Sent to be known and to be hidden
We have answered, then, as far as we could in a work of this kind, the claim: “If he really wished to display divine power, he ought to have appeared to the very men who had abused him, and to the one who condemned him, and in short to all.” He ought not, then, to have appeared to the one who condemned him, nor to those who had abused him. For Jesus was sparing both the one who condemned him and those who had abused him, so that they might not be struck with “blindness,” as the men of Sodom were struck when they plotted against the beauty of the angels who were guests in Lot’s house. This is made plain by these words: “The men stretched out their hands and drew Lot into the house to them, and shut the door; and they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, from small to great, and they wore themselves out looking for the door” (Genesis 19:10–11).
So Jesus wished to display his power, which was divine, to each of those able to see it, and in the measure of what each could take in. Surely it was for no other reason that he took care not to be seen than out of regard for the capacities of those who could not take in the sight of him.
And Celsus brings this in to no purpose: “For he certainly no longer feared any man, once he had died and was, as you say, God; nor was he sent in the first place for this, to stay hidden.” For he was sent not only to be known but also to stay hidden. For even those who knew him did not know all that he was; something of him escaped them, and to some he was not known at all. And he opened the gates of “light” to those who had been sons of “darkness” and “night,” but who had given themselves to becoming sons of “the day” and of “light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). And the Lord came to us as Saviour, as a good physician, to those full of sins rather than to the righteous (Matthew 9:12–13).
Greek
Ἀπελογησάμεθα οὖν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν ὡς ἐν τοιούτῳ συγγράμματι πρὸς τὸ ἐχρῆν, εἴπερ ὄντως ἐκφῆναι θείαν δύναμιν ἤθελεν, αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐπηρεάσασι καὶ τῷ καταδικάσαντι καὶ ὅλως πᾶσιν ὀφθῆναι. οὐκ ἐχρῆν οὖν τῷ καταδικάσαντι αὐτὸν ὀφθῆναι οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐπηρεάσασιν. ἐφείδετο γὰρ καὶ τοῦ καταδικάσαντος καὶ τῶν ἐπηρεασάντων ὁ Ἰησοῦς. ἵνα μὴ παταχθῶσιν „ἀορασίᾳ,“ ὁποίᾳ οἱ ἐν Σοδόμοις ἐπατάχθησαν, ἡνίκα ἐπεβούλευον τῇ ὥρᾳ τῶν ξενισθέντων παρὰ τῷ Λὼτ ἀγγέλων. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ δηλοῦται διὰ τούτων· „ἐκτείναντες δὲ οἱ ἄνδρες τὰς χεῖρας ἐσπάσαντο τὸν Λὼτ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκον, καὶ τὴν θύραν ἀπέκλεισαν· τοὺς δὲ ἄνδρας τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ θύρᾳ τοῦ οἴκου ἐπάταξαν ἀορασίᾳ ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου· καὶ παρελύθησαν ζητοῦντες τὴν θύραν.“ ἐκφῆναι οὖν ἐβούλετο τὴν δύναμιν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Ἰησοῦς θείαν οὖσαν ἑκάστῳ τῶν δυναμένων αὐτὴν ἰδεῖν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ μέτρον ἰδεῖν ἃ ἐχώρει. καὶ οὐ δή που δι᾿ ἄλλο ἐφυλάξατο ὀφθῆναι ἢ διὰ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν μὴ χωρούντων αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν. καὶ μάτην παρελήφθη τῷ Κέλσῳ τὸ οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἔτι ἐφοβεῖτό τινα ἀνθρώπων ἀποθανὼν καὶ, ὥς φατε, θεὸς ὢν, οὐδ᾿ ἐπὶ τοῦτ᾿ ἐπέμφθη τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἵνα λάθῃ. ἐπέμφθη γὰρ οὐ μόνον. ἵνα γνωσθῇ, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα καὶ λάθῃ, οὐ γὰρ πᾶν, ὃ ἦν, καὶ οἷς ἐγινώσκετο ἐγινώσκετο. ἀλλά τι αὐτοῦ ἐλάνθανεν αὐτούς· τισὶ δ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ὅλως ἐγινώσκετο. καὶ ἀνέῳξε δὲ „φωτὸς“ πύλας τοῖς γενομένοις μὲν „σκότους“ καὶ „νυκτὸς“ υἱοῖς, ἐπιδεδωκόσι δὲ ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι υἱοὺς „ἡμέρας“ καὶ „φωτός.“ καὶ ἦλθε σωτὴρ ὁ κύριος ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ὡς ἰατρὸς ἀγαθὸς τοῖς ἁμαρτιῶν μεστοῖς ἢ τοῖς δικαίοις.