Signs of the Spirit who came as a dove
The law and the prophets are full of marvels like the one recorded about Jesus at his baptism, concerning the dove and the voice from heaven (Matthew 3:16–17; Mark 1:10–11; Luke 3:21–22). And I think that the marvels Jesus performed are a sign that the Holy Spirit was then seen in the form of a dove; Celsus slanders these, saying that he learned them among the Egyptians and so performed them. I will appeal not to those alone but also, as is reasonable, to the ones the apostles of Jesus performed. For without mighty works and marvels they would not have moved those who heard new doctrines and new teachings to leave their ancestral ways and to accept these men's teachings at the risk even of death. And traces of that Holy Spirit who was seen in the form of a dove are still preserved among Christians. They drive out demons, perform many healings, and, as the Word wills, see certain things about the future.
Celsus may mock what I am about to say, or the Jew he has brought in may, but it shall be said all the same: many have come to Christianity as if against their will. Some spirit suddenly turned their ruling mind from hating the message to dying for it, and showed them visions, waking or in dreams. For we have learned of many such things; and if we, who were present ourselves and saw them, were to write them down, we would draw loud laughter from unbelievers, who think that we too, like those they suppose to have made up these things, are making them up. But God is witness to our conscience, which wishes to commend the divine teaching of Jesus not by false reports but by clear evidence of many kinds.
But since it is a Jew who raises difficulties about the Holy Spirit, recorded to have come down upon Jesus in the form of a dove, we should say to him: Sir, who is it that says in Isaiah, “And now the Lord has sent me, and his Spirit” (Isaiah 48:16)? Since the phrase there is ambiguous, whether the Father and the Holy Spirit sent Jesus, or the Father sent both Christ and the Holy Spirit, the second is true. And since the Saviour was sent, and then the Holy Spirit, so that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, and the fulfilment of the prophecy had to be made known to those who came after as well, for this reason the disciples of Jesus recorded what took place.
Greek
Πεπλήρωται δὲ ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται τῶν παραπλησίων παραδόξων τῷ ἀναγραφέντι περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ παρὰ τῷ βαπτίσματι περὶ τῆς περιστερᾶς καὶ τῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνῆς. σημεῖον δὲ οἶμαι τοῦ τότε ὀφθέντος ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ παράδοξα γεγενημένα, ἅτινα διαβάλλων Κέλσος φησὶν αὐτὸν παρ᾿ Αἰγυπτίοις μεμαθηκότα πεποιηκέναι. καὶ οὐκ ἐκείνοις γε μόνοις χρήσομαι ἀλλὰ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ οἷς οἱ ἀπόστολοι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πεποιήκασιν. οὐκ ἂν γὰρ χωρὶς δυνάμεων καὶ παραδόξων ἐκίνουν τοὺς καινῶν λόγων καὶ καινῶν μαθημάτων ἀκούοντας πρὸς τὸ καταλιπεῖν μὲν τὰ πάτρια παραδέξασθαι δὲ μετὰ κινδύνων τῶν μέχρι θανάτου τὰ τούτων μαθήματα. καὶ ἔτι ἴχνη τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου πνεύματος, ὀφθέντος ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς, παρὰ Χριστιανοῖς σῴζεται. ἐξεπᾴδουσι δαίμονας καὶ πολλὰς ἰάσεις ἐπιτελοῦσι καὶ ὁρῶσί τινα κατὰ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ λόγου περὶ μελλόντων. κἂν χλευάσῃ δὲ Κέλσος τὸ λεχθησόμενον ἢ ὃν εἰσήγαγεν Ἰουδαῖον, ὅμως λελέξεται ὅτι πολλοὶ ὡσπερεὶ ἄκοντες προσεληλύθασι χριστιανισμῷ, πνεύματός τινος τρέψαντος αὐτῶν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν αἰφνίδιον ἀπὸ τοῦ μισεῖν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὸ ὑπεραποθανεῖν αὐτοῦ καὶ φαντασιώσαντος αὐτοὺς ὕπαρ ἢ ὄναρ. πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ τοιαῦτα ἱστορήσαμεν· ἅτινα ἐὰν γράφωμεν αὐτοὶ αὐτοῖς παρατυχόντες καὶ ἰδόντες. γέλωτα πλατὺν ὀφλήσομεν τοῖς ἀπίστοις, οἰομένοις ἡμᾶς ὁμοίως οἷς ὑπολαμβάνουσι ταῦτ᾿ ἀναπεπλακέναι καὶ αὐτοὺς πλάσσειν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ θεὸς μάρτυς τοῦ ἡμετέρου συνειδότος, βουλομένου οὐ διὰ ψευδῶν ἀπαγγελιῶν ἀλλὰ διά τινος ἐναργείας ποικίλης συνιστάνειν τὴν Ἰησοῦ θείαν διδασκαλίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν ὁ περὶ τοῦ ἀναγεγραμμένου ἁγίου πνεύματος κατεληλυθέναι ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀπορῶν, λεκτέον ἂν εἴη πρὸς αὐτόν· ὦ οὗτος, τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ λέγων· „καὶ νῦν κύριος ἀπέστειλέ με καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ;“ ἐν ῳ ἀμφιβόλου ὄντος τοῦ ῥητοῦ, πότερον ὁ πατὴρ καὶ τὸ ἄγιον πνεῦμα ἀπέστειλαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἢ ὁ πατὴρ ἀπέστειλε τόν τε Χριστὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τὸ δεύτερόν ἐστιν ἀληθές. καὶ ἐπεὶ ἀπεστάλη ὁ σωτὴρ, εἶτα τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου, ἐχρῆν δὲ τὴν τῆς προφητείας πλήρωσιν ἐγνῶσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἑξῆς· διὰ τοῦτο ἀνέγραψαν οἱ Ἰησοῦ μαθηταὶ τὸ γεγενημένον.