Against Celsus 2.72
Summary: Origen answers that God's voice at Jesus' baptism and Transfiguration was heard only by those meant to hear it, since the divine voice is perceived by spiritual, not bodily, hearing.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:194
Μετὰ ταῦτά φησιν· εἰ μὲν ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἠκούετο ἡ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ; εἰ δʼ οὐκ ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἐκολάζετο ἢ τί ἀπέθνῃσκε; καὶ οἴεται ἐν τούτοις διαφωνίαν ἐλέγχειν τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων, οὐχ ὁρῶν ὅτι οὔτε πάντα τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν ἐβούλετο πᾶσι καὶ οἷς ἔτυχε γινώσκεσθαι οὔτε πάντα λανθάνειν τὰ καθʼ ἑαυτόν. ἡ γοῦν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ λέγουσα· „οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα, “ οὐκ ἀναγέγραπται εἰς ἐπήκοον τοῖς ὄχλοις γεγονέναι, ὅπερ ᾠήθη ὁ Κέλσου Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ ὑψηλοτάτῳ ὄρει ἀπὸ τῆς νεφέλης φωνὴ μόνοις ἠκούετο τοῖς συναναβᾶσιν αὐτῷ. καὶ γὰρ τοιαύτη ἐστὶν ἡ θεία φωνὴ, ἀκουομένη μόνοις ἐκείνοις, οὓς βούλεται ἀκούειν ὁ λέγων, οὐδέπω δὲ λέγω ὅτι οὐ πάντως ἐστὶν ἀὴρ πεπληγμένος ἢ πληγὴ ἀέρος ἢ ὅ τι ποτὲ λέγεται ἐν τοῖς περὶ φωνῆς ἡ ἀναγραφομένη φωνὴ τοῦ θεοῦ, διόπερ τῇ κρείττονι τῆς αἰσθητῆς ἀκοῆς καὶ θειοτέρᾳ ἀκούεται. καὶ ἐπὰν βούληται ὁ λέγων μὴ πᾶσιν ἐξάκουστον εἶναι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φωνὴν, ὁ μὲν „ἔχων“ τὰ κρείττονα „ὦτα“ ἀκούει θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ κεκωφωμένος τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκοὴν ἀναισθητεῖ λέγοντος θεοῦ. ταῦτα μὲν διὰ τὸ τί ἠκούετο ἡ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ ἡ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ; εἰς δὲ τὸ εἰ οὐκ ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἐκολάζετο ἢ τί ἀπέθνῃσκεν; ἀρκεῖ τὰ περὶ τοῦ πάθους ἡμῖν διὰ πλειόνων ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω λελεγμένα.
English · Claude translation
After this he says: “If he wished to be hidden, why was the voice from heaven heard proclaiming him Son of God? But if he did not wish to be hidden, why was he punished, or why did he die?” He thinks he shows a contradiction in what is written about him, not seeing that he neither wished everything about himself to be known to all and sundry, nor everything about himself to be hidden. At any rate, the voice from heaven proclaiming him to be the Son of God and saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” is not recorded to have been audible to the crowds, as the Jew of Celsus supposed; and the voice from the cloud on the very high mountain was heard only by those who had gone up with him. For such is the divine voice: it is heard only by those whom the speaker wishes to hear it. I do not yet say that the voice of God recorded in Scripture is certainly not struck air, or a striking of the air, or whatever is said in treatises on voice; that is why it is heard by a hearing better and more divine than the hearing of sense. And when the speaker wishes his voice not to be audible to all, the one who “has” the better “ears” hears God, while one whose soul's hearing is deafened does not perceive God speaking. So much for “why was the voice from heaven heard proclaiming him Son of God?” As for “if he did not wish to be hidden, why was he punished, or why did he die?”, what we said at greater length above about the passion is enough.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 3:17 and, for the voice from the cloud, Matt 17:5; “has ears” echoes Matt 11:15. “Struck air” is the Stoic definition of voice (Diogenes Laertius 7.55).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/72/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/72/).
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