The voice from heaven was heard only by some
After this he says: “If he wished to escape notice, why was the voice from heaven heard proclaiming him Son of God? But if he did not wish to escape notice, why was he punished, or why did he die?” By this he thinks he is exposing a disagreement in what is written about him. He does not see that Jesus wished neither that everything about him should be known to all, to anyone at all, nor that everything concerning himself should remain hidden.
At any rate, the voice from heaven that proclaimed him to be the Son of God and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), is not recorded to have been within the hearing of the crowds, as Celsus’s Jew supposed. Moreover, the voice from the cloud on the very high mountain was heard only by those who had gone up with him (Matthew 17:1–5; compare Mark 9:2–7; Luke 9:28–35). For the divine voice is of such a kind that it is heard only by those whom the speaker wishes to hear it. I do not yet add that the voice of God recorded in Scripture is by no means struck air, or a stroke of air, or whatever else it is called in the treatises on voice, and that for this reason it is heard by a hearing higher and more divine than the hearing of the senses. And whenever the speaker wishes his voice not to be audible to all, the one who “has” the higher “ears” (Matthew 13:9) hears God, while the one whose soul’s hearing has been deafened does not perceive God speaking.
So much in answer to “Why was the voice from heaven heard proclaiming him Son of God?” As for “If he did not wish to escape notice, why was he punished, or why did he die?”, what we have said at length above about his passion is enough.
Greek
Μετὰ ταῦτά φησιν· εἰ μὲν ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἠκούετο ἡ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ; εἰ δ᾿ οὐκ ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἐκολάζετο ἢ τί ἀπέθνῃσκε; καὶ οἴεται ἐν τούτοις διαφωνίαν ἐλέγχειν τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων, οὐχ ὁρῶν ὅτι οὔτε πάντα τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν ἐβούλετο πᾶσι καὶ οἷς ἔτυχε γινώσκεσθαι οὔτε πάντα λανθάνειν τὰ καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν. ἡ γοῦν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ λέγουσα· „οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα,“ οὐκ ἀναγέγραπται εἰς ἐπήκοον τοῖς ὄχλοις γεγονέναι, ὅπερ ᾠήθη ὁ Κέλσου Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ ὑψηλοτάτῳ ὄρει ἀπὸ τῆς νεφέλης φωνὴ μόνοις ἠκούετο τοῖς συναναβᾶσιν αὐτῷ. καὶ γὰρ τοιαύτη ἐστὶν ἡ θεία φωνὴ, ἀκουομένη μόνοις ἐκείνοις, οὓς βούλεται ἀκούειν ὁ λέγων, οὐδέπω δὲ λέγω ὅτι οὐ πάντως ἐστὶν ἀὴρ πεπληγμένος ἢ πληγὴ ἀέρος ἢ ὅ τι ποτὲ λέγεται ἐν τοῖς περὶ φωνῆς ἡ ἀναγραφομένη φωνὴ τοῦ θεοῦ, διόπερ τῇ κρείττονι τῆς αἰσθητῆς ἀκοῆς καὶ θειοτέρᾳ ἀκούεται. καὶ ἐπὰν βούληται ὁ λέγων μὴ πᾶσιν ἐξάκουστον εἶναι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φωνὴν, ὁ μὲν „ἔχων“ τὰ κρείττονα „ὦτα“ ἀκούει θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ κεκωφωμένος τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκοὴν ἀναισθητεῖ λέγοντος θεοῦ. ταῦτα μὲν διὰ τὸ τί ἠκούετο ἡ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ ἡ κηρύττουσα αὐτὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ; εἰς δὲ τὸ εἰ οὐκ ἐβούλετο λανθάνειν, τί ἐκολάζετο ἢ τί ἀπέθνῃσκεν; ἀρκεῖ τὰ περὶ τοῦ πάθους ἡμῖν διὰ πλειόνων ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω λελεγμένα.