also is the resurrection of the dead."! It was not therefore consonant to reason that tliose who had been taught sublimely’ to ascend above all created things, and to hope for the enjoy- ment of the most glorious rewards with God on account of their virtuous lives, and who had heard the words, * Ye are the light of the world,”® and, * Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in heaven,"* and who possessed through practice this brilliant and unfading wisdom, or who had secured even the * very reflection of everlasting light,” ° should be so impressed with the [mere] visible light of sun, and moon, and stars, that, on account of that sensible light of theirs, they should deem themselves (although possessed of so great a rational light of knowledge, and of the true light, and the light of the world, and the light of men) to be somehow inferior to them, and to bow down to them; seeing they ought to be worshipped, if they are to receive worship at all, not for the sake of the sensible light which is admired by the multitude, but because of the rational and true light, if indeed the stars in heaven are rational and virtuous beings, and have been illuminated with the light of knowledge by that wisdom which is the “reflection of everlasting light.” For that sensible light of theirs is the work of the Creator of all things, while that rational light is derived perhaps from the principle of free-will within them.* CHAPTER XI.
But even this rational light itself ought not to be worshipped by him who beholds and understands the true light, by sharing in which these also are enlightened; nor by him who beholds God, the Father of the true light,—of whom it has been said, “ God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”’ Those, indeed, who worship sun, moon, and stars because their light is visible and celestial, would not bow down to a spark of fire or a lamp upon earth, because they see the incomparable superiority of those objects which are deemed worthy of homage to the 1 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 40-42. 2 κεγαλοφνῶς. 5 Cf. Origen, de Principiis, i. c. vii.
9 ix τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς αὑτεξουσίον ἐληλυθός. 7 Cf. 1 John i. 5.
Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 279 light of sparks and lamps. So those who understand that God is light, and who have apprehended that the Son of God is * the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” and who comprehend also how He says, “I am the light of the world," would not rationally offer worship to that which is, as it were, a spark in sun, moon, and stars, in comparison with God, who is light of the true light. Nor is it with a view to depreciate these great works of God's creative power, or to call them, after the fashion of Anaxagoras, “fiery masses"! that we thus speak of sun, and moon, and stars; but eut we perceive the inexpressible superiority of the divinity of God, and that of His only-begotten Son, which surpasses all other things. And being persuaded that the sun himself, and moon, and stars pray to the Supreme God through His only-begotten Son, we judge it improper to pray to those beings who them- selves offer up prayers [to God], seeing even they themselves would prefer that we should send up our requests to the God to whom they pray, rather than send them downwards to them- selves, or apportion our power of prayer? between God and them. And here I may employ this illustration, as bearing upon this point: Our Lord and Saviour, hearing Himself on one occasion addressed as “ Good Master, "? referring him who used it to His own Father, said, * Why callest thou me good 1 There is none good but one, that is, God the Father.”* And since it was in accordance with sound reason that this should be said by the Son of His Father's love, as being the image of the goodness of God, why should not the sun say with greater reason to those that bow down to him, Why do you worship me? “for thou wilt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve;"* for it is He whom [I and all who are with me serve and worship. And although one may not be so exalted [as the sun], nevertheless let such an one pray to the Word of God (who is able to heal him), and still more to His Father, who also to the righteous of former times “sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their de- structions.”° M 1 pvdpov διάπυρον. 3 τὴν εὐχτικὴν δύναροιν. δ Cf. Matt. xix. 17; cf. Mark x. 18. * Ibid. δ Cf. Deut. vi. 13. 46 Cf. Ps. cvii. 20.
280 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox v.
CHAPTER XII.
