Against Celsus 4.49
Summary: The biblical writers themselves read their histories figuratively: Paul allegorizes the ox, marriage, the Red Sea, the manna, and the rock, and the psalmist calls Israel's history parables and riddles.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:321–323
Εἰ δʼ ἀδεκάστως ἀνεγνώκει τὴν γραφὴν ὁ Κέλσος, οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν οὐχ οἷα ἀλληγορίαν ἐπιδέχεσθαι εἶναι τὰ γράμματα ἡμῶν, ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν προφητειῶν, ἐν αἷς τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας γέγραπται, οὐχ ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας ἔστι προσαχθῆναι καὶ ταῖς ἱστορίαις ὡς σκοπῷ τροπολογίας γεγραμμέναις καὶ σοφώτατα οἰκονομηθείσαις, ἐστοχασμένως τοῦ τε πλήθους τῶν ἁπλούστερον πιστευόντων καὶ τῶν ὀλίγων μετὰ συνέσεως ἐξετάζειν τὰ πράγματα βουλομένων ἢ καὶ δυναμένων, καὶ εἰ μὲν οἱ σήμερον νομιζόμενοι κατὰ Κέλσον ἐπιεικεῖς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν ἠλληγόρουν τὰ γεγραμμένα, τάχα ἂν πιθανόν τι λέγειν ὑπενοεῖτο ὁ Κέλσος· ἐπεὶ δʼ αὐτοὶ οἱ πατέρες τῶν δογμάτων καὶ συγγραφεῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα τροπολογοῦσι, τί ἐστιν ἄλλο ὑπονοῆσαι ἢ ὅτι οὕτως ἐγράφη, ὥστε τροπολογεῖσθαι αὐτὰ κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον νοῦν; ὀλίγα δʼ ἀπὸ πάνυ πολλῶν παραθησόμεθα πρὸς τὸ δεῖξαι ὅτι μάτην συκοφαντεῖ τοὺς λόγους ὁ Κέλσος ὡς οὐχ οἵους τε ἐπιδέξασθαι ἀλληγορίαν, φησὶ δὴ ὁ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος· „ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γέγραπται· οὐ φιμώσεις βοῦν ἀλοῶντα, μὴ τῶν βοῶν μέλει τῷ θεῷ; ἢ διʼ ἡμᾶς πάντως λέγει; διʼ ἡμᾶς γὰρ ἐγράφη ὅτι ὀφείλει ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι ὁ ἀροτριῶν ἀροτριᾶν, καὶ ὁ ἀλοῶν ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι τοῦ μετέχειν, “ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν ὁ αὐτός· „γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν, τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστὶν, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν“· καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ· „οἴδαμεν δʼ ὅτι οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν πάντες ὑπὸ τὴν νεφέλην ἦσαν, καὶ πάντες διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης διῆλθον, καὶ πάντες εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐβαπτίσαντο ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ.“ εἶθʼ ἑρμηνεύων τὴν περὶ τοῦ μάννα ἱστορίαν καὶ τὴν περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκ πέτρας ἐξεληλυθέναι ἀναγεγραμμένου παραδόξως τοιαῦτα λέγει· „καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ βρῶμα πνευματικὸν ἔφαγον, καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ πνευματικὸν ἔπιον πόμα· ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας, ἡ δὲ πέτρα ἦν ὁ Χριστός, “ παριστὰς δὲ ὁ Ἀσὰφ ὅτι „προβλήματα“ καὶ „παραβολαί“ εἰσιν αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἔξοδον ἱστορίαι καὶ τοὺς Ἀριθμοὺς, ὡς ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῶν Ψαλμῶν γέγραπται, μέλλων αὐτῶν ὑπομιμνήσκεσθαι τοῦτον προοιμιάζεται τὸν τρόπον· „προσέχετε λαός μου τῷ νόμῳ μου, κλίνατε τὸ οὖς ὑμῶν εἰς τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματός μου, ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου, φθέγξομαι προβλήματα ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς, ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν καὶ ἔγνωμεν αὐτὰ. καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν διηγήσαντο ἡμῖν.“
English · Claude translation
If Celsus had read the Scripture impartially, he would not have said that “our writings are not such as to admit allegory.” For from the prophecies, in which events of history are written, one can be brought, not from the history itself, to see that the histories too were written with the aim of figurative meaning and most wisely arranged, having regard both to the multitude of those who believe more simply and to the few who wish, or are able, to examine things with understanding. And if those who today are considered reasonable among the Jews and Christians, according to Celsus, were the ones who allegorized the Scriptures, Celsus might perhaps be thought to say something plausible; but since the very fathers of the doctrines and the writers themselves interpret such things figuratively, what else can one suppose than that they were written so as to be interpreted figuratively according to their primary sense? We shall set out a few out of very many passages to show that Celsus slanders the Scriptures in vain as not able to admit allegory. Paul the apostle of Jesus says: “It is written in the law, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.’ Is it for oxen that God cares? Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher to thresh in hope of a share.” And elsewhere the same says: “For it is written, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is great; but I speak of Christ and the church.” And again in another place: “We know that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” Then, interpreting the story of the manna and that of the water recorded to have come marvelously out of the rock, he says this: “And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed, and the rock was Christ.” And Asaph, showing that the stories of Exodus and Numbers are “problems” and “parables,” as is written in the book of Psalms, when about to recall them, begins in this way: “Attend, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter problems from the beginning, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 9:9–10 (Deut 25:4), Eph 5:31–32 (Gen 2:24), 1 Cor 10:1–4, and Ps 78:1–3 (77:1–3 LXX). The digital text reads εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆς; corrected to Μωϋσῆν.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong case ending in the digital text (the New Testament reads Μωϋσῆν)): εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆς → εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/49/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/49/).
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