God known by the mind made in his image
We say, then, that the God of the universe is mind, or beyond mind and being, simple, invisible and without body; and so we would say that God is grasped by nothing other than by what has been made in the image of that mind (Genesis 1:27). Now, to use Paul’s words, it is “through a mirror and in a riddle, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). And if I say “face,” let no one misrepresent, because of the word, the sense it conveys. Let him learn instead from the words “with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18), that in such places it is not a face of the senses that is meant, but one understood figuratively, like the eyes and ears and all the other things we showed above to share their names with the members of the body.
Man, then, that is, the soul using a body, which is called “the inner man” (Romans 7:22; Ephesians 3:16) and also “soul,” answers not what Celsus wrote down but what the man of God himself teaches. A Christian would not use the voice of the flesh, since he has learned “by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13), and “always to carry about in the body the dying of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:10), and “Put to death the members that are on the earth” (Colossians 3:5). He knows what is meant by “My Spirit shall not remain in these men for ever, because they are flesh” (Genesis 6:3); he understands too that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8); and for this reason he does everything so as no longer to be at all “in the flesh, but” only “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9).
Greek
Νοῦν τοίνυν ἢ ἐπέκεινα νοῦ καὶ οὐσίας λέγοντες εἶναι ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀσώματον τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν. οὐκ ἂν ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἢ τῷ κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τοῦ νοῦ εἰκόνα γενομένῳ φήσομεν καταλαμβάνεσθαι τὸν θεόν· νῦν μὲν, ἵνα τῇ λέξει χρήσωμαι τοῦ Παύλου, „δι᾿ ἐσόπτρου καὶ (ἐν) αἰνίγματι τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον.“ „πρόσωπον“ δὲ ἐὰν λέγω. μὴ συκοφαντείτω τις διὰ τὴν λέξιν τὸν δηλούμενον νοῦν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ μανθανέτω (ἐν τῷ) „ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμενοι ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν“ οὐ πρόσωπον αἰσθητὸν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις παραλαμβανόμενον ἀλλὰ κατὰ τροπολογίαν νοούμενον ὡς καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ὦτα. καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ὁμώνυμα τοῖς τοῦ σώματος μέλεσι παρεστήσαμεν. καὶ ἄνθρωπος μὲν οὖν, τουτέστι ψυχὴ χρωμένη σώματι, λεγομένη „ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος“ ἀλλὰ καὶ „ψυχὴ,“ ἀποκρίνεται οὐχ ἅπερ Κέλσος ἀνέγραψεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἅπερ αὐτὸς διδάσκει ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος. σαρκὸς δὲ φωνῇ οὐκ ἂν Χριστιανὸς χρήσαιτο, μαθὼν „πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος“ θανατοῦν καὶ „πάντοτε τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι“ περιφέρειν καὶ „νεκρώσατε τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς,“ καὶ εἰδὼς τί δηλοῦται ἐκ τοῦ „οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς σάρκας,“ ἐπιστάμενος δὲ καὶ ὅτι „οἱ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται“ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντα πράττων εἰς τὸ μηδαμῶς αὐτὸν ἔτι εἶναι „ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ἀλλ᾿“ „ἐν“ μόνῳ „τῷ πνεύματι.“