Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 1.41

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Origen will answer Celsus point by point in Celsus's order; the Jew mocks the dove at Jesus' baptism and asks who witnessed it.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:91–92

Ἵνα δὲ μὴ δοκῶμεν ἑκόντες διὰ τὸ ἀπορεῖν ἀπαντήσεως ὑπερβαίνειν αὐτοῦ τὰ κεφάλαια, ἐκρίναμεν ἕκαστον κατὰ δύναμιν λῦσαι τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ προτιθεμένων. φροντίσαντες οὐ τοῦ ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν πραγμάτων εἱρμοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθίας ἀλλὰ τῆς τάξεως τῶν ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ αὐτοῦ ἀναγεγραμμένων. φέρʼ οὖν ἴδωμεν, τί ποτε καὶ λέγει διαβάλλων τὸ οἷον σωματικῶς ἑωραμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος πνεῦμα ἅγιον εἴδει περιστερᾶς· ἔστι δʼ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος αὐτῷ ἔτι ταῦτα λέγων, πρὸς ὃν ὁμολογοῦμεν εἶναι κύριον ἡμῶν τὸν Ἰησοῦν· λουομένῳ, φησὶ, σοὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ φάσμα ὄρνιθος ἐξ ἀέρος λέγεις ἐπιπτῆναι. εἶτα πυνθανόμενος ὁ παρʼ αὐτῷ Ἰουδαῖός φησι· τίς τοῦτο εἶδεν ἀξιόχρεως μάρτυς τὸ φάσμα, ἢ τίς ἤκουσεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνῆς εἰσποιούσης σε υἱὸν τῷ θεῷ; πλὴν ὅτι σὺ φῂς καί τινα ἕνα ἐπάγῃ τῶν μετὰ σοῦ κεκολασμένων.

English · Claude translation

But so that we may not seem deliberately to pass over his headings for lack of an answer, we have decided to refute, as best we can, each of the things he puts forward, attending not to the natural sequence and order of the subjects but to the order of what is written in his book. Come, then, let us see what he says in slandering the Holy Spirit seen by the Savior, as it were bodily, in the form of a dove. It is still his Jew who says this to the one we confess to be our Lord, Jesus: "When you were bathing," he says, "with John, you say that the apparition of a bird flew down on you from the air." Then his Jew asks: "What trustworthy witness saw this apparition, or who heard a voice from heaven adopting you as son to God? Except that you say so, and bring forward one of those who were punished with you."

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:91–92 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Baptism, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The baptism is Matt 3:16–17. The last phrase is often taken to mean one of those crucified with Jesus, or one of his disciples who were later punished.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 1.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/41/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 1.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/41/).

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