Celsus names no prophecy
“That some of the Christians, and the Jews, say, the former that some god or son of a god has come down to the earth as judge of the things here, the latter that he will come down, is most shameful, and its refutation does not even need a long argument.”
And here he does seem to speak with precision. Of the Jews he says, not of some but of all, that they think someone will come down to the earth; but of the Christians, that some of them say he has come down. For he is pointing to those who show from the Jewish Scriptures that the coming of Christ has already taken place, and he seems to know that there are some sects which deny that Christ Jesus is the one who was prophesied.
We have already treated in the earlier books, as far as we were able, the fact that Christ was prophesied; so we do not take up again most of what could be said on the subject, so as not to repeat ourselves. But notice this: if he wanted, with an argument that at least seemed to hold together, to overturn faith in the prophecies, or faith that Christ will come or has come, he ought to have set out the very prophecies that we Christians and Jews use when we debate with each other. In that way he might at least have seemed to draw those who are swayed by their persuasiveness, as he regards it, away from their assent to the prophetic writings and from the faith in Jesus as the Christ that comes to them through those writings.
As it is, either because he cannot answer the prophecies about Christ, or because he does not even know in the first place what the things prophesied about him are, he sets down not a single prophetic saying, though there are countless ones about Christ; and yet he thinks he can accuse the prophetic writings without even setting out what he himself would call their persuasiveness. He does not know, however, that the Jews by no means say that the Christ will come down as God, or as Son of God, as we have also said above.
Greek
Ὅτι δὲ καὶ Χριστιανῶν τινες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι, οἱ μὲν καταβεβηκέναι (λέγουσιν,) οἱ δὲ καταβήσεσθαι εἰς τὴν γῆν τινα θεὸν ἢ θεοῦ υἱὸν τῶν τῇδε δικαιωτὴν, τοῦτ᾿ αἴσχιστον, καὶ οὐδὲ δεῖται μακροῦ λόγου ὁ ἔλεγχος. καὶ δοκεῖ γε ἀκριβῶς περὶ μὲν Ἰουδαίων οὐ τινῶν ἀλλὰ πάντων λέγειν ὅτι οἴονταί τινα καταβήσεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, περὶ δὲ Χριστιανῶν οτι τινὲς αὐτῶν καταβεβηκέναι λέγουσιν. ἐμφαίνει γὰρ τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαϊκῶν γραφῶν κατασκευάζοντας τὴν Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίαν ὡς ἤδη γεγενημένην, καὶ ἔοικεν εἰδέναι ὅτι εἰσί τινες αἱρέσεις ἀρνούμεναι Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν εἶναι τὸν πεπροφητευμένον. ἤδη μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐν τοῖς προτέροις περὶ τοῦ πεπροφητεῦσθαι τὸν Χριστὸν κατὰ δύναμιν διειλήφαμεν, διὸ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν δυναμένων λέγεσθαι εἰς τὸν τόπον οὐκ ἐπαναλαμβάνομεν, ἵνα μὴ παλιλλογῶμεν. ὅρα δὴ ὅτι, εἴπερ μετά τινος κἂν δοκούσης ἀκολουθίας ἐβούλετο ἀνατρέπειν τὴν περὶ τῶν προφητειῶν (ἢ) περὶ τοῦ ἐπιδημήσειν ἢ ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τὸν Χριστὸν πίστιν, ἐχρῆν αὐτὸν αὐτὰς ἐκθέσθαι τὰς προφητείας. αἷς ἐν τῷ διαλέγεσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους χρώμεθα Χριστιανοὶ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι· οὕτως γὰρ ἂν κἂν ἔδοξε τοὺς περισπωμένους ὑπὸ τῆς, ὡς οἴεται, πιθανότητος [δοκεῖν] ἀνατρέπειν ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὰ προφητικὰ συγκαταθέσεως καὶ τῆς διὰ τὰ προφητικὰ εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡς ὄντα Χριστὸν πίστεως· νυνὶ δὲ ἤτοι μὴ δυνάμενος ἀπαντῆσαι πρὸς τὰς περὶ Χριστοῦ προφητείας (ἢ) μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰδὼς, τίνα ἐστὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητευόμενα, οὐδεμίαν μὲν λέξιν τίθησι προφητικὴν, καίτοι γε μυρίαι ὅσαι εἰσὶ περὶ Χριστοῦ, κατηγορεῖν δὲ οἴεται τῶν προφητικῶν, μηδ᾿ ἣν εἴποι ἂν ἐκεῖνος πιθανότητα αὐτῶν ἐκθέμενος. οὐκ οἶδε μέντοι γε ὅτι οὐ πάνυ τι Ἰουδαῖοι λέγουσι θεὸν ὄντα τὸν Χριστὸν καταβήσεσθαι ἢ θεοῦ υἱὸν, ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω εἰρήκαμεν.