The Spirit over the waters is not on loan
After this Celsus says: “For my part, as for the coming into being and the destruction of the world, whether it is ungenerated and indestructible, or generated but indestructible, or the reverse, I say nothing about this now.” So we too say nothing about these questions now, for the present treatise does not require it.
Nor do we say that the Spirit of the God over all came to be in the things here as in things foreign to him, on the strength of the words “The Spirit of God was moving over the water” (Genesis 1:2). Nor do we say that certain things wickedly contrived against his Spirit, as if by another, a Creator distinct from the great God, while the higher God put up with it, needed to be pulled down. So a long farewell to those who say such things, and to Celsus too, who accuses them without dealing with the substance. For he should either not have mentioned such things at all, or else, in keeping with what he takes to be humane, have set them out carefully and contended against the impious things they say.
Nor have we ever heard that the great God, after giving the Spirit to the Creator, demands it back. Then next, foolishly attacking impious doctrines, he says: “What god gives something intending to demand it back? For demanding back is the mark of one in need, but God needs nothing.” And to this he adds, as if saying something clever against certain people: “Why, when he lent, did he not know that he was lending to an evil being?” He also says: “Why does he look on while an evil Creator works against him?”
Greek
Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κέλσος φησίν· ἐγὼ δὲ περὶ μὲν γενέσεως κόσμου καὶ φθορᾶς, ἢ ὡς ἀγένητος καὶ ἄφθαρτος, ἢ ὡς γενητὸς μὲν ἄφθαρτος δὲ, ἢ ὡς τὸ ἔμπαλιν, οὐδὲν περὶ τοῦδε νυνὶ λέγω. διόπερ οὐδ᾿ ἡμεῖς περὶ τῶνδε νυνὶ λέγομεν· οὐ γὰρ ἡ προκειμένη σύνταξις τοῦτ᾿ ἀπαιτεῖ. ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ φαμεν ὡς ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις τοῖς τῇδε γεγονέναι κατὰ το „πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος,“ οὐδὲ κακῶς μηχανώμενά τινα ὡς ὑπὸ ἑτέρου τοῦ δημιουργοῦ παρὰ τὸν μέγαν θεὸν κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ φαμεν, ἀνεχομένου τοῦ ἀνωτέρω θεοῦ, δεδεῆσθαι καθαιρέσεως. διόπερ μακρὰν χαιρέτωσαν οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες καὶ ὁ μὴ πραγματικῶς αὐτῶν κατηγορῶν Κέλσος· ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἢ μὴ μνημονεῦσαι τῶν τοιούτων ἢ κατα τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτῷ φιλάνθρωπον ἐκθέσθαι αὐτὰ ἐπιμελῶς καὶ ἀγωνίσασθαι πρὸς τὰ ἀσεβῶς ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν λεγόμενα. οὐδ᾿ ὅτι δεδωκὼς ὁ μέγας θεὸς τῷ δημιουργῷ τὸ πνεῦμα ἀπαιτεῖ αὐτὸ ἀκηκόαμεν πώποτε. εἶθ᾿ ἑξῆς ἀσεβέσι λόγοις μωρῶς ἐγκαλῶν φησι· τίς θεὸς δίδωσί τι ὡς ἀπαιτήσων; δεομένου γὰρ τὸ ἀπαιτεῖν, δεῖται δὲ οὐδενὸς ὁ θεός. καὶ τούτοις προστίθησιν ὡς σοφὸν δή τι κατά τινων λέγων· διὰ τί, ὁπηνίκα ἐκίχρα, κακῷ κιχρῶν ἠγνόει; λέγει δὲ καὶ τό· τί περιορᾷ πονηρὸν δημιουργὸν ἀντιπράττοντα ἑαυτῷ;