Did Jesus fail to help himself?
He thinks that both the earthquake and the darkness are a marvellous tale (Matthew 27:45, 51). We made our defence about these earlier, as far as we could, citing Phlegon, who recorded that such things occurred at the time of the Saviour’s passion. He also says that “while he was alive Jesus did not help himself, but when dead he rose and showed the marks of his punishment, and how his hands had been pierced” (John 20:20, 27).
We ask him: what does “helped himself” mean? If it refers to virtue, we shall say that he helped himself very much indeed. For he neither said nor did anything improper; but truly “he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent” (Isaiah 53:7), and the Gospel testifies that “so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12–14). But if he takes “helped himself” in the sense of things indifferent and bodily, we say that we have shown from the Gospels that he came to these things of his own will.
Next, after stating what comes from the Gospel, that on rising from the dead he showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced, he asks: “Who saw this?” And slandering the account of Mary Magdalene, who is recorded to have seen him (John 20:11–18), he said: “A frenzied woman, as you say.” And since she is not the only one recorded to have seen Jesus risen, but others too, Celsus’s Jew slanders these as well, and says: “and anyone else involved in the same sorcery.”
Greek
Οἴεται δὲ τερατείαν εἶναι καὶ τὸν σεισμὸν καὶ τὸν σκότον· περὶ ὧν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ἀπελογησάμεθα, παραθέμενοι τὸν Φλέγοντα ἱστορήσαντα κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦ πάθους τοῦ σωτῆρος τοιαῦτα ἀπηντηκέναι. καὶ ὅτι ζῶν μὲν οὐκ ἐπήρκεσεν ἑαυτῷ, νεκρὸς δ᾿ ἀνέστη καὶ τὰ σημεῖα τῆς κολάσεως ἔδειξεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ὡς ἦσαν πεπερονημέναι. καὶ πυνθανόμεθα αὐτοῦ, τί τὸ ἐπήρκεσεν ἑαυτῷ; εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς ἀρετὴν. φήσομεν ὅτι καὶ πάνυ γε ἐπήρκεσεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄτοπον οὔτ᾿ ἐφθέγξατο οὔτ᾿ ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθῶς „ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη. καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείροντος ἄφωνος“· καὶ μαρτυρεῖ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὅτι „οὕτως οὐκ“ ἤνοιξε „τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ.“ εἰ δὲ τὸ ἐπήρκεσεν ἀπὸ τῶν μέσων καὶ σωματικῶν λαμβάνει, φαμὲν ὅτι ἀπεδείξαμεν ἐκ τῶν εὐαγγελίων ὅτι ἑκὼν ἐπὶ ταῦτ᾿ ἐλήλυθεν. εἶθ᾿ ἑξῆς τούτοις εἰπὼν τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὅτι τὰ σημεῖα τῆς κολάσεως ἔδειξεν ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ὡς ἦσαν πεπερονημέναι, πυνθάνεται καὶ λέγει· τίς τοῦτο εἶδε: καὶ τὰ περὶ Μαρίας τῆς Μαγδαληνῆς διαβάλλων ἀναγραφομένης ἑωρακέναι εἶπε· γυνὴ πάροιστρος. ὥς φατε. καὶ ἐπεὶ μὴ μόνη αὕτη ἀναγέγραπται ἑωρακέναι ἀναστάντα τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοι. καὶ ταῦτα κακηγορῶν ὁ Κέλσου Ἰουδαῖός φησι· καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς γοητείας.