Christians never began in revolt
It is likewise false that the Hebrews, being Egyptians, had their beginning in a revolt, and false that, in the time of Jesus, others who were Jews revolted against the Jewish commonwealth and followed Jesus. For neither Celsus nor those who think as he does will be able to point to any act of revolt on the part of the Christians.
And yet, if revolt had been the cause of the Christians’ coming together (and they took their beginning from the Jews, who were permitted both to take up arms in defence of their own and to kill their enemies), the lawgiver of the Christians would not have forbidden the killing of a human being altogether, never teaching that any assault by his disciples on another man is just, even if that man is utterly unjust (for he did not think it fitting for his divine legislation to allow the killing of any human being whatever). Nor would Christians, if they had begun from revolt, have accepted laws so exceedingly gentle, under which it was their lot to be slain “like sheep” (Psalm 44:22; Romans 8:36) and never to be able to defend themselves against those who persecuted them.
Moreover, if one examines the matter more deeply, one may say of those who came out of the land of Egypt that the whole people, beyond all expectation, took up all at once the language called Hebrew, as though it were a gift from God. As one of their own prophets said, “When they came out of the land of Egypt, he heard a language he did not know” (Psalm 81:5).
Greek
Ὁμοίως δὲ ψεῦδος τὸ Αἰγυπτίους ὄντας ἀπὸ στάσεως τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰληφέναι τοὺς Ἑβραίους, καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίους ὄντας ἄλλους κατὰ τοὺς Ἰησοῦ χρόνους ἐστασιακέναι πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ κατηκολουθηκέναι. οὐδὲν γὰρ στάσεως ἔργον ἐπιδεῖξαι Χριστιανῶν ὁ Κέλσος ἢ οἱ ὁμονοοῦντες αὐτῷ δυνήσονται. καίτοι γε εἰ στάσις ἦν τῆς συστάσεως Χριστιανοῖς ἡ αἰτία, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων εἰληφόσιν, οἷς ἐξῆν καὶ ὅπλα ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων ἀναλαβεῖν καὶ πολεμίους ἀναιρεῖν, οὔτ᾿ ἂν ὁ νομοθέτης Χριστιανῶν πάντῃ ἀναίρεσιν ἀνθρώπου ἀπηγόρευε, μή ποτε δίκαιον εἶναι διδάσκων τὸ κατ᾿ ἀνθρώπου τόλμημα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητῶν, κἂν ἀδικώτατος ἐκεῖνος ᾖ (οὐ γὰρ πρέπειν ἡγεῖτο τῇ ἐνθέῳ ἑαυτοῦ νομοθεσίᾳ τὸ συγχωρεῖν ὁποιανδήποτε ἀνθρώπου ἀναίρεσιν)· οὔτ᾿ ἂν Χριστιανοὶ οἱ ἀπὸ στάσεως ἀρξάμενοι τοὺς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἡμέρους προσήκαντο νόμους, δι᾿ ὧν „ὡς πρόβατα“ μὲν ἀναιρεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς ἐγίνετο μηδέ ποτε δὲ ἀμύνασθαι οἷοί τ᾿ ἦσαν τοὺς διώκοντας. καίτοι γε βαθύτερον ἐξετάζοντα τὰ πράγματα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐξεληλυθότων ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου ὅτι παραδόξως ὁ πᾶς λεὼς οἱονεὶ θεοδώρητον διάλεκτον ἀθρόως ἀνείληφε τὴν καλουμένην Ἑβραίαν· ὡς καὶ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς τις εἶπε προφητῶν ὅτι „ἐν τῷ ἐξελθεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου γλῶσσαν, ἣν οὐκ ἔγνω, ἤκουσεν.“