Against Celsus 6.16
Summary: Celsus claims Jesus garbled Plato's saying about the rich, but Origen finds it absurd that the unlettered Jesus read Plato, and hints at the deeper meaning of the camel and the needle.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:86–87
Μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν κατὰ τῶν πλουσίων ἀπόφασιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, εἰπόντος· „εὐκοπώτερον κάμηλον εἰσελθεῖν διὰ τρήματος ῥαφίδος ἢ πλούσιον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, “ φησὶν ἄντικρυς ἀπὸ Πλάτωνος εἰρῆσθαι, τοῦ Ἰησοῦ παραφθείροντος τὸ Πλατωνικὸν, ἐν οἷς εἶπεν ὁ Πλάτων ὅτι „ἀγαθὸν ὄντα διαφόρως καὶ πλούσιον εἶναι διαφερόντως εἶναι ἀδύνατον.“ τίς δʼ οὐκ ἂν καὶ μετρίως ἐφιστάνειν τοῖς πράγμασι δυνάμενος τὸν Κέλσον γελάσαι, οὐ τῶν πιστευόντων τῷ Ἰησοῦ μόνων ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀνθρώπων. ἀκούων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις γεγενημένος καὶ ἀνατεθραμμένος καὶ Ἰωσὴφ „τοῦ τέκτονος“ νομισθεὶς εἶναι υἱὸς καὶ μηδὲ γράμματα μεμαθηκὼς οὐ μόνον τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὰ Ἑβραίων, ὅπερ καὶ αἱ φιλαλήθεις μαρτυροῦσι γραφαὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν, ἀνέγνω Πλάτωνα καὶ ἀρεσθεὶς τῇ περὶ τῶν πλουσίων ἀποφαινομένῃ αὐτοῦ λέξει, ὡς „ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι διαφερόντως καὶ πλούσιον, “ παρέφθειρεν αὐτὴν καὶ πεποίηκε τὸ „εὐκοπώτερον κάμηλον διὰ τρήματος ῥαφίδος εἰσελθεῖν ἢ πλούσιον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ“; εἰ δὲ μὴ μετὰ τοῦ μισεῖν καὶ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι ἐντυχὼν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις φιλαλήθης ἦν ὁ Κέλσος, ἐπέστησεν ἂν, τί δή ποτε παρελήφθη κάμηλος, τὸ τῶν ζῴων ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ κατασκευῇ σκολιὸν, παραβαλλόμενον τῷ πλουσίῳ, καὶ τί αὐτῷ ἐβούλετο ἡ στενὴ „τῆς ῥαφίδος“ τρυμαλιὰ, στενὴν φάσκοντι εἶναι καὶ τεθλιμμένην τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἀπάγουσαν „εἰς τὴν ζωὴν, “ καὶ τὸ κατὰ τὸν νόμον δὲ „ἀκάθαρτον“ τὸ ζῷον ἀναγεγράφθαι τοῦτο, ἔχον μέν τι ἀποδεκτὸν τὸ μαρυκᾶσθαι, ἔχον δὲ καὶ ψεκτὸν τὸ μὴ διχηλεῖν· ἐξήτασεν ἂν καὶ ὁσάκις ἐν ταῖς θείαις παρελήφθη κάμηλος γραφαῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τίνων, ἵνα θεωρήσῃ τὸ περὶ τῶν πλουσίων τοῦ λόγου βούλημα· οὐκ εἴασεν ἂν ἀβασάνιστον καὶ τὸ μακαρίζεσθαι μὲν τοὺς πτωχοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ταλανίζεσθαι δὲ τοὺς πλουσίους πότερον ἐπὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν αὐτῷ ταῦτα.... πτωχῶν καὶ πλουσίων, ἢ οἶδέ τινα πτωχείαν πάντως μακαριζομένην ὁ λόγος καὶ πλοῦτον πάντως ψεκτόν· οὐκ ἂν γὰρ οὐδʼ ὁ τυχὼν ἀκρίτως τοὺς πτωχοὺς ἐπῄνεσεν, ὧν οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ φαυλόττοί εἰσι τὰ ἤθη. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ταύτῃ.
English · Claude translation
After this Celsus says that Jesus' pronouncement against the rich, when he said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” was plainly taken from Plato, Jesus having corrupted the Platonic saying in which Plato said that “it is impossible to be exceptionally good and exceptionally rich.” Who that is able to attend to the facts even moderately would not laugh at Celsus, not only among those who believe in Jesus but among the rest of mankind as well, on hearing that Jesus, who was born and brought up among the Jews, who was thought to be the son of Joseph “the carpenter,” and who had not learned letters, not only those of the Greeks but not even those of the Hebrews, as the truthful writings about him also testify, read Plato, and, pleased with his saying about the rich, that “it is impossible to be exceptionally good and rich,” corrupted it and made it “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”? But if Celsus had read the Gospels as a lover of truth and not with hatred and hostility, he would have considered why the camel, of all animals the most crooked in build, was taken as a comparison for the rich man, and what was meant by the narrow eye “of the needle” for him who says that the way that leads “to life” is narrow and hard; and why this animal is recorded in the law as “unclean,” having something acceptable, in that it chews the cud, and something blameworthy, in that it does not divide the hoof. He would also have examined how often the camel is mentioned in the divine Scriptures and of whom, so as to see the meaning of the word about the rich. Nor would he have left unexamined why the poor are blessed by Jesus and the rich pitied, whether he says this of the poor and rich in the sensible sense … or whether the word knows a certain poverty that is in every way blessed and a wealth that is in every way blameworthy. For not even an ordinary person would indiscriminately praise the poor, most of whom are of very bad character. But so much for this.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 19:24 and Plato, Laws 743a, with allusions to Matt 13:55, John 7:15, Matt 7:14, Lev 11:4, and Luke 6:20, 24. The text has a gap (“…”) where a word or two is lost.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/16/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/16/).
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