Against Celsus 7.27
Summary: Celsus attacks the idea that God has a human-shaped body, but Christians hold that God is incorporeal, as Scripture says.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:178
Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος διὰ πλειόνων τὰ μὴ λεγόμενα ὑφʼ ἡμῶν τιθεὶς ὡς λεγόμενα ὑφʼ ἡμῶν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς σώματος τῇ φύσει τυγχάνοντος καὶ ἀνθρωποειδοῦς σώματος, ἀνατρέπειν ἐθέλει τὰ μὴ τεθειμένα ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, ἅπερ περισσὸν παραθέσθαι ἢ τὴν ἀνατροπὴν αὐτῶν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἃ λέγει ἡμᾶς φάσκειν περὶ θεοῦ ἐλέγομεν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰ ἵστατο, ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἡμῖν τὸ τιθέναι τὰς λέξεις αὐτοῦ καὶ κατασκευάζειν μὲν τὰ ἡμέτερα λύειν δὲ τὰ ἐκείνου· εἰ δʼ ἑαυτῷ συνείρει ἃ ἤτοι ἀπʼ οὐδενὸς ἤκουσεν ἢ, ἵνα καὶ δοθῇ ὅτι ἤκουσεν, ἀπό τινων ἁπλῶν καὶ ἀκεραίων καὶ μὴ εἰδότων τὸ τοῦ λόγου βούλημα, οὐ χρὴ ἡμᾶς τευτάζειν περὶ τὰ μὴ ἀναγκαῖα. σαφῶς γὰρ ἀσώματόν φασιν οἱ λόγοι τὸν θεόν· διὸ καὶ „θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε, “ καὶ „εἰκὼν“ λέγεται εἶναι „τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ ὁ πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, “ ὡς εἰ ἔλεγεν ἀσωμάτου. μετρίως δʼ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων καὶ περὶ θεοῦ διειλήφαμεν ἐξετάζοντες, πῶς νοοῦμεν τὸ „πνεῦμα ὁ θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.“
English · Claude translation
Next Celsus, setting out at length as said by us things not said by us about God, as though he were by nature a body and a body of human shape, wishes to overthrow things we have not asserted; it would be superfluous to quote them or their refutation. For if we said what he says we assert about God, and he opposed it, it would have been necessary for us to set out his words, establish our own position, and refute his. But if he strings together for himself things he heard from no one, or, granting that he heard them, from some simple and guileless people who do not know the meaning of the word, we need not busy ourselves about what is unnecessary. For the Scriptures clearly say that God is incorporeal; that is why “no one has ever seen God,” and “the firstborn of all creation” is said to be “the image of the invisible God,” as though it said “of the incorporeal.” We have discussed God adequately earlier too, when we examined how we understand “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are John 1:18, Col 1:15, and John 4:24. Origen refers back to 6.70–71.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent in the digital text): ἀναγκαῖον ην ἡμῖν → ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἡμῖν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/27/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/27/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text