Against Celsus 6.10

Then Celsus says: You see how Plato, although he firmly declared that the good is not “expressible,” nevertheless, so as not to seem to take refuge in what cannot be examined, gives a reasoned account of this difficulty; for perhaps even “nothing” might be “expressible.” But since he brings this forward to establish that one should not simply believe but should give a reasoned account of what is believed, we too shall use a saying of Paul that rebukes the person who believes at random, in which he says: “unless you believed in vain.” Celsus, so far as it rests with him, forces us to repeat ourselves by repeating himself, saying, after the boasts he spoke of as those of boasters, that Plato does not boast and lie by claiming that he himself has discovered something new or has come from heaven to announce it, but acknowledges where these things come from. Someone wishing to answer Celsus might say to this too that Plato also boasts in the speech of Zeus in the Timaeus, where he says: “Gods of gods, whose maker and father I am,” and so on. But if someone defends these words by the meaning of the Zeus who makes the speech in Plato, why should not one who examines the meaning of the words of the Son of God, or of those spoken by the Creator in the prophets, say something even greater than the speech of Zeus in the Timaeus? For what marks divinity is the announcement of future things, spoken not according to human nature, which are shown by their fulfilment to have been announced by a divine Spirit. We do not, then, say to everyone who comes to us, “First believe that the one I am introducing to you is the Son of God”; but we bring the word to each one in the way suited to his character and condition, since we have learned “to know how we ought to answer each one.” And there are some to whom, since they can do no more than be urged to believe, we preach this; but others we approach, so far as possible, by demonstration through questions and answers. Nor do we say what Celsus mockingly says, “Believe that the one I am introducing to you is the Son of God, even though he was bound most dishonourably and punished most shamefully, even though only yesterday or the day before he was rolled about most disgracefully before the eyes of all.” Nor do we say, “For this reason believe all the more.” For on each point we try to say even more than we set out above.