Chapter LXXIII.

The Jew proceeds, after this, to state as a consequence what does not follow from the premises; for it does not follow from “His having wished, by the punishments which He underwent, to teach us also to despise death,” that after His resurrection He should openly summon all men to the light, and instruct them in the object of His coming.  For He had formerly summoned all men to the light in the words, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”337    Cf. Matt. xi. 28.  And the object of His coming had been explained at great length in His discourses on the beatitudes, and in the announcements which followed them, and in the parables, and in His conversations with the scribes and Pharisees.  And the instruction afforded us by the Gospel of John, shows that the eloquence of Jesus consisted not in words, but in deeds; while it is manifest from the Gospel narratives that His speech was “with power,” on which account also they marvelled at Him.

Ἐκτίθεται δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ Κέλσου Ἰουδαῖος ὡς ἀκόλουθον τὸ μὴ ἀκόλουθον. Οὐ γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ ἠθέλησεν ἡμᾶς δι' ὧν πέπονθε κολάσεων διδάξαι καὶ θανάτου κατα φρονεῖν τὸ ἀναστάντα αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν φανερῶς εἰς φῶς καλέσαι πάντας καὶ διδάξαι, οὗ χάριν κατεληλύθει. Εἰς φῶς γὰρ πρότερον ἐκάλεσε πάντας εἰπών· "∆εῦτε πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς." Καὶ οὗ χάριν κατελήλυθεν, ἀναγέγραπται ἐν οἷς ἀποτάδην κεκίνηκε λόγοις ἐν μακαρισμοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἑξῆς αὐτοῖς ἀπαγγελλομένοις καὶ ἐν παραβολαῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαίους ὁμιλίαις. Τὸ δὲ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγέλιον ὅσα ἐδίδαξεν ἐκτέθειται, παριστάντα τὴν Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἐν λέξεσιν ἀλλ' ἐν πράγμασι μεγαλοφωνίαν· καὶ δῆλός ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν εὐαγγελίων ὅτι "ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ ἦν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ", ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ἐθαύμαζον.