Celsus sidesteps the argument from prophecy
Then, after this, wishing to overthrow the faith of those who have accepted what concerns Jesus because it had been prophesied, he says: “Come now: if the prophets foretold that the great God (to say nothing more offensive) would be a slave, or fall sick, or die, will it then be necessary for God to die, or be a slave, or fall sick, since it had been foretold, so that by dying he might be believed to be God? But the prophets would not foretell this, for it is evil and unholy. So we must not consider whether they foretold it or did not foretell it, but whether the deed is worthy of God and good. What is shameful and evil we must disbelieve, even if all men, gone mad, should seem to foretell it. How then can the things done in his case, as though he were God, be holy?”
Through these words he appears to have suspected that the point about Jesus’ having been prophesied was a strong one for persuading those who hear it, and to be trying to overturn the argument with another plausible point, saying: “So we must not consider whether they foretold it or did not foretell it.” But if he wished to object to the claim by demonstration and not by fallacy, he ought to have said: “So we must show that they did not foretell it, or that the things said about Christ were not fulfilled in Jesus as they foretold,” and then to have added what seemed to him a demonstration.
In that way it would have become clear what the prophecies say that we apply to Jesus, and how he proves our interpretation false; and it would have been found out whether he nobly overturns what we bring from the prophets in support of our account of Jesus, or whether he is caught shamelessly trying to force the clear evidence of the truth to pass for something that is not true.
Greek
Εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα, βουλόμενος ἀνατρέπειν τὴν πίστιν τῶν διὰ τὸ πεπροφητεῦσθαι παραδεξαμένων τὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, φησί· φέρε ἐὰν προείπωσιν οἱ προφῆται τὸν μέγαν θεὸν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἄλλο φορτικώτερον εἴπω, δουλεύειν ἢ νοσήσειν ἢ ἀποθανεῖν, τεθνήξεσθαι δεήσει τὸν θεὸν ἢ δουλεύειν ἢ νοσήσειν. ἐπειδὴ προείρητο, ἵνα πιστευθῇ ἀποθανὼν ὅτι θεὸς ἦν; ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἂν προείποιεν τοῦτο οἱ προφῆται· κακὸν γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀνόσιον. οὐκοῦν οὔτ᾿ εἰ προεῖπον οὔτ᾿ εἰ μὴ προεῖπον. σκεπτέον, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ τὸ ἔργον ἄξιόν ἐστι θεοῦ καὶ καλόν. τῷ δ᾿ αἰσχρῷ καὶ κακῷ, κἂν πάντες ἄνθρωποι μαινόμενοι προλέγειν δοκῶσιν, ἀπιστητέον. πῶς οὖν τὰ περὶ τοῦτον ὡς περὶ θεὸν πραχθέντα ἐστὶν ὅσια; φαίνεται δὴ διὰ τούτων ἰσχυρὸν μέν τι πρὸς πειθὼ τῶν ἀκουόντων ὑπονενοηκέναι τὸ περὶ τοῦ πεπροφητεῦσθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν κεφάλαιον. ἄλλῳ δὲ πιθανῷ πειρᾶσθαι ἀνατρέπειν τὸν λόγον φάσκων· οὐκοῦν οὔτ᾿ εἰ προεῖπον οὔτ᾿ εἰ μὴ προεῖπον, σκεπτέον. ἐχρῆν δ᾿, εἴπερ μὴ παραλογιστικῶς ἀλλ᾿ ἀποδεικτικῶς ἐβούλετο ἐνστῆναι τῷ λεγομένῳ, εἰπεῖν· οὐκοῦν ἀποδεικτέον ὅτι οὐ προεῖπον ἢ οὐ, καθὼς προεῖπον, τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ πεπλήρωται ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ λεχθέντα. καὶ ἐπιφέρειν τὴν δοκοῦσαν αὐτῷ ἀπόδειξιν. οὕτως γὰρ ἐφαίνετο ἂν, τίνα μὲν αἱ προφητεῖαι λέγουσιν ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀναφερόμενα ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν, πῶς δὲ οὗτος ψευδοποιεῖ τὴν ἐκδοχὴν ἡμῶν· καὶ εὑρέθη ἂν, πότερον γενναίως ἀνατρέπει τὰ ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν φερόμενα ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν εἰς τὸν περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λόγον, ἢ ἁλίσκεται ἀναισχύντως βιάζεσθαι θέλων τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐνάργειαν ὡς οὐκ ἀλήθειαν.