Celsus’s ignorance of Jewish believers
But our present task is to expose the ignorance of Celsus, in whose book the Jew says to his fellow citizens and Israelites who have believed in Jesus: “What possessed you to leave the law of your fathers?” and what follows. Yet how have they left the law of their fathers who rebuke those who do not hear it, and say: “Tell me, you who read the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons,” as far as “which things are spoken as an allegory,” and what follows (Galatians 4:21–24)? And how have they left the law of their fathers who in their discourses always call to mind the heritage of their fathers, and say: “Or does not the law also say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses: ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain’ (Deuteronomy 25:4). Is it for oxen that God cares? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake? For it was written for our sake,” and what follows (1 Corinthians 9:8–10)?
And how confusedly the Jew in Celsus says these things! He could have said more plausibly that some of you have left the customs on the pretext of interpretations and allegories; that others of you, while interpreting spiritually, as you profess, keep the customs of your fathers none the less; and that others of you, without interpreting, wish both to accept Jesus as the one foretold in prophecy and to keep the law of Moses as your fathers did, as though you had the whole meaning of the spirit in the wording.
But how could Celsus have made the facts of this matter plain? In what follows he made mention of godless sects wholly alien to Jesus, and of others that abandon the Creator, yet he did not know that there are also Israelites who believe in Jesus and have not left the law of their fathers. For it was not his aim to examine with a love of truth all that bears on the subject, so as to accept anything useful he might find. Rather, as an enemy, and one wholly bent on overthrowing such things the moment he heard them, he wrote them down.
Greek
Νῦν δὲ πρόκειται ἐλέγξαι τὴν τοῦ Κέλσου ἀμαθίαν, παρ᾿ ᾧ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος λέγει τοῖς πολίταις καὶ Ἰσραηλίταις πιστεύσασιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν τό· τί παθόντες κατελίπετε τὸν πάτριον νόμον; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. πῶς δὲ καταλελοίπασι τὸν πάτριον νόμον οἱ ἐπιτιμῶντες τοῖς μὴ ἀκούουσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγοντες· „λέγετέ μοι, οἱ τὸν νόμον ἀναγινώσκοντες, τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε; γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι Ἀβραὰμ δύο υἱοὺς ἔσχε,“ μέχρι τοῦ „ατινά ἐστιν ἀλληγορούμενα“ καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς. καὶ πῶς καταλελοίπασι τὸν πάτριον νόμον οἱ ἀεὶ μεμνημένοι ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἑαυτῶν τῶν πατρίων καὶ λέγοντες· „ἢ καὶ ὁ νόμος ταῦτα οὐ λέγει; ἐν γὰρ τῷ Μωϋσέως νόμῳ γέγραπται· οὐ φιμώσεις βοῦν ἀλοῶντα. μὴ τῶν βοῶν μέλει τῷ θεῷ; ἢ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς πάντως λέγει; δι᾿ ἡμᾶς γὰρ ἐγράφη“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. καὶ ὡς συγκεχυμένως γε ταῦθ᾿ ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος λέγει, δυνάμενος πιθανώτερον εἰπεῖν ὅτι τινὲς μὲν ὑμῶν καταλελοίπασι τὰ ἔθη προφάσει διηγήσεων καὶ ἀλληγοριῶν, τινὲς δὲ καὶ διηγούμενοι, ὡς ἐπαγγέλλεσθε, πνευματικῶς οὐδὲν ἧττον τὰ πάτρια τηρεῖτε, τινὲς δὲ οὐδὲ διηγούμενοι βούλεσθε καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν παραδέξασθαι ὡς προφητευθέντα καὶ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον τηρῆσαι κατὰ τὰ πάτρια, ὡς ἐν τῇ λέξει ἔχοντες τὸν πάντα τοῦ πνεύματος νοῦν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ πόθεν Κέλσῳ τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τρανῶσαι, (ὃς) καὶ αἱρέσεων μὲν ἀθέων καὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πάντῃ ἀλλοτρίων ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἐμνημόνευσε καὶ ἄλλων καταλειπουσῶν τὸν δημιουργὸν, οὐκ εἶδε δὲ καὶ Ἰσραηλίτας εἰς Ἰησοῦν πιστεύοντας καὶ οὐ καταλιπόντας τὸν πάτριον νόμον; οὐ γὰρ προέκειτο αὐτῷ φιλαλήθως ὅλα τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐξετάσαι, ἵν᾿, εἴ τι χρήσιμον εὑρίσκοι, παραδέξηται· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐχθρὸς καὶ ὅλος τοῦ ἀνατρέπειν ἅμα τῷ ἀκοῦσαι γενόμενος τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀνέγραψεν.