How “God, then we” can be rightly understood
Perhaps Celsus misheard some people saying, “There is God, and after him come we,” we whom he has called worms. He acts like those who find fault with a whole school of philosophy because of things said by some rash youth who has attended a philosopher’s lectures for three days and looks down on everyone else as inferior and ignorant of philosophy. For we know that there are many beings more honourable than man. We have read that “God stood in the assembly of gods” (Psalm 82:1), gods who are not those worshipped by the rest of mankind (for “all the gods of the nations are demons,” Psalm 96:5); and we have read that “God,” standing “in the assembly of gods, judges gods in their midst” (Psalm 82:1). We know too that “although there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we are for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him” (1 Corinthians 8:5–6).
We know also that the angels are so far above human beings that human beings, once made perfect, become equal to angels; for “in the resurrection of the dead” the righteous “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of heaven” (Matthew 22:30; compare Mark 12:25), and they become “equal to angels” (Luke 20:36). We know that in the ordering of the universe there are some who are called thrones, others dominions, others authorities and others rulers (Colossians 1:16). And we see that we human beings, though we fall far short of these, have hope that by living well and doing everything in accordance with reason we shall rise to a likeness with all of them. And lastly, since “it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, we know that when he is revealed we shall be like God and shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
But if someone were to say what is said by some, whether by those who understand or by those who do not understand but have misheard sound teaching, that “there is God, and after him come we,” I would interpret even this, taking “we” to mean rational beings, and still more the virtuous among rational beings. For in our view the same virtue belongs to all the blessed, so that the virtue of a human being and of God is also the same. That is why we are taught to become “perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). So no one who is noble and good is a worm swimming in the mire, no one who is pious is an ant, no one who is righteous is a frog, and no one whose soul is lit by the bright light of truth could reasonably be compared to a bat.
Greek
Τάχα δέ τινων παρήκουσεν ὁ Κέλσος ὅτι ὁ θεός ἐστιν, εἶτα μετ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ἡμεῖς, οὓς ὠνόμασε σκώληκας. καὶ ὅμοιον ποιεῖ τοῖς ὅλῃ αἱρέσει φιλοσοφίας ἐγκαλοῦσι διά τινα λεγόμενα ὑπὸ προπετοῦς μειρακίου, τριῶν ἡμερῶν φοιτήσαντος εἰς φιλοσόφου καὶ ἐπαιρομένου κατὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ὡς ἐλαττόνων καὶ ἀφιλοσόφων. ἴσμεν γὰρ ὅτι πολλά ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου τιμιώτερα, καὶ ἀνέγνωμεν ὅτι „ὁ θεὸς ἔστη ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν,“ θεῶν δὲ οὐ τῶν προσκυνουμένων ὑπὸ τῶν λοιπῶν („πάντες γὰρ οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια“), καὶ ἀνέγνωμεν ὅτι „ὁ θεὸς“ στὰς „ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν ἐν μέσῳ θεοὺς διακρίνει“· οἴδαμεν δὲ καὶ ὅτι „εἴπερ εἰσὶ θεοὶ λεγόμενοι, εἴτ᾿ ἐν οὐρανῷ εἴτε ἐπὶ γῆς, ὥσπερ εἰσὶ θεοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ κύριοι πολλοὶ, ἀλλ᾿ ἡμῖν εἷς θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτὸν, καὶ εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, δι᾿ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς δι᾿ αὐτοῦ“· οἴδαμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους οὕτως εἶναι ἀνθρώπων κρείττονας, ὥστε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τελειωθέντας ἰσαγγέλους γίνεσθαι· „ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἀναστάσει τῶν νεκρῶν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτ᾿ ἐγγαμίζονται, ἀλλ᾿ εἰσὶν ὡς οἱ ἄγγελοι τῶν οὐρανῶν“ οἱ δίκαιοι καὶ γίνονται „ἰσάγγελοι“· οἴδαμεν δ᾿ ἐν τῇ διατάξει τῶν ὅλων εἶναί τινας τοὺς καλουμένους θρόνους καὶ ἄλλους κυριότητας καὶ ἄλλους ἐξουσίας καὶ ἄλλους ἀρχάς· καὶ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι πολὺ τούτων ἡμεῖς οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀπολειπόμενοι ἐλπίδας ἔχομεν ἐκ τοῦ καλῶς βιοῦν καὶ πάντα πράττειν κατὰ τὸν λόγον ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὴν τούτων πάντων ἐξομοίωσιν. καὶ τελευταῖον ἐπεὶ „μήπω ἐφανερώθη, τί ἐσόμεθα, οἴδαμεν ὅτι, ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ἐσόμεθα ὅμοιοι τῷ θεῷ καὶ ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν, καθώς ἐστιν.“ εἰ δέ τις τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπό τινων, εἴτε τῶν νοούντων εἴτε τῶν μὴ συνιέντων ἀλλὰ παρακουσάντων λόγου ὑγιοῦς, φάσκοι, ὅτι ὁ θεός ἐστιν, εἶτα μετ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ἡμεῖς· καὶ τοῦτο γ᾿ ἂν ἑρμηνεύοιμι. τὸ ἡμεῖς λέγων ἀντὶ τοῦ οἱ λογικοὶ καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον οἱ σπουδαῖοι λογικοί· καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς γὰρ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀρετή ἐστι τῶν μακαρίων πάντων, ὥστε καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀρετὴ ἀνθρώπου καὶ θεοῦ. διόπερ γίνεσθαι „τέλειοι, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστι.“ διδασκόμεθα. οὐδεὶς οὖν καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς σκώληξ ἐστὶν ἐννηχόμενος βορβόρῳ καὶ οὐδεὶς εὐσεβὴς μύρμηξ καὶ οὐδεὶς δίκαιος βάτραχος, καὶ οὐδεὶς τῷ λαμπρῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καταυγαζόμενος τὴν ψυχὴν νυκτερίδι ἂν εὐλόγως παραβάλλοιτο.