Seeking the promised one is no trifle
If this is so, how are Jews and Christians disputing with one another over the shadow of an ass, when they examine, from the prophecies in which both alike believe, whether the one prophesied has come, or has not yet come at all and is still awaited? And even if, for argument’s sake, Celsus were granted that Jesus is not the one whom the prophets announced, even so, the inquiry into the meaning of the prophetic Scriptures is still no dispute over the shadow of an ass. Its aim is that the one proclaimed beforehand may be clearly shown: what sort of person he was prophesied to be, what he would do, and, if possible, when he would come.
We have already spoken earlier about Jesus being the prophesied Christ, setting out a few prophecies out of many. Neither Jews nor Christians, then, are mistaken in accepting that the prophets spoke from God. But those who are mistaken about the one prophesied and awaited hold a false opinion about who he is and what kind of person he was proclaimed to be in the true word of the prophets.
Greek
Εἰ δὲ ταῦθ᾿ οὕτως ἔχει, πῶς περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ζητοῦσιν Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Χριστιανοὶ, ἐξετάζοντες ἀπὸ τῶν προφητειῶν. αἷς κοινῇ πεπιστεύκασι, πότερον ὁ προφητευόμενος ἐλήλυθεν ἢ οὐδαμῶς μὲν ἐπιδεδήμηκεν ἔτι δὲ προσδοκᾶται; κἂν καθ᾿ ὑπόθεσιν δὲ τῷ Κέλσῳ δοθῇ δοθῇ μὴ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἶναι, ὃν κατήγγειλαν οἱ προφῆται, καὶ οὕτως οὐδὲν ἧττον οὐ περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ νοῦ τῶν προφητικῶν γραφῶν ζήτησις· ἵν᾿ ἐναργῶς ἀποδειχθῇ ὁ προκηρυσσόμενος, ὁποῖός τε εἶναι ἐπροφητεύετο καὶ τί ποιήσων, εἰ δὲ οἷόν τε, καὶ πότε ἐπιδημήσων. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀνωτέρω προείπομεν ὀλίγας ἀπὸ πλειόνων παραθέμενοι προφητείας περὶ τοῦ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἶναι τὸν προφητευόμενον Χριστόν· οὐ σφάλλονται τοίνυν κατὰ τὸ προσίεσθαι θεόθεν τοὺς προφήτας λελαληκέναι οὔτε Ἰουδαῖοι οὔτε Χριστιανοὶ, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ σφαλλόμενοι περὶ τοῦ προφητευομένου προσδοκωμένου ψευδοδοξοῦσιν, ὅστις καὶ ποταπὸς κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ τῶν προφητῶν λόγον κεκήρυκται.