Against Celsus 5.65

And since he says "you will hear all of them, though so divided, saying: 'The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world,'" we will refute this falsehood too. For there are some sects that do not accept the letters of the apostle Paul, such as both kinds of Ebionites and those called Encratites. Those who do not use the apostle as a blessed and wise man would not, then, say "The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"; so Celsus lies in this too. And he dwells on accusing the differences among the sects; but he does not seem to me to distinguish at all clearly what he says, nor to have considered it carefully, nor to have understood how the Christians advanced in learning say they know more than the Jews, and whether they do so while accepting the books but interpreting their sense differently, or not even accepting their writings; for we would find both among the sects. After this he says: "Come then, even if they have no foundation for their doctrine, let us examine the doctrine itself. But first we must state what they have misheard and corrupt through ignorance, arrogantly overbearing, without good taste, right from the beginning about things they do not know; these are the following." And at once, against certain expressions constantly used by those who believe in the Christian doctrine, he sets passages from the philosophers, wishing to show that the good things that Celsus supposes are said among Christians have been said both better and more clearly among the philosophers, so as to draw toward philosophy those who are captivated by doctrines that plainly display what is noble and pious. And ending the fifth book here, let us begin the sixth from what follows.