The resurrection and the demand to see
After this his Jew says, evidently in keeping with what Jews hold: “We hope, of course, to rise again in the body and to have eternal life, and that the one who is to be sent to us will be the pattern and pioneer of this, showing that it is not impossible for God to raise someone up together with the body.” Now we do not know whether the Jew would say that the Christ he expects shows in himself a pattern of the resurrection; but let it be so: let it be granted that he both thinks and says this. And we will answer the one who said that he had spoken to us out of our own writings: My good man, did you read the passages by which you suppose you can accuse us, but not go through those on the resurrection of Jesus, and on his being “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18; compare Revelation 1:5)? Or, because you do not want these things to have been said, have they then not been said?
But since the Jew in Celsus still speaks of the resurrection of bodies and accepts it, I do not think this is the right moment to discuss the matter with one who both believes and says that there is a resurrection of bodies, whether he has worked out such a belief clearly in his own mind and can champion the doctrine well, or whether he cannot, but assents to the doctrine in a rather mythical way. Let that, then, be our answer to Celsus’s Jew.
And since after this he says, “Where is he, then, so that we may see and believe?” (compare Mark 15:32) we will say to him: Where, then, is he now who speaks in the prophets and who has worked wonders, so that we may see and believe that God has a portion? Or are you allowed to offer a defence for God’s not always appearing to the race of the Hebrews, while we are not granted the same defence concerning Jesus, who once rose again and persuaded his disciples of his own resurrection, and persuaded them so thoroughly that by what they suffer they show everyone that, with their eyes on eternal life and on the resurrection shown to them in word and in deed, they make light of all the hardships of this life?
Greek
Μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ Ἰουδαῖος αὐτῷ λέγει. δηλονότι κατὰ τὸ Ἰουδαίοις ἀρέσκον, ὅτι ἐλπίζομεν δή που ἀναστήσεσθαι ἐν σώματι καὶ βιοτὴν ἕξειν αἰώνιον. καὶ τούτου παράδειγμα καὶ ἀρχηγέτην τὸν πεμπόμενον ἡμῖν ἔσεσθαι. δεικνύντα ὅτι οὐκ ἀδύνατόν τινα τῷ θεῷ σὺν τῷ σώματι ἀναστῆσαι. οὐκ οἴδαμεν οὖν εἰ τὸν προσδοκώμενον Χριστὸν ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἐρεῖ παράδειγμα τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεικνύναι· ἀλλ᾿ ἔστω, δεδόσθω τοῦτ᾿ αὐτὸν καὶ φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν. καὶ ἀποκρινούμεθά γε πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων συγγραμμάτων ἡμῖν λελαληκέναι· ὅτι, ὦ οὗτος. ἆρ᾿ ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἀνέγνως. ἐν οἶς κατηγορεῖν ἡμῶν ὑπολαμβάνεις. τὴν δ᾿ ἀνάστασιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ ὅτι „πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν“ ἐστιν. οὐ διεξελήλυθας; ἢ ἐπεὶ μὴ βούλει ταῦτα λελέχθαι, οὐδ᾿ εἴρηται; ἐπεὶ δ᾿ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἔτι λέγει καὶ προσίεται παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν σωμάτων. οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι νῦν εὔκαιρον εἶναι περὶ τούτου διεξελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν καὶ πιστεύοντα καὶ λέγοντα ἀνάστασιν εἶναι σωμάτων, καὶ εἴτε διαρθροῦντα τὸ τοιοῦτον παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ καὶ δυνάμενον πρεσβεῦσαι περὶ τοῦ λόγου καλῶς εἴτε μὴ, ἀλλὰ μυθικώτερον συγκατατιθέμενον τῷ λόγῳ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οὕτως πρὸς τὸν Κέλσου Ἰουδαῖον λελέχθω. ἐπεὶ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτά φησι· ποῦ οὖν ἐστιν; ἵνα ἴδωμεν καὶ πιστεύσωμεν, ἐροῦμεν πρὸς αὐτόν· ποῦ οὖν ἐστι νῦν ὁ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις λέγων καὶ ὁ τεράστια πεποιηκώς: ἵνα ἴδωμεν καὶ πιστεύσωμεν ὅτι μερίς ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ. ἢ ὑμῖν μὲν ἔξεστιν ἀπολογεῖσθαι περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἀεὶ ἐπιφαίνεσθαι τῷ γένει τῶν Ἑβραίων τὸν θεὸν, ἡμῖν δὲ οὐ δίδοται ἡ αὐτὴ ἀπολογία περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἅπαξ καὶ ἀναστάντος καὶ πείσαντος περὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀναστάσεως τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον πείσαντος, ὥστε δι᾿ ὧν πάσχουσι δεικνύναι πᾶσιν ὅτι βλέποντες τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν καὶ τὴν ὑποδεδειγμένην αὐτοῖς καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ ἀνάστασιν παίζουσι πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἐπίπονα;