Against Celsus 2.58
Summary: Origen replies that Christians count the Greek tales as myths but the shared Scriptures as true, and that Jesus' resurrection, worked by the Father himself, has had far greater effects than those worked by Elijah and Elisha.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:181–182
Ἐπεὶ δὲ μεθʼ ἃς παρέθετο ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἱστορίας Ἑλληνικὰς περὶ τῶν ὡσανεὶ τερατευσαμένων καὶ περὶ τῶν ὡς ἀναστάντων ἐκ νεκρῶν φησι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων τῷ Ἰησοῦ πιστεύοντας· ἢ οἴεσθε τὰ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων μύθους εἶναί τε καὶ δοκεῖν, ὑμῖν δὲ τὴν καταστροφὴν τοῦ δράματος εὐσχημόνως ἢ πιθανῶς ἐφευρῆσθαι, τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ σκόλοπος αὐτοῦ φωνὴν, ὅτʼ ἀπέπνει; φήσομεν πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖον ὅτι οὓς παρέθου μύθους εἶναι νενομίκαμεν. τὰ δὲ τῶν κοινῶν ἡμῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς γραφῶν, ἐν αἷς οὐχ ὑμεῖς μόνοι ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς σεμνυνόμεθα, οὐδαμῶς μύθους εἶναί φαμεν. διόπερ καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ ἀναστάντων ἐκ νεκρῶν γράψασι πιστεύομεν ὡς μὴ τερατευομένοις καὶ τῷ ἐνταῦθα ὡς καὶ προειπόντι καὶ προφητευθέντι καὶ ἀναστάντι. τούτῳ δὲ παραδοξότερος οὗτος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστὰς παρʼ ἐκείνους, ὅτι ἐκείνους μὲν προφῆται ἀνέστησαν Ἠλίας καὶ Ἐλισσαῖος, τοῦτον δʼ οὐδεὶς τῶν προφητῶν ἀλλʼ ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατήρ. διόπερ καὶ μείζονα εἰργάσατο ἡ τούτου ἀνάστασις τῆς ἐκείνων ἀναστάσεως. τί γὰρ τηλικοῦτον τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναστάντων παιδαρίων διʼ Ἠλίου καὶ Ἐλισσαίου γεγένηται, ὁποῖον διὰ τῆς κηρυσσομένης ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ. δυνάμει θείᾳ πεπιστευμένης;
English · Claude translation
After the Greek stories he cited about those who, as it were, told marvels and those who supposedly rose from the dead, the Jew says to those of the Jews who believe in Jesus: “Or do you think that the stories of the others are myths and seem so, while you have invented the ending of your drama becomingly or plausibly: his cry on the stake as he breathed his last?” We shall say to the Jew that we have considered the stories you cited to be myths; but we say that the contents of the Scriptures common to us and you, in which not only you but we also take pride, are in no way myths. That is why we believe those who wrote about the people raised from the dead there, as not telling marvels, and believe that the one here both foretold it, was prophesied, and rose. And he rose from the dead more marvelously than they, in that prophets, Elijah and Elisha, raised them, but none of the prophets raised him, rather the Father in heaven. That is why his resurrection also accomplished greater things than theirs. For what so great a benefit has come to the world from the boys raised through Elijah and Elisha as through the resurrection of Jesus that is preached and believed by divine power?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The reference is to 1 Kgs 17 and 2 Kgs 4; “the Father in heaven” raised Jesus, cf. Gal 1:1.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): ὄτι ἐκείνους → ὅτι ἐκείνους.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/58/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/58/).
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