Against Celsus 7.50
Summary: Scripture teaches more clearly than Celsus that becoming involves error: newborns need a sin offering, creation is subject to vanity, and the soul's life here is lowly compared with life with the Lord.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:200–201
Ὁ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐσαφήνισε, πῶς μετὰ γενέσεώς ἐστι πλάνη, οὐδὲ παρέστησεν ὅ τι περ ἐβούλετο, ἵνα κατανοήσωμεν συγκρίνοντες τὰ αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἡμετέροις· οἱ δὲ προφῆται, αἰνιττόμενοι ὅ τι περὶ τῶν γενέσεως πραγμάτων σοφὸν, θυσίαν „περὶ ἁμαρτίας“ λέγουσιν ἀναφέρεσθαι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄρτι γεγενημένων ὡς οὐ καθαρῶν ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τό· „ἐν ἀνομίαις συνελήφθην, καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἐκίσσησέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποφαίνονται ὅτι „ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας, “ παραδόξως λέγοντες καὶ τό· „ἐπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς, ἐλάλησαν ψευδῆ.“ οὕτω δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν αἰσθητῶν διαβάλλουσιν οἱ καθʼ ἡμᾶς σοφοὶ φύσιν, ὥστε πῇ μὲν ματαιότητα εἰρῆσθαι τὰ σώματα ἐν τῷ „τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι, “ πῇ δὲ ματαιότητα „ματαιοτήτων“ (ὧν) εἶπεν ὁ ἐκκλησιαστής· „ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, τὰ πάντα ματαιότης.“ τίς δʼ οὕτω διαβέβληκε τὴν ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἀνθρώπου ψυχῆς ζωὴν, ὡς ὁ εἰπών· „πλὴν τὰ σύμπαντα ματαιότης. πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ζῶν;“ οὐ γὰρ ἐδίστασε περὶ τῆς διαφορᾶς τοῦ ζῆν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἔξω τῶν ἐνθάδε, οὐδʼ ἔλεγε μέν· τίς οἶδεν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μέν ἐστι κατθανεῖν, τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν; θαῤῥεῖ δὲ λέγειν τὰ ἀληθῆ ἐν τῷ „ἐταπεινώθη εἰς χοῦν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν“ καὶ „εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με“· καθὸ καὶ τὸ „τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου;“ λέλεκται καὶ τὸ „ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν.“ προφήτης δέ ἐστι καὶ ὁ εἰπὼν τό· „ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς ἐν τόπῳ κακώσεως.“ „κακώσεως“ τόπον λέγων τὸν περίγειον τόπον, ἐφʼ ὃν ἐκβληθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ παραδείσου διὰ τὴν κακίαν ἐλήλυθεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος. καὶ ὁ λέγων δὲ ὅτι „βλέπομεν ἄρτι διʼ ἐσόπτρου καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι, τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον.“ ἔτι δὲ καὶ τό· „ἐνδημοῦντες ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, “ διὸ „εὐδοκοῦμεν ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν κύριον, “ ὅρα πηλίκα περὶ τῆς διαφόρου ζωῆς τῶν ψυχῶν τεθεωρήκει.
English · Claude translation
He, then, did not make clear how error goes with becoming, nor did he set out what he meant, so that we might understand it by comparing his views with ours; but the prophets, hinting at something wise about the things of becoming, say that a sacrifice “for sin” is offered even for those just born, as not pure from sin. They say too: “In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother desired me.” And they declare also that “sinners were estranged from the womb,” saying strikingly as well, “They went astray from the belly; they spoke lies.” So thoroughly do our wise men disparage the whole nature of sensible things that at one point bodies are called vanity, in “For the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope,” and at another the Preacher called them vanity “of vanities”: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” And who has disparaged the life of the human soul here as much as the one who said, “Surely all things are vanity, every man living”? For he did not doubt the difference between the soul's life here and outside the things here, nor did he say, “Who knows whether to live is to die, and to die is to live?” but he boldly speaks the truth in “Our soul has been brought low to the dust” and “You have brought me down into the dust of death”; in accordance with which it has also been said, “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” and, “who will transform the body of our humiliation.” He too is a prophet who said, “You have humbled us in a place of affliction,” calling the region about the earth a place “of affliction,” the place to which Adam, that is, man, came when he was cast out of paradise because of wickedness. And the one who says, “Now we see through a mirror and in a riddle, but then face to face,” and further, “While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,” and therefore “we are well pleased to be away from the body and at home with the Lord”: see how much he had contemplated about the different life of souls.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Lev 12:6–8 (the offering after childbirth), Ps 51:5 (50:7 LXX), Ps 58:3 (57:4 LXX), Rom 8:20, Eccl 1:2, Ps 39:5 (38:6 LXX), Ps 44:25 (43:26 LXX), Ps 22:15 (21:16 LXX), Rom 7:24, Phil 3:21, Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX), 1 Cor 13:12, and 2 Cor 5:6, 8. “Who knows whether to live is to die…” is Euripides (fragment, Polyidus or Phrixus), which Origen contrasts with the psalmist's confidence. “Adam, that is, man” plays on the Hebrew meaning of the name.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing elision mark in the digital text): ἐφ ὃν ἐκβληθεὶς → ἐφʼ ὃν ἐκβληθεὶς.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/50/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/50/).
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