Against Celsus 2.71
Summary: Origen says Jesus revealed the Father who sent him, as John's Gospel and letters show, and that the purposes of his mission are set out by prophets, evangelists, and apostles.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:193–194
Ἐδίδαξε δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ὅστις ἦν ὁ πέμψας ἐν τῷ „οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα. εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς, “ καὶ τῷ „θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε· καὶ μονογενής γε ὢν θεὸς. ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο, “ ἐκεῖνος θεολογῶν ἀπήγγειλε τὰ περὶ θεοῦ τοῖς γνησίοις αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς· ὧν ἴχνη ἐν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις εὑρίσκοντες ἀφορμὰς ἔχομεν θεολογεῖν. ὅπου μὲν ἀκούοντες· „ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστι, καὶ σκοτία οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδεμία.“ ὅπου δέ· „πνεῦμα ὁ θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐφʼ οἷς ἔπεμψεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ μυρία ἐστὶν. ἅτινα ὁ βουλόμενος μανθανέτω, πῇ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν προκηρυξάντων περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητῶν πῇ δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν· οὐκ ὀλίγα δʼ εἴσεται καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ μάλιστα Παύλου. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μὲν εὐσεβοῦντας οὗτος φωταγωγεῖ τοὺς δὲ ἁμαρτάνοντας κολάσει, ὅπερ οὐκ ἰδὼν ὁ Κέλσος πεποίηκε· καὶ τοὺς μὲν εὐσεβοῦντας φωταγωγήσων τοὺς δὲ ἁμαρτάνοντας ἢ μεταγνόντας ἐλεήσων.
English · Claude translation
Jesus also taught us who the one was who sent him, in the words “No one knows the Father except the Son” and “No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” He, speaking of God, declared to his genuine disciples the things concerning God; finding traces of these in the Scriptures, we have starting points for speaking of God, hearing in one place, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all,” and in another, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” And the purposes for which the Father sent him are countless; let anyone who wishes learn them, partly from the prophets who proclaimed him beforehand, partly from the evangelists; and he will learn not a few from the apostles too, especially Paul. Moreover, he gives light to the pious and will punish sinners; Celsus did not see this, and wrote: “and to give light to the pious, and to have mercy on sinners, or on those who have repented.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 11:27, John 1:18 (reading “only-begotten God”), 1 John 1:5, and John 4:24. The final words are Celsus's own phrasing, which Origen cites; the sense of the sentence is compressed in the Greek.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): καὶ τοὺς μἐν εὐσεβοῦντας → καὶ τοὺς μὲν εὐσεβοῦντας.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.71 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/71/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.71 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/71/).
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