Against Celsus, Book IV · §66 · Origen of Alexandria

Evil lies in the ruling part, not in matter

Then, as though he had something more secret to say about the origin of evils but kept silent about it and said only what suits the multitude, he says that it is enough to say to the multitude about the origin of evils that “evils are not from God, but cling to matter and have their home among mortals.”

Now it is true that evils are not from God. For according to our Jeremiah too it is plain that “out of the mouth of the Lord will not come forth evil things and the good” (Lamentations 3:38). But it is not true, in our view, that matter, having its home among mortals, is the cause of evils. For the ruling part of each person is the cause of the vice that exists in it, and this vice is what is evil; and the actions that come from it are evils too. And in our view, speaking strictly, nothing else is evil.

But I know that this subject needs much working out and proof. These can come, by the grace of God who enlightens the ruling part, to the one whom God has judged worthy of the knowledge of this subject too.

Greek

Εἶτα, ὡς ἔχων μέν τινα περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν γενέσεως εἰπεῖν ἀποῤῥητότερα σιωπῶν δ᾿ ἐκεῖνα καὶ τὰ πλήθεσιν ἁρμόζοντα λέγων, φησὶ τὸ ἐξαρκεῖν εἰρῆσθαι εἰς πλῆθος περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν γενέσεως ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ μὲν οὐκ ἔστι κακὰ, ὕλῃ δὲ πρόσκειται καὶ τοῖς θνητοῖς ἐμπολιτεύεται. ἀληθὲς μὲν οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι κακὰ ἐκ θεοῦ· καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἱερεμίαν γὰρ ἡμῶν σαφὲς ὅτι „ἐκ στόματος κυρίου οὐκ ἐξελεύσεται τὰ κακὰ καὶ τὸ ἀγαθόν“· τὸ δὲ τὴν ὕλην τοῖς θνητοῖς ἐμπολιτευομένην αἰτίαν εἶναι τῶν κακῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀληθές. τὸ γὰρ ἑκάστου ἡγεμονικὸν αἴτιον τῆς ὑποστάσης ἐν αὐτῷ κακίας ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ τὸ κακόν· κακὰ δὲ καὶ αἱ ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς πράξεις. καὶ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ὡς πρὸς ἀκριβῆ λόγον καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐστι κακόν. ἀλλ᾿ οἶδα τὸν λόγον δεόμενον πολλῆς ἐξεργασίας καὶ κατασκευῆς, χάριτι θεοῦ, φωτίζοντος τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, δυναμένων γενέσθαι τῷ κριθέντι ὑπὸ θεοῦ ἀξίῳ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον γνώσεως.

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About this text

Origen answers Celsus’s scorn for the belief that God or his Son comes down to the world, showing that the Word comes down without change and that God’s threats and punishments are a cure, not a fit of temper. He then defends the stories of Genesis and the patriarchs, read in their deeper sense, against the charge that they are silly tales, and rejects Celsus’s claim that the world was made no more for man than for the animals, which Celsus thought nearer to God than men.

Translated from the Greek of Koetschau, GCS 2–3 (1899), via the Perseus digital text, which serves as the base text. Each chapter was translated from the Greek and then checked clause by clause against it in a separate review. No earlier English translation was consulted.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek (Greek · Book IV, chapters 1 – 99)

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