Which teachers of punishment change lives
Then, I do not know how, Celsus, after bringing forward the zeal of those who contend even to death rather than forswear Christianity, goes on as though putting our teachings on a level with what the initiators and mystagogues say, and he says: “Indeed, my good sir, just as you believe in eternal punishments, so too do the interpreters of those sacred rites, the initiators and mystagogues. You threaten others with them, and they threaten you. For one may well examine which of the two are truer or more powerful. As far as words go, you and they alike affirm your own claims with equal confidence; but if proofs were needed, they display many clear ones, bringing forward the works of certain demonic powers and of oracles, and proofs drawn from divinations of every kind.”
By this, then, he would have it that we and the initiators alike speak of eternal punishments, and he wants to inquire which of the two speak more truly. I would say that those speak the truth who have been able to bring their hearers to live as men convinced that these things are so. Jews and Christians are so convinced about what they call the age to come, and about the rewards in it for the righteous and the punishments for sinners. Let Celsus, then, or anyone who wishes, show who have been brought to such conviction about eternal punishments by the initiators and mystagogues. For it is likely that the aim of anyone who fathers such teachings is not merely to discharge a formality by speaking about punishments, but to bring his hearers, as far as lies in their power, to guard against doing the things that lead to punishment.
Moreover, to those who read them with care, the prophecies seem to me enough, by the foreknowledge they contain, to persuade anyone who reads with understanding and fairness that the Spirit of God was in those men. With these prophecies none of the demonic works that are displayed, none of the powers that come from oracles, and none of the divinations can be compared in the slightest degree.
Greek
Εἶτ᾿ οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως ὁ Κέλσος τὴν προθυμίαν τῶν μέχρι θανάτου ἀγωνιζομένων ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐξομόσασθαι χριστιανιασμὸν παρατιθέμενος ἐπιφέρει ὡσπερεὶ ἐξισῶν τὰ ἡμέτερα τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν τελεστῶν καὶ μυσταγωγῶν λεγομένοις καί φησι· μάλιστα μὲν, ὦ βέλτιστε, ὥσπερ σὺ κολάσεις αἰωνίους νομίζεις, οὕτως καὶ οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκείνων ἐξηγηταὶ τελεσταί τε καὶ μυσταγωγοί· ἃς σὺ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπειλεῖς, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ σοί. πότερα γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀληθέστερα ἢ ἐπικρατέστερα, ἔξεστι σκοπεῖν. λόγῳ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἴσου περὶ τῶν σφετέρων σφίσιν ἑκάτεροι διαβεβαιοῦσθε· τεκμηρίων δὲ εἰ δέοι. πολλὰ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ ἐναργῆ δεικνύουσιν ἔργα τε δαιμονίων τινῶν δυνάμεων καὶ χρηστηρίων καὶ ἐκ παντοδαπῶν μαντείων προκομίζοντες. οὐκοῦν διὰ τούτων τὰς αἰωνίους κολάσεις ἐπ᾿ ἴσης βούλεται καὶ ἡμᾶς λέγειν καὶ τοὺς τελεστὰς καὶ ἐξετάζειν, ὁπότεροι μᾶλλον ἀληθεύουσιν. εἴποιμι δ᾿ ἂν ἀληθεύειν τοὺς δυνηθέντας διαθεῖναι τοὺς ἀκροατὰς τῶν λεγομένων οὕτως βιοῦντας, ὡς τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων. διατίθενται Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Χριστιανοὶ περὶ τοῦ ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν καλουμένου μέλλοντος αἰῶνος καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ γερῶν μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς δικαίους κολάσεων δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλούς. δεικνύτω οὖν καὶ Κέλσος ἢ ὁ βουλόμενος, τίνες διετέθησαν περὶ αἰωνίων κολάσεων ὑπὸ τῶν τελεστῶν καὶ μυσταγωγῶν. εἰκὸς γάρ ἐστι τὸ βούλημα τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν λεγομένων εἶναι οὐ τὸ ἀφοσιοῦσθαι μόνον καὶ εἰπεῖν περὶ κολάσεων ἀλλὰ τὸ διαθεῖναι τοὺς ἀκούοντας πρὸς τὸ ὅση δύναμις φυλάξασθαι τὰ τῶν κολάσεων αἴτια αὐτοὺς ἐργάσασθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ προφητεῖαι τοῖς μὴ παρέργως ἐντυγχάνουσι τῇ ἐν αὐταῖς προγνώσει ἱκαναί μοι εἶναι δοκοῦσι πρὸς τὸ πεῖσαι τὸν συνετῶς ἅμα καὶ εὐγνωμόνως ἀναγινώσκοντα ὅτι θεοῦ πνεῦμα ἦν ἐν τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐκείνοις· αἷς οὐδὲν τῶν δεικνυμένων ἔργων δαιμονίων οὐδὲ τῶν ἐκ χρηστηρίων δυνάμεων οὐδὲ τῶν μαντειῶν κἂν ἐπὶ ποσὸν παραβάλλεσθαι δύναται.