The law as the beginning of the Gospel
Next, the Jew in his book says to those from the people who have believed: “Only yesterday or the day before, when we were punishing this man who was duping you, you turned away from the law of your fathers.” He said this without any accurate knowledge of what he was talking about, as we have shown.
After this, the following seems to me to show some cleverness: “Or how is it that you begin from our sacred writings, yet as you go on you dishonour them, though you can name no other starting point for your doctrine than our law?”
For it is true that for Christians the introduction comes from the sacred writings of Moses and the writings of the prophets; and after the introduction, the progress of those being introduced lies in the interpretation and clarification of these writings, as they seek the mystery “according to revelation,” “kept in silence through eternal ages,” but “now made manifest” in the words of the prophets and in the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 16:25–26). But those who advance do not, as you claim, dishonour what is written in the law. Rather they bestow greater honour on it, showing how great a depth of wise and secret sayings is held by those writings, which the Jews have not contemplated, since they read them rather superficially and as if they were myths.
And what is out of place in the law being the beginning of our doctrine, that is, of the gospel? For our Lord himself says to those who did not believe in him: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:46–47). Moreover, one of the evangelists, Mark, says: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’ ” (Mark 1:1–2; Malachi 3:1; Exodus 23:20), showing that the beginning of the gospel depends on the Jewish writings.
What, then, is said against us by Celsus’s Jew in the words: “For if anyone foretold to you that the Son of God would come to men, that prophet was ours, and our God’s”? And what charge against Christianity is it if John, who baptized Jesus, was a Jew (Matthew 3:13–17)? For it does not follow, because he was a Jew, that every believer, whether he comes to the word from the Gentiles or from the Jews, must keep the law of Moses according to the letter.
Greek
Εἶτα λέγει ὁ παρ᾿ αὐτῷ Ἰουδαῖος πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ πιστεύσαντας ὅτι χθὲς καὶ πρώην καὶ ὁπηνίκα τοῦτον ἐκολάζομεν βουκολοῦντα ὑμᾶς, ἀπέστητε τοῦ πατρίου νόμου, οὐδὲν ἀκριβὲς εἰδὼς ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν, ὡς ἐδείξαμεν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δοκεῖ μοι δεινότητος ἔχεσθαι τὸ ἢ πῶς ἄρχεσθε μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἱερῶν, προϊόντες δὲ αὐτὰ ἀτιμάζετε, οὐκ ἔχοντες ἄλλην ἀρχὴν εἰπεῖν τοῦ δόγματος ἢ τὸν ἡμέτερον νόμον; ἀληθῶς μὲν γὰρ Χριστιανοῖς ἡ εἰσαγωγή ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν Μω(??)σέως καὶ τῶν προφητικῶν γραμμάτων· καὶ μετὰ τὴν εἰσαγωγὴν ἐν τῇ διηγήσει καὶ σαφηνείᾳ αὐτῶν ἐστι τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις ἡ προκοπὴ, ζητουσι τὸ „κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν“ μυστήριον, „χρόνοις αἰω νί οις“ σεσιγημένον (φανερωθὲν „δὲ νῦν“) ἐν ταῖς προφητικαῖς φωναῖς καὶ τῇ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείᾳ. οὐχ, ὡς λέγετε δὲ, οἱ προϊόντες ἀτιμάζουσι τὰ ἐν νόμῳ γεγραμμένα ἀλλὰ πλείονα τιμὴν αὐτοῖς περιτιθέασιν ἀποδεικνύντες, ὅσον ἔχει βάθος σοφῶν καὶ ἀποῤῥήτων λόγων ἐκεῖνα τὰ γράμματα τὰ ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων οὐ τεθεωρημένα. τῶν ἐπιπολαιότερον καὶ μυθικώτερον αὐτοῖς ἐντυγχανόντων τί δὲ ἄτοπον τὸ ἀρχὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου δόγματος, τουτέστι τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, εἶναι τὸν νόμον; ἅτε καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν λέγοντος πρὸς τοὺς μὴ πιστεύοντας αὐτῷ· „εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν. εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου γράμμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασι πιστεύσετε;“ ἀλλὰ καὶ εἷς τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, ὁ Μάρκος, φησίν· „ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου“, δεικνὺς ὅτι ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἀρχὴ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν γραμμάτων ἤρτηται. τί οὖν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν λέγεται ὑπὸ τοῦ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαίου ἐν τῷ· εἴτε γὰρ προηγόρευσέ τις ὑμῖν ὅτι ἄρα ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παῖς εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἀφίξεται, οὗτος ἡμέτερος ἦν ὁ προφήτης καὶ τοῦ ἡμετέρου θεοῦ· ποῖον δὲ ἔγκλημα χριστιανισμῷ ἐστιν, εἰ ὁ βαπτίσας τὸν Ἰησοῦν Ἰωάννης Ἰουδαῖος ἦν; οὐ γὰρ, ἐπεὶ Ἰουδαῖος ἦν, συνάγεται ὅτι δεῖ πάντα τὸν πιστεύοντα, εἴτ᾿ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσέρχεται τῷ λόγῳ εἴτε ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων, [δεῖν] κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τὸν Μω(??)σέως τηρεῖν νόμον.