Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus 1.66
The Jew, speaking through Celsus, now puts this to Jesus: why did you, still a child, need to be carried off to Egypt to avoid being killed? Surely God would not fear death. An angel came from heaven, ordering you and your family to flee, lest you be left behind and die. Yet the great God, who had already dispatched two angels on your behalf — could he not protect you right there? Celsus supposes that we do not believe anything divine resides in Jesus' human body and soul, and he further claims that his body was the sort Homer's myths describe. Mocking the blood shed on the cross, he says it was not ichor, the fluid that flows in the blessed gods. We who trust Jesus answer that, concerning the divinity within him, he says, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6), and any similar claim; but concerning his existence in a human body, he says, "Now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth" (John 8:40). We call him a composite reality. It was fitting for the one who was managing his human life not to rush headlong into danger. Therefore he had to be led by those who raised him, under the governance of a divine angel. First, the speaker said, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit" (Matt 1:20). Second: "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him" (Matt 2:13). In these details nothing strikes me as especially paradoxical. Scripture says an angel spoke these words to Joseph in a dream, at each point (Matt 1:20; 2:13). And it happens to many others that dreams disclose such things, whether an angel or some phantasy of the soul is at work. What, then, is absurd about the one who became human and was governed by human conduct being steered clear of dangers — not because such a thing was impossible, but because the way and order of Jesus' salvation had to be managed accordingly? It was better for the child Jesus to escape Herod's plot and withdraw to Egypt with those who nurtured him "until the death" of the plotter (Matt 2:20), than to block the providence over Jesus by letting Herod's own will kill the child, or to resort to something like the poets' "helmet of Hades" or a similar device around Jesus, or to strike down his would‑be killers as the visitors to Sodom were struck. For the utterly paradoxical help given to him would not have served his purpose of teaching, as a man attested by God, that the visible human being possesses something more divine — he who is properly the Son of God, the Word of God, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, called Christ. Now is not the time to recount the nature of that composite reality and the elements from which the incarnate Jesus was formed, since there exists a certain, so to speak, domestic inquiry for those who believe in the place.
Greek
Ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ἐξῆς ὁ Ἰουδαῖος πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ λέγει· τί δὲ καί σε νήπιον ἔτι ἐχρῆν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐκκομίζεσθαι, μὴ ἀποσφαγῇς; θεὸν γὰρ οὐκ εἰκὸς ἦν περὶ θανάτου δεδιέναι. ἀλλ᾿ ἄγγελος μὲν ἧκεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, κελεύων σοι καὶ τοῖς σοῖς οἰκείοις φεύγειν, μὴ ἐγκαταλειφθέντες ἀποθάνητε. φυλάσσειν δέ σε αὐτόθι ὁ δύο ἤδη διὰ σὲ πεπομφὼς ἀγγέλους, ὁ μέγας θεὸς τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν, οὐκ ἐδύνατο; οἴεται δ᾿ [ἡμᾶς] ἐν τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος μὴ θεῖόν τι εἶναι ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι καὶ ψυχῇ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ τοιοῦτον γεγονέναι, ὁποῖον Ὁμήρου μῦθοι εἰσάγουσι. παίζων γοῦν τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ προχυθὲν αἷμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ φησιν ὅτι οὐκ ἦν ἰχὼρ, οἷός περ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν. ἡμεῖς δ᾿ αὐτῷ πιστεύοντες Ἰησοῦ περὶ μὲν τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ θειότητος λέγοντι· „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωὴ,“ καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις παραπλήσιον, περὶ δὲ τοῦ. ὅτι ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι ἦν, ταῦτα φάσκοντι· „νῦν δὲ ζητεῖτέ με ἀποκτεῖναι, ἄνθρωπον, ὅστις τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα,” σύνθετόν τι χρῆμά φαμεν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι. καὶ ἐχρῆν τὸν προνοούμενον τῆς ὡς ἀνθρώπου ἑαυτοῦ εἰς τὸν βίον ἐπιδημίας μὴ ἀκαίρως ὁμόσε χωρεῖν τῷ ἕως θανάτου κινδύνῳ. οὕτως δὲ ἔδει αὐτὸν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνατρεφόντων ἄγεσθαι. ὑπὸ θείου ἀγγέλου οἰκονομουμένων· πρότερον μὲν λέγοντος τοῦ χρηματίζοντος· „Ἰωσὴφ υἱὸς Δαυὶδ, μὴ φοβηθῇς παραλαβεῖν Μαριὰμ τὴν γυναῖκά σου· τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐστὶ,“ δεύτερον δέ· „ἐγερθεὶς παράλαβε τὸ παιδίον καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, καί φεῦγε εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ ἴσθι ἐκεῖ ἕως ἂν εἴπω σοι· μέλλει γὰρ Ἡρώσης ζητεῖν τὸ παιδίον τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτό.“ ἐν τούτοις δ᾿ οὐδὲ πάνυ παράδοξόν μοι φαίνεται τὸ ἀναγεγραμμένον. ὄναρ γὰρ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ καθ᾿ ἑκάτερον τόπον τῆς γραφῆς λέγεται ἄγγελος ταῦτ᾿ εἰρηκέναι· τὸ δὲ ὄναρ δηλοῦσθαί τισι τάδε ποιεῖν καὶ ἄλλοις πλείοσι συμβαίνει, εἴτ᾿ ἀγγέλου εἴθ᾿ οὑτινοσοῦν φαντασιοῦντος τὴν ψυχήν. τί οὖν ἄτοπον τὸν ἅπαξ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα καὶ κατ᾿ ἀνθρωπίνην ἀγωγὴν οἰκονομεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἐκκλίνειν κινδύνους, οὐ τῷ ἄλλως ἀδύνατον εἶναι τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ δεῖν τὸ ἐγχωροῦν ὁδῷ καὶ τάξει περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ᾠκονομῆσθαι; καὶ βέλτιόν γε ἦν ὑπεκστῆναι τὸ παιδίον Ἰησοῦν τὴν Ἡρώδου ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ ἀποδημῆσαι μετὰ τῶν τρεφόντων αὐτὸ „εἰς Αἴγυπτον“ „ἕως τῆς τελευτῆς“ τοῦ ἐπιβουλεύοντος, ἢ τὴν περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πρόνοιαν κωλύειν τὸ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν Ἡρώδου ἀναιρεῖν τὸ παιδίον θέλοντος ἢ τὴν λεγομένην παρὰ τοῖς ποιηταῖς „Ἄϊδος κυνέην“ ἤ τι παραπλήσιον ποιεῖν εἶναι περὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἢ πατάξαι ὁμοίως τοῖς ἐν Σοδόμοις τοὺς ἥκοντας ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτοῦ. τὸ γὰρ πάνυ παράδοξον τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν βοηθείας καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐμφανὲς οὐκ ἦν χρήσιμον τῷ βούλεσθαι αὐτὸν διδάξαι ὡς ἄνθρωπον μαρτυρούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἔχειν τι θειότερον ἐν τῷ βλεπομένῳ ἀνθρώπῳ· ὅπερ ἦν ὁ κυρίως υἱὸς θεοῦ, θεὸς λόγος, θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία, ὁ καλούμενος Χριστός. οὐ καιρὸς δὲ νῦν τὰ περὶ τοῦ συνθέτου, καὶ ἐξ ὧν συνέκειτο (ὁ) ἐνανθρωπήσας Ἰησοῦς, διηγήσασθαι. οὔσης τινὸς καὶ, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω. οἰκείας ζητήσεως τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸν τόπον.