Against Celsus 6.47
Summary: Celsus says Christians took the idea of a Son of God from pagan talk of the world as God's child, but Origen replies that the prophets spoke of the Son long before, and that Jesus' soul is so united with the Word that they are not two.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:118–119
Ἔλεγε δὴ μετὰ τὰ ἐκκείμενα τοιαῦτα· ὁπόθεν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐπῆλθεν αὐτοῖς θεοῦ υἱὸν καλεῖν, σημαίνω. ἄνδρες παλαιοὶ τόνδε τὸν κόσμον ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ γενόμενον παῖδά τε αὐτοῦ καὶ ἠΐθεον προσεῖπον. πάνυ γοῦν ὅμοιος οὗτός τε κἀκεῖνος παῖς θεοῦ. ᾠήθη δὴ υἱὸν θεοῦ ἡμᾶς λέγειν, παραποιήσαντας τὰ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ γενομένου καὶ υἱοῦ ὄντος αὐτοῦ καὶ θεοῦ· οὐ γὰρ ἐδυνήθη ἐπιστήσας τοῖς χρόνοις Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἰδεῖν ὅτι καθόλου τὸ εἶναί τινα υἱὸν θεοῦ πρὸ Ἑλλήνων καὶ ὧν φησιν ὁ Κέλσος παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν οἱ παρʼ Ἰουδαίοις προφῆται ἐπροφήτευσαν. ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἐβουλήθη τὸ παρὰ Πλάτωνι ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς λελεγμένον, οὗ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ἐμνήσθημεν, περὶ τοῦ διακοσμήσαντος τόδε τὸ πᾶν ὡς ὄντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ παραθέσθαι· ἵνα μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος, ὃν πολλάκις ἐσέμνυνεν, ἀναγκασθῇ παραδέξασθαι ὅτι ὁ μὲν δημιουργὸς τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς υἱός ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ πρῶτος καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸς πατήρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ. εἰ δὲ τῷ τηλικούτῳ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡνῶσθαι φάσκοντες τῇ ἄκρᾳ μετοχῇ ἐκείνου τὴν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ψυχὴν οὐκέτι χωρίζομεν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου αὐτὴν, οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν. οἴδασι γὰρ οἱ ἱεροὶ τῶν θείων γραμμάτων λόγοι καὶ ἄλλα, δύο τῇ ἑαυτῶν φύσει τυγχάνοντα, εἰς ἓν ἀλλήλοις εἶναι λελογισμένα καὶ ὄντα. οἷον περὶ μὲν ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς λέλεκται· „οὐκέτι εἰσὶ δύο ἀλλὰ σὰρξ μία, “ περὶ δὲ τοῦ τελείου καὶ κολλωμένου τῷ ἀληθινῷ κυρίῳ, λόγῳ καὶ σοφίᾳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, ὅτι „ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστιν.“ εἰ δʼ „ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστι.“ τίς μᾶλλον τῆς Ἰησοῦ ψυχῆς ἢ κἂν παραπλησίως κεκόλληται τῷ κυρίῳ, τῷ αὐτολόγῳ καὶ αὐτοσοφίᾳ καὶ αὐτοαληθείᾳ καὶ αὐτοδικαιοσύνῃ; ὅπερ εἰ οὕτως ἔχει, οὐκ εἰσὶ δύο ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πρὸς τὸν „πάσης κτίσεως“ πρωτότοκον θεὸν λόγον.
English · Claude translation
After the passages set out above he said this: I will point out where this very idea of calling him Son of God came to them. Men of old called this world, as having come from God, his child and a youth. Very like indeed are this one and that one as child of God! He thought that we speak of a Son of God by distorting what is said about the world as having come from God and being his son and a god. For he was not able, by paying attention to the times of Moses and the prophets, to see that the prophets among the Jews prophesied in general that there is a Son of God before the Greeks and the men of old of whom Celsus speaks. Nor did he wish to quote what Plato says in the letters, which we mentioned above, about the one who ordered this universe as being the Son of God, lest he too should be compelled by Plato, whom he often extolled, to accept that the Maker of this universe is the Son of God, and the first God over all is his Father. And it is nothing surprising if, saying that the soul of Jesus has been united with so great a Son of God by the highest participation in him, we no longer separate it from him. For the sacred words of the divine writings know of other things too which, though two in their own nature, are counted as and are one with each other. So it is said of husband and wife: “They are no longer two but one flesh”; and of the perfect man who is joined to the true Lord, the Word and Wisdom and Truth: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” And if “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” who has been joined to the Lord, to the Word himself and Wisdom itself and Truth itself and Righteousness itself, more than, or even as closely as, the soul of Jesus? If this is so, the soul of Jesus and God the Word, the firstborn “of all creation,” are not two.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 19:6 (Gen 2:24), 1 Cor 6:17, and Col 1:15. Origen refers back to Plato, Letter 6, 323d (see 6.8). Celsus's words “very like indeed” are sarcastic.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period and missing breathing and accent in the digital text): Πλάτωνος. ον πολλάκις → Πλάτωνος, ὃν πολλάκις.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/47/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/47/).
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