Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 5.40

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Pindar's 'law is king of all' is true only of the natural law of God, not of the many laws of cities; Christians live by God's law and reject laws that are no laws.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:44

Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοιαῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ Κέλσος περὶ τῶν διαφόρων νόμων ἐπιφέρει ὅτι ὀρθῶς μοι δοκεῖ Πίνδαρος ποιῆσαι, νόμον πάντων βασιλέα φήσας εἶναι, φέρε καὶ περὶ τούτου διαλεχθῶμεν. τίνα φῂς, ὦ οὗτος, νόμον πάντων εἶναι βασιλέα; εἰ μὲν τοὺς κατὰ πόλιν, ψεῦδος τὸ τοιοῦτον· οὐ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νόμου πάντες βασιλεύονται· καὶ χρῆν, εἰ ἄρα, λελέχθαι· νόμοι πάντων βασιλεῖς, ἑκάστου γὰρ ἔθνους τῶν πάντων νόμος τις βασιλεύς. εἰ δὲ κυρίως ἀκούεις τοῦ νόμου, ὁ φύσει βασιλεὺς τῶν πάντων οὗτός ἐστιν· εἰ καί τινες δίκην λῃστῶν, ἀποστάντων τοῦ νόμου. τοῦτον μὲν ἀρνοῦνται λῃστρικῶς δὲ καὶ ἀδικητικῶς διαζῶσιν. ἡμεῖς οὖν οἱ Χριστιανοὶ τὸν τῇ φύσει πάντων βασιλέα ἐπιγνόντες νόμον, τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, κατʼ αὐτὸν βιοῦν πειρώμεθα, μακρὰν χαίρειν φράσαντες τοῖς οὐ νόμοις νόμοις.

English · Claude translation

And since, having said such things about the different laws, Celsus adds: "Pindar seems to me to have been right when he wrote that custom is king of all," come, let us discuss this too. What law do you say, sir, is king of all? If you mean the laws of each city, this is false; for not all are ruled by the same law. It should rather have been said, "laws are kings of all," since some law is king of each nation among all. But if you understand law in the proper sense, this is by nature king of all things; even if some, like robbers who have revolted from the law, deny it and live lawlessly and unjustly. We Christians, then, having recognized the law that is by nature king of all, which is the same as the law of God, try to live by it, bidding a long farewell to laws that are no laws.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:44 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Pindar, fr. 169 (Pindar (odes and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • Pindar, fragment 169 Snell–Maehler. Origen plays on νόμος as both "custom" and "law."

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 5.40 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/40/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.40 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/40/).

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