Against Celsus 6.70
Summary: God's Spirit is not a body but is shared with the worthy; Scripture calls God fire and spirit figuratively, and Jesus taught worship in spirit and truth rather than through bodily rites.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:139–141
Εἰ δὲ συνίει Κέλσος ἃ λέγομεν περὶ πνεύματος θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι „ὅσοι πνεύματι θεοῦ ἄγονται, οὗτοι υἱοὶ θεοῦ εἰσιν, “ οὐκ ἂν ἑαυτῷ ὡς ἀφʼ ἡμῶν ἀπεφήνατο ὅτι πνεῦμα ἴδιον ἐμβαλὼν εἰς σῶμα ὁ θεὸς δεῦρο κατέπεμψεν. ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς μεταδίδωσι τοῖς δυναμένοις μετέχειν αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἰδίου πνεύματος, οὐ κατʼ ἀποτομὴν καὶ διαίρεσιν ἐγγινομένου τοῖς ἀξίοις. οὐδὲ γὰρ σῶμα τὸ καθʼ ἡμᾶς πνεῦμα, ὡς οὐδὲ σῶμα τὸ πῦρ, ὅπερ εἶναι λέγεται θεὸς ἐν τῷ· „ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον.“ πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τροπικῶς λέγεται εἰς παράστασιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν συνήθων καὶ σωματικῶν ὀνομάτων τῆς νοητῆς φύσεως. καὶ ὥσπερ, ἐὰν λέγηται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ξύλα εἶναι καὶ χόρτος καὶ καλάμη, οὐκ ἐροῦμεν εἶναι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα σώματα, καὶ ἐὰν λέγηται τὰ ἀνδραγαθήματα χρυσὸς εἶναι καὶ ἄργυρος καὶ λίθος τίμιος, οὐ φήσομεν εἶναι τὰ ἀνδραγαθήματα σώματα· οὕτω κἂν λέγηται ὁ θεὸς εἶναι „πῦρ καταναλίσκον“ τὰ „ξύλα“ καὶ τὸν „χόρτον“ καὶ τὴν „καλάμην“ καὶ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν ἁμαρτίας, οὐ σῶμα αὐτὸν νοήσομεν. ὡς δʼ ἐὰν λέγηται „πῦρ, “ οὐ σῶμα νοοῦμεν αὐτὸν, οὕτως ἐὰν λέγηται „πνεῦμα“ ὁ θεὸς, οὐ σῶμα αὐτὸν λέγομεν εἶναι. πρὸς γὰρ ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἔθος τῇ γραφῇ τὰ νοητὰ ὀνομάζειν πνεύματα καὶ πνευματικά· οἷον ἐὰν λέγῃ ὁ Παῦλος· „ἀλλʼ ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης, οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέννει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ, “ „γράμμα“ μὲν τὴν αἰσθητὴν ὠνόμασεν ἐκδοχὴν τῶν θείων γραμμάτων „πνεῦμα“ δὲ τὴν νοητήν. οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ἐν τῷ „πνεῦμα ὁ θεός“· ἐπεὶ καὶ Σαμαρεῖς καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σωματικῶς καὶ τυπικῶς ἐποίουν τὰ προσταττόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου, εἶπεν ὁ σωτὴρ πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν· „ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα, ὅτε οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις οὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ πατρί· πνεῦμα ὁ θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.“ διʼ ὧν ἐδίδαξεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ „δεῖ προσκυνεῖν“ καὶ σαρκίναις θυσίαις τὸν θεὸν ἀλλʼ „ἐν πνεύματι.“ καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀνάλογον (τῷ) „ἐν πνεύματι“ καὶ νοητῶς λατρεύειν τινὰ αὐτῷ „πνεῦμα“ νοηθείη ἄν. ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἐν τύποις „προσκυνεῖν δεῖ“ τῷ πατρὶ ἀλλʼ „ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, “ ἥτις „διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο“ μετὰ τὸ δοθῆναι τὸν νόμον „διὰ Μωϋσέως.“ „ἡνίκα“ γὰρ „ἐὰν ἐπιστρέψωμεν πρὸς κύριον“ („ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι“), „περιαιρεῖται τὸ“ τῇ καρδίᾳ „κάλυμμα“ ἐπικείμενον, „ἡνίκα ἂν ἀναγινώσκηται Μωϋσῆς.“
English · Claude translation
If Celsus had understood what we say about the Spirit of God, and that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God,” he would not have declared for himself, as though from us, that God put his own spirit into a body and sent it down here. For God always gives a share of his own Spirit to those able to partake of him, the Spirit coming to be in the worthy not by cutting off and division. For the Spirit, in our view, is not a body, just as fire is not a body, which God is said to be in the words, “Our God is a consuming fire.” For all these things are said figuratively, to represent intelligible nature by familiar and bodily names. And just as, if sins are said to be wood and hay and straw, we shall not say that sins are bodies, and if good deeds are said to be gold and silver and precious stone, we shall not say that good deeds are bodies, so too if God is said to be “a consuming fire” of the “wood” and “hay” and “straw” and all the substance of sin, we shall not think of him as a body. And as, when he is called “fire,” we do not think of him as a body, so when God is called “spirit,” we do not say that he is a body. For Scripture customarily calls intelligible things spirits and spiritual, in contrast to sensible things; as when Paul says: “But our sufficiency is from God, who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life,” he called the sensible interpretation of the divine writings “letter,” and the intelligible interpretation “Spirit.” So too in “God is spirit.” Since both Samaritans and Jews carried out the commands of the law bodily and typologically, the Saviour said to the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will they worship the Father. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” By these words he taught that God must be worshipped not in the flesh and with fleshly sacrifices but “in spirit.” For he himself would be understood as “spirit” in proportion as one serves him “in spirit” and intelligibly. And the Father must be worshipped not in types but “in truth,” which “came through Jesus Christ” after the law was given “through Moses.” For “whenever we turn to the Lord” (“and the Lord is the Spirit”), “the veil” lying on the heart “is taken away,” “whenever Moses is read.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Rom 8:14, Deut 4:24 (Heb 12:29), 1 Cor 3:12, 2 Cor 3:5–6, John 4:21, 24, John 1:17, and 2 Cor 3:15–17.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing accent in the digital text): μετὰ το δοθῆναι → μετὰ τὸ δοθῆναι.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/70/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/70/).
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