Jesus was not taken against his will
But what did Jesus promise and not do? Let Celsus set it out and prove it. He will not be able to, above all because what he says against Jesus, or against us, he supposes he draws either from things misheard, or from readings of the Gospels, or from Jewish stories.
Again, since the Jew says that “we convicted him, condemned him, and judged that he should be punished,” let them show how those who were seeking to contrive false testimony against him convicted him (Matthew 26:59–60); unless, perhaps, the great proof against Jesus was the one his accusers stated: “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to raise it up in three days’” (Matthew 26:61). For he himself “was speaking of the temple of his body” (John 2:21), while they, not knowing how to hear according to the speaker’s intention, thought that he meant the temple of stone, which the Jews honoured rather than honouring, as was right, the true temple of God the Word, of Wisdom and of Truth.
Let someone also tell us how Jesus “hid himself and slipped away most shamefully.” Let someone point out what in this deserved reproach. And since he says that he was also “caught,” I would reply that if being caught means being taken against one’s will, Jesus was not caught. For at the fitting time he did not prevent himself from coming into the hands of men, as “the Lamb of God,” so that he might take away “the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Indeed, “knowing all that was coming upon him, he went out and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ He said to them, ‘I am he.’ Judas also, who was betraying him, was standing with them. When he said to them, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked again, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ And they said again, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are seeking me, let these men go’” (John 18:4–8). Moreover, to the one who wanted to help him, who struck “the servant of the high priest” and cut off “his ear” (Matthew 26:51), he said: “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now call on my Father, and he will set beside me here more than twelve legions of angels? How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26:52–54).
If anyone thinks that in these matters the accounts are fictions made up by those who wrote the Gospels, why are the words of those who speak out of enmity and hatred toward him and toward Christians not rather the fictions, and the accounts of those who proved the sincerity of their devotion to Jesus by enduring anything whatever for the sake of his words the truth? For that the disciples of Jesus should have taken on such endurance and steadfastness, even to death, while their minds were inventing about their teacher things that never were […]. And to fair-minded people it is abundantly clear that they were persuaded of what they recorded, from the fact that they endured such great and so many sufferings for the sake of the one they believed to be the Son of God.
Greek
Τί δὲ καὶ ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησε. παραστησάτω καὶ ἀποδειξάτω ὁ Κέλσος. ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δυνήσεται, μάλιστα ἐπεὶ εἴτ᾿ ἐκ παρακουσμάτων εἴτε καὶ ἐξ ἀναγνωσμάτων εὐαγγελικῶν εἴτ᾿ ἐκ διηγημάτων Ἰουδαϊκῶν οἴεται φέρειν ἃ λέγει κατὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἢ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν. ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἰουδαῖός φησιν ὅτι καὶ ἐλέγξαντες αὐτὸν καὶ καταγνόντες ἠξιοῦμεν κολάζεσθαι. δεικνύτωσαν, πῶς αὐτὸν ἤλεγξαν οἱ ζητοῦντες ψευδομαρτυρίας κατασκευάσαι αὐτῷ· εἰ μὴ ἄρα ὁ μέγας ἔλεγχος κατὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἦν. ὃν εἶπον οἱ κατήγοροι, ὅτι „οὗτος ἔφη· δύναμαι καταλῦσαι τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἀναστῆσαι“· ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς μὲν „ἔλεγε περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ.“ ἐκεῖνοι δ᾿ ᾤοντο ὡς μὴ εἰδότες ἀκούειν κατὰ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ λέγοντος ὅτι περὶ τοῦ λιθίνου αὐτῷ ναοῦ ὁ λόγος ἦν, τοῦ τετιμημένου παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μᾶλλον. ἢ ὡς ἐχρῆν τιμᾶσθαι τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς ναὸν θεοῦ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας. λεγέτω δέ τις, πῶς ἐπονειδιστότατα κρυπτόμενος διεδίδρασκεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τὸ γὰρ ὀνείδους ἄξιόν τις παραστησάτω. ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί φησι καὶ ὅτι ἑάλω. εἴποιμ᾿ ἂν ὅτι, εἴπερ τὸ ἁλῶναι ἀκούσιόν ἐστιν, οὐχ ἑάλω ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἑαυτὸν γὰρ ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ καιρῷ εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων γενέσθαι οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν ὡς „ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ,“ ἵν᾿ ἄρῃ „τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου.“ „εἰδὼς γοῦν πάντα τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐξῆλθε καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· τίνα ζητεῖτε; οἱ δ᾿ ἀπεκρίθησαν· Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον. λέγει δὲ αὐτοῖς· ἐγώ εἰμι. εἱστήκει δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτὸν μετ᾿ αὐτῶν. ὡς οὖν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ ἔπεσον χαμαί. πάλιν οὖν αὐτὸς ἐπηρώτησε· τίνα ζητεῖτε; οἱ δὲ εἶπον πάλιν· Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον. ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι· εἰ οὖν ἐμὲ ζητεῖτε, ἄφετε τούτους ὑπάγειν.‘· ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸν βουλόμενον αὐτῷ βοηθῆσαι καὶ πατάξαντα „τὸν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως δοῦλον“ καὶ ἀφελόντα „αὐτοῦ τὸ ὠτίον“ εἶπεν· „ἀπόστρεψον τὴν μάχαιράν σου εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς· πάντες γὰρ οἱ λαβόντες μάχαιραν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ ἀπολοῦνται. ἢ δοκεῖ σοι ὅτι οὐ δύναμαι ἄρτι παρακαλέσαι τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ παραστήσει μοι ὧδε πλείους ἢ δώδεκα λεγεῶνας ἀγγέλων: πῶς οὖν πληρωθῶσιν αἱ γραφαὶ, ὅτι οὕτως ἔδει γενέσθαι;“ εἰ δὲ πλάσματα τῶν γραψάντων τὰ εὐαγγέλια οἴεταί τις εἶναι κατὰ ταῦτα, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον πλάσματα μέν ἐστι τὰ τῶν ἀπὸ ἔχθους καὶ μίσους τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστιανοὺς λεγόντων, ἀλήθεια δὲ (τὰ) τῶν τὸ γνήσιον τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν διαθέσεως ἀποδειξαμένων ἐν τῷ πᾶν ὅ τι ποτ᾿ οὖν ὑπομεμενηκέναι διὰ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ; τοσαύτην γὰρ ὑπομονὴν καὶ ἔνστασιν μέχρι θανάτου ἀνειληφέναι τοὺς Ἰησοῦ μαθητὰς μετὰ διαθέσεως ἀναπλασσούσης περὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου τὰ μὴ ὄντα . . . . . ; καὶ πολὺ τοῖς εὐγνωμονοῦσι τὸ ἐναργές ἐστι περὶ τοῦ πεπεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς περὶ ὧν ἀνέγραψαν ἐκ τοῦ τηλικαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτα διὰ τὸν πεπιστευμένον αὐτοῖς εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ ὑπομεμενηκέναι.