Against Celsus 5.7
Summary: Neither Jews nor Christians call heaven God, and Celsus's principle that the parts of a divine whole must be divine would make even flies and worms gods, which no Greek would admit.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:6–8
Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑαυτῷ λαβὼν, ὡς ἄρα θεὸν νομίζουσι τὸν οὐρανὸν Ἰουδαῖοι, τούτῳ ὡς ἄτοπον ἐπιφέρει, ἐγκαλῶν τοῖς προσκυνοῦσι μὲν τὸν οὐρανὸν οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, ὅτι τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν Ἰουδαῖοι ὡς ἐνδεχόμενον τὸ μὲν ὅλον εἶναι (θεὸν), τὰ μέρη δʼ αὐτοῦ μὴ θεῖα· καὶ ὅλον μὲν ἔοικε λέγειν τὸν οὐρανὸν μέρη δʼ αὐτοῦ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας. οὐ λέγουσι μὲν οὖν σαφῶς οὔτε Ἰουδαῖοι οὔτε Χριστιανοὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν θεόν. ἀλλὰ δεδόσθω κατʼ αὐτὸν λέγεσθαι ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων θεὸν εἶναι τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἔστω δὲ καὶ μέρη τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἀστέρες (ὅπερ οὐ πάντως ἐστὶν ἀληθὲς. οὐδὲ γὰρ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ζῷα καὶ φυτὰ μέρη γῆς)· πόθεν δὴ καὶ καθʼ Ἕλληνας ἀληθὲς ὅτι, ἐὰν ὅλον τι θεὸς ᾖ, ἤδη καὶ τὰ μέρη αὐτοῦ ἐστι θεῖα; σαφῶς δὴ τὸν ὅλον κόσμον λέγουσιν εἶναι θεὸν, Στωϊκοὶ μὲν τὸν πρῶτον οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ Πλάτωνος τὸν δεύτερον τινὲς δʼ αὐτῶν τὸν τρίτον. ἆρʼ οὖν κατὰ τοὺς τοιούτους. ἐπεὶ τὸ ὅλον ὁ κόσμος θεός ἐστιν, ἤδη καὶ τὰ μέρη αὐτοῦ θεῖα· ὡς εἶναι θεῖα οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώπους ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα. μέρη ὄντα τοῦ κόσμου, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὰ φυτά; εἰ δὲ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ αἱ θάλασσαι, ἆρʼ ἐπεὶ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος θεός ἐστιν, ἤδη καὶ οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ αἱ θάλασσαι θεοί εἰσιν; ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τοῦτο φήσουσιν Ἕλληνες· τοὺς δʼ ἐπιστατοῦντας εἰ ἄρα δαίμονας (ἢ θεοὺς, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι ὀνομάζουσι) ποταμοῖς καὶ θαλάσσαις, τούτους ἂν λέγοιεν θεούς· καὶ τὸ καθολικὸν Κέλσου γίνεται καὶ καθʼ Ἕλληνας, τοὺς τὴν πρόνοιαν εἰσάγοντας. ψεῦδος, ὅτι ἐάν τι ὅλον ᾖ θεὸς. πάντως τὰ μέρη τούτου ἐστὶ θεῖα. ἀκολουθεῖ δὲ τῷ Κέλσου λόγῳ. ἐὰν θεὸς ᾖ ὁ κόσμος, πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ εἶναι θεῖα, μέρη ὄντα τοῦ κόσμου. καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο θεῖα ἔσται ζῷα μυῖαι καὶ σκνίφες καὶ σκώληκες καὶ πᾶν τὸ τῶν ὄφεων εἶδος ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν ὀρνέων καὶ τὸ τῶν ἰχθύων· ἅπερ οὐδʼ οἱ λέγοντες θεὸν εἶναι τὸν κόσμον φήσουσιν. οἱ (δὲ) κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Μωϋσέως νόμον βιοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, κἂν μηδὲν εἰδῶσιν ἐκδέχεσθαι κεκρυμμένως εἰρημένον τοῦ νόμου βούλημα καὶ ἀπόῤῥητόν τι ἐμφαῖνον, οὔτε τὸν οὐρανὸν φήσουσιν εἶναι θεὸν οὔτε τοὺς ἀγγέλους.
English · Claude translation
But taking it for granted that the Jews regard heaven as God, he adds, as though it were absurd, a charge against those who worship heaven but not also the sun and the moon and the stars, that the Jews do this "as though it were possible for the whole to be God but its parts not divine"; and he seems to call heaven the whole, and the sun and moon and stars its parts. Neither Jews nor Christians plainly say that heaven is God. But let it be granted, on his view, that the Jews say heaven is God, and let the sun and moon and stars be parts of heaven (which is not at all true; for neither are the animals and plants on earth parts of the earth): how is it true, even according to the Greeks, that if some whole is God, its parts too are thereby divine? The Greeks plainly say that the whole world is God: the Stoics, the first God; the Platonists, the second; and some of them, the third. Is it, then, according to such people, since the world as a whole is God, that its parts too are thereby divine, so that not only human beings but also all the irrational animals are divine, being parts of the world, and besides these the plants too? And if mountains and rivers and seas are parts of the world, then since the whole world is God, are rivers and seas also gods? But not even the Greeks will say this; rather they might call gods those who preside, as demons (or gods, as they name them), over rivers and seas. And Celsus's universal claim proves false even according to the Greeks who introduce providence: that if some whole is God, its parts are in every case divine. It follows from Celsus's argument that, if the world is God, everything in it is divine, being parts of the world; and on this reasoning flies, gnats, worms, every kind of snake, and indeed every kind of bird and fish will be divine animals; which not even those who say the world is God will say. But the Jews who live according to the law of Moses, even if they do not know how to interpret the intent of the law spoken in a hidden way and showing something secret, will say neither that heaven nor that the angels are God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The parentheses (θεὸν) and (δὲ) are the editor's supplements. The Stoics identified the world with the supreme God; Platonists spoke of the world as a "second" or "third" god (cf. Plato, Timaeus 34b, 92c).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/7/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/7/).
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