Against Celsus 6.46

He says this: “Now we ask you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter as though from us, as though the day of the Lord had come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the appearing of his coming; the one whose coming is by the working of Satan with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all deception of unrighteousness for those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God sends them a working of error, so that they may believe the lie, in order that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” To explain each of these points is not suited to the present treatise. The prophecy about him is also given in Daniel, and it can move one who reads it intelligently and fair-mindedly to admire the words as truly inspired and prophetic, in which is foretold what concerns the kingdoms to come, beginning from the times of Daniel down to the destruction of the world. Anyone who wishes may read it; but see whether what concerns the Antichrist is not as follows: “And at the latter end of their kingdom, when their sins are coming to the full, there shall arise a king bold of face and understanding riddles; and his strength shall be mighty, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and prosper, and act, and destroy mighty men and the holy people. And the yoke of his collar shall prosper; deceit is in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by deceit he shall destroy many, and he shall stand up for the destruction of many, and he shall crush them in his hand like eggs.” And what is said in Paul, in the passage of his I have set out, which says, “so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God,” is also said in Daniel in this way: “And upon the temple an abomination of desolations, and until the end of the time an end shall be put to the desolation.” I thought it reasonable to set out these few out of many passages, so that the hearer may understand at least a little of the meaning of the divine words that teach about the devil and the Antichrist. Content with these on this subject, let us look at another passage of Celsus and contend against it as best we can.