A challenge to read Paul's letters
And we say to those who share Celsus’s mind: Did Paul, then, imagine no surpassing wisdom when he promised to speak “wisdom among the mature” (1 Corinthians 2:6)? And when, in keeping with his audacity, he says that Paul made these promises though he had nothing wise, we will answer him: First explain the letters of the man who says this. Look closely into the meaning of each expression in them, for example in the letter to the Ephesians, and to the Colossians, and to the Thessalonians, and to the Philippians, and to the Romans, and show two things: that you have understood Paul’s words, and that you can prove some of them simple-minded or silly.
For if he gives himself to reading them with attention, I know well that either he will admire the mind of the man, who conceives great things in plain language, or, if he does not admire it, he will himself appear ridiculous, whether he explains the man’s meaning as though he had understood it, or tries to contradict and overturn what he imagined Paul had in mind.
Greek
Καί φαμεν τοῖς ὁμονοοῦσι τῷ Κέλσῳ ὅτι οὐδεμίαν ἆρα φανταζόμενος ὑπερέχουσαν σοφίαν ὁ Παῦλος ἐπηγγέλλετο „σοφίαν“ λαλεῖν „ἐν τοῖς τελείοις“; ἐπειδὰν δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ θρασὺ φήσῃ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἔχων σοφὸν ταῦτα ἐπηγγέλλετο, ἀνταποκρινούμεθα αὐτῷ λέγοντες· πρῶτον σαφήνισον τοῦ ταῦτα λέγοντος τὰς ἐπιστολὰς καὶ ἐνατενίσας τῷ βουλήματι ἑκάστης ἐν αὐταῖς λέξεως, φέρ᾿ εἰπεῖν τῇ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους καὶ πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς καὶ τῇ πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς καὶ Φιλιππησίους καὶ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους. ἀμφότερα δεῖξον, καὶ ὅτι νενόηκας τοὺς Παύλου λόγους καὶ ὅτι παραστῆσαι ἔχεις εὐήθεις τινὰς ἢ ἠλιθίους. ἐὰν γὰρ ἐπιδῷ ἑαυτὸν τῇ μετὰ τοῦ προσέχειν ἀναγνώσει, εὖ οἶδ᾿ ὅτι ἢ θαυμάσεται τὸν νοῦν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, ἐν ἰδιωτικῇ λέξει μεγάλα περινοοῦντος. ἢ μὴ θαυμάσας αὐτὸς καταγέλαστος φανεῖται, εἴτε διηγούμενος ὡς νενοηκὼς τὸ βούλημα τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἢ καὶ ἀντιλέγειν καὶ ἀνατρέπειν πειρώμενος ἃ ἐφαντάσθη αὐτὸν νενοηκέναι.