Promises fulfilled and a noble example of endurance
Further, since Celsus will have it that Jesus was not even blameless, let him prove it. Which of those who accepted his teaching recorded anything truly blameworthy in Jesus? Or, if he does not draw his charge of blame from them, let him show where he learned what led him to say that Jesus was not blameless.
Jesus, then, made what he promised credible by the good he did to those who gave heed to him. And as we see always being fulfilled what he said before it came to pass, that “the gospel” would “be preached” in the whole world (Matthew 26:13; compare Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10), that his disciples would go to “all the nations” (Matthew 28:19) and proclaim his word, and further that they would be “led before governors and kings” (Matthew 10:18) for no other cause than his teaching, we stand in awe of him and daily confirm our faith in him. I do not know by what greater and clearer proofs Celsus wanted him to make credible what he had foretold; unless, as it seems, failing to understand the doctrine, he wanted Jesus, though he had become man, to suffer nothing human and not to become for men a noble example of how to bear what befalls them.
Even if these things seem to Celsus most pitiable and most shameful, since he holds pain to be the greatest of evils and pleasure the perfect good (a view that none of the philosophers who bring in providence, and who agree that courage is a virtue, and endurance and greatness of soul as well, has ever accepted), Jesus did not, for all that, discredit faith in him by what he endured. Rather, he strengthened it among those who wish to embrace courage, and among those who were taught by him that living in the proper and true sense, the blessed life, is not here but “in” what his words call “the age to come” (Matthew 12:32), while living in what is called the present age is a misfortune, or the first and greatest contest of the soul.
Greek
Ἔτι δ᾿ ἐπεὶ βούλεται μηδὲ ἀνεπίληπτον γεγονέναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὁ Κέλσος, παραστησάτω. τίς τῶν ἀρεσκομένων τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀληθῶς ἐπίληπτον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀνέγραψεν· ἢ, εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ τούτων αὐτοῦ κατηγορεῖ ὡς ἐπιλήπτου, δεικνύτω, πόθεν μαθὼν οὐκ ἀνεπίληπτον αὐτὸν εἴρηκεν. ἐποίησε μὲν οὖν ἃ ἐπηγγείλατο πιστὰ δι᾿ ὧν ὠφέλησε τοὺς προσέχοντας αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς. καὶ ἀεὶ ὁρῶντες πληρούμενα τὰ εἰρημένα ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, πρὶν γένηται, τὸ „κηρυχθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον“ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ πορευθέντας αὐτοῦ τοὺς μαθητὰς εἰς „πάντα τὰ ἔθνη“ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ κατηγγελκέναι, ἔτι δὲ περὶ τοῦ „ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνας καὶ βασιλεῖς“ ἀχθήσεσθαι μέλλειν δι᾿ οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην αἰτίαν ἢ τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ, τεθήπαμεν αὐτὸν καὶ ὁσημέραι βεβαιοῦμεν τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν. οὐκ οἶδα δ᾿ ἀπὸ ποίων μειζόνων καὶ ἐναργεστέρων ἐβούλετο αὐτὸν πιστὰ ποιῆσαι τὰ προειρημένα ὁ Κέλσος· εἰ μὴ ἄρα. ὡς φαίνεται. μὴ ἐπιστάμενος τὸν λόγον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἄνθρωπον γενόμενον ἐβούλετο μηδὲν ἀνθρώπινον παθεῖν μηδὲ γενέσθαι ἀνθρώποις παράδειγμα γενναῖον περὶ τοῦ φέρειν τὰ συμβαίνοντα. κἂν οἴκτιστα τῷ Κέλσῳ ταῦτ᾿ εἶναι δοκῇ καὶ ἐπονειδιστότατα. ἐπεὶ πόνον μὲν τὸ μέγιστον οἶδε τῶν κακῶν ἡδονὴν δὲ τὸ τέλειον ἀγαθὸν, ὅπερ οὐδεὶς τῶν πρόνοιαν εἰσαγόντων φιλοσόφων καὶ ἀνδρίαν ὁμολογούντων εἶναι ἀρετὴν καὶ καρτερίαν καὶ μεγαλοψυχίαν παρεδέξατο· οὐ διέβαλεν οὖν τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς δι᾿ ὧν ὑπέμεινεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἀνδρίαν ἀποδέξασθαι βουλομένοις ἐκράτυνε καὶ ἐν τοῖς διδαχθεῖσιν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τὸ μὲν κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς ζῆν τὸ μακάριον οὐκ εἶναι ἐνταῦθα ἀλλ᾿ „ἐν τῷ“ καλουμένῳ κατὰ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ „μέλλοντι αἰῶνι,“ τὸ δ᾿ ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι αἰῶνι λεγομένῳ ζῆν συμφορὰν εἶναι ἢ ἀγῶνα τὸν πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον τῆς ψυχῆς.