The prisoners whom Jesus sets free
Then, since Celsus says, “We must therefore believe that they are handed over to certain keepers of this prison,” we must answer him that a virtuous soul is set free from the bonds of wickedness even while it is still in the life of those whom Jeremiah called “prisoners of the earth” (Lamentations 3:34). It is set free thanks to Jesus, who spoke as the prophet Isaiah foretold long before his coming. And what did Isaiah foretell him as saying, if not, “To the prisoners, Come out, and to those in darkness, Be brought to light” (Isaiah 49:9)? This is indeed Jesus, as the same Isaiah foretold of him: “On those sitting in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16). And so, because of this, we say, “Let us burst their bonds and cast their yoke away from us” (Psalm 2:3).
If Celsus, and those who are set against us as he is, could hear the depth of the Gospels, he would not have advised us to obey those he called keepers of the prison. It is written in the Gospel that a certain woman “was bent double and unable to straighten herself fully” (Luke 13:11). When Jesus saw her, and saw why she was bent double, not being allowed to straighten herself “fully”, he said, “And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, ought she not to have been loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). How many others now, bound by Satan, are bent double, unable because of him to “straighten themselves fully”, since he wants us to look downward? And no one sets them upright except the Word who came to dwell in Jesus, and who also inspired men before that. Jesus came to set free “all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). And of the devil he said, with a depth befitting him, “Now the ruler of this world has been judged” (John 16:11; John 12:31).
We do not, then, revile the demons here on earth; rather, we expose their workings for the destruction of the human race. Under the pretext of oracles, of healing bodies, and of certain other things, they seek to separate from God the soul that has fallen into “the body of humiliation” (Philippians 3:21). Those who have understood the soul so fallen cry aloud, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).
Yet we do not offer our bodies to be racked and beaten to death without reason. For the one who is plotted against by the demons and by those who worship them, because he will not let the earthly demons be proclaimed gods, does not give up his body to these things without reason. And we have rightly held that it is pleasing to God to be beaten to death for virtue, to be racked for piety, and to die for holiness. For “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones” (Psalm 116:15). And we say that it is good, too, not to cling to life.
Celsus likens us to criminals, who deservedly endure what they suffer for robbery; and, showing no reverence for so great a purpose, he declares it to be like the disposition of robbers. In this he makes himself a brother of those who reckoned Jesus “among the lawless”, in whose case the scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was reckoned among the lawless” (Isaiah 53:12; Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37).
Greek
Εἶτ᾿ ἐπεί φησιν ὁ Κέλσος· πειστέον οὖν ὅτι παραδίδονταί τισιν ἐπιμεληταῖς τοῦδε τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι σπουδαία ψυχὴ καὶ λυθεῖσα ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς κακίας δεσμῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τῶν, ὡς ὠνόμασεν ὁ Ἱερεμίας, δεσμίων „γῆς“ διὰ τὸν εἰπόντα Ἰησοῦν, ὡς πρὸ πολλοῦ χρόνου τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ προεῖπεν ὁ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας· τί δὲ προειπόντα ἢ „τοῖς δεσμίοις ἐξέλθετε καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῷ σκότῳ ἀνακαλυφθῆναι“; καὶ οὗτός γε ὁ Ἰησοῦς. ὡς ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡσαΐας περὶ αὐτοῦ προεῖπε, „καθημένοις ἐν χώρᾳ καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου ἀνέτειλε φῶς,“ ὡς διὰ τοῦθ᾿ ἡμᾶς λέγειν· „διαῤῥήξωμεν τοὺς δεσμοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀποῤῥίψωμεν ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτῶν.“ εἰ δ᾿ ἐδύνατο ἀκοῦσαι τῆς βαθύτητος τῶν εὐαγγελίων ὁ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ παραπλησίως ἐκείνῳ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν διακείμενοι, οὐκ ἂν ἡμῖν συνεβούλευσεν οἷς ὠνόμασεν ἐπιμεληταῖς τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου πείθεσθαι. γέγραπται δὲ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι „γυνή“ τις „ἦν συγκύπτουσα καὶ μὴ δυναμένη ἀνακύψαι εἰς τὸ παντελὲς.“ ἥντινα ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἰδὼν καὶ ὁρῶν παρὰ τίνα αἰτίαν συγκύπτει, οὐκ ἐπιτρεπομένη ἀνακύπτειν „εἰς τὸ παντελὲς,“ εἶπε· „ταύτην δὲ θυγατέρα Ἀβραὰμ οὖσαν, ἣν ἔδησεν ὁ σατανᾶς ἰδοὺ δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη, οὐκ ἔδει λυθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τούτου ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου;“ πόσοι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι νῦν δεδεμένοι ὑπὸ τοῦ σατανᾶ συγκύπτουσιν, οὐ δυνάμενοι δι᾿ ἐκεῖνον „ἀνακύψαι εἰς τὸ παντελὲς,“ θέλοντα ἡμᾶς κάτω βλέπειν; καὶ οὐδείς γε αὐτοὺς ἀνορθοῖ εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημήσας λόγος, καὶ πρότερον δὲ θεοφορήσας. καὶ ἦλθέ γε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλευθερῶσαι „πάντας τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου.“ καὶ περὶ ἐκείνου εἰπὼν μετά τινος πρεπούσης αὐτῷ βαθύτητος τό· „νῦν ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κέκριται.“ οὐ λοιδορούμεθα οὖν τοῖς τῇδε δαί μοσιν ἀλλ᾿ ἐλέγχομεν τὰς ἐπ᾿ ὀλέθρῳ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν, προφάσει χρησμῶν καὶ θεραπείας σωμάτων καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν χωρίσαι τοῦ θεοῦ βουλομένων τὴν ἐμπεσοῦσαν ψυχὴν εἰς „τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως“· ἥντινα οἱ νοήσαντες ἀναφθέγγονται τό· „ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος. τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου;“ ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ εἰκῇ παρέχομεν τὸ σῶμα στρεβλοῦν καὶ ἀποτυμπανίζειν· οὐ γὰρ εἰκῇ παρέχει τούτοις τὸ σῶμα (ὁ) ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ τοὺς περιγείους δαίμονας ἀναγορεύεσθαι θεοὺς ἐπιβουλευόμενος ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν σεβόντων αὐτούς. καὶ θεοφιλές γε τὸ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀποτυμπανίζεσθαι καὶ δι᾿ εὐσέβειαν στρεβλοῦσθαι καὶ δι᾿ ὁσιότητα ἀποθνῄσκειν εὐλόγως εἶναι νενομίκαμεν. „τίμιος“ γὰρ „ἐνώπιον κυρίου ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ“· ἀγαθὸν δ᾿ εἶναί φαμεν καὶ τὸ μὴ φιλοζωεῖν. κακούργοις δὲ, εὐλόγως ὑπομένουσιν ἃ διὰ λῃστείαν πάσχουσιν, ἐξομοιῶν ἡμᾶς ὁ Κέλσος καὶ μὴ αἰδούμενος τὴν τηλικαύτην πρόθεσιν παραπλησίαν ἀποφαίνει τῇ τῶν λῃστῶν διαθέσει, ἀδελφὸν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τούτοις ποιῶν τῶν „μετὰ ἀνόμων“ λογισαμένων τὸν Ἰησοῦν. ἐφ᾿ οἷς πεπλήρωται ἡ λέγουσα γραφὴ τό· „μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη.“