Against Celsus 8.10
Summary: Honour to God and to his Son consists in a sound life, since breaking the law dishonours God; only the wise belong to God, which answers Celsus's claim that honouring all God's beings cannot grieve him.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:228
Ὅτι δὲ ἡ πρὸς τὸν (υἱὸν τοῦ) θεοῦ τιμὴ ἐν βίῳ ὑγιεῖ γίνεται. οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα, ὅρα εἰ μὴ διδασκόμεθα ἔκ τε τοῦ „ὃς ἐν νόμῳ καυχᾶσαι, διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως, (τοῦ νόμου) τὸν θεὸν ἀτιμάζεις“ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ „πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθήσεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καταπατήσας καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος, ἐν ᾧ ἡγιάσθη, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἐνυβρίσας.“ εἰ γὰρ „διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου“ ἀτιμάζει τὸν θεὸν ὁ παραβαίνων τὸν νόμον, καὶ καταπατεῖ „τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ“ ὁ μὴ καταπατῶν τὸν λόγον· δῆλον ὅτι τιμᾷ μὲν τὸν θεὸν ὁ τηρῶν τὸν νόμον, σέβει δὲ τὸν θεὸν ὁ κεκοσμημένος τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ. εἰ δὲ ᾔδει Κέλσος, τίνες μέν εἰσι τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι μόνοι οἱ σοφοὶ, τίνες δὲ οἱ ἀλλότριοι, καὶ ὅτι πάντες οἱ φαῦλοι οἱ μηδαμῶς νεύοντες πρὸς ἀρετῆς ἀνάληψιν. εἶδεν ἂν, πῶς δεῖ (λέγειν) τὸ τιμῶν οὖν τις καὶ σέβων τοὺς ἐκείνου πάντας τί λυπεῖ τὸν θεὸν, οὗ πάντες εἰσίν;
English · Claude translation
That honour toward the Son of God, and likewise toward God the Father, consists in a sound life, see whether we are not taught this from “You who boast in the law dishonour God by breaking the law,” and from “How much worse punishment, do you think, will he deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and regarded as common the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” For if the one who breaks the law dishonours God “by breaking the law,” and the one who tramples on the Word tramples “the Son of God” underfoot, it is clear that the one who keeps the law honours God, and the one adorned with the Word of God and with his works worships God. If Celsus had known who belong to God, and that only the wise do, and who are strangers to him, namely all the wicked who in no way incline toward taking up virtue, he would have seen how one ought to understand, “What grief, then, does one cause God, to whom all belong, by honouring and worshipping all who are his?”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 2:23 and Heb 10:29. The digital text reads “and the one who does not trample on the Word (ὁ μὴ καταπατῶν τὸν λόγον) tramples the Son of God,” which contradicts the argument; the sense required, which ANF also follows, is “the one who tramples on the Word,” and it is translated so; the negative is probably an intrusion.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/10/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/10/).
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