Against Celsus 6.56
Summary: When God sends suffering, it is like a parent's discipline or a surgeon's knife, meant to correct and heal those who would not learn otherwise.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:126–127
Εἰ δὲ τὰ καταχρηστικῶς οὕτως ὀνομαζόμενα, λεγόμενα σωματικὰ κακὰ καὶ ἐκτὸς, τίς φησι, δεδόσθω ἔσθʼ ὅτε τούτων τινὰ πεποιηκέναι τὸν θεὸν, ἵνα διὰ τούτων ἐπιστρέψῃ τινάς, καὶ τί ἄτοπον ὁ λόγος ἔχειν δύναται; ὥσπερ γὰρ, εἰ καταχρηστικῶς ἀκουόντων ἡμῶν κακὰ τοὺς προσαγομένους πόνους τοῖς παιδευομένοις ὑπὸ πατέρων καὶ διδασκάλων καὶ παιδαγωγῶν, ἢ ὑπὸ ἰατρῶν τοῖς θεραπείας ἕνεκεν τεμνομένοις ἢ καυτηριαζομένοις. λέγομεν τὸν πατέρα κακοποιεῖν τοῖς υἱοῖς ἢ τοὺς παιδαγωγοὺς ἢ τοὺς διδασκάλους ἢ τοὺς ἰατροὺς, οὐδὲν ἂν κατηγοροῖντο οἱ τύπτοντες ἢ οἱ τέμνοντες· οὕτως. εἰ ὁ θεὸς λέγεται τὰ τοιαδὶ ἐπάγειν ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ θεραπείας ἕνεκεν τῶν δεομένων τοιούτων πόνων, οὐδὲν ἂν ἄτοπον ὁ λόγος ἔχοι· οὔτʼ ἂν καταβαίνῃ „κακὰ παρὰ κυρίου ἐπὶ πύλας Ἱερουσαλὴμ, “ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχοντα ἐν τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πόνοις. προσαγομένοις αὐτοῖς εἰς ἐπιστροφὴν. οὔτʼ ἂν ἐπισκέπτηται „ἐν ῥάβδῳ τὰς ἀνομίας“ τῶν ἐγκαταλιπόντων „τὸν νόμον“ τοῦ θεοῦ „καὶ ἐν μάστιξι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, “ οὔτʼ ἂν λέγῃ τό· „ἔχεις ἄνθρακας πυρὸς, κάθισαι ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς, οὗτοι ἔσονταί σοι βοήθεια.“ τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὸ „ὁ ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακὰ“ διηγούμεθα· κτίζει γὰρ τὰ σωματικὰ ἢ τὰ ἐκτὸς κακὰ, καθαίρων καὶ παιδεύων τοὺς μὴ βουληθέντας παιδευθῆναι λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ ὑγιεῖ. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὸ πῶς μὲν ὁ θεὸς κακὰ ἐποίει;
English · Claude translation
But if one means the things called evils in a looser sense, the so-called bodily and external evils, let it be granted, someone says, that God sometimes makes some of these in order to convert some people through them; and what absurdity can the statement contain? For just as, if we loosely call evils the pains inflicted on those being disciplined by fathers, teachers, and tutors, or by physicians on those who are cut or cauterized for the sake of healing, and we say that the father does evil to his sons, or the tutors or teachers or physicians do, those who beat or cut would not be accused of anything; so if God is said to bring such things for the conversion and healing of those who need such pains, the statement would contain nothing absurd. Nor would it if “evils come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem,” consisting in the pains inflicted by enemies, brought on them for their conversion; nor if he visits “with a rod the iniquities” of those who have forsaken “the law” of God, “and with scourges their sins”; nor if he says: “You have coals of fire; sit upon them; these will be a help to you.” In this way we also explain “who makes peace and creates evils”: for he creates bodily or external evils, purifying and disciplining those who were unwilling to be disciplined by reason and sound teaching. So much in answer to “How did God make evil things?”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Mic 1:12, Ps 89:30–32 (88:31–33 LXX), Isa 47:14–15 LXX, and Isa 45:7.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/56/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/56/).
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