Against Celsus 6.59
Summary: Those who died in the flood were taken not out of the universe but out of earthly life, for Scripture often calls the earth “the world.”
Greek text · Koetschau 2:129–130
Ὑπιδόμενος δʼ ἑξῆς ὁ Κέλσος τάχα δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς συνιδὼν, ὅ τι δύναται λεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπολογουμένων περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ διαφθαρέντων, φησίν· εἰ δὲ μὴ διαφθείρει τὰ ἴδια ἔκγονα, ποῖ ποτε αὐτὰ ὑπεξάγει τοῦ κόσμου τοῦδε, ὃν ἐποίησεν αὐτός; καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ λέγομεν ὅτι τοῦ μὲν παντὸς κόσμου, συνεστῶτος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, οὐ πάντως ὑπεξάγει τοὺς τὸν κατακλυσμὸν πεπονθότας, ἀπαλλάττει δʼ αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ζωῆς καὶ ἀπολύσας τῶν σωμάτων ἀπολύει ἅμα καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς τυγχάνειν, ἣν πολλαχοῦ τῶν γραφῶν ἔθος ὀνομάζεσθαι κόσμον. μάλιστα δʼ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγελίῳ πολλάκις ἔστιν εὑρεῖν κόσμον τὸν περίγειον ὀνομαζόμενον τόπον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ „ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, “ καὶ „ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψιν ἔχετε· ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον.“ εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀκούει τις τοῦ ὑπεξάγει τοῦ κόσμου τοῦδε τοῦ περιγείου τόπου, οὐδὲν ἄτοπον ἀπαντᾷ τῷ λόγῳ· εἰ δὲ κόσμον τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς σύστημα ὀνομάζει τις, οὐ πάντως οἱ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν παθόντες ὑπεξάγονται ἀπὸ τοῦ οὕτως ὀνομαζομένου κόσμου. καίτοι γε εἴποι ἄν τις, νοήσας τὸ „μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα“ καὶ τὸ „τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, “ ὅτι πρὸς τοῖς ἀοράτοις καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ὀνομαζομένοις μὴ βλεπομένοις τυγχάνων ὑπεξῆλθε τὸν κόσμον, τοῦ λόγου αὐτὸν ὑπεξάγοντος ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ὑπερουράνιον ἐπὶ τῇ θέᾳ τῶν καλῶν μετατιθέντος τόπον.
English · Claude translation
Next, Celsus, suspecting or perhaps perceiving for himself what could be said by those who defend the matter of the people destroyed in the flood, says: But if he does not destroy his own offspring, where does he carry them off to out of this world which he himself made? To this too we say that he does not at all carry those who suffered the flood out of the whole world composed of heaven and earth, but frees them from life in the flesh, and releasing them from their bodies, at the same time releases them from being on the earth, which in many places of Scripture is customarily called the world. Especially in the Gospel according to John one can often find the region around the earth called the world, as in “It was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world,” and “In the world you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.” If, then, one understands “carries them off out of this world” as the region around the earth, the statement meets with no absurdity; but if one calls the system of heaven and earth the world, those who suffered the flood are not at all carried off out of the world so named. And yet one might say, understanding the words “while we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen,” and “For his invisible things are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made,” that one who is occupied with the invisible things, and in general with what are called things not seen, has departed from the world, since the Word leads him out from here and transfers him to the place above the heavens, to contemplate the things that are beautiful.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are John 1:9, John 16:33, 2 Cor 4:18, and Rom 1:20. The “place above the heavens” echoes Plato, Phaedrus 247c.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (unread letter in the digital text; ὃν is certain from context): (??)ν ἐποίησεν → ὃν ἐποίησεν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/59/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/59/).
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