The Jew believes greater wonders in the prophets
First, then, we shall say this. If the man who disbelieves the apparition of the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove had been represented as an Epicurean, or a follower of Democritus, or a Peripatetic, what is said would have fitted the character being portrayed. But as it is, the most wise Celsus has not seen even this: that he has put such an argument in the mouth of a Jew, who believes things from the prophetic Scriptures more numerous and more marvellous than the story of the form of the dove. For someone might say to the Jew, who disbelieves the apparition and thinks he can accuse it as a fiction: And you, sir, how could you prove that the Lord God said to Adam, or to Eve, or to Cain, or to Noah, or to Abraham, or to Isaac, or to Jacob the things that are recorded as said by him to these men (Genesis 2:16; 3:13; 4:6; 6:13; 12:1; 26:2; 28:13)?
And to set one story beside another, I would say to the Jew: Your own Ezekiel too wrote, saying, “The heavens were opened, and I saw a vision of God” (Ezekiel 1:1); and having described it he adds, “This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord; and he said to me” (Ezekiel 1:28; 2:1). For if what is recorded about Jesus is false, since we cannot, as you suppose, clearly show how these things are true, which were seen or heard by him alone and, as you thought you had noticed, by one of those who were punished, why shall we not all the more say that Ezekiel too was telling marvels when he said, “The heavens were opened,” and the rest? Again, when Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord of Hosts sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and the Seraphim stood around him, six wings to the one and six wings to the other” (Isaiah 6:1–2), and the rest, how do you know that he truly saw it? For you, Jew, have believed these things as free of falsehood, and as things that, by a more divine Spirit, were not only seen by the prophet but also spoken and written down.
Who is more worthy of belief when he says that the heavens were opened to him and that he heard a voice, or that he saw “the Lord of Hosts sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1): Isaiah and Ezekiel, or Jesus? For no work of theirs so great is to be found; but the noble work of Jesus did not take place only in the days when he lived in the body. Even to this day the power of Jesus is at work, bringing about conversion and amendment of life in those who believe in God through him. And a clear proof that these things happen by his power is this: though, as he himself says and as one can see, there are no labourers to work at the harvest of souls (Matthew 9:37–38), so great a harvest is being gathered in and brought together into God's threshing floors and churches everywhere.
Greek
Φήσομεν οὖν πρῶτον ὅτι, εἰ μὲν ὁ ἀπιστῶν τῷ περὶ τοῦ εἴδους τῆς περιστερᾶς φάσματι τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀνεγέγραπτο Ἐπικούρειος εἶναι ἢ Δημοκρίτειος ἢ Περιπατητικὸς, χώραν ἂν εἶχεν ἀκόλουθον τῷ προσωποποιουμένῳ τὸ λεγόμενον· νυνὶ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦθ᾿ ὁ σοφώτατος Κέλσος ἑώρακεν, ὅτι Ἰουδαίῳ, πλείονα πιστεύοντι καὶ παραδοξότερα ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν γραφῶν τῆς περὶ τοῦ εἴδους τῆς περιστερᾶς ἱστορίας, τὸν τοιοῦτον περιέθηκε λόγον. εἴποι γὰρ ἄν τις τῷ Ἰουδαίῳ, περὶ τοῦ φάσματος ἀπιστοῦντι καὶ οἰομένῳ κατηγορεῖν αὐτοῦ ὡς πλάσματος· σὺ δὲ πόθεν, ὦ οὗτος, ἀποδεῖξαι ἂν ἔχοις ὅτι εἶπε κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἢ τῇ Εὔᾳ ἢ τῷ Κάϊν ἢ τῷ Νῶε ἢ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἢ τῷ Ἰσαὰκ ἢ τῷ Ἰακὼβ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι τοῖς ἀνδράσι τούτοις; ἵνα δὲ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ ταύτῃ ἱστορίαν παραβάλω, εἴποιμ᾿ ἂν πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖον· καὶ ὁ σὸς Ἰεζεκιὴλ ἀνέγραψε λέγων· „ἠνοίχθησαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ, καὶ εἶδον ὅρασιν θεοῦ,“ ηντινα διηγησάμενος ἐπιφέρει αὐτῇ· „αὕτη ἡ ὅρασις ὁμοιώματος δόξης κυρίου· καὶ εἶπε πρός με.“ εἰ γὰρ ψευδῆ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀναγεγραμμένα, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἔχομεν, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνεις, ἐναργῶς παραστῆσαι, πῶς ταῦτά ἐστιν ἀληθῆ ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ μόνου ἑωραμένα ἢ ἀκουσθέντα καὶ, ὡς ἔδοξας τετηρηκέναι, καὶ ὑπὸ ἑνὸς τῶν κολασθέντων· τί οὐχὶ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸν Ἰεζεκιὴλ φήσομεν τερατευόμενον εἰρηκέναι τὸ „ἠνοίχθησαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ὁ Ἡσαΐας φάσκῃ· „εἶδον τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου· καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ εἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ καὶ ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, πόθεν, ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἑώρακε; πεπίστευκας γὰρ, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, τούτοις ὡς ἀψευδέσι καὶ ὑπὸ θειοτέρου πνεύματος οὐ μόνον ἑωραμένοις τῷ προφήτῃ ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰρημένοις καὶ ἀναγεγραμμένοις. τίνι δὲ καὶ πιστεύειν μᾶλλον ἄξιον, φάσκοντι ἀνεῷχθαι αὐτῷ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ φωνῆς ἀκηκοέναι ἢ ἑωρακέναι „τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου,“ Ἡσαΐᾳ καὶ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ἢ τῷ Ἰησοῦ; ἐκείνων μὲν γὰρ ἔργον οὐδὲν τηλικοῦτον εὑρίσκεται· τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ τὸ ἀνδραγάθημα οὐ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως μόνους γέγονε χρόνους. ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο ἡ Ἰησοῦ δύναμίς ἐστιν ἐνεργοῦσα τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ τὴν βελτίωσιν ἐν τοῖς πιστεύουσι δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῷ θεῷ. ἐναργὲς δὲ δεῖγμα τοῦ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι τὸ, ὡς αὐτός φησι καὶ καταλαμβάνεται, μὴ ὄντων ἐργατῶν τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὸν θερισμὸν τῶν ψυχῶν, τοσοῦτον εἶναι θερισμὸν συγκομιζομένων καὶ συναγομένων εἰς τὰς πανταχοῦ ἅλωνας τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐκκλησίας.