Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 7.52

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Those who run to temples made by craftsmen are the lame ones; Christians run the race and fight the fight, living by the Spirit and not by the dead body.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:202–203

Μὴ ἀγανακτείτω δὲ Κέλσος, ἐπὰν χωλοὺς λέγωμεν καὶ τὰς βάσεις τῆς ψυχῆς πεπηρωμένους τοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ἱερὰ ὡς ἀληθινὰ ἱερὰ σπεύδοντας καὶ μὴ ὁρῶντας ὅτι οὐδὲν βαναύσων ἔργον δύναται εἶναι ἱερόν. τρέχουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ κατὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν Ἰησοῦ εὐσεβοῦντες, ἕως ἐπὶ τὸ τέλος φθάσαντες δρόμου εἴπωσιν ἐῤῥωμένῃ καὶ ἀληθευούσῃ τῇ διαθέσει· „τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν καλὸν ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα· λοιπὸν ἀπόκειταί μοι ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανος.“ καὶ ἕκαστός γε ἡμῶν „οὕτως“ τρέχει „ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως“ καὶ „οὕτω“ πρὸς τὴν κακίαν πυκτεύει „ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων“ ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὑπὸ „τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας.“ λεγέτω δʼ ἡμᾶς ὁ Κέλσος σώματι τῷ νεκρῷ ζῶντας. ἀκούοντας· „εἰ κατὰ σάρκα ζῆτε, μέλλετε ἀποθνῄσκειν· εἰ δὲ πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε, ζήσεσθε, “ καὶ μανθάνοντας τὸ „εἰ πνεύματι ζῶμεν, πνεύματι καὶ στοιχῶμεν“· εἴη τε τοῖς ἔργοις ἡμᾶς δεικνύναι ψευδόμενον τὸν λέγοντα περὶ ἡμῶν ὅτι τῷ σώματι ζῶμεν τῷ νεκρῷ.

English · Claude translation

Let Celsus not be indignant when we call lame and maimed in the feet of the soul those who hurry to what are thought to be temples as though to true temples, and who do not see that no work of mere craftsmen can be holy. Those who worship according to the teaching of Jesus also run, until, having reached the end of the race, they say with a strong and truthful disposition: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.” And each of us runs “so” “as not uncertainly,” and boxes against wickedness “so” “as not beating the air,” but those who are under “the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience.” Let Celsus say that we live by the dead body, we who hear, “If you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live,” and who learn, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” And may we show by our deeds that he lies who says of us that we live by the dead body.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:202–203 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are 2 Tim 4:7–8, 1 Cor 9:26, Eph 2:2, Rom 8:13, and Gal 5:25.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 7.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/52/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/52/).

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