Against Celsus, Book I · §54 · Origen of Alexandria

The Servant’s suffering foretold by Isaiah

Celsus, who professes to know everything about our teaching, reproaches the Saviour over his suffering, as though he had not been helped by the Father or had not been able to help himself. We must therefore show that his suffering was foretold together with its cause: that it was to the profit of mankind that he should die for them and suffer the bruise that came with his condemnation (Isaiah 53:5). It had also been foretold that those from the nations, among whom the prophets had not arisen, "will understand" him (Isaiah 52:15), and it had been said that he would be seen with a "form without honour" in the sight of men (Isaiah 53:3). The text runs thus:

"Behold, my servant shall understand, and he shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up exceedingly. Just as many shall be astonished at you, so shall your form be held in no esteem by men, and your glory by men. So shall many nations marvel at him, and kings shall shut their mouths; for those to whom nothing was announced about him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand" (Isaiah 52:13-15).

"Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced him as a little child before him, as a root in a thirsty land. He has no form nor glory; and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty. But his form was without honour and fell short of all men's: a man under the stroke, and knowing how to bear weakness, for his face is turned away. He was dishonoured and held of no account. He bears our sins and suffers pain for us, and we reckoned him to be in toil and under the stroke and in affliction. But he was wounded because of our sins and made weak because of our lawless deeds; the chastisement that brings us peace was upon him; by his bruise we were healed. All of us went astray like sheep; each man went astray in his own way; and the Lord gave him up for our sins. And he, because he has been afflicted, does not open his mouth. As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgement was taken away. Who shall tell of his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth; because of the lawless deeds of my people he was led to death" (Isaiah 53:1-8).

Greek

Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ἐπαγγελλόμενος εἰδέναι τὰ τοῦ λόγου πάντα Κέλσος ὀνειδίζει τῷ σωτῆρι ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει ὡς μὴ βοηθηθέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἢ μὴ δυνηθέντι ἑαυτῷ βοηθῆσαι. παραθετέον ὅτι τὸ πάθος αὐτοῦ ἐπροφητεύετο μετὰ τῆς αἰτίας. ὅτι χρήσιμον ἦν ἀνθρώποις τὸ ἐκεῖνον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν καὶ μώλωπα τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ καταδεδικάσθαι παθεῖν. προείρητο δὲ καὶ ὅτι „συνήσουσιν“ αὐτὸν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν, παρ᾿ οἷς οὐ γεγόνασιν οἱ προφῆται, καὶ λέλεκτο ὅτι „εἶδος ἄτιμον“ ἐν ἀνθρώποις φαινόμενον ἔχων ὀφθήσεται. οὕτω δ᾿ ἔχει ἡ λέξις· „ἰδοὺ συνήσει ὁ παῖς μου, καὶ ὑψωθήσεται καὶ δοξασθήσεται καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται σφόδρα. ὃν τρόπον ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ σὲ πολλοὶ, οὕτως ἀδοξήσει ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων τὸ εἶδός σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα σου ἀπο τῶν ἀνθρώπων. οὕτως θαυμάσονται ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ, καὶ συνέξουσι βασιλεῖς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν· ὅτι οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ ὄψονται, καὶ οἳ οὐκ ἀκηκόασι συνήσουσι. κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν; καὶ ὁ βραχίων κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη; ἀνηγγείλαμεν ὡς παιδίον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, ὡς ῥίζα ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ· οὐκ ἔστιν εἶδος αὐτῷ οὐδὲ δόξα. καὶ εἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος. ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον καὶ ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους· ἄνθρωπος ἐν πληγῇ ὢν καὶ εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν, ὅτι ἀπέστραπται τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ. ἠτιμάσθη καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσθη. οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐλογισάμεθα αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐν πόνῳ καὶ ἐν πληγῇ καὶ ἐν κακώσει. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν· παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν. τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν. πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημεν, ἄνθρωπος τῇ ὁδῷ αὐτοῦ ἐπλανήθη· καὶ κύριος παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν. καὶ αὐτὸς διὰ τὸ κεκακῶσθαι οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ· ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείροντος ἄφωνος, οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτοῦ ἡ κρίσις αὐτοῦ ἤρθη· τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται; ὅτι αἴρεται ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνομιῶν τοῦ λαοῦ μου ἤχθη εἰς θάνατον.“

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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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