Against Celsus 4.5
Summary: God fills heaven and earth, so his coming in Jesus does not mean leaving his place; he “departs” only from the wicked soul and fills the virtuous one, and the only change he brings is moral transformation.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:277–278
Μετὰ ταῦθʼ ὁ γενναιότατος Κέλσος οὐκ οἶδʼ ὁπόθεν λαβὼν ἐπαπορεῖ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὡς λέγοντας ὅτι αὐτὸς κάτεισι πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ὁ θεός· καὶ οἴεται ἀκολουθεῖν τούτῳ τὸ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἕδραν αὐτὸν καταλιπεῖν. οὐ γὰρ οἶδε δύναμιν θεοῦ καὶ „ὅτι πνεῦμα κυρίου πεπλήρωκε τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ τὸ συνέχον τὰ πάντα γνῶσιν ἔχει φωνῆς, “ οὐδὲ συνιέναι δύναται τὸ „οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει κύριος, “ οὐδὲ βλέπει ὅτι κατὰ τὸν Χριστιανῶν λόγον οἱ πάντες „ἐν αὐτῷ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμὲν, “ ὡς καὶ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους δημηγορίᾳ ἐδίδαξε. κἂν ὁ θεὸς τοίνυν τῶν ὅλων τῇ ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμει συγκαταβαίνῃ τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον, κἂν ὁ „ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν“ λόγος. „θεὸς“ καὶ αὐτὸς ὢν, ἔρχηται πρὸς ἡμᾶς. οὐκ ἔξεδρος γίνεται οὐδὲ καταλείπει τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἕδραν. ὡς τινὰ μὲν τόπον κενὸν αὐτοῦ εἶναι ἕτερον δὲ πλήρη, οὐ πρότερον αὐτὸν ἔχοντα. ἐπιδημεῖ δὲ δύναμις καὶ θειότης θεοῦ διʼ οὗ βούλεται καὶ ἐν ᾧ εὑρίσκει χώραν. οὐκ ἀμείβοντος τόπον οὐδʼ ἐκλείποντος χώραν αὐτοῦ κενὴν καὶ ἄλλην πληροῦντος. ἵνα γὰρ καὶ ἐκλείπειν αὐτὸν φῶμεν καὶ ἄλλον τινὰ πληροῦν, οὐ περὶ τόπου τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀποφανούμεθα· ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν τοῦ φαύλου καὶ κεχυμένου ἐν τῇ κακίᾳ ψυχὴν φήσομεν καταλείπεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν δὲ τοῦ βουλομένου ζῆν κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἢ καὶ προκόπτοντος ἢ καὶ ἤδη ζῶντος κατʼ αὐτὴν ἀποφανούμεθα πληροῦσθαι ἢ μετέχειν θείου πνεύματος. οὐ χρεία οὖν εἰς τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ κάθοδον ἢ εἰς τὴν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιστροφὴν τοῦ θεοῦ καταλείπεσθαι ἕδραν μείζονα καὶ μεταβάλλεσθαι τὰ τῇδε, ὡς ὁ Κέλσος οἴεται, λέγων· εἰ γὰρ ἕν τι τῶν τῇδε τοὐλάχιστον μεταβάλοις, ἀνατραπέντα οἰχήσεταί σοι τὰ πάντα. εἰ δὲ χρὴ λέγειν μεταβάλλειν παρουσίᾳ δυνάμεως θεοῦ καὶ ἐπιδημίᾳ τοῦ λόγου εἰς ἀνθρώπους τινὰ, οὐκ ὀκνήσομεν λέγειν μεταβάλλειν ἐκ φαύλου εἰς ἀστεῖον καὶ ἐξ ἀκολάστου εἰς σώφρονα καὶ ἐκ δεισιδαίμονος εἰς εὐσεβῆ τὸν παραδεξάμενον τὴν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιδημίαν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν.
English · Claude translation
After this the most noble Celsus, taking it from I know not where, raises a difficulty against us as saying that God himself comes down to men; and he thinks it follows from this that he leaves his own seat. For he does not know the power of God, and that “the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together has knowledge of every voice”; nor can he understand the words, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord”; nor does he see that according to the Christians' teaching we all “live and move and have our being in him,” as Paul too taught in his speech to the Athenians. So even if the God of the universe by his own power comes down with Jesus into human life, and even if the Word who was “in the beginning with God,” being himself “God,” comes to us, he does not become displaced or leave his own seat, so that one place is empty of him and another full that did not have him before. The power and divinity of God come to dwell through whom he wills and in whom he finds room, without his changing place or leaving his place empty and filling another. For even if we should say that he leaves one and fills another, we shall not be speaking of place; but we shall say that the soul of the bad man, poured out in wickedness, is left by God, and that the soul of one who wishes to live by virtue, or is making progress in it, or already lives by it, is filled with, or shares in, the divine Spirit. There is no need, then, for the descent of Christ or for God's turning toward men, that he should leave a greater seat and that things here should be changed, as Celsus thinks when he says, “For if you were to change even the least of the things here, everything would be overturned and gone.” But if we must speak of some being changed by the presence of God's power and the coming of the Word to men, we shall not hesitate to say that whoever has received the coming of the Word of God into his own soul is changed from bad to good, from licentious to self-controlled, and from superstitious to pious.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Wis 1:7, Jer 23:24, Acts 17:28, and John 1:1–2.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/5/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/5/).
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