From Israel’s law to the worship Jesus brought
But since nothing in human nature is secure, that commonwealth too had to decay little by little and fall away from its way of life. And providence, having remodelled what was solemn in the teaching of the Jews where it needed remodelling, so as to fit people everywhere, has handed on, in their place, to believers drawn from people everywhere the solemn worship of God in the way of Jesus. He, adorned not only with understanding but also with a divine endowment, overthrew the teaching about the demons on earth, who delight in incense and blood and the fumes that rise from the reek of sacrifice, and who, like the Titans or Giants of the myths, drag men down from the thought of God. Paying no heed himself to their plotting, though they plot most of all against the better sort, he laid down laws such that those who live by them will be blessed, never flattering the demons with sacrifices and wholly despising them because of the Word of God, who helps those who look upward and toward God.
And because God willed that the word of Jesus should prevail among men, the demons have been able to do nothing, though they have tried every means to see that there should be Christians no longer. For they stirred up those who reign, the senate, the governors everywhere, and even the peoples themselves, all of them unaware of the irrational and wicked working of the demons, against the word and those who believe in it. But the Word of God, mightier than all, even when hindered, taking the hindrance as food, so to speak, for its growth, went forward and spread over more and more souls; for God willed this.
Even if we have said this by way of digression, we have said it, I think, of necessity. For we wished to answer what Celsus says about the Jews, that, as he would have it, they were “runaways from Egypt,” and that these men, beloved of God, “never did anything worth mentioning.” And to the claim that they “were of no account or number,” we say that, as “a chosen race” and “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9; Exodus 19:6), withdrawing and avoiding mingling with the many so that their morals might not be corrupted, they were guarded by the divine power. They neither desired, as most men do, to win other kingdoms for themselves, nor were they forsaken, so as to become easy targets for plots because of their few numbers and, as far as their few numbers went, to perish utterly. And this held as long as they were still worthy of God’s protection. But when, as a whole nation that was sinning, they had to turn back to their God through hardships, they were forsaken, sometimes more and sometimes less, until, under the Romans, having committed the greatest sin in killing Jesus, they were forsaken completely.
Greek
Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν βέβαιον ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, ἐχρῆν κἀκείνην τὴν πολιτείαν κατὰ βραχὺ καταφθειρομένην ἐκδιαιτηθῆναι. ἡ πρόνοια δὲ τὸ σεμνὸν τοῦ λόγου αὐτῶν ἁρμοζόντως τοῖς πανταχοῦ κατὰ τὰ δεόμενα μεταποιήσεως μεταποιήσασα, ἀντ᾿ ἐκείνων τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν πανταχοῦ ἀνθρώπων πιστεύουσι παραδέδωκε τὴν σεμνὴν κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν θεοσέβειαν· ὅστις οὐ μόνον συνέσει ἀλλὰ καὶ θείᾳ μοίρᾳ κοσμηθεὶς καὶ καταβαλὼν τὸν περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς δαιμόνων λόγον, λιβανωτῷ καὶ αἵματι καὶ ταῖς ἀπὸ τῆς κνίσσης ἀναθυμιάσεσι χαιρόντων καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κατασπώντων δίκην τῶν μυθευομένων Τιτάνων ἢ Γιγάντων ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ θεοῦ ἐννοίας, αὐτὸς οὐ φροντίσας τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτῶν, ἐπιβουλευόντων μάλιστα τοῖς βελτίοσιν, ἔθετο νόμους, καθ᾿ οὓς οἱ βιοῦντες μακάριοι ἔσονται, μηδαμῶς τοὺς δαίμονας διὰ τῶν θυσιῶν κολακεύοντες καὶ πάντῃ καταφρονοῦντες αὐτῶν διὰ τὸν βοηθοῦντα τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον τοῖς ἄνω καὶ πρὸς θεὸν βλέπουσι. καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐβούλετο κρατῆσαι ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λόγον, οὐδὲν δεδύνηνται δαίμονες. καίτοι γε πάντα κάλων κινήσαντες, ἵνα μὴ Χριστιανοὶ μηκέτ᾿ ὦσι· τούς τε γὰρ βασιλεύοντας καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον βουλὴν καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας πανταχοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς δήμους αὐτοὺς. οὐκ αἰσθανομένους τῆς ἀλόγου καὶ πονηρᾶς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐνεργείας, ἐξετάραξαν κατὰ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς αὐτόν· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ πάντων δυνατώτερος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, καὶ κωλυόμενος ὡσπερεὶ τροφὴν πρὸς τὸ αὔξειν τὸ κωλύεσθαι λαμβάνων, προβαίνων πλείονας ἐνέμετο ψυχάς· θεὸς γὰρ τοῦτ᾿ ἐβούλετο. ταῦτα δ᾿ ἡμῖν εἰ καὶ ἐν παρεκβάσει λέλεκται. ἀλλὰ ἀναγκαίως οἶμαι. ἐβουλόμεθα γὰρ ἀπαντῆσαι πρὸς τὸ περὶ Ἰουδαίων ὑπὸ τοῦ Κέλσου λεγόμενον, ὅτι δὴ ἀπ᾿ Αἰγύπτου δραπέται γεγόνασι, καὶ ὅτι μηδὲν πώποτ᾿ ἀξιόλογον οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ θεοφιλεῖς ἔπραξαν. ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ οὔτ᾿ ἐν λόγῳ οὔτ᾿ ἐν ἀριθμῷ γεγόνασί φαμεν ὅτι ὡς „γένος ἐκλεκτὸν“ καὶ „βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα“ ἀναχωροῦντες καὶ ἐκκλίνοντες τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπιμιξίαν, ἵνα μὴ διαφθαρεῖεν τὰ ἤθη, ἐφρουροῦντο ὑπὸ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως· οὔτ᾿ ἐπιθυμοῦντες, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, προσλαβεῖν ἑαυτοῖς ἄλλας βασιλείας οὔτε καταλειπόμενοι, ὡς διὰ τὴν ὀλιγότητα εὐεπιβουλεύτους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι καὶ ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ ὀλιγότητι ἄρδην ἀπολέσθαι. καὶ τοῦτ᾿ ἐγίνετο, ὅσον ἔτι ἦσαν ἄξιοι τῆς ἀπὸ θεοῦ φρουρᾶς· ὅτε δ᾿ ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς ὡς ὅλον ἔθνος ἁμαρτάνον διὰ πόνων ἐπιστρέφεσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν, ὁτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ πλεῖον ὁτὲ δ᾿ ἐπ᾿ ἔλαττον ἐγκατελείποντο, ἕως ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίων τὴν μεγίστην ποιήσαντες ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῷ ἀποκτεῖναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν τέλεον ἐγκατελείφθησαν.