Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. 23: Origen Contra Celsum

A detailed examination of and answer to these statements—chapters 35–37. Celsus introduces other charges, stating that there are inscriptions in the diagram containing two words, “a greater and a less,” which refer to the Father and the Son: Answer—chapter 38. Celsus’s statement that the names of demons among the Greeks differ from those among the Scythians, providing examples: Answer—chapter 39. Celsus’s statement, on the authority of Dionysius, an Egyptian magician, that magical arts have no power over philosophers, but only over the uneducated and those of corrupt morals: The falsity of this is demonstrated—chapter 41. Celsus’s allegation that Christians invented the fiction of the devil or Satan as an adversary to God—one who counterworks and defeats His plans—and that even the Son of God was vanquished by the devil, and that the devil will exhibit great and marvelous works and claim God’s glory for himself: Examination and refutation of these statements—chapters 42–44. Celsus has misunderstood the statements of Scripture regarding the Antichrist: Explanation of these—chapters 45, 46. Celsus perverts the language of Christians regarding the “Son of God”: Answer—chapter 47. The mystical meaning of “Son of God” is explained—chapter 48. Celsus characterizes the Mosaic cosmogony original: the creation account in Genesis as extremely silly, and alleges that Moses and the prophets, out of ignorance, have woven a web of sheer nonsense: Answers—chapters 49–51. Celsus refuses to decide whether the world was uncreated and indestructible, or created but not destructible—chapter 52. He brings forward objections that were raised against Marcion a 2nd-century theologian later declared a heretic, and after several disparaging observations on the manner of God’s dealings with men, asks how it is that God created evil, etc.—chapter 53. Answer to the foregoing—chapters 54–59. Celsus repeats charges formerly made regarding the days of creation—chapters 60, 61. Comments on the expression, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it”: Answer—chapter 62. Celsus asserts that “the first-born of every creature” is the image of God, and that God did not make man in His image because he is unlike any other species of being; explanation of the expression, “Man is made after the image of God”—chapter 63. God partakes neither of form nor color, nor can motion be attributed to Him; explanation of passages that seem to imply the reverse—chapter 64. Celsus’s inconsistency with his own declared opinions, in saying that God is the source of all things while asserting that He cannot be reached by words: Explanation and distinction—chapter 65. Celsus asks, in the voice of another, how it is possible to know God, or to learn the way that leads to Him, because darkness is cast before the eyes and nothing is seen distinctly: Answer to this query, and Celsus’s own remark retorted upon him—chapters 66–68. Celsus represents our answer as being this: “Since God is great and difficult to see, He put His own Spirit into a body that resem-