Chapter XXV.

Celsus then extracts from the Gospel the precept, “To him who strikes thee once, thou shalt offer thyself to be struck again,” although without giving any passage from the Old Testament which he considers opposed to it.  On the one hand, we know that “it was said to them in old time, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;”1656    Ex. xxi. 24. and on the other, we have read, “I say unto you, Whoever shall smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.”1657    Matt. v. 39.  But as there is reason to believe that Celsus produces the objections which he has heard from those who wish to make a difference between the God of the Gospel and the God of the law, we must say in reply, that this precept, “Whosoever shall strike thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other,” is not unknown in the older Scriptures.  For thus, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, it is said, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth:  he sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.  He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him; he is filled full with reproach.”1658    Lam. iii. 27, 28, 30.  There is no discrepancy, then, between the God of the Gospel and the God of the law, even when we take literally the precept regarding the blow on the face.  So, then, we infer that neither “Jesus nor Moses has taught falsely.”  The Father in sending Jesus did not “forget the commands which He had given to Moses:”  He did not “change His mind, condemn His own laws, and send by His messenger counter instructions.”

Ὁ μὲν οὖν Κέλσος, μὴ ἀντιπαραθεὶς τὰ δοκοῦντα ἐναντία ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, φησὶ καὶ τό· Τῷ δ' ἅπαξ τυπτήσαντι παρέχειν καὶ αὖθις τύπτειν. Ἡμεῖς δ' ἐροῦμεν εἰδέναι μὲν καὶ τὸ "Ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ καὶ ὀδόντα ἀντὶ ὀδόντος" εἰρημένον τοῖς πάλαι ἀνεγνωκέναι δὲ καὶ τὸ "Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν"· "τῷ τύπτοντί σε εἰς τὴν σιαγόνα παρέχειν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην." Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ περιηχηθεὶς οἶμαι ὁ Κέλσος ἀπὸ τῶν διαιρούντων τὴν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον θεότητα ἐκ τῆς νομικῆς θεότητος τὰ τοιαῦτα τίθησι, λεκτέον πρὸς τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ ὅτι οἶδε καὶ τὰ παλαιὰ γράμματα [τὸ] "Τῷ τύπτοντί σε εἰς τὴν δεξιὰν σιαγόνα πάρεχε καὶ τὴν ἄλλην". Ἐν γοῦν τοῖς Ἱερεμίου Θρήνοις γέγραπται· "Ἀγαθὸν ἀνδρί, ὅταν ἄρῃ ζυγὸν ἐν νεότητι αὐτοῦ, καθήσεται κατὰ μόνας καὶ σιωπή σεται, ὅτι ἦρεν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ. ∆ώσει τῷ παίοντι αὐτὸν διαγόνα, καὶ χορτασθήσεται ὀνειδισμῶν." Οὐκ ἀντιδιατάσσεται οὖν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῷ τοῦ νόμου θεῷ οὐδὲ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν κατὰ κόρρης πληγῆς· οὐδ' ὁπότερος ψεύδεται, οὔτε Μωϋσῆς οὔτε Ἰησοῦς, οὐδ' ὁ πατὴρ τὸν Ἰησοῦν πέμπωνἐπελάθετο, τίνα Μωϋσεῖ διετάξατο· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ καταγνοὺς τῶν ἰδίων νόμων μετέγνω καὶ τὸν ἄγγελον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἀποστέλλει.