Why trust Moses’ signs but not those of Jesus
Since it is a Jew who says these things in Celsus, we might say to him: You there, why is it that you have believed the things written in your books, as done by God through Moses, to be divine, and try to argue against those who slander them as done by sorcery, like the things done by the wise men of Egypt (Exodus 7:11, 22), while the things done by Jesus, which even you admit took place, you accuse of not being divine, imitating the Egyptians who stand against you?
For if the outcome, the whole nation formed through the wonders of Moses’ day, gives clear proof that it was God who did these things in the time of Moses, how much more will the same be shown in the case of Jesus, who did a greater work than Moses? For Moses took over people already more ready: those of the nation who were of Abraham’s seed, who had kept circumcision from generation to generation and had become zealous for Abraham’s customs; and he led them out of Egypt, setting before them the laws which you have believed to be divine. But Jesus dared something greater: upon the way of life already established, upon ancestral customs, and upon an upbringing under the existing laws, he brought in the way of life that accords with the gospel.
And just as Moses needed the signs he is recorded to have done, so that he might be believed not only by the elders but also by the people (Exodus 4:29–31), why should not Jesus too, so that he might be believed by those of the people who had learned to ask for “signs and wonders” (John 4:48; compare 1 Corinthians 1:22), need such works of power as, being greater and more divine in comparison with those done through Moses, were able to draw them away from Jewish myths and from the human traditions among them (compare Titus 1:14; Mark 7:8), and to make them accept the one who taught and did these things as greater than the prophets? For how was he not greater than the prophets, who was proclaimed by the prophets as the Christ and the Saviour of the human race?
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δ᾿ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ ταῦτα λέγων. εἴποιμεν ἂν πρὸς αὐτόν· σὺ δὲ δὴ, ὦ οὗτος, τί δή ποτε τὰ μὲν παρὰ σοὶ γεγραμμένα ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐπιτελεσθέντα θεῖα εἶναι πεπίστευκας καὶ πειρᾷ πρὸς τοὺς διαβάλλοντας αὐτὰ ὡς κατὰ γοητείαν γεγενημένα ὁμοίως τοῖς παρ᾿ Αἰγυπτίων σοφῶν ἐπιτελουμένοις διαλέγεσθαι, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ παρὰ σοὶ ὁμολογούμενα γεγονέναι τοὺς κατὰ σοῦ Αἰγυπτίους μιμούμενος κατηγορεῖς ὡς οὐ θεῖα; εἰ γὰρ τὸ τέλος καὶ ὅλον τὸ ἔθνος συστὰν διὰ τῶν ἐν Μω(??)σεῖ τεραστίων τὴν ἐνάργειαν τοῦ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν ταῦτα ποιήσαντα γενέσθαι συνίστησιν ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ δειχθήσεται, μεῖζον ποιήσαντι παρὰ τὸ Μωϋσέως ἔργον; ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ κατὰ διαδοχὴν τὴν περιτομὴν φυλάξαντας καὶ τῶν ἐθῶν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γενομένους ζηλωτὰς ἑτοιμοτέρους παραλαβὼν ἐξήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, τοὺς θείους, οὓς πεπίστευκας, παρατιθέμενος αὐτοῖς νόμους· οὗτος δὲ μεῖζόν τι τολμήσας ἐπεισήγαγε τῇ προκαταλαβούσῃ πολιτείᾳ καὶ ἔθεσι πατρῴοις καὶ ἀνατροφαῖς ταῖς κατὰ τοὺς κειμένους νόμους τὴν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον πολιτείαν. καὶ ὥσπερ ἔχρῃζεν, ἵνα Μωϋσῆς πιστευθῇ οὐ μόνον ὑπὸ τῆς γερουσίας ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ, σημείων ὧν πεποιηκέναι ἀναγέγραπται, διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ Ἰησοῦς. ἵνα πιστευθῇ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ μεμαθηκότων „σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα“ αἰτεῖν, δεήσεται τοιούτων δυνάμεων, αἳ διὰ τὸ μεῖζον καὶ θειότερον συγκρίσει τῶν διὰ Μωϋσέως οἷαί τε ἦσαν ἀποστῆσαι μὲν τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς μυθολογίας καὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς παραδόσεων ποιῆσαι δὲ παραδέξασθαι τὸν ταῦτα διδάσκοντα καὶ ἐπιτελοῦντα, ὅτι μείζων τῶν προφητῶν ἦν; πῶς γὰρ οὐ μείζων τῶν προφητῶν ἦν ὁ ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν ὡς Χριστὸς καὶ σωτὴρ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι κηρυσσόμενος;