Against Celsus, Book VI · §72 · Origen of Alexandria

Arguments that are not ours

So Celsus, as one who does not know the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14), has spoken to no purpose when he says: “Since the Son is a spirit from God that has come to be in a human body, not even the Son of God himself would be immortal.”

Then again he muddles the argument to suit himself, as though some of us would grant not that God is spirit but that his Son is, and he thinks he meets this by saying: “There is no spirit of such a nature that it lasts forever.” It is as if, when we say that God is “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), he were to say: “There is no fire of such a nature that it lasts forever.” He does not see in what sense we say that our God is “fire,” and what it is that he consumes: sins and wickedness. For it befits a good God, once it has become clear, after each one has contended, what kind of contender he has been, to consume wickedness with the fire of punishments.

Then again he assumes, to suit himself, something we do not say: “It is necessary that God drew his breath back in”; and, as following from this, that “Jesus could not rise with his body; for God would not have taken back the spirit he gave once it had been defiled by the nature of the body.” It is foolish, then, for us to answer arguments as if they were ours, when they are not ours.

Greek

Διόπερ μάτην λέλεκται τῷ Κέλσῳ, ὡς μὴ εἰδότι τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐπείπερ πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ υἱὸς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ γεγονὼς σώματι, οὐδ᾿ ἂν αὐτὸς εἴη ἀθάνατος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱός. εἶτα πάλιν ἑαυτῷ φύρει τὸν λόγον, ὥς τινων ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν οὐχ ὁμολογησόντων πνεῦμα εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἀλλὰ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἴεται ἀπαντᾶν λέγων ὅτι οὐδεμία τοιαύτη φύσις ἐστὶ πνεύματος, ὥστ᾿ ἀεὶ διαμένειν· ὡσεὶ καὶ, λεγόντων ἡμῶν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς „πῦρ“ ἐστι „καταναλίσκον,“ ἔλεγεν ὅτι οὐδεμία τοιαύτη φύσις ἐστὶ πυρὸς, ὥστ᾿ ἀεὶ διαμένειν· οὐχ ὁρῶν πῶς λέγομεν εἶναι „πῦρ“ τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν, καὶ τίνων ἀναλωτικὸν, ὅτι ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τῆς κακίας. πρέπει γὰρ θεῷ ἀγαθῷ μετὰ τὸ ἕκαστον φανῆναι ἀγωνισάμενον, ὁποῖος γέγονεν ἀγωνιστὴς, ἀναλῶσαι τῷ πυρὶ τῶν κολάσεων τὴν κακίαν. εἶτα πάλιν ἑαυτῷ τὸ μὴ λεγόμενον ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν λαμβάνει. ὅτι ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἀναπεπνευκέναι τὸν θεόν. καὶ τούτῳ ἀκόλουθον τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἀναστῆναι μετὰ τοῦ σώματος τὸν Ἰησοῦν· οὐκ ἂν γὰρ ἀπειλήφει ὃ δέδωκε πνεῦμα ὁ θεὸς καταμεμολυσμένον τῇ τοῦ σώματος φύσει. εὔηθες οὖν ἀπαντᾶν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ὡς ἡμετέρους τοὺς μὴ ἡμετέρους.

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About this text

Celsus claims that the best Christian teachings were taken from Plato and said better by the Greeks, and he charges Christians with the diagram of an obscure sect and with a crude reading of Genesis. Origen answers that the plain speech of Scripture serves everyone, that the prophets spoke before Plato, and that the God of the Christians is spirit, not body, and is made known through His Word.

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 an independent review. No earlier English translation was consulted.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek (Greek · Book VI, chapters 1 – 81)

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