God accordingly, in His kindness, condescends to mankind, not in any local sense, but through His providence;! while the Son of God, not only [when on earth], but at al/ times, is with His own disciples, fulfilling the promise, * Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."? And if a branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, it is evident that the dis- ciples also of the Word, who are the rational branches of the Word’s true vine, cannot produce the fruits of virtue unless they abide in the true vine, the Christ of God, who is with us locally here below upon the earth, and who is with those who cleave to Him in all parts of the world, and is also in all places with those who do not know Him. Another is made manifest by that John who wrote the Gospel, when, speaking in the person of John the Baptist, he said, * There standeth one among you whom ye know not; He it is who cometh after me.”* And it is absurd, when He who fills heaven and earth, and who said, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,” ‘ is with us, and near us (for I believe Him when He says, *I am a God nigh at hand, and not afar off, saith the Lord" 5), to seek to pray to sun or moon, or one of the stars, whose influence does not reach the whole of the world. But, to use the very words of Celsus, let it be granted that “the sun, moon, and stars do foretell rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders,” why, then, if they really do foretell such great things, ought we not rather to do homage to God, whose servant they are in uttering these predictions, and show reverence to Him rather than His prophets? | Let them predict, then, the approach of lightnings, and fruits, and all manner of productions, and let all such things be under their administration; yet we shall not on that account worship those who themselves offer worship, as we do not worship even Moses, and those prophets who came from God after him, and who predicted better things than rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders, and lightnings, and fruits, and all sorts, of productions visible to the senses. Nay, even if sun, and l χρονοητικῶς. 3 Matt. xxviii. 20. 8 Cf. John i. 26, 27. * Cf. Jer. xxiii. 24. 5 Cf. Jer. xxiii. 28.
6 ζητεῖν εὔχεσθαι τῷ μὴ Φθάνοντι ἐπὶ τὰ σύμπαντα.
Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 281 moon, and stars were able to prophesy better things than rain, not even then shall we worship them, but the Father of the prophecies which are in them, and the Word of God, their minister. But grant that they are His heralds, and truly mes- sengers of heaven, why, even then ought we not to worship the God whom they only proclaim and announce, rather than those who are the heralds and messengers ἢ CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Celsus, moreover, assumes that sun, and moon, and stars are regarded by us as of no account. Now, with regard to these, we acknowledge that they too are “ waiting for the manifesta- tion of the sons of God,” being for the present subjected to the * vanity " of their material bodies, * by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope.”* But if Celsus had read the innumerable other passages where we speak of sun, moon, and stars, and especially these, —** Praise Him, all ye stars, and thou, O light,"? and, “Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens," —he would not have said of us that we regard such mighty beings, which * greatly praise" the Lord God, as of no account. Nor did Celsus know the passage: “ For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."? And with these words let us terminate our defence against the charge of not worshipping sun, moon, and stars. And let us now bring forward those statements of his which follow, that we may, God willing, address to him in reply such arguments as shall be suggested by the light of truth.
CHAPTER XIV.
The following, then, are his words: “ It is folly on their part to suppose that when God, as if He were a cook,‘ introduces the fire [which is to consume the world], all the rest of the human race will be burnt up, while they alone will remain, not 1 Cf. Rom. viii. 19-21. 3 Cf. Ps. cxlviii. 8. 3 Cf. Rom. viii. 19-21. 4 ὥσπερ μάγειρος.
282 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. | Boox v.
only such of them as are then alive, but also those who are long since dead, which latter will arise from the earth clothed with the self-same flesh [as during life]; for such a hope is simply one which might be cherished by worms. For what sort of human soul is that which would still long for a body that had been subject to corruption? Whence, also, this opinion of yours is not shared by some of the Christians, and they pro- nounce it to be exceedingly vile, and loathsome, and impossible; for what kind of body is that which, after being completely corrupted, can return to its original nature, and to that self- same first condition out of which it fell into dissolution? Being unable to return any answer, they betake themselves to a most absurd refuge, viz. that all things are possible to God. And yet God cannot do things that are disgraceful, nor does He wish to do things that are contrary to His nature; nor, if (in accordance with the wickedness of your own heart) you desired anything that was evil, would God accomplish it; nor must you believe at once that it will be done. For God does not rule the world in order to satisfy inordinate desires, or to allow disorder and confusion, but to govern a nature that is upright and just! For the soul, indeed, He might be able to provide an everlasting life; while dead bodies, on the contrary, are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless than dung. God, however, neither can nor will declare, contrary to all reason, that the flesh, which is full of those things which it is not even honourable to mention, is to exist for ever. For He is the reason of all things that exist, aud therefore can do nothing either contrary to reason or contrary to Himself."
