Against Celsus 5.16

From what has been said it is clear to those who listen more intelligently how one must answer this too: "All the rest of the race will be roasted, while they alone will remain." It is no wonder if those among us whom the Word calls "the foolish things of the world," and "low-born," and "despised," and "things that are not," whom "God was pleased to save, those who believe in him, through the foolishness of the preaching, since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom," being unable to articulate the meaning of these passages, and unwilling to devote time to searching the Scripture, though Jesus says, "Search the Scriptures," have understood such things, and have supposed such things about the fire brought by God and about what will happen to sinners. And perhaps, just as it is fitting to say certain things to children suited to their infancy, to turn them to what is better as very small children, so to those whom the Word called the foolish of the world, and low-born, and despised, the obvious interpretation of the punishments is fitting, since they are not capable of any other turning, and abstinence from many evils, than that which comes through fear and the imagination of punishments. The Word, then, says that only those will remain untouched by the fire and the punishments who are utterly purified in doctrines, in character, and in their ruling faculty; while those who are not such, who according to their deserts need the dispensation of punishment through fire, it says will be in these things for a certain end, which it befits God to bring upon those made "in his image" who have lived contrary to the will of the nature made "in his image." This, too, is in reply to: "All the rest of the race will be roasted, while they alone will remain."