Against Celsus, Book V · §22 · Origen of Alexandria

Words that will not pass away

Let no one suspect, when we say this, that we belong to those who are called Christians but reject the doctrine of the resurrection taught in the Scriptures. For on their own premises they have no way at all to show how a stalk or a tree rises, as it were, from a grain “of wheat or of some other kind” (1 Corinthians 15:37).

But we are persuaded that what is sown “is not made alive unless it dies” (1 Corinthians 15:36), and that what is sown is “not the body that is to be” (1 Corinthians 15:37); for “God gives it a body as he willed” (1 Corinthians 15:38), raising it “in incorruption” after it has been sown “in corruption,” raising it “in glory” after it has been sown “in dishonour,” raising it “in power” after it has been sown “in weakness,” and raising it “spiritual” after it has been sown “a natural body” (1 Corinthians 15:42–44). So we keep both the mind of the church of Christ and the greatness of God’s promise, and we show that it is possible, not by bare assertion but by argument as well. For we know that even if “heaven and earth” pass away, and the things in them, still the “words,” the principles of each thing, which stand to the Word who was “in the beginning” “with God,” God the Word (John 1:1), as parts to a whole or species to a genus, will never pass away. For we choose to listen to him who said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).

Greek

Μὴ ὑπονοείτω δέ τις ἡμᾶς ταῦτα λέγοντας ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνων εἶναι τῶν λεγομένων μὲν Χριστιανῶν ἀθετούντων δὲ τὸ περὶ ἀναστάσεως κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς δόγμα. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τὸν οἱονεὶ ἀπὸ κόκκου „σίτου ἤ τινος τῶν λοιπῶν“ ἀνιστάμενον στάχυν ἢ δένδρον οὐδαμῶς παραστῆσαι ἔχουσιν. ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ἀρέσκοντι ἑαυτῶν· ἡμεῖς δὲ πειθόμενοι ὅτι τὸ σπειρόμενον „οὐ ζωοποιεῖται, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ,“ “καὶ ὅτι „οὐ τὸ γενησόμενον σῶμα“ σπείρεται (ὁ γὰρ „θεὸς αὐτῷ δίδωσι σῶμα, καθὼς ἠθέλησε,“ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι „ἐν φθορᾷ“ ἐγείρων αὐτὸ „ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ“ καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι „ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ“ ἐγείρων αὐτὸ „ἐν δόξῃ“ καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι „ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ“ ἐγείρων αὐτὸ „ἐν δυνάμει“ καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι „σῶμα ψυχικὸν“ ἐγείρων αὐτὸ „πνευματικὸν“), τηροῦμεν καὶ τὸ βούλημα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ θεοῦ, παριστάντες αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν οὐκ ἀποφάσει ἀλλὰ καὶ λόγῳ· εἰδότες ὅτι κἂν „οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ“ παρέλθῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ περὶ ἑκάστου „λόγοι“ ὄντες ὡς ἐν ὅλῳ μέρη ἢ ὡς ἐν γένει εἴδη τοῦ „ἐν ἀρχῇ“ λόγου „πρὸς τὸν θεὸν“ θεοῦ λόγου οὐδαμῶς παρελεύσονται. θέλομεν γὰρ ἀκούειν τοῦ εἰπόντος· „ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσιν.“

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About this text

Origen answers Celsus’s claim that no God or Son of God has come down to men, shows why Christians worship God alone and not angels or the stars, and defends the hope of the resurrection against the charge that it is “the hope of worms.” He then rejects Celsus’s case that each nation should keep its own ancestral laws, and answers his mockery of the angels at Jesus’ tomb and of the many Christian sects.

Base text: Paul Koetschau's Greek, GCS 2–3 (1899), via the Perseus digital text. All 65 chapters of Book V were translated from the Greek in two passes (a literal gloss with key Greek words, then reading English), and every clause was then checked against the Greek in a separate review. Doubtful readings in the Greek are recorded in the translator's notes.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek (Greek · Book V, chapters 1 – 65)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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