The fall of Jerusalem and the new call
According to Celsus, the Christians add some further points to what the Jews say, and claim that the Son of God has already been sent because of the sins of the Jews, and that the Jews, by punishing Jesus and giving him gall to drink (Matthew 27:34), drew down wrath from God upon themselves.
Let anyone who wishes prove this statement false, if the whole Jewish nation was not overthrown before even one full generation had passed since Jesus suffered these things at their hands. For it was, I think, forty-two years from the time they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem. And never, since there have been Jews, has it been recorded that they were shut out for so long a time from their venerable rites and worship, overpowered by those stronger than they. But even if at times they seemed to be abandoned because of their sins, they were none the less visited, and they returned and recovered what was their own, performing their customary rites without hindrance. So one of the facts that show Jesus to have been something divine and holy is this: that on his account so many and such great calamities have now befallen the Jews for a long time.
We shall say with confidence that they will not even be restored. For they committed the most unholy crime of all, when they plotted against the Saviour of the human race in the very city where they used to perform for God the customary rites that were symbols of great mysteries. It was necessary, then, that the city where Jesus suffered these things should be utterly destroyed, that the Jewish nation should be overthrown, and that God’s call to blessedness should pass to others, I mean the Christians. To them has come the teaching of sincere and pure devotion to God, and they have received new laws suited to the order of life established everywhere, since the laws given earlier, as to one nation ruled by kings of its own race and customs, could not all be carried out now.
Greek
Καὶ Χριστιανοὶ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Κέλσον προστιθέντες τινὰς λόγους τοῖς ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων λεγομένοις φασὶ διὰ τὰς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἁμαρτίας ἤδη πεπέμφθαι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι Ἰουδαῖοι κολάσαντες τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ χολὴν ποτίσαντες ἐπὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐκ θεοῦ χόλον ἐπεσπάσαντο. ἐλεγχέτω δὴ τὸ λεγόμενον ὡς ψεῦδος ὁ βουλόμενος, εἰ μὴ ἀνάστατον τὸ πάντων Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος γεγένηται οὐδὲ μετὰ γενεὰν ὅλην μίαν τοῦ ταῦτα πεπονθέναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν τὸν Ἰησοῦν· τεσσαράκοντα γὰρ ἔτη καὶ δύο οἶμαι ἀφ᾿ οὗ ἐσταύρωσαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν γεγονέναι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱεροσολύμων καθαίρεσιν. καὶ οὐδέ ποτε γὲ ἱστόρηται, ἐξ οὗ Ἰουδαῖοί εἰσι, τοσοῦτον αὐτοὺς χρόνον ἐκβεβλῆσθαι τῆς σεμνῆς ἁγιστείας καὶ λατρείας, κρατηθέντας ὑπὸ δυνατωτέρων· ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί ποτε ἔδοξαν δι᾿ ἁμαρτίας καταλείπεσθαι. οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπεσκοπήθησαν καὶ ἐπανελθόντες τὰ ἴδια ἀπειλήφασιν, ἀκωλύτως ποιοῦντες τὰ νενομισμένα. ἓν οὖν τῶν παριστάντων θεῖόν τι καὶ ἱερὸν χρῆμα γεγονέναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐστι καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίοις ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τοσαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα πολλῷ ἤδη συμβεβηκέναι χρόνῳ. θαῤῥοῦντες δ᾿ ἐροῦμεν ὅτι οὐδ᾿ ἀποκατασταθήσονται. ἄγος γὰρ ἔπραξαν τὸ πάντων ἀνοσιώτατον. τῷ σωτῆρι τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβουλεύσαντες ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἔνθα τὰ νενομισμένα σύμβολα μεγάλων μυστηρίων ἐποίουν τῷ θεῷ. ἐχρῆν οὖν ἐκείνην τὴν πόλιν, ὅπου ταῦτα πέπονθεν Ἰησοῦς, ἄρδην ἀπολωλέναι καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος ἀνάστατον γεγονέναι καὶ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλους τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μακαριότητα κλῆσιν μεταβεβηκέναι, τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς λέγω, ἐφ᾿ οὓς ἐλήλυθεν ἡ περὶ τῆς εἰλικρινοῦς καὶ καθαρᾶς θεοσεβείας διδασκαλία, παραλαβόντας νόμους καινοὺς καὶ ἁρμόζοντας τῇ πανταχοῦ καθεστώσῃ πολιτείᾳ· ἐπεὶ μὴ οἱ πρότερον δοθέντες ὡς ἑνὶ ἔθνει, ὑπὸ οἰκείων καὶ ὁμοήθων βασιλευομένῳ, οἷοί τε ἦσαν πάντες νῦν ἐπιτελεῖσθαι.