The fire that cleanses and heals
See, then, how here, from the very start, he slanders with mockery the burning of the world, a teaching put forward also by some Greeks whose philosophy is not to be despised, and how he would have it that we, as though making God a cook, bring in our account of that burning. He has not seen that, as some Greeks held (perhaps having taken it from the most ancient nation, the Hebrews), the fire is brought upon the world to cleanse it, and probably also upon each of those who need the punishment and at the same time the healing that comes through fire. It burns, but does not burn up, those who have no matter that needs to be consumed by that fire; but it burns and burns up those who, in the building that is spoken of figuratively, the building of deeds, words and thoughts, have built with “wood, hay or straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12).
The divine words say that the Lord will come “like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap” (Malachi 3:2) to each of those who need it, because there has been mixed into them, as it were, a base matter that melts, the matter that comes from wickedness; to those, I mean, who need fire, as though he were smelting those who have been mixed with “bronze and tin and lead” (Ezekiel 22:18–20). Anyone who wishes may learn this from the prophet Ezekiel.
That we do not say God brings the fire like a cook, but as God, the benefactor of those who need pain and fire, the prophet Isaiah will also bear witness, in the place where it is written that it was said to a certain sinful nation: “Since you have coals of fire, sit upon them; these will be a help to you” (Isaiah 47:14–15). The Word, arranging what suits the multitudes who will read Scripture, speaks the grim things in a veiled way and with wisdom, to bring fear on those who cannot otherwise turn back from the flood of their sins. Even so, the attentive reader will find shown there the end that the grim and painful things bring about for those who suffer. For the present it is enough to set down these words from Isaiah: “For my name’s sake I will show you my anger, and I will bring my glories upon you, so that I may not utterly destroy you” (Isaiah 48:9).
We have been compelled to hint at things that do not suit those who believe more simply and who need a simpler handling in our teaching, so as not to seem to leave unrefuted the charge Celsus makes when he says, “when God, like a cook, brings on the fire.”
Greek
Ὅρα δὴ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς πῶς τὴν καὶ παρ᾿ Ἑλλήνων τισὶν οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτως φιλοσοφήσασιν εἰσαγομένην τοῦ κόσμου ἐκπύρωσιν μετὰ χλεύης διαβάλλων θέλει ἡμᾶς ὡσπερεὶ μάγειρον ποιοῦντας τὸν θεὸν εἰσάγειν τὰ περὶ τῆς ἐκπυρώσεως· οὐ συνιδὼν ὅτι, ὥσπερ Ἑλλήνων τισὶν ἔδοξε (τάχα παρὰ τοῦ ἀρχαιοτάτου ἔθνους Ἑβραίων λαβοῦσι), τὸ πῦρ καθάρσιον ἐπάγεται τῷ κόσμῳ εἰκὸς δ᾿ ὅτι καὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν δεομένων τῆς διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς δίκης ἅμα καὶ ἰατρείας· καίοντος μὲν καὶ οὐ κατακαίοντος τοὺς μὴ ἔχοντας ὕλην δεομένην ἀναλοῦσθαι ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνου τοῦ πυρὸς, καίοντος δὲ καὶ κατακαίοντος τοὺς ἐν τῇ διὰ τῶν πράξεων καὶ λόγων καὶ νοημάτων τροπικῶς λεγομένῃ οἰκοδομῇ „ξύλα, χόρτον ἢ καλάμην“ οἰκοδομήσαντας. φασὶ δ᾿ οἱ θεῖοι λόγοι τὸν κύριον „ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου καὶ ὡς ποίαν πλυνόντων“ ἑκάστῳ τῶν δεομένων ἐπιδημήσειν διὰ τὸ ἀναμεμῖχθαι οἱονεὶ φαύλην χυτὴν ὕλην τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας, δεομένων δὲ λέγω πυρὸς, οἱονεὶ χωνεύοντος τοὺς ἀναμεμιγμένους „χαλκῷ“ „καὶ κασσιτέρῳ καὶ μολίβδῳ.“ καὶ ταῦτα τὸν βουλόμενον ἔστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰεζεκιὴλ μαθεῖν. ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ὡς μάγειρόν φαμεν τὸ πῦρ ἐπιφέρειν τὸν θεὸν ἀλλ᾿ ὡς θεὸν εὐεργέτην τῶν χρῃζόντων πόνου καὶ πυρὸς, μαρτυρήσει καὶ ὁ προφήτης ῾Πσαΐας ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται λελέχθαι πρός τι ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλόν· „ὅτι ἔχεις ἄνθρακας πυρὸς, καθίσαι ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς· οὗτοι ἔσονταί σοι βοήθεια.“ οἰκονομούμενος δ᾿ ὁ λόγος ἁρμόζοντα πλήθεσιν ἐντευξομένοις τῇ γραφῇ ἐπικεκρυμμένως μετὰ σοφίας λέγει τὰ σκυθρωπὰ εἰς φόβον τῶν μὴ δυναμένων ἄλλως ἐπιστρέψειν ἀπὸ τῆς χύσεως τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· πλὴν καὶ οὕτως ὁ τηρῶν εὑρήσει ἐμφαινόμενον τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν καὶ ἐπιπόνων ἐπαγόμενον τοῖς ἀλγοῦσι τέλος. ἀρκεῖ δ᾿ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος παραθέσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου τό· „ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος δείξω σοι τὸν θυμόν μου, καὶ τὰ ἔνδοξά μου ἐπάξω ἐπὶ σὲ, ἵνα μὴ ἐξολοθρεύσω σε.“ ἠναγκάσθημεν δὲ τὰ μὴ ἁρμόζοντα τοῖς ἁπλούστερον πιστεύουσι καὶ δεομένοις τῆς ἁπλουστέρας ἐν λόγοις οἰκονομίας αἰνίξασθαι, ἵνα μὴ δοκῶμεν ἀνεξέλεγκτον ἐᾶν τὴν τοῦ Κέλσου κατηγορίαν, λέγοντος· ἐπειδὰν ὁ θεὸς ὥσπερ μάγειρος ἐπενέγκῃ τὸ πῦρ.