Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 2.35

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

Summary: Origen answers that the Greeks face the same question about why God does not punish blasphemers, and that divine signs at the crucifixion did show that Jesus was more than a man.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:161

Πρὸς δὲ τό· τί οὐκ εἰ μὴ πρόσθεν ἀλλὰ νῦν γοῦν θεῖόν τι ἐπιδείκνυται καὶ τῆς αἰσχύνης ταύτης ἑαυτὸν ῥύεται καὶ τοὺς ὑβρίζοντας εἰς ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὸν πατέρα δικαιοῖ; λεκτέον ὅτι τὸ παραπλήσιον ἔστιν εἰπεῖν καὶ πρὸς Ἕλληνας. πρόνοιαν εἰσάγοντας καὶ θεοσημίας παραδεχομένους γενέσθαι. τί δή ποτε τοὺς ὑβρίζοντας τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀναιροῦντας πρόνοιαν οὐ κολάζει ὁ θεός; ὡς γὰρ ἐὰν ἀπολογήσωνται πρὸς ταῦτα Ἕλληνες, καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰ ὅμοια ἢ καὶ κρείττονα ἐροῦμεν. γέγονε δὲ καὶ θεοσημία τις ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. ὁ ἐκλιπὼν ἥλιος, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ παράδοξα. ἐμφανίζοντα ὅτι θεῖόν τι καὶ πλεῖον τῶν πολλῶν εἶχεν ὁ σταυρωθείς.

English · Claude translation

To this: “Why does he not, if not before, at least now show something divine, and rescue himself from this shame, and punish those who insult both him and his Father?” it must be said that the same thing can be said to the Greeks too, who bring in providence and accept that divine signs occur: why does God not punish those who insult the divine and do away with providence? For as the Greeks defend themselves on this, so shall we say similar or even better things. But there was indeed a divine sign from heaven, the failing of the sun, and the other marvels, which showed that the crucified one had something divine, something more than most people.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:161 · 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
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The failing of the sun refers to Luke 23:45.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 2.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/35/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/35/).

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