CHAPTER XV.
Observe, now, here at the very beginning, how, in ridiculing the doctrine of a conflagration of the world, held by certain of the Greeks wlio have treated the subject in a philosophic spirit not to be depreciated, he would make us, “ representing God, as it were, as a cook, hold the belief in a general conflagration; " not perceiving that, as certain Greeks were of opinion (perhaps having received their information from the ancient nation of lod γὼρ τῆς πλημρελοῦς ὀρέξεως, οὐδὲ τῆς πεκλανημένης οἰκοσμίας, ἀλλὼ τῆς ὀρθῆς καὶ δικαίας Φύσεως Θεός ἐστιν οἐῤρχηγίέτης.
Box v] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS.. 288 the Hebrews), it is a purificatory fire which is brought upon the world, and probably also on each one of those who stand in need of chastisement by the fire and healing at the same time, seeing it burns indeed, but does not consume, those who are without a material body,! which needs to be consumed by that fire, and which burns and consumes those who by their actions, words, and thoughts have built up wood, or hay, or stubble, in that which is figuratively termed a * building"? And the Holy Scriptures say that the Lord will, like a refiner's fire and fuller's soap,? visit each one of those who require purification, because of the intermingling in them of a flood of wicked matter proceeding from their evil nature; who need fire, T mean, to refine, as it were, [the dross of] those who are inter- mingled with copper, and tin, and lead. And he who likes may learn this from the prophet Ezekiel. But that we say that God brings fire upon the world, not like a cook, but like a God, who is the benefactor of them who stand in need of the discipline of fire will be testified by the prophet Isaiah, in whose writings jt is related that a sinful nation was thus ad- dressed: * Because thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them: they shall be to thee a help. Now the Scripture is appro- priately adapted to the multitudes of those who are to peruse it, because it speaks obscurely of things that are sad and gloomy,’ in order to terrify those who cannot by any other means be saved from the flood of their sins, although even then the attentive reader will clearly discover the end that is to be accom- plished by these sad and painful punishments upon those who endure them. It is sufficient, however, for the present to quote the words of Isaiah: * For my name's sake will I show mine anger and my glory I will bring upon thee, that I may not destroy thee.”* We have thus been under the necessity of referring in obscure terms to questions not fitted to the capacity of simple believers, who require a simpler instruction in words, that we might not appear to leave unrefuted the accusation of Celsus, that “God introduces the fire, [which is to gentry the world], as if He were a cook.”.
1 ὕλην. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 12. — * Cf. Mal iii. 2.
* Cf. Ezek. xxii. 18, 20. 5 σόνον καὶ πυρός. 5 Cf. Isa. xlvii. 14, 15. τὰ σκυθρωτά. 8 Cf. Isa. xlviii. 9 (Septuagint).
284 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
CHAPTER XVI.
From what has been said, it will be manifest to intelligent hearers how we have to answer the following: “ All the rest of the race will be completely burnt up, and they alone will remain." It is not to be wondered at, indeed, if such thoughts have been entertained by those amongst us who are called in Scripture the “ foolish things " of the world, and “ base things,” and * things which are despised,” and “things which are not,” because “by the foolishness of preaching it pleased God to save them that believe on Him, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,” '— because such individuals are unable to see distinctly the sense of each par- ticular passage,” or unwilling to devote the necessary leisure to the investigation of Scripture, notwithstanding the injunction of Jesus, “ Search the Scriptures"? The following, moreover, are his ideas regarding the fire which is to be brought upon the world by God, and the punishments which are to befall sinners. And perhaps, as it is appropriate to children that some things should be addressed to them in a manner befitting their infantile condition, to convert them, as being of very tender age, to a better course of life; so, to those whom the word terms “the foolish things of the world," and “ the base,” and * the despised,” the just and obvious meaning of the passages relating to punishments is suitable, inasmuch as they cannot receive any other mode of conversion than that which is by fear and the presentation of punishment, and thus be saved from the many evils [which would befall them] The Scrip- ture accordingly declares that only those who are unscathed by the fire and the punishments are to remain, —those, viz., whose opinions, and morals, and mind have been purified to the highest degree; while, on the other hand, those of a different nature—those, viz., who, according to their deserts, require the administration of punishment by fire—will be involved in these sufferings with a view to an end which it is suitable for God : to bring upon those who have been created in His image, but who have lived in opposition to the will of that nature which 1 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 21.? τὰ κατὰ TOUS τόπους. 8 Cf. John v. 39. 4 καὶ τῶν πολλῶν κακῶν aTOXND.
