The Angel of Great Counsel
What we said earlier, in the parts where we dealt separately with our Saviour Jesus Christ in reply to Celsus's statements, would have been enough. But so that we may not seem to pass over any passage of his writing on purpose, as though we could not answer it, come, even if we are going to repeat ourselves, since Celsus challenges us to it, let us treat the matter as briefly as we can, and see whether anything clearer or newer on the same matters occurs to us.
He says, then, that he passes over all the points on which Christians are refuted about their teacher, though he has passed over nothing that he could say, as is clear from what he said earlier; he does this merely by following a rhetorical device. But that we are not refuted about so great a Saviour as ours, even if our accuser seems to refute us, will be clear to those who read closely, with a love of truth, all that was prophesied and recorded about him.
Next, since he is thought to be speaking by way of concession when he says of the Saviour, “Let this man be taken to be truly an angel,” we say that we do not take this as something Celsus concedes; we take it from looking at the work of him who has visited the whole human race with his own word and teaching, as far as each of those who received him had room for it. That was the work of one who was not simply an angel but, as the prophecy about him named him, the Angel “of great counsel” (Isaiah 9:6). For he announced to men the great counsel of God, the Father of all things, concerning them: that those who yield to it by living in pure godliness are going up to God through great deeds, while those who do not receive him are putting themselves far from God (Psalm 73:27) and travelling toward destruction through their unbelief concerning God.
Then next he says: “Even if this man came to men as an angel, did he come first and alone, or did others come before him too?” And he thinks he meets each alternative at length, though no one who is truly a Christian says that Christ alone has visited the human race. And Celsus says that others too have appeared to men: “If they should say that he alone …”
Greek
Ἤρκει μὲν οὖν τὰ προειρημένα ἐν τοῖς ἰδίᾳ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐξετασθεῖσι πρὸς τὰς Κέλσου λέξεις· ἵνα δὲ μὴ δοκῶμεν τόπον τινὰ αὐτοῦ τῆς γραφῆς ὑπερβαίνειν ἑκόντες ὡς μὴ δεδυνημένοι λέγειν πρὸς αὐτὸν, φέρε, εἰ καὶ ταυτολογεῖν μέλλομεν, ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς τοῦ Κέλσου προκαλουμένου, ὅση δύναμις ἐπιτεμώμεθα τὸν λόγον, ἐὰν ἄρα τι ὑποπέσῃ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ἐναργέστερον ἢ καινότερον. φησὶ δὴ παραλιπεῖν ὅσα περὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου Χριστιανοὶ διελέγχονται, οὐ παραλιπών (τι) ὧν ἐδύνατο λέγειν· ὅπερ ἐστὶ φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀνωτέρω αὐτῷ λελεγμένων· ἄλλως δὲ ῥητορικῇ ἐγχειρήσει κατακολουθῶν τὸ τοιοῦτο ποιεῖ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι οὐ διελεγχόμεθα περὶ τοῦ τηλικούτου σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, κἂν δοκῇ ὁ ἐγκαλῶν διελέγχειν, δῆλον ἔσται τοῖς φιλαλήθως καὶ ἐξεταστικῶς ὅλοις τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητευομένοις καὶ ἀναγεγραμμένοις ἐντυγχάνουσιν. ἑξῆς δὲ, ἐπεὶ νομίζεται συγχωρητικῶς λέγειν περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος οτι δοκείτω τις ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄγγελος οὗτος εἶναι, φαμὲν ὅτι τοῦτ᾿ οὐχ ὡς συγχωρούμενον ἀπὸ Κέλσου λαμβάνομεν, τῷ δ᾿ ἔργῳ αὐτοῦ ἐνορῶντες ὅλῳ τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιδεδημηκότος κατὰ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον καὶ τὴν διδασκαλίαν, ὡς ἕκαστος ἐχώρει τῶν προσιεμένων αὐτόν. ὅπερ ἔργον ἦν τοῦ, ὡς ὠνόμασεν ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητεία, οὐχ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀγγέλου ἀλλὰ τοῦ τῆς „μεγάλης βουλῆς“ ἀγγέλου· ἤγγελλε γὰρ ἀνθρώποις τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων περὶ αὐτῶν βουλὴν, εἰκόντων μὲν τῷ βιοῦν ἐν καθαρᾷ θεοσεβείᾳ ὡς ἀναβαινόντων διὰ τῶν μεγάλων πράξεων πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, μὴ προσιεμένων δὲ ὡς ἑαυτοὺς μακρυνόντων ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπώλειαν διὰ τῆς περὶ θεοῦ ἀπιστίας ὁδευόντων. εἶθ᾿ ἑξῆς φησιν· εἰ καὶ ἄγγελος οὗτος πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἦλθεν. ἆρα πρῶτος ἧκε καὶ μόνος, ἤ καὶ ἄλλοι πρότερον; καὶ πρὸς ἑκάτερον δὲ διὰ πλειόνων οἴεται ἀπαντᾶν, οὐδενὸς δὴ τῶν ὡς ἀληθῶς Χριστιανῶν λέγοντος μόνον τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τῷ (γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων·) καὶ ἄλλους ὦφθαί φησιν ἀνθρώποις ὁ Κέλσος, εἰ μὲν δὴ φαῖεν ὅτι μόνος.