Against Celsus 6.57
Summary: God does admonish and persuade through Scripture and teachers, but being persuaded requires the hearer's own free consent, as Paul, Isaiah, and Deuteronomy show.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:127–128
Εἰς δὲ τὸ πῶς πείθειν καὶ νουθετεῖν ἀδυνατεῖ; προείρηται μὲν ὅτι πᾶσιν ἂν, εἴπερ ἔγκλημά ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον, προσάγοιτο ἡ τοῦ Κέλσου λέξις τοῖς ἀποδεχομένοις πρόνοιαν· ἀπολογήσαιτο δʼ ἄν τις ὅτι νουθετεῖν μὲν οὐκ ἀδυνατεῖ ὁ θεὸς. νουθετεῖ γὰρ διὰ πάσης γραφῆς καὶ διὰ τῶν χάριτι διδασκόντων θεοῦ τοὺς ἀκούοντας· εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἴδιόν τι σημαινόμενον ἐξακούοιτο εἰς τὸ νουθετεῖν τὸ καὶ ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἐν τῷ νουθετουμένῳ καὶ ἀκούειν τὸν τοῦ διδάσκοντος λόγον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ παρὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν τοῦ τετριμμένου ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ σημαινομένου. εἰς δὲ τὸ πῶς πείθειν ἀδυνατεῖ; καὶ αὐτὸ προσαχθὲν ἂν πᾶσι τοῖς πρόνοιαν παραδεχομένοις, ταῦτα λεκτέον. ἐπειδὴ τὸ πείθεσθαι ὡσπερεὶ τῶν καλουμένων ἀντιπεπονθότων ἐστὶν, ἀνάλογον τῷ κείρεσθαι ἄνθρωπον. ἐνεργοῦντα τὸ παρέχειν ἑαυτὸν τῷ κείροντι· διὰ τοῦτο οὐ μόνης δεῖται τῆς τοῦ πείθοντος ἐνεργείας ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ὑποπτώσεως πρὸς τὸν πείθοντα ἢ παραδοχῆς τῶν λεγομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ πείθοντος. διὰ τοῦτο οὐ παρὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν θεὸν πείθειν λεκτέον τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους μὴ πείθεσθαι, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ ἐκείνους μὴ δέχεσθαι τοὺς πειστικοὺς λόγους τοῦ θεοῦ. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπων λέγων τις, ὀνομαζομένων πειθοῦς δημιουργῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι· δυνατὸν γὰρ καὶ τὸν ἄκρως κατειληφότα τὰ τῆς ῥητορικῆς θεωρήματα καὶ δεόντως αὐτοῖς χρώμενον πάντα μὲν ποιεῖν πρὸς τὸ πείθειν, μὴ τυγχάνοντα δὲ τῆς προαιρέσεως τοῦ ὀφείλοντος πείθεσθαι δοκεῖν μὴ πείθειν. ὅτι δὲ, κἂν τὸ πειστικοὺς λέγεσθαι λόγους ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἔρχηται, τό γε πείθεσθαι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπὸ θεοῦ, σαφῶς ὁ Παῦλος διδάσκει λέγων· „ἡ πεισμονὴ οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦντος ὑμᾶς.“ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ „ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται.“ ἵνα γάρ τις θέλῃ ἅπερ λέγει ὁ νουθετῶν καὶ εἰσακούσας αὐτῶν ἄξιος γένηται τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπαγγελιῶν, τῆς προαιρέσεως τοῦ ἀκούοντος δεῖ καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰ λεγόμενα ἐπινεύσεως. διόπερ ἐν Δευτερονομίῳ ἐμφαντικῶς εἰρῆσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τό· „καὶ νῦν Ἰσραὴλ, τί κύριος ὁ θεός σου αἰτεῖ παρὰ σοῦ ἀλλʼ ἢ φοβεῖσθαι κύριον τὸν θεόν σου (καὶ) πορεύεσθαι ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀγαπᾶν αὐτὸν καὶ“ „φυλάσσειν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ;“
English · Claude translation
To “How is he unable to persuade and admonish?” it has been said already that, if this is a charge at all, Celsus's words could be brought against all who accept providence. But one might reply in defence that God is not unable to admonish; for he admonishes his hearers through all of Scripture and through those who teach by the grace of God; unless, indeed, one were to understand “admonish” in a special sense, as including success with the one admonished and his heeding the teacher's word, which is contrary to the ordinary meaning in common use. And to “How is he unable to persuade?”, which could also be brought against all who accept providence, this must be said. Since being persuaded belongs, as it were, to what are called correlative terms, like a man's having his hair cut, when he acts by offering himself to the barber, it requires not only the action of the one persuading but also, so to speak, the submission to the persuader, or the acceptance of what the persuader says. Therefore it must not be said that those who are not persuaded are not persuaded because God is unable to persuade, but because they do not accept the persuasive words of God. One would not be wrong to say this of men, too, who are called craftsmen of persuasion; for it is possible that one who has mastered the principles of rhetoric perfectly and uses them properly may do everything to persuade, yet, failing to win the will of the one who ought to be persuaded, seem not to persuade. That, even if persuasive words come from God, being persuaded does not come from God, Paul teaches clearly when he says: “This persuasion is not from him who calls you.” Such also is the saying: “If you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not listen to me, the sword shall devour you.” For a person to will what the one admonishing says, and, having heeded it, to become worthy of God's promises, the choice of the hearer and his assent to what is said are needed. That is why, it seems to me, it is said with emphasis in Deuteronomy: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God and to walk in all his ways and to love him and to keep his commandments?”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Gal 5:8, Isa 1:19–20, and Deut 10:12–13.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/57/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/57/).
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