No faction in the kingdom of God
Next after this he says: “And yet the one who, speaking about God, asserts that one Lord is meant is impious, because he divides the kingdom of God and creates faction, as though there were a party, and some other rival opposed to Him.”
This would have had some force for him if he had proved by geometrical demonstrations that those whom the nations worship as gods really are gods, and had shown that those who are believed to dwell about statues and temples and altars are not some wicked demons. But as for the kingdom of God, which is constantly spoken of and written about among us, we pray both to understand it and to become such that we may be ruled by God alone, and that the kingdom of God may become ours also. He, on the other hand, who teaches us to revere many gods, ought, if he looks at what follows from his own position, to speak of a kingdom of gods rather than of God.
So there are no factions with God, nor is there any god who is His rival, even if some, like Giants or Titans, wish through their own wickedness to fight against God, together with Celsus and those who have taken up war against Him who in countless ways established what concerns Jesus, and against Jesus Himself, who for the salvation of our race gave Himself, being the Word, to the whole world at once, as each is able to receive Him.
Greek
Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις φησί· καὶ μὴν ὅ γε φάσκων ἕνα εἰρῆσθαι κύριον, περὶ θεοῦ λέγων. ἀσεβεῖ διαιρῶν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν καὶ στασιάζων. ὡς οὔσης αἱρέσεως καὶ ὄντος τινὸς ἑτέρου ἀντιστασιώτου αὐτῷ. χώραν δ᾿ εἶχεν αὐτῷ ταῦτα, εἰ γραμμικαῖς ἀποδείξεσι παρίστη τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσκυνουμένους ὡς θεοὺς θεοὺς εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα καὶ τοὺς νεὼς καὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς νομιζομένους τυγχάνειν παρίστη μὴ ὄντας φαύλους τινὰς δαίμονας. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν συνεχῶς λεγομένην καὶ γεγραμμένην ἡμεῖς μὲν καὶ νοεῖν εὐχόμεθα καὶ τοιοῦτοι γίνεσθαι, ἵν᾿ ὑπὸ θεοῦ μόνου βασιλευώμεθα, καὶ γένηται καὶ ἡμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. ἐκεῖνος δὲ, πολλοὺς ἡμᾶς διδάσκων σέβειν θεοὺς. θεῶν μᾶλλον ὤφειλεν, εἰ τὰ ἀκόλουθα ἑαυτῷ σκοπεῖ. λέγειν βασιλείαν ἤπερ θεοῦ. οὔτ᾿ οὖν αἱρέσεις παρὰ θεῷ οὔτ᾿ ἐστί τις θεὸς ἀντιστασιώτης αὐτῷ, κἂν οἷον Γίγαντές τινες ἢ Τιτᾶνες διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν φαυλότητα θεομαχεῖν θέλωσι μετὰ Κέλσου καὶ τῶν ἀραμένων πόλεμον πρὸς τὸν διὰ μυρίων παραστήσαντα τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀθρόως ἑαυτὸν ὄντα λόγον, ὡς ἕκαστος χωρεῖ, ἐπιδεδωκότα.