Why Christians will not rank Jesus with Apollo or Zeus
The Egyptians, then, who have been taught to worship Antinous, will put up with it if you set Apollo or Zeus beside him, for they exalt Antinous by counting him among those gods. For here too Celsus plainly lies when he says, “Even if you set Apollo or Zeus beside him, they will not put up with it.”
But Christians have learned that their eternal life lies in knowing “the only true God,” who is over all, “and Jesus Christ, whom” he “has sent” (John 17:3). They have learned too “that all the gods of the nations are demons” (Psalm 96:5), greedy demons that wallow about the sacrifices, the blood, and the portions taken from the sacrifices, to deceive those who have not fled for refuge to the God who is over all; while the divine and holy angels of God are of another nature and another will than all the demons on earth, and are known to very few, to those who have searched into such things with understanding and care. If you set beside him Apollo and Zeus, or any of those worshipped with the savour of burnt fat, with blood, and with sacrifices, Christians will not put up with it. Some of them, in their great simplicity, do not know how to give an account of what they do, but sensibly keep what they have received. Others refuse with arguments that are not to be despised, arguments that are deeper and, as a Greek might say, esoteric and fit for those who have seen the higher mysteries. In these there is much discussion of God, and of those whom God, through the only-begotten God the Word, has honoured with a share in deity, and for that reason with the name as well. There is much discussion too of the divine angels, and of those who are opposed to the truth yet have themselves been deceived, and who out of that deception proclaim themselves gods, or angels of God, or good demons, or heroes formed by the change of a good human soul.
For just as many in philosophy suppose that they are in the truth, either because they have deceived themselves with plausible arguments or because they have rashly assented to arguments that others have put forward and devised, so too among souls outside bodies, and among angels and demons, there are some who have been drawn by plausible reasonings into proclaiming themselves gods. And because such questions cannot be found out among men with complete exactness, it has been judged safe for one who is a man to entrust himself to no one as to God except to the God who is over all alone, with Jesus Christ as arbiter, who looked most deeply into these things and handed them on to a few.
Greek
Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν οὖν διδαχθέντες τὸν Ἀντίνουν σέβειν, ἐὰν παραβάλῃς (αὐτῷ) Ἀπόλλωνα ἢ Δία, ἀνέξονται, σεμνύνοντες τὸν Ἀντίνουν διὰ τοῦ ἐκείνοις αὐτὸν συναριθμεῖν· καὶ ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ὁ Κέλσος σαφῶς ψεύδεται λέγων· κἂν παραβάλῃς αὐτῷ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἢ τὸν Δία, οὐκ ἀνέξονται. Χριστιανοῖς δὲ μεμαθηκόσι τὴν αἰώνιον αὐτοῖς εἶναι ζωὴν ἐν τῷ γινώσκειν „τὸν μόνον“ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν „ἀληθινὸν θεὸν καὶ ὃν“ ἐκεῖνος ἀπέστειλεν „Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν,“ μαθοῦσι δὲ καὶ „ὅτι πάντες μὲν οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσι δαιμόνια“ λίχνα καὶ περὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ τὰ αἵματα καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν ἀποφορὰς καλινδούμενα ἐπὶ ἀπάτῃ τῶν μὴ προσπεφευγότων τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ, οἱ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ θεῖοι καὶ ἅγιοι ἄγγελοι ἄλλης εἰσὶ φύσεως καὶ προαιρέσεως παρὰ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς πάντας δαίμονας, καὶ ὅτι οὗτοι σφόδρα ὀλίγοις γινώσκονται τοῖς περὶ τῶν τοιούτων συνετῶς καὶ ἐπιμελῶς ζητήσασιν, ἐὰν παραβάλῃς Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ Δία ἤ τινα τῶν μετὰ κνίσσης καὶ αἵματος καὶ θυσιῶν προσκυνουμένων, οὐκ ἀνέξονται· τινὲς μὲν διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἁπλότητα μὴ εἰδότες μὲν δοῦναι λόγον περὶ ὧν ποιοῦσιν εὐγνωμόνως δὲ τηροῦντες ἃ παρειλήφασιν, ἕτεροι δὲ μετ᾿ οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτων λόγων ἀλλὰ καὶ βαθυτέρων καὶ, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις Ἕλλην, ἐσωτερικῶν καὶ ἐποπτικῶν, ἐν οἷς πολύς ἐστι λόγος περὶ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν τετιμημένων ἀπὸ θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ λόγου μετοχῇ θεότητος διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὀνόματι. πολὺς δὲ ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ περὶ τῶν θείων ἀγγέλων καὶ ὁ περὶ τῶν ἐναντίων μὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἠπατημένων δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀπάτης αὐτοὺς ἀναγορευόντων θεοὺς ἢ ἀγγέλους θεοῦ ἢ δαίμονας ἀγαθοὺς ἢ ἥρωας ἐκ μεταβολῆς συστάντας ἀγαθῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς. οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτοι Χριστιανοὶ εἶναι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἤτοι ἑαυτοὺς ὥσπερ πολλοὶ ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ δοκοῦσιν εἶναι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἤτοι ἑαυτοὺς κατασοφισάμενοι λόγοις πιθανοῖς ἢ τοῖς ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρων προσαγομένοις καὶ εὑρεθεῖσι συγκαταθέμενοι προπετῶς, οὕτως εἰσὶ καὶ [αἱ] ἐν ταῖς ἔξω σωμάτων ψυχαῖς καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ δαίμοσί τινες, ὑπὸ τῶν πιθανοτήτων ἑλκυσθέντες πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοὺς ἀναγορεῦσαι θεούς. καὶ διὰ τοὺς τοιούτους γε λόγους κατὰ τὸ ἀκριβὲς τελείως ἐν ἀνθρώποις μὴ δυναμένους εὑρεθῆναι ἀσφαλὲς ἐνομίσθη τὸ μηδενὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐμπιστεῦσαι ἄνθρωπον ὄντα ὡς θεῷ, πλὴν μόνου τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὡς διαιτητοῦ, τοῦ βαθύτατα ταῦτα καὶ θεωρήσαντος καὶ ὀλίγοις παραδόντος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.