Book v. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 285 is according to His image. And this is our answer to the state- ment, “ All the rest of the race will be completely burnt up, but they alone are to remain.”
CHAPTER XVII.
Then, in the next place, having either himself misunderstood the sacred Scriptures, or those [interpreters] by whom they were not understood, he proceeds to assert that “‘it is said by us that there will remain at the time of the visitation which is to come upon the world by the fire of purification, not only those who are then alive, but also those who are long ago dead;” not ob- serving that it is with a secret kind of wisdom that it was said by the apostle of Jesus: * We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Now he ought to have noticed what was the meaning of him who uttered these words, as being one who was by no, means dead, who made a distinction between himself and those like him and the dead, and who said afterwards, “The dead shall be raised incorruptible,’ and “we shall be changed.” And as a proof that such was the apostle’s meaning in writing those words which I have quoted from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, I will quote also from the First to the Thessalonians, in which Paul, as one who is alive and awake, and different from those who are asleep, speaks as follows: “ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who are asleep; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”* Then, again, after this, knowing that there were others dead in Christ besides himself and such as he, he sub- joins the words, *'The dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”?
286 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
CHAPTER XVIII.
But since he has ridiculed at great length the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh, which has been preached in the churches, and which is more clearly understood by the more intelligent believer; and as it is unnecessary again to quote his words, which have been already adduced, let us, with regard to the problem! (as in an apologetic work directed against an alien from the faith, and for the sake of those who are still * children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti- ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive”?), state and establish to the best of our ability a few points expressly intended for our readers. Neither we, then, nor the Holy Scriptures, assert that with the same bodies, without a change to a higher con- dition, * shall those who were long dead arise from the earth and live again;" for in so speaking, Celsus makes a false charge against us. For we may listen to many passages of Scripture treating of the resurrection in a manner worthy of God, although it may suffice for the present to quote the language of Paul from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, where he says: * But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body? Now, observe how in these words he says that there is sown, * not that body that shall be;" but that of the body which is sown and cast naked into the earth (God giving to each seed its own body), there takes place as it were a resurrection: from the seed that was cast into the ground ' there arising a stalk, e.g. among such plants as the following, viz. the mustard plant, or of a larger tree, as in the olive,‘ or one of the fruit-trees.
CHAPTER XIX. | God, then, gives to each thing its own body as He pleases: 1 περὶ τοῦ προβλήματὸς τούτου. 3 Cf. Eph. iv. 14. 8 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 35-38. * i» ἐλαίας TVpEM.
Book v.]. ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 287 as in the case of plants that are sown, so also in the case of those beings who are, as it were, sown in dying, and who in due time receive, out of what has been *sown," the body assigned by God to each one according to his deserts. And we may hear, moreover, the Scripture teaching us at great length the difference between that which is, as it were, * sown,” and that which is, as it were, “ raised" from it, in these words: “ It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”* And let him who has the capacity understand the meaning of the words: “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly? And although the apostle wished to conceal the secret meaning of the passage, which was not adapted to the simpler class of believers, and to the understanding of the common people, who are led by their faith to enter on a better course of life, he was nevertheless obliged afterwards to say (in order that we might not mis- apprehend his meaning), after “ Let us bear the image of the heavenly,” these words also: “ Now this I say, brethren, that - flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”* Then, -knowing that there was a secret and mystical meaning in the passage, as was becoming in one who was leaving, in his epistles, to those who were to come after him words full of significance, he subjoins the following, “ Behold, I show you a mystery;"* which is his usual style in introducing matters of a profounder and more mystical nature, and such as are fittingly concealed from the multitude, as is written in the book of Tobit: * It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but honourable to reveal the works of God,"—in a way consistent with truth and God's glory, and so as to be to the advantage of the multitude. Our hope, then, is not “the hope of worms, nor does our soul long for a body that has seen corruption;” for although it may 1 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43. 2 Of. 1 Cor. xv. 48, 49.
