Against Celsus 7.34
Summary: Christians do not expect to see, hear, or touch God with bodily senses; Scripture speaks of spiritual eyes, ears, and hands, and of a “divine sense.”
Greek text · Koetschau 2:184–185
Ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὡς ἐν τόπῳ ὄντος τοῦ θεοῦ πευσόμεθά τινος καὶ ἐροῦμεν· πῶς ἴωμεν πρὸς αὐτόν; κρείττων γὰρ ὁ θεὸς παντὸς τόπου καὶ περιεκτικὸς παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστι τὸ περιέχον τὸν θεόν. τὸ ἰέναι οὖν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν οὐ σωματικῶς προστέτακται ἡμῖν, τὸ „ὀπίσω κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου πορεύσῃ, “ οὐδὲ σωματικῶς ὁ προφήτης κολληθεὶς τῷ θεῷ φησιν ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ· „ἐκολλήθη ὀπίσω σου ἡ ψυχή μου.“ καταψεύδεται οὖν ἡμῶν Κέλσος λέγων προσδέχεσθαι ἡμᾶς ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος θεὸν ὄψεσθαι καὶ ὠσὶ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούεσθαι καὶ χερσὶν αἰσθηταῖς ψαύειν αὐτοῦ. οἴδαμεν δὲ ὁμωνύμως τοῖς σώματος ὀφθαλμοῖς λεγομένους ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λόγων ὀφθαλμοὺς, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὸ τούτων παραδοξότερον, αἴσθησιν θειοτέραν καὶ ἑτεροίαν παρὰ τὴν συνήθως ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ὀνομαζομένην. ἐπὰν γὰρ λέγῃ ὁ προφήτης· „ἀποκάλυψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσιά σου ἐκ τοῦ νόμου (σου“ ἤ·) „ἡ ἐντολὴ κυρίου τηλαυγὴς, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμοὺς, “ ἤ· „φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, μή ποτε ὑπνώσω εἰς θάνατον, “ οὐχ οὕτως τις ἐμβρόντητός ἐστιν, ὡς νομίζειν ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος κατανοεῖσθαι „τὰ θαυμάσια“ τοῦ θείου „νόμου, “ ἢ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἐντολὴν φωτιστικὴν εἶναι τῶν τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμῶν, ἢ ὕπνον θανάτου ἐποιστικὸν συμβαίνειν περὶ τοὺς τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμούς. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὰν λέγῃ ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν· „ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω, “ καὶ ὁ τυχὼν συνίησι περὶ θειοτέρων ταῦτα λέγεσθαι ὤτων, κἂν λέγηται „λόγος κυρίου“ γεγονέναι ἐν χειρὶ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς, ἢ νόμος „ἐν χειρὶ“ Μωϋσέως, ἢ ὅτι „ταῖς χερσί μου ἐζήτησα τὸν θεὸν καὶ οὐκ ἠπατήθην, “ οὐχ οὕτως ἐστί τις ἀνόητος, ὡς μὴ ἐκλαμβάνειν χεῖράς τινας εἶναι τροπικῶς καλουμένας, περὶ ὧν καὶ Ἰωάννης λέγει· „αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς, “ εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς κρείττονος αἰσθήσεως καὶ οὐ σωματικῆς βούλει ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων μαθεῖν, ἄκουσον Σολομῶντος ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις λέγοντος· „αἴσθησιν θείαν εὑρήσεις.“
English · Claude translation
Nor shall we ask anyone, as though God were in a place, and say: How shall we go to him? For God is superior to every place and contains everything whatever, and there is nothing that contains God. Going to God, then, is not commanded to us in a bodily sense in “You shall walk after the Lord your God”; nor does the prophet, joined to God, say in a bodily sense in his prayer: “My soul has clung close behind you.” Celsus, then, lies about us when he says that we expect to see God with the eyes of the body, to hear his voice with our ears, and to touch him with sensible hands. We know that the divine words speak of eyes that share only the name with the eyes of the body, and likewise of ears and hands, and, more wonderful than these, of a more divine sense different from what the many ordinarily call sense. For when the prophet says, “Uncover my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law,” or “The commandment of the Lord is far-shining, enlightening the eyes,” or “Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep in death,” no one is so thunderstruck as to think that “the wonders” of the divine “law” are perceived with the eyes of the body, or that the commandment of the Lord enlightens the eyes of the body, or that a sleep that brings death befalls the eyes of the body. And when our Saviour says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” even an ordinary person understands that these words are said about more divine ears. And if it is said that “the word of the Lord” came by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet, or of someone else, or the law “by the hand” of Moses, or “With my hands I sought God, and I was not deceived,” no one is so foolish as not to take it that there are certain hands spoken of figuratively, about which John also says, “Our hands have handled concerning the Word of life.” And if you wish to learn from the sacred writings about the better sense, which is not bodily, hear Solomon saying in the Proverbs: “You will find a divine sense.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Deut 13:4, Ps 63:8 (62:9 LXX), Ps 119:18 (118:18 LXX), Ps 19:8 (18:9 LXX), Ps 13:3 (12:4 LXX), Matt 11:15, Jer 37:2 (44:2 LXX; “by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet”; cf. Hag 1:1), Num 36:13, Ps 77:2 (76:3 LXX), 1 John 1:1, and Prov 2:5 LXX. The “divine sense” (spiritual senses) is a characteristic teaching of Origen.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/34/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/34/).
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