Against Celsus 6.72
Summary: Celsus attacks views Christians do not hold, such as that the Son's spirit would be defiled by a body; God is a “consuming fire” only in that he burns away sin.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:141–142
Διόπερ μάτην λέλεκται τῷ Κέλσῳ, ὡς μὴ εἰδότι τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐπείπερ πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ υἱὸς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ γεγονὼς σώματι, οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς εἴη ἀθάνατος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱός. εἶτα πάλιν ἑαυτῷ φύρει τὸν λόγον, ὥς τινων ἀφʼ ἡμῶν οὐχ ὁμολογησόντων πνεῦμα εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἀλλὰ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἴεται ἀπαντᾶν λέγων ὅτι οὐδεμία τοιαύτη φύσις ἐστὶ πνεύματος, ὥστʼ ἀεὶ διαμένειν· ὡσεὶ καὶ, λεγόντων ἡμῶν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς „πῦρ“ ἐστι „καταναλίσκον, “ ἔλεγεν ὅτι οὐδεμία τοιαύτη φύσις ἐστὶ πυρὸς, ὥστʼ ἀεὶ διαμένειν· οὐχ ὁρῶν πῶς λέγομεν εἶναι „πῦρ“ τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν, καὶ τίνων ἀναλωτικὸν, ὅτι ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τῆς κακίας. πρέπει γὰρ θεῷ ἀγαθῷ μετὰ τὸ ἕκαστον φανῆναι ἀγωνισάμενον, ὁποῖος γέγονεν ἀγωνιστὴς, ἀναλῶσαι τῷ πυρὶ τῶν κολάσεων τὴν κακίαν. εἶτα πάλιν ἑαυτῷ τὸ μὴ λεγόμενον ὑφʼ ἡμῶν λαμβάνει. ὅτι ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἀναπεπνευκέναι τὸν θεόν. καὶ τούτῳ ἀκόλουθον τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἀναστῆναι μετὰ τοῦ σώματος τὸν Ἰησοῦν· οὐκ ἂν γὰρ ἀπειλήφει ὃ δέδωκε πνεῦμα ὁ θεὸς καταμεμολυσμένον τῇ τοῦ σώματος φύσει. εὔηθες οὖν ἀπαντᾶν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ὡς ἡμετέρους τοὺς μὴ ἡμετέρους.
English · Claude translation
Therefore Celsus, as one who does not know the things of the Spirit of God, has said to no purpose that, since the Son is a spirit from God that came to be in a human body, the Son of God himself would not be immortal. Then again he confuses the argument for himself, as though some of us would not acknowledge that God is spirit, but only his Son, and he thinks he answers by saying that there is no nature of spirit such that it lasts for ever. It is as if, when we say that God is “a consuming fire,” he were to say that there is no nature of fire such that it lasts for ever, not seeing in what sense we say that our God is “fire,” and what he consumes, namely sins and wickedness. For it befits a good God, after each person has shown what kind of contestant he has been, to consume wickedness with the fire of punishments. Then again he takes for himself something not said by us: that God must necessarily have breathed out his spirit again; and following from this, that Jesus could not rise with his body, for God would not have taken back the spirit he had given, defiled by the nature of the body. It is foolish, then, for us to answer arguments that are not ours as though they were ours.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is to Deut 4:24 (Heb 12:29).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/72/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/72/).
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