Against Celsus 2.7
Summary: Jesus, who washed his disciples' feet, was not boastful or a liar, and turning the law's bodily observances into spiritual ones is not unholy.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:132–133
Δεικνύτωσαν δὲ, ποῦ κἂν ἔμφασις λέξεως ἀπὸ ἀλαζονείας προφερομένης παρὰ τῷ Ἰησοῦ εὑρίσκεται. πῶς γὰρ ἀλαζὼν ὁ λέγων· „μάθετε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ ὅτι πρᾷός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν“; ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ „δείπνου γινομένου“ ἐκδυσάμενος ἐπὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ζωσάμενος δὲ „λέντιον“ καὶ βαλὼν „ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα“ καὶ νίπτων ἑκάστου „τοὺς πόδας“ καὶ ἐπιτιμῶν τῷ μὴ θέλοντι παρέχειν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγων· „ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετʼ ἐμοῦ“; ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ φάσκων· „κἀγὼ ἐγενόμην ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, οὐχ ὡς ὁ ἀνακείμενος ἀλλʼ ὡς ὁ διακονῶν“; ἐλεγχέτω δέ τις, τίνα ἐψεύσατο, καὶ παραστησάτω μεγάλα καὶ μικρὰ ψεύδη, ἵνα δείξῃ τὰ μεγάλα ψευσάμενον τὸν Ἰησοῦν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως αὐτὸν ἐλέγξαι· ὅτι ὡς οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦσμα ψεύσματος μᾶλλον ψεῦσμα, οὕτως οὐδὲ μειζόνως· ὡς οὐδὲ ἀληθὲς ἀληθοῦς μᾶλλον ἀληθὲς ἢ μειζόνως ἀληθές. τίνα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀνόσια τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἀπαγγελλέτω καὶ μάλιστα ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος. ἢ ἀνόσιον μὲν τὸ ἀφιστάνειν σωματικῆς περιτομῆς καὶ σωματικοῦ σαββάτου καὶ σωματικῶν ἑορτῶν καὶ σωματικῶν νουμηνιῶν καὶ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων, μετατιθέναι δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἐπὶ νόμον θεοῦ ἄξιον καὶ ἀληθῆ καὶ πνευματικὸν μετὰ τοῦ τὸν πρεσβεύοντα „ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ“ εἰδέναι „τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις“ Ἰουδαῖον γίνεσθαι, „ἵνα Ἰουδαίους“ κερδήσῃ, καὶ „τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον, “ „ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον“ κερδήσῃ;
English · Claude translation
Let them show where even a hint of a word spoken from boastfulness is found in Jesus. For how is he boastful who says, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls"? Or how is he boastful who, "during supper," took off his garments before the disciples, girded himself with a "towel," poured "water into the basin," washed each one's "feet," rebuked the one who did not want to offer them, and said, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me"? Or how is he boastful who says, "I was in your midst not as one who reclines at table, but as one who serves"? Let someone prove what lies he told, and set out great and small lies, so as to show that Jesus told the great ones. He can be refuted in another way too: just as no lie is more a lie than another lie, so none is greater; as no truth is more true than another truth or greater in truth. And let Celsus's Jew in particular declare what Jesus' unholy deeds were. Or is it unholy to turn people away from bodily circumcision, a bodily sabbath, bodily festivals, bodily new moons, and clean and unclean foods, and to turn the mind to a law worthy of God, true and spiritual—while the one who is an ambassador "for Christ" knows how to become a Jew "to the Jews, that he might win Jews," and "to those under the law as under the law, that he might win those under the law"?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Celsus's Jew had charged Jesus with boasting, great lies, and unholy deeds. The quotations are Matt 11:29, John 13:2–8, Luke 22:27, 2 Cor 5:20, and 1 Cor 9:20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period inside the sentence): ψεῦσμα. οὕτως → ψεῦσμα, οὕτως.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/7/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/7/).
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