Secret compacts against unjust laws
The first charge Celsus brings, in his wish to discredit Christianity, is that Christians make compacts with one another in secret, against what the laws have established. His ground is that some compacts are open, those made in keeping with the laws, while others are hidden, those carried out against what the laws have established. He also wants to discredit what is called the love of Christians for one another, as something that springs from their common danger and is stronger than any oath.
Since, then, he keeps harping on the common law, and says that the compacts of Christians are against it, we must answer as follows. Suppose a man found himself among the Scythians, whose laws are lawless, and, with no chance to get away, were forced to live among them. Such a man would have good reason, because of the law of truth, which in the eyes of the Scythians is lawlessness, to make compacts with those who think as he does, against what the Scythians have established. In the same way, when truth sits in judgment, the laws of the nations about images and their godless worship of many gods are laws of Scythians, or of anything still more impious than Scythians. It is therefore not unreasonable to make compacts against what is established, when they are made for the sake of truth.
For if men made secret compacts to put to death a tyrant who had seized control of the city, they would do well. So it is with Christians: since the one they call the devil, and falsehood with him, rule as tyrants, they make compacts against what the devil has established, compacts against the devil and for the salvation of others, whom they may be able to persuade to break away from that law, which is, as it were, the law of Scythians and of a tyrant.
Greek
Πρῶτον τῷ Κέλσῳ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι βουλομένῳ διαβαλεῖν χριστιανισμὸν, ὡς συνθήκας κρύβδην πρὸς ἀλλήλους ποιουμένων Χριστιανῶν παρὰ τὰ νενομισμένα, ὅτι τῶν συνθηκῶν αἱ μέν εἰσι φανεραὶ, ὅσαι κατὰ νόμους γίνονται, αἱ δὲ ἀφανεῖς, οσαι παρὰ τὰ νενομισμένα συντελοῦνται. καὶ βούλεται διαβαλεῖν τὴν καλουμένην ἀγάπην Χριστιανῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ κινδύνου ὑφισταμένην καὶ δυναμένην ὑπερόρκια. ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸν κοινὸν νόμον θρυλεῖ παρὰ τοῦτον λέγων Χριστιανοῖς τὰς συνθήκας, λεκτέον πρὸς τοῦτο ὅτι, ὥσπερ εἴ τις παρὰ Σκύθαις νόμους ἀθέσμους ἔχουσι γενόμενος ἀναχωρήσεως μὴ ἔχων καιρὸν βιοῦν παρ᾿ ἐκείνοις ἀναγκάζοιτο, εὐλόγως ἂν οὗτος διὰ τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας νόμον, ὡς πρὸς τοὺς Σκύθας παρανομίαν, καὶ συνθήκας πρὸς τοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτῷ φρονοῦντας ποιήσαι ἂν παρὰ τὰ ἐκείνοις νενομισμένα· οὕτως παρ᾿ ἀληθείᾳ δικαζούσῃ οἱ νόμοι τῶν ἐθνῶν, οἱ περὶ ἀγαλμάτων καὶ τῆς ἀθέου πολυθεότητος, νόμοι εἰσὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ εἴ τι Σκυθῶν ἀσεβέστερον. οὐκ ἄλογον οὖν συνθήκας παρὰ τὰ νενομισμένα ποιεῖν τὰς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας. ὥσπερ γὰρ, εἰ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τύραννον προλαβόντα τὰ τῆς πόλεως ἀνελεῖν συνθήκας τινὲς κρύβδην ἐποιοῦντο, καλῶς ἂν ἐποίουν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Χριστιανοὶ, τυραννοῦντος τοῦ παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς καλουμένου διαβόλου καὶ τοῦ ψεύδους, συνθήκας ποιοῦνται παρὰ τὰ νενομισμένα τῷ διαβόλῳ κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας ἑτέρων, οὓς ἂν πεῖσαι δυνηθῶσιν ἀποστῆναι τοῦ ὡσανεὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ τυράννου νόμου.