Book V.

Chapter I.

It is not, my reverend Ambrosius, because we seek after many words—a thing which is forbidden, and in the indulgence of which it is impossible to avoid sin998    Cf. Prov. x. 19.—that we now begin the fifth book of our reply to the treatise of Celsus, but with the endeavour, so far as may be within our power, to leave none of his statements without examination, and especially those in which it might appear to some that he had skilfully assailed us and the Jews.  If it were possible, indeed, for me to enter along with my words into the conscience of every one without exception who peruses this work, and to extract each dart which wounds him who is not completely protected with the “whole armour” of God, and apply a rational medicine to cure the wound inflicted by Celsus, which prevents those who listen to his words from remaining “sound in the faith,” I would do so.  But since it is the work of God alone, in conformity with His own Spirit, and along with that of Christ, to take up His abode invisibly in those persons whom He judges worthy of being visited; so, on the other hand, is our object to try, by means of arguments and treatises, to confirm men in their faith, and to earn the name of “workmen needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”999    Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 15.  And there is one thing above all which it appears to us we ought to do, if we would discharge faithfully the task enjoined upon us by you, and that is to overturn to the best of our ability the confident assertions of Celsus.  Let us then quote such assertions of his as follow those which we have already refuted (the reader must decide whether we have done so successfully or not), and let us reply to them.  And may God grant that we approach not our subject with our understanding and reason empty and devoid of divine inspiration, that the faith of those whom we wish to aid may not depend upon human wisdom, but that, receiving the “mind” of Christ from His Father, who alone can bestow it, and being strengthened by participating in the word of God, we may pull down “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,”1000    Cf. 2 Cor. x. 5. and the imagination of Celsus, who exalts himself against us, and against Jesus, and also against Moses and the prophets, in order that He who “gave the word to those who published it with great power”1001    Cf. Ps. lxviii. 11. may supply us also, and bestow upon us “great power,” so that faith in the word and power of God may be implanted in the minds of all who will peruse our work.

Οὐ τὴν ἀπηγορευμένην πολυλογίαν μεταδιώκοντες, ἀφ' ἧς οὐκ ἔστι φυγεῖν τὴν "ἁμαρτίαν", ἤδη πέμπτου ἀρχόμεθα βιβλίου πρὸς τὸ Κέλσου σύγγραμμα, ἱερὲ Ἀμβρό σιε, ἀλλ' ὅση δύναμις πειρώμενοι μηδὲν τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ λεχθέντων παρελθεῖν ἀβασάνιστον, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν οἷς δόξαι ἄν τισι συνετῶς ἡμῶν ἢ Ἰουδαίων κατηγορηκέναι. Καὶ εἰ μὲν οἷόν τ' ἦν μετὰ τοῦ λόγου εἰσελθόντας εἰς τὴν παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν συνείδησιν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων τῷ ἐκείνου συγγράμματι ἕκαστον ἐξελκύσαι βέλος, τιτρῶσκον τὸν οὐ πάντῃ πεφραγμένον τῇ πανοπλίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἐπιθεῖναι λογικὸν φάρμακον, θεραπεῦον τὸ ἀπὸ Κέλσου τραῦμα, ποιοῦν μὴ ὑγιαίνειν "τῇ πίστει" τοὺς προσέχοντας αὐτοῦ τοῖς λόγοις, τοῦτ' ἂν πεποιήκειμεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν θεοῦ ἔργον ἐστίν, ἀοράτως ἐπιδημεῖν κατὰ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πνεῦμα μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος Χριστοῦ οἷς κρίνει δεῖν ἐπιδημεῖν, ἡμῖν δέ, διὰ λόγων καὶ συγγραμμάτων πειρωμένοις ἀνθρώ πους πιστοποιεῖν, πρόκειται πάντα πράττειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ χρηματίσαι ἐργάτας ἀνεπαισχύντους, ὀρθοτομοῦντας "τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας", ἓν δὲ τῶν πάντων εἶναι ἡμῖν φαίνεται καὶ τὰ πιθανὰ τοῦ Κέλσου κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν λῦσαι, πιστῶς ποιοῦσι τὸ προστεταγμένον ὑπὸ σοῦ· φέρ' ἐκθέμενοι τὰ ἑξῆς τοῖς Κέλσου λόγοις, πρὸς οὓς φθάσαντες ἀπηντήσαμεν –κρινεῖ δὲ ὁ ἐντυγχάνων, εἰ καὶ ἀνετρέψαμεν–, τὰ πρὸς αὐτὰ ἐπαγάγωμεν. Θεὸς δὲ δῴη μὴ ψιλῷ καὶ γυμνῷ θειότητος τῷ ἡμετέρῳ νῷ καὶ λόγῳ [πρὸς] τὸ προκείμενον γενέσθαι· "ἵν' ἡ πίστις" τῶν, οὓς εὐχόμεθα ὠφεληθῆναι, "μὴ ᾖ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων", "νοῦν" δὲ "Χριστοῦ" λαβόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ μόνου διδόντος αὐτὸν πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὴν μετοχὴν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ βοηθηθέντες "πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ" καθέλοιμεν καὶ τὸ οἴημα Κέλσου, καθ' ἡμῶν καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἡμῶν ἐπαιρομένου ἔτι δὲ κατὰ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν· ἵνα τοῦ διδόντος "ῥῆμα τοῖς εὐαγγελιζομένοις δυνάμει πολλῇ" καὶ ἡμῖν τοῦτ' ἐπιχορηγοῦντος καὶ τὴν πολλὴν δύναμιν δωρουμένου, ἐγγένηται πίστις τοῖς ἐντευξομένοις ἐν λόγῳ καὶ δυνάμει τοῦ θεοῦ.