Changing a nature grown evil
Celsus, drawing the consequence of his own view, says: “To change a nature completely is exceedingly hard.” But we know that every rational soul has one nature, and we hold that none was fashioned evil by the Creator of all things, but that many have become evil through their upbringing, through perversion and through the talk that surrounds them, so that in some people evil has even become second nature. And we are persuaded that for the divine Word to change an evil that has become second nature is not only not impossible but not even very hard, provided only that a person accepts that he must entrust himself to the God over all and do everything with a view to pleasing him. With him it is not true that “the base and the noble are held in one honour,” nor that “the idle man and the man who has done much die alike” (Homer, Iliad 9.319–320).
And if for some people change is very hard indeed, the cause must be said to lie in their assent, which shrinks from accepting that the God over all is a just judge of each person for all that he has done in life. For choice and training have great power even over things that seem hardest and, to speak in hyperbole, all but impossible. Or is it the case that human nature, when it has resolved to walk on a rope stretched high in the air across the middle of the theatre, and to carry so many and such heavy weights while doing it, has been able by training and attention to accomplish such a feat, but when it resolves to live by virtue it is incapable, even if it had formerly become utterly base? Consider whether the man who says such things is not finding fault with the nature that made the rational creature rather than with the creature that was made, if it has made human nature capable of things so hard and of no use whatever, but incapable of reaching its own blessedness. But this too is enough in answer to “For to change a nature completely is exceedingly hard.”
Next he says: “Those who are without sin are better companions in life.” He does not make clear whom he calls sinless, whether those who were so from the beginning or those who became so by a change. Those who were so from the beginning cannot exist; those who became so by a change are rarely found, and they become such through having come to the saving Word. They do not come to the Word already being such; for without the Word, and the perfect Word at that, it is impossible for a man to become sinless.
Greek
Καὶ ὁ μὲν Κέλσος φησὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα ἑαυτῷ ἐπιφέρων ὅτι φύσιν ἀμεῖψαι τελέως παγχάλεπον. ἡμεῖς δὲ, μίαν φύσιν ἐπιστάμενοι πάσης λογικῆς ψυχῆς καὶ μηδεμίαν φάσκοντες πονηρὰν ὑπὸ τοῦ κτίσαντος τὰ ὅλα δεδημιουργῆσθαι, γεγονέναι (δὲ) πολλοὺς κακοὺς παρὰ τὰς ἀνατροφὰς καὶ τὰς διαστροφὰς καὶ τὰς περιηχήσεις, ὥστε καὶ φυσιωθῆναι ἔν τισι τὴν κακίαν, πειθόμεθα ὅτι τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ ἀμεῖψαι κακίαν φυσιώσασάν ἐστιν οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀδύνατον ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐ πάνυ χαλεπὸν, ἐπὰν μόνον παραδέξηταί τις ὅτι πιστεύειν δεῖ ἑαυτὸν τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ καὶ πάντα πράττειν κατ᾿ ἀναφορὰν τοῦ ἀρέσκειν ἐκείνῳ· παρ᾿ ᾧ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν δὲ ἰῇ τιμῇ ἠμὲν κακὸς ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσθλός· οὐδὲ κάτθαν᾿ ὁμῶς ὅ τ᾿ ἀεργὸς ἀνὴρ ὅ τε πολλὰ ἐοργώς. εἰ δὲ καί τισι πάνυ χαλεπόν ἐστι τὸ μεταβάλλειν. τὴν αἰτίαν λεκτέον εἶναι περὶ τὴν συγκατάθεσιν αὐτῶν, ὀκνοῦσαν παραδέξασθαι τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸν εἶναι ἑκάστῳ δίκαιον κριτὴν περὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ πεπραγμένων. μέγα γὰρ δύναται καὶ πρὸς τὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι χαλεπώτατα καὶ, ἵνα καθ᾿ ὑπερβολὴν ὀνομάσω, ἐγγύς που ἀδύνατα προαίρεσις καὶ ἄσκησις. ἢ βουληθεῖσα ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις ἐπὶ κάλου βαίνειν, τεταμένου διὰ μέσου τοῦ θεάτρου ἐν μετεώρῳ, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ φέρειν τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα βάρη δεδύνηται τῇ ἀσκήσει καὶ τῇ προσοχῇ τὸ τοιοῦτο ποιῆσαι· βουληθεῖσα δὲ κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν βιῶσαι ἀδυνάτως ἔχει, κἂν ᾖ πρότερον φαυλοτάτη γεγενημένη; ἀλλ᾿ ὅρα μή ποτε ὁ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων τῇ δημιουργῷ τοῦ λογικοῦ ζῴου φύσει ἐγκαλεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ γεγενημένῳ. εἰ πρὸς μὲν τὰ οὕτω χαλεπὰ οὐδαμῶς ὄντα χρήσιμα πεποίηκε δυνατὴν τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν, ἀδύνατον δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν μακαριότητα. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ φύσιν γὰρ ἀμεῖψαι τελέως παγχάλεπον. ἑξῆς δέ φησιν ὅτι οἱ ἀναμάρτητοι βελτίους κοινωνοὶ βίου. μὴ σαφηνίσας, τίνας φησὶ τοὺς ἀναμαρτήτους, πότερον τοὺς ἀρχῆθεν ἢ τοὺς ἐκ μεταβολῆς. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀρχῆθεν ἀδύνατοι, οἱ δ᾿ ἐκ μεταβολῆς σπανίως εἰσὶν εὑρισκόμενοι, οἵτινες ἐκ τοῦ προσεληλυθέναι λόγῳ σῴζοντι τοιοῦτοι γίνονται. οὐχὶ δὲ τοιοῦτοι ὄντες τῷ λόγῳ προσέρχονται· χωρὶς γὰρ λόγου καὶ ταῦτα τελείου ἀμήχανον ἀναμάρτητον γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον.