Against Celsus 4.7

I do not know how, after talking nonsense to no purpose in the words we have set out, he later sets out that “not because he needs to be known for his own sake, but for our salvation, he wishes to give us knowledge of himself, so that those who accept it, becoming good, may be saved, and those who do not accept it, being shown to be wicked, may be punished.” And having set out such a thing, he raises a difficulty, saying: “Did God then only now, after so long an age, remember to make human life just, having neglected it before?” To this too we shall say that there was never a time when God did not wish to make human life just, but he always took care, giving occasions of virtue for the correction of the rational animal. For in every generation the wisdom of God, passing into souls which it finds holy, makes them friends of God and prophets. And in the sacred books there might be found those in each generation who were holy and receptive of the divine Spirit, and how they converted their contemporaries as far as they could.