Against Celsus 4.13
Summary: God is a “consuming fire” that burns up wickedness, the “wood, hay, and straw” built by the wicked, and refines the soul like gold and silver.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:282–284
Ἐπεὶ δὲ χλευάζων ὁ Κέλσος φησὶν ἡμᾶς λέγειν τὸν θεὸν δίκην βασανιστοῦ πῦρ φέροντα καταβαίνειν καὶ ἀναγκάζει ἡμᾶς οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν βαθυτέρους ἐξετάζειν λόγους, ὀλίγα εἰπόντες, ὅσον γεῦσαι τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἀπολογίας καθαιρούσης τὴν καθʼ ἡμῶν τοῦ Κέλσου χλεύην, ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τραπησόμεθα. φησὶ δὴ ὁ θεῖος λόγος τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν εἶναι „πῦρ καταναλίσκον, “ καὶ „ποταμοὺς πυρὸς ἕλκειν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ, “ ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν εἰσπορεύεσθαι „ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου καὶ ὡς ποίαν πλυνόντων, “ ἵνα χωνεύσῃ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λαόν, ἐπὰν οὖν λέγηται „πῦρ“ εἶναι „καταναλίσκον, “ ζητοῦμεν, τίνα πρέπει ὑπὸ θεοῦ καταναλίσκεσθαι, καί φαμεν ὅτι τὴν κακίαν καὶ τὰ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς πραττόμενα καὶ τροπικῶς λεγόμενα „ξύλα“ εἶναι καὶ „χόρτον“ καὶ „καλάμην“ καταναλίσκει ὁ θεὸς ὡς πῦρ, „ἐποικοδομεῖν“ γοῦν ὁ φαῦλος λέγεται τῷ προϋποβεβλημένῳ λογικῷ θεμελίῳ „ξύλα“ καὶ „χόρτον“ καὶ „καλάμην, “ εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔχει δεῖξαι ἄλλως νενοῆσθαι ταῦτα τῷ ἀναγράψαντι, καὶ σωματικῶς δύναταί τις παραστῆσαι ἐποικοδομοῦντα τὸν φαῦλον „ξύλα“ ἢ „χόρτον“ ἢ „καλάμην, “ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ πῦρ ὑλικὸν καὶ αἰσθητὸν νοηθήσεται· εἰ δʼ ἄντικρυς τροπολογεῖται τὰ τοῦ φαύλου ἔργα, λεγόμενα εἶναι „ξύλα“ ἢ „χόρτος“ ἢ „καλάμη, “ πῶς οὐκ αὐτόθεν προπίπτει, ποδαπὸν πῦρ παραλαμβάνεται, ἵνα τὰ τοιαῦτα „ξύλα“ ἀναλωθῇ; „ἑκάστου“ γάρ φησι „τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι, τὸ πῦρ αὐτὸ δοκιμάσει, εἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον μένει, ὅ ἐπῳκοδόμησε, μισθὸν λήψεται· εἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον κατακαήσεται, ζημιωθήσεται, “ ἔργον δὲ κατακαιόμενον ποῖον ἂν ἐν τούτοις λέγοιτο ἢ πᾶν τὸ ἀπὸ κακίας πραττόμενον; οὐκοῦν ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν „πῦρ καταναλίσκον“ ἐστὶν, ὡς ἀποδεδώκαμεν, καὶ οὕτως „εἰσπορεύεται ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου, “ χωνεύσων τὴν λογικὴν φύσιν, πεπληρωμένην τοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας μολύβδου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀκαθάρτων ὑλῶν, τὴν τοῦ χρυσοῦ, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, φύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἢ τὴν ἀργύρου δολωσάντων, οὕτω δὲ καὶ ποταμοὶ „πυρὸς“ „ἔμπροσθεν“ λέγονται εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ ἐξαφανιοῦντος τὴν διʼ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνακεκραμένην κακίαν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ ταῦτʼ αὐτοὺς ἐποίησεν ἐσφαλμένῃ δόξῃ λέγειν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς καταβήσεται δίκην βασανιστοῦ πῦρ φέρων.
English · Claude translation
And since Celsus says mockingly that we claim God comes down like a torturer bearing fire, and forces us to examine deeper doctrines out of season, we shall say a little, enough to give the hearers a taste of a defense that removes Celsus's mockery of us, and then turn to what follows. The divine word says that our God is “a consuming fire,” and that “rivers of fire flow before him,” and also that he himself enters “like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap,” to refine his own people. When, then, he is said to be “a consuming fire,” we ask what it is fitting for God to consume, and we say that God, as fire, consumes wickedness and what is done from it, which is figuratively called “wood,” “hay,” and “straw.” The bad man, at any rate, is said to “build upon” the rational foundation that has been laid “wood,” “hay,” and “straw.” If, then, anyone can show that the writer understood these things otherwise, and can present the bad man bodily building “wood” or “hay” or “straw,” clearly the fire too will be understood as material and perceptible. But if the works of the bad man, called “wood” or “hay” or “straw,” are plainly spoken of figuratively, how does it not at once appear what kind of fire is meant, so that such “wood” may be consumed? For he says: “The fire itself will test what sort of work each one's is. If anyone's work which he has built upon remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss.” And what work could be meant here as burned up, if not everything done from wickedness? Our God, then, is “a consuming fire,” in the sense we have explained, and so “enters like a refiner's fire,” to refine the rational nature filled with the lead of wickedness and the other impure materials that have adulterated the golden, if I may so call it, or silver nature of the soul. So too “rivers of fire” are said to be “before” God, who will wipe out the wickedness mixed through the whole soul. But this suffices in reply to “this made them say, in their mistaken opinion, that God will come down like a torturer bearing fire.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Deut 4:24, Dan 7:10, Mal 3:2–3, and 1 Cor 3:12–15. Origen reads the fire of judgment as purifying the soul.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/13/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/13/).
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