Against Celsus 2.77

After this the Jew says to him, evidently in keeping with what Jews hold: “We hope, of course, to rise in the body and to have eternal life, and that the one sent to us will be the example and pioneer of this, showing that it is not impossible for God to raise someone with the body.” We do not know whether the Jew will say that the expected Christ shows in himself an example of the resurrection; but let it be granted that he both thinks and says this. We shall answer him who said he had spoken to us from our own writings: “Sir, did you read those passages in which you suppose you accuse us, but not go through the resurrection of Jesus, and that he is ‘the firstborn from the dead’? Or, since you do not wish these things to have been said, have they not been said?” And since the Jew in Celsus still speaks of and accepts the resurrection of bodies, I do not think this the right time to discuss it with one who both believes and says that there is a resurrection of bodies, whether he articulates it for himself and can champion the doctrine well, or whether he assents to it in a more mythical way. So let this be said thus to Celsus's Jew. And since after this he says, “Where is he, then, that we may see and believe?”, we shall say to him: “Where now is the one who speaks in the prophets and who did wonders, that we may see and believe that you are God's portion? Or may you defend God's not always appearing to the Hebrew race, while the same defense is not granted to us concerning Jesus, who once rose and persuaded his disciples of his resurrection, and persuaded them so far that by what they suffer they show all that, looking to eternal life and to the resurrection shown them in word and deed, they make light of all the hardships of life?”