγχανόντων. τί δὲ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/4/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/4/).
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