Against Celsus 1.38
Summary: Celsus says Jesus learned magic in Egypt, but a magician would not teach God's judgment, and the apostles would not have risked death for a teaching that forbids magic.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:89–90
Ἔτι δὲ λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γεγραμμένης ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίῳ ἱστορίας περὶ τοῦ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀποδεδημηκέναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν τοῖς μὲν παραδόξοις εἰς τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπίστευσεν, οὔθʼ ὅτι ἄγγελος τοῦτο ἔχρησεν, οὔτε εἴ τι ᾐνίσσετο ὁ καταλιπὼν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν Ἰησοῦς καὶ Αἰγύπτῳ ἐπιδημῶν· ἀνέπλασε δέ τι ἕτερον. συγκατατιθέμενος μέν πως ταῖς παραδόξοις δυνάμεσιν, ἃς Ἰησοῦς ἐποίησεν, ἐν αἷς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἔπεισεν ἀκολουθεῖν αὐτῷ ὡς Χριστῷ, διαβάλλειν δʼ αὐτὰς βουλόμενος ὡς ἀπὸ μαγείας καὶ οὐ θείᾳ δυνάμει γεγενημένας· φησὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν σκότιον τραφέντα, μισθαρνήσαντα εἰς Αἴγυπτον, δυνάμεών τινων πειραθέντα ἐκεῖθεν ἐπανελθεῖν, θεὸν διʼ ἐκείνας τὰς δυνάμεις ἑαυτὸν ἀναγορεύοντα. ἐγὼ δʼ οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἂν μάγος ἠγωνίσατο διδάξαι λόγον, πείθοντα πάντα πράττειν, ὡς θεοῦ κρίνοντος ἕκαστον ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πεπραγμένοις, καὶ οὕτω διατιθέντα τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς, οἷς ἔμελλε χρήσασθαι διακόνοις τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίας. ἆρα γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι οὕτω διδαχθέντες ποιεῖν δυνάμεις ᾕρουν τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἢ οὐδὲ δυνάμεις ἐποίουν; τὸ μὲν οὖν λέγειν ὅτι οὐδαμῶς δυνάμεις ἐποίουν ἀλλὰ πιστεύσαντες οὐδεμιᾷ λόγων ἱκανότητι παραπλησίως τῇ ἐν διαλεκτικῇ Ἑλλήνων σοφίᾳ ἐπέδωκαν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ καινὸν διδάσκειν λόγον οἷς ἂν ἐπιδημήσωσι πάνυ ἐστὶν ἄλογον· τίνι γὰρ θαῤῥοῦντες ἐδίδασκον τὸν λόγον καὶ ἐκαινοτόμουν; εἰ δὲ δυνάμεις ἐτέλουν κἀκεῖνοι, τίνα ἔχει πιθανότητα τὸ μάγους τοσούτοις κινδύνοις ἑαυτοὺς παραβεβληκέναι (διὰ) διδασκαλίαν μαγείας ἀπαγορεύουσαν;
English · Claude translation
Further, taking from the story written in the Gospel according to Matthew about Jesus' journey to Egypt, he did not believe the extraordinary things connected with it—neither that an angel directed it, nor whether anything was signified by Jesus' leaving Judea and staying in Egypt—but invented something else. In a way he admits the extraordinary mighty works that Jesus did, by which he persuaded the many to follow him as the Christ; but he wishes to slander them as done by magic and not by divine power. For he says that "he was brought up in secret, hired himself out in Egypt, and having tried his hand at certain powers, returned from there, proclaiming himself God because of those powers." But I do not know how a magician would have striven to teach a doctrine persuading people to do everything as though God judges each person for all his deeds, and so to train his own disciples, whom he was going to use as ministers of his teaching. Did they too, having been taught to do mighty works in this way, win over their hearers, or did they not do mighty works at all? To say that they did no mighty works at all, but that, having believed, they gave themselves to teaching a new doctrine to those among whom they came, with no ability in argument like the wisdom of the Greeks in dialectic, is quite unreasonable; for what did they trust in when they taught the doctrine and introduced novelties? But if they too performed mighty works, what plausibility is there in magicians having exposed themselves to such dangers for a teaching that forbids magic?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Egyptian journey is Matt 2:13–15. "Brought up in secret" (σκότιον τραφέντα) may also mean "brought up as an illegitimate child"; see 1.28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent): καὶ ουτω διατιθέντα → καὶ οὕτω διατιθέντα.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 1.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/38/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 1.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/38/).
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