Against Celsus, Book I · §34 · Origen of Alexandria

Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin

Rather, as the prophets also foretold, it had to come from a virgin who, according to the promise of a sign, would give birth to one named after a fact, a fact which showed that at his birth God would be with human beings (Isaiah 7:14).

And it seems to me fitting, in answer to the Jew whom Celsus impersonates, to set out the prophecy of Isaiah, which says that Emmanuel would be born of a virgin. Celsus did not quote it. Either he did not know it, for all that he professes to know everything, or he had read it and chose to keep silent, so as not to seem to be unwittingly building up an argument that tells against his own purpose. The passage reads as follows: “And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said: Hear then, house of David: is it a small thing for you to make trouble for men? And how is it that you make trouble for the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:10–14), which is interpreted “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

That Celsus left the prophecy out in bad faith is clear to me from this: he cites a great deal from the Gospel according to Matthew, such as the star that rose at the birth of Jesus (Matthew 2:2) and other wonders, yet he makes no mention of this at all. But if a Jew quibbles and says that the text does not read “Behold, the virgin” but instead “Behold, the young woman,” we shall reply to him that the word aalma, which the Seventy rendered “the virgin” and others “the young woman,” also occurs, so they say, in Deuteronomy of a virgin, as follows: “If there is a girl, a virgin, betrothed to a man, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, you shall bring them both out to the gate of their city, and they shall be stoned with stones and shall die: the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he dishonoured his neighbour’s wife” (Deuteronomy 22:23–24). And next: “But if a man finds the betrothed girl in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, you shall put to death only the man who lay with her, and to the young woman you shall do nothing; the young woman has committed no sin deserving death” (Deuteronomy 22:25–26).

Greek

ἀλλ᾿ ὡς καὶ προφῆται προεῖπον, ἀπὸ παρθένου. κατ᾿ ἐπαγγελίαν σημείου γεννώσης τὸν ἐπώνυμον πράγματος, δηλοῦντος ὅτι ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει αὐτοῦ μετ᾿ ἀνθρώπων ἔσται θεός. Καὶ οἰκεῖόν γε φαίνεταί μοι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου προσωποποιΐαν παραθέσθαι τὴν τοῦ Ἡσαΐου προφητείαν, λέγουσαν ἐκ παρθένου τεχθήσεσθαι τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ· ἣν οὐκ ἐξέθετο, εἴτε μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ὁ πάντ᾿ ἐπαγγελλόμενος εἰδέναι Κέλσος εἴτ᾿ ἀναγνοὺς μὲν ἑκὼν δὲ σιωπήσας, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίη κατασκευάζειν ἄκων τὸν λόγον ἐναντιούμενον αὐτοῦ τῇ προαιρέσει. ἔχει δ᾿ οὕτως ἡ λέξις· „καὶ προσέθετο κύριος τῷ Ἄχαζ λέγων· αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ σημεῖον παρὰ κυρίου θεοῦ σου εἰς βάθος ἢ εἰς ὕψος. καὶ εἶπεν Ἄχαζ· οὐ μὴ αἰτήσω οὐδ᾿ οὐ μὴ πειράσω τὸν κύριον. (καὶ εἶπεν·) ἀκούσατε δὴ, οἶκος Δαυὶδ, μὴ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀγῶνα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ πῶς κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ“, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται „μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ θεός“. ὅτι δὲ κακουργῶν ὁ Κέλσος οὐκ ἐξέθετο τὴν προφητείαν, δῆλόν μοι γίνεται ἐκ τοῦ παραθέμενον αὐτὸν πολλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίου, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀνατείλαντα ἀστέρα ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν παραδόξων, μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τούτου ἐμνημονευκέναι. ἐὰν δὲ Ἰουδαῖος εὑρεσιλογῶν τὸ „ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος“ μὴ γεγράφθαι λέγῃ ἀλλ᾿ ἀντ᾿ αὐτοῦ „ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις“, φήσομεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι ἡ μὲν λέξις ἡ ἀαλμὰ, ἣν οἱ μὲν ἑβδομήκοντα μετειλήφασι πρὸς τὴν παρθένον ἄλλοι δ᾿ εἰς τὴν νεᾶνιν, κεῖται, ὥς φασι, καὶ ἐν τᾷ Δευτερονομίῳ ἐπὶ παρθένου, οὕτως ἔχουσα·„ἐὰν δὲ γένηται παῖς παρθένος μεμνηστευμένη ἀνδρὶ, καὶ εὑρὼν αὐτὴν ἄνθρωπος ἐν πόλει κοιμηθῇ μετ᾿ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐξάξετε ἀμφοτέρους ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τῆς πόλεως αὐτῶν, καὶ λιθοβοληθήσονται λίθοις, καὶ ἀποθανοῦνται· τὴν νεᾶνιν ἐπὶ λόγου, διότι οὐκ ἐβόησεν ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ λόγου, διότι ἐταπείνωσε τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ·“ καὶ ἑξῆς· „ἐὰν δὲ ἐν πεδίῳ εὕρῃ ἄνθρωπος τὴν παῖδα τὴν μεμνηστευμένην καὶ βιασάμενος αὐτὴν ὁ ἄνθρωπος κοιμηθῇ μετ᾿ αὐτῆς, ἀποκτενεῖτε τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κοιμώμενον μετ᾿ αὐτῆς μόνον, καὶ τῇ νεάνιδι οὐ ποιήσετε οὐδέν· οὐκ ἔστι τῇ νεάνιδι ἁμάρτημα θανάτου.“

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About this text

Origen answers Celsus’s opening charges: that Christians meet in secret against the law, that their teaching is barbarian and borrowed, and that they ask for faith without reasons. He then answers the Jew whom Celsus sets against Jesus, meeting the slander about Jesus’ birth and the charge of magic with the prophecies of the virgin, of Bethlehem and of the suffering Servant, and with the lives Jesus changed.

Base text: Paul Koetschau's edition, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig, 1899), read in the Perseus Digital Library digital text. The English is translated from that Greek, chapter by chapter, and each chapter was then checked clause by clause against the Greek. Koetschau's supplements are followed.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek, Perseus digital text (Greek · Book I, chapters 1 – 71)

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