Chapter VII.

Moreover, let them show where there is to be found even the appearance of language dictated by arrogance160    ἀλαζονεία. and proceeding from Jesus.  For how could an arrogant man thus express himself, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls?”161    Matt. xi. 29. or how can He be styled arrogant, who after supper laid aside His garments in the presence of His disciples, and, after girding Himself with a towel, and pouring water into a basin, proceeded to wash the feet of each disciple, and rebuked him who was unwilling to allow them to be washed, with the words, “Except I wash thee, thou hast no part with Me?”162    John xiii. 8.  Or how could He be called such who said, “I was amongst you, not as he that sitteth at meat, but as he that serveth?”163    Luke xxii. 27.  And let any one show what were the falsehoods which He uttered, and let him point out what are great and what are small falsehoods, that he may prove Jesus to have been guilty of the former.  And there is yet another way in which we may confute him.  For as one falsehood is not less or more false than another, so one truth is not less or more true than another.  And what charges of impiety he has to bring against Jesus, let the Jew of Celsus especially bring forward.  Was it impious to abstain from corporeal circumcision, and from a literal Sabbath, and literal festivals, and literal new moons, and from clean and unclean meats, and to turn the mind to the good and true and spiritual law of God, while at the same time he who was an ambassador for Christ knew how to become to the Jews as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, and to those who are under the law, as under the law, that he might gain those who are under the law?

∆εικνύτωσαν δέ, ποῦ κἂν ἔμφασις λέξεως ἀπὸ ἀλαζο νείας προφερομένης παρὰ τῷ Ἰησοῦ εὑρίσκεται. Πῶς γὰρ ἀλαζὼν ὁ λέγων· "Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι πρᾷός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν"; Ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ "δείπνου γινομένου" ἐκδυ σάμενος ἐπὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ζωσάμενος δὲ "λέντιον" καὶ βαλὼν "ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα" καὶ νίπτων ἑκάστου "τοὺς πόδας" καὶ ἐπιτιμῶν τῷ μὴ θέλοντι παρέχειν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγων· "Ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ' ἐμοῦ"; Ἢ πῶς ἀλαζὼν ὁ φάσκων· "Κἀγὼ ἐγενήθην ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, οὐχ ὡς ὁ ἀνακείμενος ἀλλ' ὡς ὁ διακονῶν"; Ἐλεγχέτω δέ τις, τίνα ἐψεύσατο, καὶ παραστησάτω μεγάλα καὶ μικρὰ ψεύδη, ἵνα δείξῃ τὰ μεγάλα ψευσάμενον τὸν Ἰησοῦν. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως αὐτὸν ἐλέγξαι· ὅτι ὡς οὐκ ἔστι ψεῦσμα ψεύσματος μᾶλλον ψεῦσμα, οὕτως οὐδὲ μειζό νως· ὡς οὐδὲ ἀληθὲς ἀληθοῦς μᾶλλον ἀληθὲς ἢ μειζόνως ἀληθές. Τίνα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀνόσια τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἀπαγγελλέτω καὶ μάλιστα ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος. Ἢ ἀνόσιον μὲν τὸ ἀφιστάνειν σωματικῆς περιτομῆς καὶ σωματικοῦ σαββάτου καὶ σωματικῶν ἑορτῶν καὶ σωματικῶν νουμηνιῶν καὶ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων, μετατιθέναι δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἐπὶ νόμον θεοῦ ἄξιον καὶ ἀληθῆ καὶ πνευματικὸν μετὰ τοῦ τὸν πρεσ βεύοντα "ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ" εἰδέναι "τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις" Ἰουδαῖον γίνεσθαι, "ἵνα Ἰουδαίους" κερδήσῃ, καὶ "τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον", "ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον" κερδήσῃ;