Against Celsus 4.37
Summary: Genesis never speaks of God's “hands” in creating man; such expressions, like God's wings, are figurative, and God's “breathing” into Adam means sharing his incorruptible Spirit.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:307–308
Ἐγκαλεῖ δʼ ἡμῖν ὡς ὑπὸ χειρῶν θεοῦ πλασθέντα εἰσαγαγοῦσιν ἄνθρωπον. τοῦ μὲν τῆς Γενέσεως βιβλίου οὔτʼ ἐπὶ τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὔτʼ ἐπὶ τῆς πλάσεως χεῖρας παραλαβόντος θεοῦ. τοῦ δὲ Ἰὼβ καὶ τοῦ Δαυὶδ εἰπόντων τό· „αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με, “ περὶ ὧν „πολὺς“ „ὁ λόγος“ εἰς τὸ παραστῆσαι τὰ νενοημένα τοῖς ταῦτα εἰρηκόσιν οὐ μόνον περὶ διαφορᾶς ποιήσεως καὶ πλάσεως ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ χειρῶν θεοῦ· ἃς οἱ μὴ νοήσαντες καὶ τὰς τοιαύτας ἀπὸ τῶν θείων γραφῶν φωνὰς οἴονται ἡμᾶς τοιοῦτον σχῆμα περιτιθέναι τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καθʼ οὓς καὶ πτέρυγας ἀκόλουθον νομίζειν ἡμᾶς εἶναι ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπεὶ καὶ ταῦτα λέγουσιν αἱ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν γραφαί. ταῦτα δὲ νῦν ἑρμηνεύειν οὐκ ἀπαιτεῖ ἡ προκειμένη πραγματεία· προηγουμένως γὰρ ἐν τοῖς εἰς τὴν Γένεσιν ἐξηγητικοῖς ταῦθʼ ἡμῖν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἐξήτασται. εἶθʼ ὅρα κακοήθειαν τοῦ Κέλσου ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς. τῆς γὰρ γραφῆς ἡμῶν λεγούσης ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πλάσεως· „καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς. καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, “ ὁ δὲ κακοήθως διασύρειν βουλόμενος τὸ „ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν (ζωῆς), “ ὅπερ οὐδὲ νενόηκε τίνα τρόπον λέλεκται, ἀνέγραψεν ὅτι συνέθεσαν ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ χειρῶν θεοῦ πλασσόμενον (καὶ ἐμφυσώμενον), ἵνα τὸ ἐμφυσώμενον παραπλησίως τις νομίσας λελέχθαι τοῖς ἐμφυσωμένοις ἀσκοῖς γελάσῃ τὸ „ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς“ τροπικῶς εἰρημένον καὶ δεόμενον διηγήσεως, παριστάσης μεταδεδωκέναι τὸν θεὸν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου πνεύματος τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· καθὸ λέλεκται· „τὸ δὲ ἄφθαρτόν σου πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν πᾶσιν.“
English · Claude translation
He accuses us of introducing a man formed by the hands of God, though the book of Genesis mentions God's hands neither for the making of man nor for his forming; but Job and David said, “Your hands made me and formed me,” concerning which “there is much to say” to show what was meant by those who said it, not only about the difference between making and forming but also about the hands of God. Those who have not understood these and similar expressions of the divine Scriptures think that we attribute to the God over all a shape like the human one; and by their reasoning it would follow that we think there are wings on God's body, since the Scriptures taken literally say this too of our God. The present work does not require us to interpret these things now; for we have examined them as best we could, primarily, in our exegetical works on Genesis. Then see Celsus's malice in what follows. For when our Scripture says of the forming of man, “And he breathed into his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul,” he, maliciously wishing to ridicule “he breathed into his face the breath of life,” which he did not even understand in what sense it is said, wrote that they composed a story of “a man formed by the hands of God and breathed into,” so that someone, thinking “breathed into” was said like bellows blown up, might laugh at “he breathed into his face the breath of life,” which is said figuratively and needs explanation, showing that God gave man a share of the incorruptible Spirit, as it is said: “Your incorruptible Spirit is in all things.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Job 10:8, Ps 119:73 (118:73 LXX), Heb 5:11, Gen 2:7, and Wis 12:1; God's wings are e.g. Ps 91:4. Origen's commentary on Genesis survives only in fragments.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/37/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/37/).
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