Jesus was not boastful, false or unholy
Let them show where in Jesus there is found even a hint of a word spoken out of arrogance. For how is he arrogant who says: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29)? Or how is he arrogant who, “during supper” (John 13:2), took off his garment in the presence of his disciples, tied a “towel” around himself, poured “water into the basin” (John 13:4–5), washed the “feet” of each one, rebuked the one who was unwilling to offer his, and said: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8)? Or how is he arrogant who says: “And I was among you, not as the one who reclines at table, but as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27)?
Let someone prove what lies he told, and set out which lies are great and which small, so as to show that Jesus told the great ones. There is also another way to refute the Jew: just as no lie is more of a lie than another, so neither is one lie greater than another; just as no truth is more true than another, or more greatly true.
And let Celsus’s Jew, above all, declare what Jesus’ unholy deeds were. Or is it unholy to draw people away from bodily circumcision, a bodily sabbath, bodily feasts, bodily new moons, and clean and unclean things, and to turn the mind toward a law that is worthy of God, true and spiritual (Romans 7:14), while the one who is an ambassador “for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20) knows how to become a Jew “to the Jews, that he may win Jews”, and “to those under the law as under the law, that he may win those under the law” (1 Corinthians 9:20)?
Greek
Δεικνύτωσαν δὲ, ποῦ κἂν ἔμφασις λέξεως ἀπὸ ἀλαζονείας προφερομένης παρὰ τῷ Ἰησοῦ εὑρίσκεται. πῶς γὰρ ἀλαζὼν ὁ λέγων· „μάθετε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ ὅτι πρᾷός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν“; ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ „δείπνου γινομένου“ ἐκδυσάμενος ἐπὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ζωσάμενος δὲ „λέντιον“ καὶ βαλὼν „ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα“ καὶ νίπτων ἑκάστου „τοὺς πόδας“ καὶ ἐπιτιμῶν τῷ μὴ θέλοντι παρέχειν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγων· „ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ“; ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ φάσκων· „κἀγὼ ἐγενόμην ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, οὐχ ὡς ὁ ἀνακείμενος ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὁ διακονῶν“; ἐλεγχέτω δέ τις, τίνα ἐψεύσατο, καὶ παραστησάτω μεγάλα καὶ μικρὰ ψεύδη, ἵνα δείξῃ τὰ μεγάλα ψευσάμενον τὸν Ἰησοῦν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως αὐτὸν ἐλέγξαι· ὅτι ὡς οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦσμα ψεύσματος μᾶλλον ψεῦσμα. οὕτως οὐδὲ μειζόνως· ὡς οὐδὲ ἀληθὲς ἀληθοῦς μᾶλλον ἀληθὲς ἢ μειζόνως ἀληθές. τίνα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀνόσια τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἀπαγγελλέτω καὶ μάλιστα ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος. ἢ ἀνόσιον μὲν τὸ ἀφιστάνειν σωματικῆς περιτομῆς καὶ σωματικοῦ σαββάτου καὶ σωματικῶν ἑορτῶν καὶ σωματικῶν νουμηνιῶν καὶ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων, μετατιθέναι δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἐπὶ νόμον θεοῦ ἄξιον καὶ ἀληθῆ καὶ πνευματικὸν μετὰ τοῦ τὸν πρεσβεύοντα „ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ“ εἰδέναι „τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις“ Ἰουδαῖον γίνεσθαι, „ἵνα Ἰουδαίους“ κερδήσῃ, καὶ „τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον,“ „ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον“ κερδήσῃ;