Against Celsus 4.29
Summary: Christians know that angels and heavenly powers surpass humans, though the righteous hope to become like angels and like God; if anyone says “after God come we,” it can only mean rational and virtuous beings.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:297–299
Τάχα δέ τινων παρήκουσεν ὁ Κέλσος ὅτι ὁ θεός ἐστιν, εἶτα μετʼ ἐκεῖνον ἡμεῖς, οὓς ὠνόμασε σκώληκας. καὶ ὅμοιον ποιεῖ τοῖς ὅλῃ αἱρέσει φιλοσοφίας ἐγκαλοῦσι διά τινα λεγόμενα ὑπὸ προπετοῦς μειρακίου, τριῶν ἡμερῶν φοιτήσαντος εἰς φιλοσόφου καὶ ἐπαιρομένου κατὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ὡς ἐλαττόνων καὶ ἀφιλοσόφων. ἴσμεν γὰρ ὅτι πολλά ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου τιμιώτερα, καὶ ἀνέγνωμεν ὅτι „ὁ θεὸς ἔστη ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν, “ θεῶν δὲ οὐ τῶν προσκυνουμένων ὑπὸ τῶν λοιπῶν („πάντες γὰρ οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια“), καὶ ἀνέγνωμεν ὅτι „ὁ θεὸς“ στὰς „ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν ἐν μέσῳ θεοὺς διακρίνει“· οἴδαμεν δὲ καὶ ὅτι „εἴπερ εἰσὶ θεοὶ λεγόμενοι, εἴτʼ ἐν οὐρανῷ εἴτε ἐπὶ γῆς, ὥσπερ εἰσὶ θεοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ κύριοι πολλοὶ, ἀλλʼ ἡμῖν εἷς θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτὸν, καὶ εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς διʼ αὐτοῦ“· οἴδαμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους οὕτως εἶναι ἀνθρώπων κρείττονας, ὥστε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τελειωθέντας ἰσαγγέλους γίνεσθαι· „ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἀναστάσει τῶν νεκρῶν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτʼ ἐγγαμίζονται, ἀλλʼ εἰσὶν ὡς οἱ ἄγγελοι τῶν οὐρανῶν“ οἱ δίκαιοι καὶ γίνονται „ἰσάγγελοι“· οἴδαμεν δʼ ἐν τῇ διατάξει τῶν ὅλων εἶναί τινας τοὺς καλουμένους θρόνους καὶ ἄλλους κυριότητας καὶ ἄλλους ἐξουσίας καὶ ἄλλους ἀρχάς· καὶ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι πολὺ τούτων ἡμεῖς οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀπολειπόμενοι ἐλπίδας ἔχομεν ἐκ τοῦ καλῶς βιοῦν καὶ πάντα πράττειν κατὰ τὸν λόγον ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὴν τούτων πάντων ἐξομοίωσιν. καὶ τελευταῖον ἐπεὶ „μήπω ἐφανερώθη, τί ἐσόμεθα, οἴδαμεν ὅτι, ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ἐσόμεθα ὅμοιοι τῷ θεῷ καὶ ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν, καθώς ἐστιν.“ εἰ δέ τις τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπό τινων, εἴτε τῶν νοούντων εἴτε τῶν μὴ συνιέντων ἀλλὰ παρακουσάντων λόγου ὑγιοῦς, φάσκοι, ὅτι ὁ θεός ἐστιν, εἶτα μετʼ ἐκεῖνον ἡμεῖς· καὶ τοῦτο γʼ ἂν ἑρμηνεύοιμι. τὸ ἡμεῖς λέγων ἀντὶ τοῦ οἱ λογικοὶ καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον οἱ σπουδαῖοι λογικοί· καθʼ ἡμᾶς γὰρ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀρετή ἐστι τῶν μακαρίων πάντων, ὥστε καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀρετὴ ἀνθρώπου καὶ θεοῦ. διόπερ γίνεσθαι „τέλειοι, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστι.“ διδασκόμεθα. οὐδεὶς οὖν καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς σκώληξ ἐστὶν ἐννηχόμενος βορβόρῳ καὶ οὐδεὶς εὐσεβὴς μύρμηξ καὶ οὐδεὶς δίκαιος βάτραχος, καὶ οὐδεὶς τῷ λαμπρῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καταυγαζόμενος τὴν ψυχὴν νυκτερίδι ἂν εὐλόγως παραβάλλοιτο.
English · Claude translation
Perhaps Celsus misheard some who said, “There is God, and after him we,” the people he called worms. He does something like those who accuse a whole school of philosophy because of things said by a rash youth who has attended a philosopher's lectures for three days and is puffed up against the rest as inferior and unphilosophical. For we know that there are many things more honorable than man, and we have read that “God stood in the assembly of gods,” gods not those worshiped by the rest (“for all the gods of the nations are demons”); and we have read that “God,” standing “in the assembly of gods, judges gods in their midst.” We know also that “even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him.” We know too that the angels are so much superior to men that men, when perfected, become equal to angels; for “in the resurrection of the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but the righteous are like the angels in heaven” and become “equal to angels.” And we know that in the ordering of the universe there are some called thrones, others dominions, others authorities, and others principalities; and we see that we men, falling far short of these, have hopes, from living well and doing everything according to reason, of ascending to likeness with all of them. And finally, since “it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, we know that when it is revealed we shall be like God and shall see him as he is.” And if anyone should cite what is said by some, whether by those who understand or by those who do not understand but have misheard sound teaching, “There is God, and after him we,” I too might interpret it, taking “we” to mean rational beings, and still more the good among rational beings. For in our view the virtue of all the blessed is the same, so that the virtue of man and of God is the same. That is why we are taught to become “perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” No noble and good man, then, is a worm swimming in the mud; no pious man is an ant; no righteous man is a frog; and no one whose soul is illuminated by the bright light of truth could reasonably be compared to a bat.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 82:1 (81:1 LXX), Ps 96:5 (95:5 LXX), 1 Cor 8:5–6, Matt 22:30 with Luke 20:35–36, Col 1:16, 1 John 3:2, and Matt 5:48. The claim that “the virtue of man and of God is the same” is a Stoic thesis Origen adopts.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/29/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/29/).
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