Jewish believers have not left the law
In the first book of our dictated reply to Celsus’s work entitled The True Doctrine, we ended at the speech addressed to Jesus that Celsus puts in the mouth of his Jew, since that book had reached a sufficient length. This book we choose to compose, making our defence against the charges he brings against those from the people of the Jews who have believed in Jesus. And this is the very first thing we note: why, having once decided to bring on a character, Celsus does not have his Jew speak to those who believe from among the Gentiles, but to those from among the Jews. Yet his argument would have seemed most persuasive had it been written against us. But perhaps the man who professes to know everything did not see what consistency required in the speech he gave his character.
Let us consider, then, what he says to those from among the Jews who believe. He says that they have left the law of their fathers, that, beguiled by Jesus, they have been quite ridiculously deceived, and that they have deserted to another name and another way of life. He did not even notice that those from among the Jews who believe in Jesus have not left the law of their fathers. For they live by it, and they have come to be named after the poverty of their interpretation of the law. For among the Jews the poor man is called Ebion, and those from among the Jews who have accepted Jesus as the Christ are called Ebionites.
Peter too appears to have kept for a long time the Jewish customs that follow the law of Moses, since he had not yet learned from Jesus to rise from the law according to the letter to the law according to the spirit. This we have learned from the Acts of the Apostles. For on the day after an angel of God had appeared to Cornelius, telling him to send “to Joppa” for Simon called Peter (Acts 10:3–5), “Peter went up to the upper room to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and wanted to eat. While they were preparing it, a trance came upon him, and he saw heaven opened and a vessel coming down, like a great sheet, let down by its four corners upon the earth; and in it were all the four-footed creatures and creeping things of the earth and the birds of the sky. And a voice came to him: ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.’ And a voice came to him a second time: ‘What God has cleansed, you must not call common’ ” (Acts 10:9–15).
See in these words how Peter is presented as still keeping the Jewish customs about clean and unclean. And what follows makes clear that he needed a vision so that he would share the words of faith with Cornelius, who was not an Israelite according to the flesh, and with those who were with him; for he was still a Jew, living by the traditions of the Jews and looking down on those outside Judaism (Acts 10:28).
In the Epistle to the Galatians, too, Paul shows that Peter, still afraid of the Jews, stopped eating with the Gentiles, and when James came to him “he separated himself” from the Gentiles, “fearing those of the circumcision”; and the rest of the Jews and Barnabas did the same as he did (Galatians 2:12–13). And it was consistent that those who had been sent to the circumcision should not depart from the Jewish customs, when “those who were reputed to be pillars gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,” and went off themselves “to the circumcision,” so that those two might preach to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9).
But why do I say that those who preached “to the circumcision” drew back and separated themselves from the Gentiles, when Paul himself also became “to the Jews a Jew, that he might win Jews” (1 Corinthians 9:20)? That is why, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles, he even brought an offering to the altar, to persuade the Jews that he was not an apostate from the law (Acts 21:21–26).
If Celsus had known all this, he would not have made his Jew say to those from Judaism who believe: “What possessed you, my fellow citizens, to leave the law of your fathers, and, beguiled by that man with whom we were just now arguing, to be so ridiculously deceived, and to desert us for another name and another way of life?”
Greek
Ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τόμῳ τῶν ὑπαγορευθέντων ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸν Κέλσου ἐπιγραφέντα ἀληθῆ λόγον καταλήξαντες εἰς τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν προσωποποιΐαν, αὐτάρκη περιγραφὴν εἰληφότι, τοῦτον συντάσσειν προαιρούμεθα, ἀπολογούμενοι πρὸς τὰ φερόμενα ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγκλήματα κατὰ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν πιστευσάντων. καὶ αὐτό γε τοῦτο πρῶτον ἐφίσταμεν, τί δή ποτε ἅπαξ κρίνας προσωποποιεῖν ὁ Κέλσος οὐ προσωποποιεῖ Ἰουδαῖον πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν πιστεύοντας λέγοντα ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων· πιθανώτατος δ᾿ ἂν καὶ ἔδοξεν ὁ λόγος εἶναι αὐτῷ πρὸς ἡμᾶς γραφόμενος. ἀλλὰ μή ποτε ὁ πάντ᾿ ἐπαγγελόμενος εἰδέναι τὸ ἀκόλουθον οὐκ εἶδε κατὰ τὸν τόπον τῆς προσωποποιΐας. τί οὖν καὶ λέγει πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων πιστεύοντας, κατανοητέον. φησὶν αὐτοὺς καταλιπόντας τὸν πάτριον νόμον τῷ ἐψυχαγωγῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἠπατῆσθαι πάνυ γελοίως καὶ ἀπηυτομοληκέναι εἰς ἄλλο ὄνομα καὶ εἰς ἄλλον βίον, μηδὲ τοῦτο κατανοήσας, ὅτι οἱ ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν πιστεύοντες οὐ καταλελοίπασι τὸν πάτριον νόμον. βιοῦσι γὰρ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν, ἐπώνυμοι τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐκδοχὴν πτωχείας τοῦ νόμου γεγενημένοι. Ἐβίων τε γὰρ ὁ πτωχὸς παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις καλεῖται, καὶ Ἐβιωναῖοι χρηματίζουσιν οἱ ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡς Χριστὸν παραδεξάμενοι. δεξάμενοι. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος δὲ μέχρι πολλοῦ φαίνεται τὰ κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον Ἰουδαϊκὰ ἔθη τετηρηκέναι, ὡς μηδέπω ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ μαθὼν ἀναβαίνειν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα νόμου ἐπὶ τὸν κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα· ὅπερ ἀπὸ τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστόλων μεμαθήκαμεν. „τῇ“ γὰρ „ἐπαύριον“ τοῦ ἑωρᾶσθαι ἄγγελον θεοῦ τῷ Κορνηλίῳ, ὑποτιθέμενον αὐτῷ πέμψαι „εἰς Ἰόππην“ ἐπὶ Σίμωνα τὸν καλούμενον Πέτρον, „ἀνέβη Πέτρος εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον προσεύξασθαι περὶ ὥραν ἕκτην. ἐγένετο δὲ πρόσπεινος καὶ ἤθελε γεύσασθαι. παρασκευαζόντων δ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο ἔκστασις ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν, καὶ θεωρεῖ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεῳγμένον καὶ καταβαῖνον σκεῦός τι ὡς ὀθόνην μεγάλην, τέσσαρσιν ἀρχαῖς καθιέμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἐν ᾧ ὑπῆρχε πάντα τὰ τετράποδα καὶ ἑρπετὰ τῆς γῆς καὶ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. καὶ ἐγένετο φωνὴ πρὸς αὐτόν· ἀναστὰς, Πέτρε, θῦσον καὶ φάγε. ὁ δὲ Πέτρος εἶπε· μηδαμῶς, κύριε, ὅτι οὐδέ ποτε ἔφαγον πᾶν κοινὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον. καὶ φωνὴ ἐκ δευτέρου πρὸς αὐτόν· ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἐκαθάρισε σὺ μὴ κοίνου.“ ὅρα γὰρ ἐν τούτοις, τίνα τρόπον παρίσταται τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ ἔθη περὶ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων ἔτι τηρῶν ὁ Πέτρος. καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑξῆς δηλοῦται ὅτι ὀπτασίας ἐδεήθη, ἵνα κοινωνήσῃ τῶν λόγων τῆς πίστεως τῷ μὴ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραηλίτῃ Κορνηλίῳ καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ ὡς ἔτι Ἰουδαῖος καὶ κατὰ τὰς Ἰουδαίων παραδόσεις ζῶν, καταφρονῶν τῶν ἔξω τοῦ ἰουδαϊσμοῦ. καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας δὲ ἐπιστολῇ Παῦλος ἐμφαίνει ὅτι Πέτρος ἔτι φοβούμενος τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, παυσάμενος τοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν συνεσθίειν, ἐλθόντος Ἰακώβου πρὸς αὐτὸν „ἀφώριζεν ἑαυτὸν“ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν, „φοβούμενος τοὺς ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς“· καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πεποιήκασιν αὐτῷ οἱ λοιποὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Βαρνάβας. καὶ ἀκόλουθόν γε ἦν μὴ ἀποστῆναι τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ἐθῶν τοὺς εἰς τὴν περιτομὴν ἀποσταλέντας, ὅτε „οἱ δοκοῦντες στῦλοι εἶναι δεξιὰς ἔδωκαν Παύλῳ καὶ Βαρνάβᾳ κοινωνίας,“ „αὐτοὶ εἰς τὴν περιτομὴν“ ἀπιόντες, ἵν᾿ ἐκεῖνοι τοῖς ἔθνεσι κηρύξωσι. τί δὲ λέγω ὅτι οἱ κηρύσσοντες „εἰς τὴν περιτομὴν“ ὑπέστελλον ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ ἀφώριζον; ὅτε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Παῦλος „τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις Ἰουδαῖος“ ἐγίνετο, „ἵνα Ἰουδαίους“ κερδήσῃ. διὸ, ὡς καὶ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων γέγραπται, καὶ προσφορὰν προσήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ἵνα πείσῃ Ἰουδαίους περὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἀποστάτης νόμου. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα εἰ ἠπίστατο ὁ Κέλσος, οὐκ ἂν ἐπροσωποποιήσατο τὸν Ἰουδαῖον λέγοντα πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ ἰουδαϊσμοῦ πιστεύοντας τό· τί παθόντες, ὦ πολῖται, κατελίπετε τὸν πάτριον νόμον καὶ ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνου, πρὸς ὃν ἄρτι διειλέγμεθα, ψυχαγωγηθέντες πάνυ γελοίως ἐξηπατήθητε καὶ ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀπηυτομολήσατε εἰς ἄλλο ὄνομα καὶ εἰς ἄλλον βίον;