Against Celsus 7.42
Summary: Celsus quotes Plato's Timaeus that the maker of the universe is hard to find and impossible to declare to all; Origen answers that the Word became flesh to reach everyone, and that God can only be found with God's own help.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:192–193
Εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς ἐπὶ ἐνεργέστερον διδάσκαλον τῶν θεολογίας πραγμάτων ἀναπέμπει ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα, παρατιθέμενος αὐτοῦ τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ Τιμαίου λέξεις οὕτως ἐχούσας· „τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν.“ εἶτʼ ἐπιφέρει τούτοις λέγων· ὁρᾶτε ὅπως ζητεῖται θεοπρόποις καὶ ἀληθείας ὁδὸς, καὶ ὡς ᾔδει Πλάτων ὅτι ταύτῃ βῆναι πᾶσιν „ἀδύνατον.“ ἐπειδὴ δὲ τούτου χάριν ἐξηύρηται σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ ἀκατονομάστου καὶ πρώτου λάβοιμέν τινα ἐπίνοιαν, διαδηλοῦσαν αὐτὸν ἢ τῇ συνθέσει τῇ ἐπὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἢ ἀναλύσει ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἢ ἀναλογίᾳ, τὸ ἄλλως ἄῤῥητον θέλων διδάξαι θαυμάσαιμι δʼ ἂν εἰ ἀκολουθῆσαι δυνήσεσθε. παντελῶς τῇ σαρκὶ ἐνδεδεμένοι καὶ μηδὲν καθαρὸν βλέποντες. μεγαλοφυῶς μὲν οὖν καὶ οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτως τὴν ἐκκειμένην λέξιν ὁ Πλάτων προφέρεται. ὅρα δὲ εἰ μὴ φιλανθρωπότερον ὁ θεῖος λόγος εἰσάγει τὸν „ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν“ θεὸν λόγον γινόμενον σάρκα, ἵνα εἰς πάντας δυνατὸς ᾖ φθάνειν ὁ λόγος, ὃν καὶ τὸν „εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν“ φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων. Πλάτων μὲν οὖν λεγέτω „τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ἔργον“ εἶναι „εὑρεῖν, “ „ἀδύνατον“ ἐμφαίνων εἶναι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τὸ εὑρεῖν κατʼ ἀξίαν τὸν θεὸν, ἢ εἰ μὴ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ πλεῖόν γε καὶ παρὰ τοὺς πολλούς· ὅπερ εἰ ἦν ἀληθὲς καὶ θεὸς κατʼ ἀλήθειαν εὕρητο Πλάτωνι ἤ τινι Ἑλλήνων. οὐκ (ἂν) ἄλλο τι ἔσεβον καὶ θεὸν ἐκάλουν καὶ προσεκύνουν, ἤτοι τοῦτον καταλιπόντες ἢ συμπαραλαμβάνοντες τὰ μὴ συμπαραληπτὰ τῷ τηλικούτῳ θεῷ· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀποφαινόμεθα ὅτι οὐκ αὐτάρκης ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις ὁπωσποτανοῦν ζητῆσαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ εὑρεῖν αὐτὸν καθαρῶς, μὴ βοηθηθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ζητουμένου, εὑρισκομένου τοῖς ὁμολογοῦσι μετὰ τὸ παρʼ αὐτοὺς ποιεῖν ὅτι δέονται αὐτοῦ, ἐμφανίζοντος ἑαυτὸν οἷς ἂν κρίνῃ εὔλογον εἶναι ὀφθῆναι, ὡς πέφυκε θεὸς μὲν ἀνθρώπῳ γινώσκεσθαι ἀνθρώπου δὲ ψυχὴ ἔτι οὖσα ἐν σώματι γινώσκειν τὸν θεόν.
English · Claude translation
Then after this he refers us to Plato, as a more effective teacher of the matters of theology, quoting his words from the Timaeus, which run thus: “Now to find the maker and father of this universe is a task, and having found him it is impossible to declare him to all.” Then he adds to this: “You see how the way of truth is sought by those who prophesy of divine things, and how Plato knew that it is ‘impossible’ for all to walk that way. But since for this reason wise men have devised it, so that we might gain some notion of the nameless and first being, one that makes him plain either by synthesis applied to other things, or by analysis from them, or by analogy, wishing to teach what is otherwise ineffable, I would be amazed if you are able to follow, bound as you are wholly to the flesh and seeing nothing pure.” Now Plato sets out the quoted saying magnificently and in a way not to be despised. But see whether the divine Word does not more lovingly present the God Word, who was “in the beginning with God,” becoming flesh, so that the Word, of whom Plato says that “having found him it is impossible to declare him to all,” might be able to reach all. Let Plato, then, say that “to find the maker and father of this universe” is “a task,” showing that it is “impossible” for human nature to find God as he deserves, or if not as he deserves, at least more fully and beyond what the many do. If that were true, and God had truly been found by Plato or any of the Greeks, they would not worship anything else and call it God and bow down to it, either abandoning him or joining with him what must not be joined with so great a God. But we declare that human nature is in no way sufficient to seek God and find him purely unless it is helped by the one who is sought, who is found by those who confess, after doing what lies in their power, that they need him; who shows himself to whom he judges it reasonable to be seen, in so far as it is natural for God to be known by man, and for the soul of man, while still in the body, to know God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Plato, Timaeus 28c, and John 1:1–2, 14. Synthesis, analysis, and analogy are the three Middle Platonist ways of knowing God (compare Alcinous, Didaskalikos 10).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.42 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/42/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.42 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/42/).
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