The physician sent to sinners
Next he misrepresents what has been said and written to exhort those who have lived badly, calling them to repentance (Luke 5:32) and to the reform of their souls, and he says that we claim God was sent to sinners. In this too he acts like someone who would find fault with people for saying that a most humane king had sent the physician because of those in the city who were in a bad way. So God the Word was sent: as physician to sinners (Matthew 9:12), and as teacher of divine mysteries to those who are already pure and no longer sin.
Celsus could not tell these apart, for he did not care to learn, and he says: "Why was he not sent to those without sin? What evil is it not to have sinned?" To this we say that if by "those without sin" he means those who no longer sin, then our Saviour Jesus was sent to them too, though not as a physician. But if he means those who have never sinned at all (for he made no distinction in his wording), we shall say that no human being can be without sin in that sense. We say this while making an exception of the man understood in Jesus, "who committed no sin" (1 Peter 2:22).
Celsus speaks maliciously about us, as though we claimed that "God will receive the unjust man if he humbles himself because of his wickedness, but will not receive the just man if he looks up to him with virtue from the beginning." We say that it is impossible for a human being to look up to God with virtue from the beginning. For evil must first exist in human beings, as Paul too says: "When the commandment came, sin came to life again, and I died" (Romans 7:9-10). Nor do we teach about the unjust man that it is enough for him to humble himself because of his wickedness in order to be received by God. Rather, if he condemns himself for his former deeds and walks "humble" over them, and "well ordered" in his later conduct (Plato, Laws 716a), God will accept him.
Greek
Εἶτα συκοφαντῶν τὰ προτροπῆς ἕνεκα εἰρημένα καὶ γεγραμμένα τῆς πρὸς τοὺς κακῶς βεβιωκότας καὶ καλοῦντα αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ μετάνοιαν καὶ διόρθωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν, φησὶν ἡμᾶς λέγειν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς πεπέμφθαι τὸν θεόν, ὅμοιον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, ὡς εἰ ἐνεκάλει τισὶ λέγουσι διὰ τοὺς κακῶς διάγοντας ἐν τῇ πόλει πεπέμφθαι ὑπὸ φιλανθρωποτάτου βασιλέως τὸν ἰατρόν, ἐπέμφθη οὖν θεὸς λόγος καθὸ μὲν ἰατρὸς τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς, καθὸ δὲ διδάσκαλος θείων μυστηρίων τοῖς ἤδη καθαροῖς καὶ μηκέτι ἁμαρτάνουσιν. ὁ δὲ Κέλσος ταῦτα μὴ δυνηθεὶς διακρῖναι (οὐ γὰρ ἠβουλήθη φιλομαθῆσαι) φησί· τί δὲ τοῖς ἀναμαρτήτοις οὐκ ἐπέμφθη; τί κακόν ἐστι τὸ μὴ ἡμαρτηκέναι; καὶ πρὸς τοῦτό φαμεν ὅτι, εἰ μὲν ἀναμαρτήτους λέγει τοὺς μηκέτι ἁμαρτάνοντας, ἐπέμφθη καὶ τούτοις ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὡς ἰατρός· εἰ δ᾿ ἀναμαρτήτοις τοῖς μηδεπώποτε ἡμαρτηκόσιν (οὐ γὰρ διεστείλατο ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ λέξει), ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ἀδύνατον εἶναι οὕτως ἄνθρωπον ἀναμάρτητον, τοῦτο δέ φαμεν ὑπεξαιρουμένου τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν νοουμένου ἀνθρώπου, „ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησε.“ κακούργως δή φησιν ὁ Κέλσος περὶ ἡμῶν ὡς δὴ φασκόντων ὅτι τὸν μὲν ἄδικον, ἐὰν αὑτὸν ὑπὸ μοχθηρίας ταπεινώσῃ, δέξεται ὁ θεὸς, τὸν δὲ δίκαιον, ἐὰν μετ᾿ ἀρετῆς ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς ἄνω πρὸς αὐτὸν βλέπῃ, τοῦτον οὐ δέξεται, ἀδύνατον (γάρ) φαμεν εἶναι ἄνθρωπον μετ᾿ ἀρετῆς ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἄνω βλέπειν· κακίαν γὰρ ὑφίστασθαι ἀναγκαῖον πρῶτον ἐν ἀνθρώποις, καθὸ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· „ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον“· ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐ διδάσκομεν περὶ τοῦ ἀδίκου ὅτι αὔταρκες αὐτῷ τὸ διὰ τὴν μοχθηρίαν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινοῦν πρὸς τὸ δεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις ἑαυτοῦ καταγνοὺς πορεύηται „ταπεινὸς“ ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνοις καὶ „κεκοσμημένος“ ἐπὶ τοῖς δευτέροις, τοῦτον παραδέξεται ὁ θεός.