8 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 49. * Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 50. 5 Cf. Tobit xii. 7.
288 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [ Boox v.
require a body, for the sake of moving from place to place, yet it understands (as having meditated on the wisdom [that is from above], agreeably to the declaration, “ The mouth of the righteous will speak wisdom”’) the difference between the “earthly house,” in which is the tabernacle of the building that is to be dissolved, and that in which the righteous do groan, being burdened,—not wishing to “put off” the tabernacle, but to be “clothed therewith,” that by being clothed upon, mor- tality might be swallowed up of life. For, in virtue of the whole nature of the body being corruptible, the corruptible tabernacle must put on incorruption; and its other part, being mortal, and becoming liable to the death which follows sin, must put on immortality, in order that, when the corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and the mortal immortality, then shall come to pass what was predicted of old by the prophets,—the annihilation of the * victory" of death (because it had conquered and subjected us to his sway), and of its “sting,” with which it stings the imperfectly defended soul, and inflicts upon it the wounds which result from sin.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
But since‘ our views regarding the resurrection have, as far as time would permit, been stated in part on the present occa- sion (for we have systematically examined the subject in greater detail in other parts of our writings); and as now we mus by means of sound reasoning refute the fallacies of Celsus, who neither understands the meaning of our Scripture, nor has the capacity of judging that the meaning of our wise men 18 nof to be determined by those individuals who make no pro fession of anything more than of a [simple] faith in the Chris tian system, let us show that men, not to be lightly esteemed on account of their reasoning powers and dialectic subtleties, have given expression to very absurd? opinions. And if we must sneer* at them as contemptible old wives' fables, it is at them rather than at our narrative that we must sneer. The di ciples of the Porch assert, that after a period of years there will be a conflagration of the world, and after that an arrange" l δι τὸς rominds μεταβάσεις. 3 Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 30. 8 σφόδρ᾽ ἐπερζφαίνοντα. 4 μυχθίζειν.
Book v. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 289 ment of things in which everything will be unchanged, as compared with the former arrangement of the world. Those of them, however, who evinced their respect for this doctrine have said that there will be a change, although exceedingly slight, at the end of the cycle, from what prevailed during the preceding. And these men maintain, that in the succeeding cycle the same things will occur, and Socrates will be again the son of Sophroniscus, and a native of Athens; and Phenarete, being married to Sophroniscus, will again become his mother. And although they do not mention the word “ resurrection,” they show in reality that Socrates, who derived his origin from seed, will spring from that of Sophroniscus, and will be fashioned in the womb of Phenarete; and being brought up at Athens, will practise the study of philosophy, as if his former philosophy had arisen again, and were to be in no respect dif- ferent from what it was before. Anytus and Melitus, too, will arise again as accusers of Socrates, and the Council of Areo- pagus will condemn him to death! But what is more ridiculous still, is that Socrates will clothe himself with garments not at all different from those which he wore during the former cycle, and will live in the same unchanged state of poverty, and in the same unchanged city of Athens! And Phalaris will again play the tyrant, and his brazen bull will pour forth its bellow- ings from the voices of victims within, unchanged from those who were condemned in the former cycle! And Alexander of Phere, too, will again act the tyrant with a cruelty unaltered from the former time, and will condemn to death the same * unchanged” individuals as before. But what need is there to go into detail upon the doctrine held by the Stoic philosophers on such things, and which escapes the ridicule of Celsus, and is perhaps even venerated by him, since he regards Zeno as a wiser man than Jesus?