Against Celsus 6.54
Summary: In Scripture, good and evil in the proper sense are virtue and vice of the soul, as the Psalm “Turn away from evil and do good” shows.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:125
Ἴδωμεν οὖν ἡμεῖς διὰ βραχέων τὰ περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν, τῶν κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφὰς, καὶ τίνα ἡμῖν λεκτέον πρὸς τό· πῶς μὲν κακὰ (ὁ) θεὸς ἐποίει; πῶς δὲ πείθειν καὶ νουθετεῖν ἀδυνατεῖ; κυρίως δὴ κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφὰς ἀγαθά εἰσιν αἱ ἀρεταὶ καὶ αἱ κατὰ ταύτας πράξεις, ὥσπερ κυρίως κακὰ τὰ ἐναντία τούτοις. ἀρκεσθησόμεθα δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος λέξεσι ταῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ τριακοστοῦ τρίτου ψαλμοῦ, τοῦτο παριστάσαις οὕτως· „οἱ δὲ ἐκζητοῦντες τὸν κύριον οὐκ ἐλαττωθήσονται παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. δεῦτε τέκνα, ἀκούσατέ μου, φόβον κυρίου διδάξω ὑμᾶς. τίς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἀγαθάς; παῦσον τὴν γλῶσσάν σου ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ χείλη σου τοῦ μὴ λαλῆσαι δόλον. ἔκκλινον ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθόν.“ τὸ γὰρ „ἔκκλινον ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθὸν“ οὔτε περὶ τῶν σωματικῶν λέγεται ἀγαθῶν ἢ κακῶν, οὕτως ὀνομαζομένων παρά τισιν, οὔτε περὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀγαθῶν ἢ κακῶν· ἐπείπερ ὁ ἐκκλίνας μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν οὕτως κακῶν ποιήσας δὲ τὰ τοιάδε ἀγαθὰ ὡς θέλων τὴν ἀληθινὴν ζωὴν γένοιτʼ ἂν ἐν αὐτῇ, „ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἀγαθὰς, “ ὧν ὁ λόγος τῆς „δικαιοσύνης“ ἐστὶν „ἥλιος, “ (καὶ) φθάσαι ἂν ἐπʼ ἐκείνας. ἐξαιρουμένου αὐτὸν τοῦ θεοῦ „ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος πονηροῦ“ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν ἡμερῶν, περὶ ὧν εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος τό· „ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρὸν, ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι πονηραί εἰσιν.“
English · Claude translation
Let us, then, look briefly at what the divine Scriptures say about good and evil things, and what we should say in reply to: How did God make evil things? How is he unable to persuade and admonish? According to the divine Scriptures, good things in the proper sense are the virtues and the actions that accord with them, just as evils in the proper sense are their opposites. For the present we shall be content with the words of the thirty-third Psalm, which show this: “But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, who loves to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good.” For “Turn away from evil and do good” is not said of bodily goods or evils, as some call them, nor of external ones, but of the goods and evils of the soul. For the one who turns away from such evils and does such goods, as one who desires the true life, would come to it, “loving to see good days,” whose “sun” is the Word “of righteousness,” and would reach them, since God rescues him “from the present evil age” and from the evil days of which Paul said: “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Ps 34:10–14 (33:11–15 LXX; Origen calls it the thirty-third Psalm, by the Greek numbering), Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX), Gal 1:4, and Eph 5:16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): πουηροῦ → πονηροῦ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/54/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/54/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text