Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus 57

The Jew still says to the Savior, "If you say that every human being, having come into existence by divine providence, is a son of God, how would you differ from anyone else?" We will reply that everyone whom Paul describes—those no longer driven by fear but choosing the good for its own sake—is a son of God. Yet this one differs vastly and profoundly from every son of God who owes that status to virtue; he is, as it were, the source and beginning of all such people. Paul's words are: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15). Some will also object, as the Jew in Celsus puts it, that myriads claim Jesus spoke these things about himself, the very things prophesied concerning him. We do not know whether Celsus was unaware of certain people who had appeared in history and wanted to imitate Jesus, proclaiming themselves sons of God or a power of God.

Since, however, we are investigating the facts on the ground truthfully, we will say that before Jesus' birth a certain Theudas arose among the Jews, calling himself "someone great"; after his death, those deceived by him were scattered. After him, "in the days of the census," when Jesus appears to have been born, a certain Judas the Galilean drew many away from the Jewish people, presenting himself as wise and innovative; when he met his just end, his teaching was utterly destroyed, surviving only among a tiny handful. After Jesus' time, the Samaritan Dositheus also tried to convince the Samaritans that he was the Christ foretold by Moses, and some seemed to be won over by his teaching. But we must set forth the very wise statement of Gamaliel, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, which shows that those men were strangers to the promise—neither sons of God nor his powers—while Jesus Christ truly was the Son of God. Gamaliel said there: "If this plan or this work is of human origin, it will be overthrown," as indeed theirs were when they died; "but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it—lest you even be found fighting against God" (Acts 5:38-39).

Simon the Samaritan magician also tried to use his magic to gain a following. For a time he succeeded in deceiving people, but now I doubt there are thirty Simonians to be found in the whole world; I may even have overstated the number. There are, however, very few of them around Palestine, and in the rest of the world his name is nowhere to be found—the very world in which he wished to spread his own glory. This account comes from those who transmit it, drawn from the Acts of the Apostles; Christians are the ones who say these things about him, and the evidence has testified that Simon was nothing divine.