True sonship and those who falsely claimed it
Again, his Jew says to the Saviour: “If you say this, that every human being who has come into being by divine providence is a son of God, how would you differ from anyone else?” To him we shall reply that everyone who is no longer schooled by fear, but chooses the good for its own sake, is, as Paul named him, a son of God. But the Saviour differs greatly, and by a long way, from everyone who is called a son of God because of virtue, for he is, as it were, a kind of spring and source of all such. Paul’s words run like this: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15).
“Some, too,” as Celsus’s Jew says, “countless people, will refute Jesus, claiming that what was prophesied of him was said of themselves.” We do not know, then, whether Celsus knew of any who came into the world and wished to do something like what Jesus did, and to proclaim themselves sons of God or a power of God. But since we examine these matters with a love of truth, we shall say that a certain Theudas arose among the Jews before the birth of Jesus, “saying that he was somebody great”; and when he died, those he had deceived were scattered (Acts 5:36). After him, “in the days of the census” (Acts 5:37), about the time when Jesus seems to have been born (Luke 2:1–2), a certain Judas the Galilean led many of the Jewish people to revolt with him, as a wise man and one bringing in something new. When he too paid the penalty, his teaching was overthrown, and it survived only among a very small number indeed.
After the time of Jesus, too, Dositheus the Samaritan wished to persuade the Samaritans that he was the Christ prophesied by Moses, and he seemed to have won some over by his teaching. But it is not unreasonable to quote what was said, very wisely, by Gamaliel, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, to show how those men were strangers to the promise, being neither sons of God nor powers of his, while Christ Jesus was truly the Son of God. Gamaliel said there: “If this plan and this word are from men, they will be overthrown,” as the movements of those men were overthrown when they died; “but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow this man’s teaching, or you may even be found fighting against God” (Acts 5:38–39).
Simon the Samaritan magician also wished to steal some away by his magic (Acts 8:9–11). At that time he did deceive them; but now, I think, it is not possible to find Simonians in the whole world numbering thirty in all, and perhaps I have put the number higher than it is. There are very few of them around Palestine, and in the rest of the world, through which he wished to spread his glory, his name is nowhere found. For wherever it is known, it is known from the Acts of the Apostles; it is Christians who say these things about him, and the plain facts have borne witness that Simon was nothing divine.
Greek
Ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰουδαῖός φησιν ὅτι, εἰ τοῦτο λέγεις, ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος κατὰ θείαν πρόνοιαν γεγονὼς υἱός ἐστι θεοῦ, τί ἂν σὺ ἄλλου διαφέροις; πρὸς ὃν ἐροῦμεν ὅτι πᾶς μὲν ὁ, ὡς ὁ Παῦλος ὠνόμασε, μηκέτι ὑπὸ φόβου παιδαγωγούμενος ἀλλὰ δι᾿ αὑτὸ τὸ καλὸν αἱρούμενος υἱός ἐστι θεοῦ· οὗτος δὲ πολλῷ καὶ μακρῶ διαφέρει παντὸς τοῦ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν χρηματίζοντος υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅστις ὡσπερεὶ πηγή τις καὶ ἀρχὴ τῶν τοιούτων τυγχάνει. ἡ δὲ τοῦ Παύλου λέξις οὕτως ἔχει· „οὐ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλείας πάλιν εἰς φόβον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας, ἐν ᾧ κράζομεν· Ἀββὰ ὁ πατήρ.“ τινὲς δὲ καὶ ἐλέγξουσιν, ὥς φησιν ὁ παρὰ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος, μυρίοι τὸν Ἰησοῦν φάσκοντες περὶ ἑαυτῶν ταῦτα εἰρῆσθαι, ἅπερ περὶ ἐκείνου ἐπροφητεύετο. οὐκ οἴδαμεν οὖν εἰ ὁ Κέλσος ἠπίστατό τινας ἐπιδημήσαντας τῷ βίῳ καὶ τὸ παραπλήσιον βουληθέντας ποιεῖν τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ θεοῦ υἱοὺς αὑτοὺς ἀναγορεύειν ἢ θεοῦ δύναμιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ φιλαλήθως τὰ κατὰ τοὺς τόπους ἐξετάζομεν, ἐροῦμεν ὅτι Θευδᾶς πρὸ τῆς γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ γέγονέ τις παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις „μέγαν“ „τινὰ ἑαυτὸν“ λέγων· οὗ ἀποθανόντος οἱ ἀπατηθέντες ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ διεσκεδάσθησαν. καὶ μετ᾿ ἐκεῖνον „ἐν ταῖς τῆς ἀπογραφῆς ἡμέραις,“ ὅτ᾿ ἔοικε γεγεννῆσθαι ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ἰούδας τις Γαλιλαῖος πολλοὺς ἑαυτῷ συναπέστησεν ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὡς σοφὸς καὶ καινοτομῶν τινα· οὗ καὶ αὐτοῦ δίκας τίσαντος ἡ διδασκαλία καθῃρέθη πάνυ ἐν ὀλίγοις καὶ ἐλαχίστοις μείνασα. καὶ μετὰ τοὺς Ἰησοῦ δὲ χρόνους ἠθέλησε καὶ ὁ Σαμαρεὺς Δοσίθεος πεῖσαι Σαμαρεῖς ὅτι αὐτὸς εἴη ὁ προφητευόμενος ὑπὸ Μω(??)σέως Χριστὸς, καὶ ἔδοξέ τινων τῇ ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ κεκρατηκέναι. ἀλλὰ τὸ εἰρημένον πάνυ σοφῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀναγεγραμμένου Γαμαλιὴλ οὐκ ἄλογον παραθέμενον δεῖξαι, πῶς ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἀλλότριοι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ησαν, οὔτε υἱοὶ θεοῦ οὔτε δυνάμεις ὄντες αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀληθῶς ην υἱὸς θεοῦ. εἶπε δ᾿ ἐκεῖ ὁ Γαμαλιήλ· „ὅτι ἐὰν ᾖ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη καὶ ὁ λόγος οὗτος, καταλυθήσεται,“ ὡς καὶ τὰ ἐκείνων κατελύθη ἀποθανόντων· „ἐὰν δὲ ᾖ ἐκ θεοῦ οὐ δυνήσεσθε καταλῦσαι τὴν τούτου διδασκαλίαν, μή ποτε καὶ θεομάχοι εὑρεθῆτε.“ ἠθέλησε δὲ καὶ Σίμων ὁ Σαμαρεὺς μάγος τῇ μαγείᾳ ὑφελέσθαι τινάς. καὶ τότε μὲν ἠπάτησε, νυνὶ δὲ τοὺς πάντας ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ οὐκ ἔστι Σιμωνιανοὺς εὑρεῖν τὸν ἀριθμὸν οἶμαι τριάκοντα, καὶ τάχα πλείονας εἶπον τῶν ὄντων. εἰσὶ δὲ περὶ τὴν Παλαιστίνην σφόδρα ἐλάχιστοι· τῆς δὲ λοιπῆς οἰκουμένης οὐδαμοῦ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, καθ᾿ ἣν ἠθέλησε δόξαν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ διασκεδάσαι. παρὰ γὰρ οἷς φέρεται, ἐκ τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστόλων φέρεται· Χριστινανοὶ δ᾿ εἰσὶν οἱ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες, καὶ ἡ ἐνάργεια ἐμαρτύρησεν ὅτι οὐδὲν θεῖον ὁ Σίμων ἦν.