Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus

And we do not ask the question, “How shall we go to God?” as though we thought that God existed in some place. God is of too excellent a nature for any place: He holds all things in His power, and is Himself not confined by anything whatever. The precept, therefore, “Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy God,”1680 Deut. xiii. 4. does not command a bodily approach to God; neither does the prophet refer to physical nearness to God, when he says in his prayer, “My soul followeth hard after Thee.”1681 Ps. lxiii. 8. Celsus therefore misrepresents us, when he says that we expect to see God with our bodily eyes, to hear Him with our ears, and to touch Him sensibly with our hands. We know that the holy Scriptures make mention of eyes, of ears, and of hands, which have nothing but the name in common with the bodily organs; and what is more wonderful, they speak of a diviner sense, which is very different from the senses as commonly spoken of. For when the prophet says, “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,”1682 Ps. cxix. 18. or, “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes,”1683 Ps. xix. 8. or, “Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,”1684 Ps. xiii. 3. no one is so foolish as to suppose that the eyes of the body behold the wonders of the divine law, or that the law of the Lord gives light to the bodily eyes, or that the sleep of death falls on the eyes of the body. When our Saviour says, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,”1685 Matt. xiii. 9. any one will understand that the ears spoken of are of a diviner kind. When it is said that the word of the Lord was “in the hand” of Jeremiah or of some other prophet; or when the expression is used, “the law by the hand of Moses,” or, “I sought the Lord with my hands, and was not deceived,”1686 Ps. lxxvii. 2, according to the LXX.—no one is so foolish as not to see that the word “hands” is taken figuratively, as when John says, “Our hands have handled the Word of life.”1687 1 John i. 1. And if you wish further to learn from the sacred writings that there is a diviner sense than the senses of the body, you have only to hear what Solomon says, “Thou shalt find a divine sense.”1688 Prov. ii. 5, Eng. Vers. and LXX., “Thou shalt find the knowledge of God.”

Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὡς ἐν τόπῳ ὄντος τοῦ θεοῦ πευσόμεθά τινος καὶ ἐροῦμεν· Πῶς ἴωμεν πρὸς αὐτόν; Κρείττων γὰρ ὁ θεὸς παντὸς τόπου καὶ περιεκτικὸς παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστι τὸ περιέχον τὸν θεόν. Τὸ ἰέναι οὖν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν οὐ σωματικῶς προστέτακται ἡμῖν, τὸ "Ὀπίσω κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου πορεύσῃ", οὐδὲ σωματικῶς ὁ προφήτης κολληθεὶς τῷ θεῷ φησιν ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ· "Ἐκολλήθη ὀπίσω σου ἡ ψυχή μου." Καταψεύδεται οὖν ἡμῶν Κέλσος λέγων προσδέχεσθαι ἡμᾶς ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος θεὸν ὄψεσθαι καὶ ὠσὶ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθαι καὶ χερσὶν αἰσθηταῖς ψαύσειν αὐτοῦ. Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὁμωνύμως τοῖς σώματος ὀφθαλμοῖς λεγομένους ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λόγων ὀφθαλμούς, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὸ τούτων παραδοξότερον, αἴσθησιν θειοτέραν καὶ ἑτεροίαν παρὰ τὴν συνήθως ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ὀνομαζο μένην. Ἐπὰν γὰρ λέγῃ ὁ προφήτης· "Ἀποκάλυψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσιά σου ἐκ τοῦ νόμου [σου" ἤ·] "Ἡ ἐντολὴ κυρίου τηλαυγής, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς", ἤ· "Φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, μή ποτε ὑπνώσω εἰς θάνατον", οὐχ οὕτως τις ἐμβρόντητός ἐστιν, ὡς νομίζειν ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος κατανοεῖσθαι "τὰ θαυμά σια" τοῦ θείου "νόμου", ἢ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἐντολὴν φωτισ τικὴν εἶναι τῶν τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμῶν, ἢ ὕπνον θανάτου ἐποιστικὸν συμβαίνειν περὶ τοὺς τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμούς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὰν λέγῃ ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν· "Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω", καὶ ὁ τυχὼν συνίησι περὶ θειοτέρων ταῦτα λέγεσθαι ὤτων. Κἂν λέγηται "λόγος κυρίου" γεγονέναι ἐν χειρὶ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου ἢ ἄλλου τινός, ἢ νόμος "ἐν χειρὶ" Μωϋσέως, ἢ ὅτι "Ταῖς χερσί μου ἐζήτησα τὸν θεὸν καὶ οὐκ ἠπατήθην", οὐχ οὕτως ἐστί τις ἀνόητος, ὡς μὴ ἐκλαμβάνειν χεῖράς τινας εἶναι τροπικῶς καλουμένας, περὶ ὧν καὶ Ἰωάννης λέγει· "Αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς." Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς κρείττονος αἰσθήσεως καὶ οὐ σωματικῆς βούλει ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων μαθεῖν, ἄκουσον Σολομῶντος ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις λέγοντος· "Αἴσθησιν θείαν εὑρήσεις."