Against Celsus, Book I · §44 · Origen of Alexandria

The Spirit taught the Gospel writers

I say these things to the Jew not because I, a Christian, disbelieve Ezekiel and Isaiah, but to shame him by what we both believe: that this man is far more worthy than they are to be believed when he says that he saw such things and, as is likely, handed on to his disciples the vision he saw and the voice he heard. Someone else might say that not all of those who recorded the story of the form of the dove and of the voice from heaven heard Jesus tell of these things, but that the Spirit who taught Moses the history older than himself, beginning from the making of the world and reaching to the times of Abraham, his forefather, also taught those who wrote the Gospel the wonder that took place at the time of Jesus' baptism.

And the one who has been graced with the gift called “the word of wisdom” (1 Corinthians 12:8) will also explain the reason for the opening of the heavens and for the form of the dove, and why the Holy Spirit appeared to Jesus in the form of this living creature and not of any other. But our argument does not now require us to explain this. For the point in hand is to show that Celsus did not act soundly in putting into a Jew's mouth, with words like these, disbelief about an event that is more likely to have happened than the things the Jew himself believes.

Greek

Καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖον λέγω, οὐκ ἀπιστῶν ὁ Χριστιανὸς τῷ Ἰεζεκιὴλ καὶ τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ, ἀλλὰ δυσωπῶν ἐκ τῶν κοινῇ ἡμῖν πεπιστευμένων ὅτι πολλῷ οὗτος ἐκείνων ἄξιός ἐστι τοῦ πιστεύεσθαι τοιαῦτα λέγων ἑωρακέναι καὶ ὡς εἰκὸς παραδοὺς τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἣν εἶδεν ὄψιν καὶ τὴν φωνὴν ἧς ἤκουσεν. ἄλλος δ᾿ ἄν τις εἴποι ὅτι οὐ πάντες τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἤκουσαν ταῦτα διηγουμένου οἱ ἀναγράψαντες τὰ περὶ τοῦ εἴδους τῆς περιστερᾶς καὶ τῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνῆς· ἀλλὰ τὸ διδάξαν Μωϋσέα πνεῦμα τὴν πρεσβυτέραν αὐτοῦ ἱστορίαν, ἀρξαμένην ἀπὸ τῆς κοσμογενείας μέχρι τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ᾿ ἐδίδαξε καὶ τοὺς γράψαντας τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ γενόμενον παράδοξον κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦ βαπτίσματος Ἰησοῦ. ὁ δὲ κοσμηθεὶς χαρίσματι καλουμένῳ „λόγῳ σοφίας“ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν διηγήσεται τῆς ἀνοίξεως τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τοῦ εἴδους τῆς περιστερᾶς, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ζῴου εἴδει ἢ τούτου ἐφάνη τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τῷ Ἰησοῦ. περὶ τούτου δὲ οὐκ ἀπαιτεῖ νῦν ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος διηγήσασθαι· τὸ γὰρ προκείμενόν ἐστιν ἐλέγξαι τὸν Κέλσον οὐχ ὑγιῶς Ἰουδαίῳ περιθέντα μετὰ τοιῶνδε λόγων ἀπιστίαν περὶ πράγματος, κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς γενομένου μᾶλλον παρὰ τὰ πεπιστευμένα ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνου.

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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.

Printed text used

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

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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