Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus

If Celsus, indeed, had understood our teaching regarding the Spirit of God, and had known that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God,”1564 Rom. viii. 14. he would not have returned to himself the answer which he represents as coming from us, that “God put His own Spirit into a body, and sent it down to us;” for God is perpetually bestowing of His own Spirit to those who are capable of receiving it, although it is not by way of division and separation that He dwells in (the hearts of) the deserving. Nor is the Spirit, in our opinion, a “body,” any more than fire is a “body,” which God is said to be in the passage, “Our God is a consuming fire.”1565 Cf. Heb. xii. 29. For all these are figurative expressions, employed to denote the nature of “intelligent beings” by means of familiar and corporeal terms. In the same way, too, if sins are called “wood, and straw, and stubble,” we shall not maintain that sins are corporeal; and if blessings are termed “gold, and silver, and precious stones,”1566 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 12. we shall not maintain that blessings are “corporeal;” so also, if God be said to be a fire that consumes wood, and straw, and stubble, and all substance1567 πᾶσαν οὐσίαν. of sin, we shall not understand Him to be a “body,” so neither do we understand Him to be a body if He should be called “fire.” In this way, if God be called “spirit,”1568 πνεῦμα. There is an allusion to the two meanings of πνεῦμα, “wind” and “spirit.” we do not mean that He is a “body.” For it is the custom of Scripture to give to “intelligent beings” the names of “spirits” and “spiritual things,” by way of distinction from those which are the objects of “sense;” as when Paul says, “But our sufficiency is of God; who hath also made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,”1569 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. where by the “letter” he means that “exposition of Scripture which is apparent to the senses,”1570 τὴν αἰσθητὴν ἐκδοχήν. while by the “spirit” that which is the object of the “understanding.” It is the same, too, with the expression, “God is a Spirit.” And because the prescriptions of the law were obeyed both by Samaritans and Jews in a corporeal and literal1571 τυπικῶς here evidently must have the above meaning. manner, our Saviour said to the Samaritan woman, “The hour is coming, when neither in Jerusalem, nor in this mountain, shall ye worship the Father. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”1572 Cf. John iv. 21, 24. And by these words He taught men that God must be worshipped not in the flesh, and with fleshly sacrifices, but in the spirit. And He will be understood to be a Spirit in proportion as the worship rendered to Him is rendered in spirit, and with understanding. It is not, however, with images1573 ἐν τύποις. that we are to worship the Father, but “in truth,” which “came by Jesus Christ,” after the giving of the law by Moses. For when we turn to the Lord (and the Lord is a Spirit1574 Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 17.), He takes away the veil which lies upon the heart when Moses is read.

Εἰ δὲ συνίει Κέλσος ἃ λέγομεν περὶ πνεύματος θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι "Ὅσοι πνεύματι θεοῦ ἄγονται, οὗτοι υἱοὶ θεοῦ εἰσιν", οὐκ ἂν ἑαυτῷ ὡς ἀφ' ἡμῶν ἀπεφήνατο ὅτι πνεῦμα ἴδιον ἐμβαλὼν εἰς σῶμα ὁ θεὸς δεῦρο κατέπεμψεν. Ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς μεταδίδωσι τοῖς δυναμένοις μετέχειν αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἰδίου πνεύματος, οὐ κατ' ἀποτομὴν καὶ διαίρεσιν ἐγγινομένου τοῖς ἀξίοις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ σῶμα τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς πνεῦμα, ὡς οὐδὲ σῶμα τὸ πῦρ, ὅπερ εἶναι λέγεται θεὸς ἐν τῷ· "Ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον." Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τροπικῶς λέγεται εἰς παράστασιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν συνήθων καὶ σωματικῶν ὀνομάτων τῆς νοητῆς φύσεως. Καὶ ὥσπερ, ἐὰν λέγηται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ξύλα εἶναι καὶ χόρτος καὶ καλάμη, οὐκ ἐροῦμεν εἶναι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα σώματα, καὶ ἐὰν λέγηται τὰ ἀνδραγαθήματα χρυσὸς εἶναι καὶ ἄργυρος καὶ λίθος τίμιος, οὐ φήσομεν εἶναι τὰ ἀνδρα γαθήματα σώματα· οὕτω κἂν λέγηται ὁ θεὸς εἶναι "πῦρ κα ταναλίσκον" τὰ "ξύλα" καὶ τὸν "χόρτον" καὶ τὴν "καλά μην" καὶ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν ἁμαρτίας, οὐ σῶμα αὐτὸν νοήσομεν. Ὡς δ' ἐὰν λέγηται "πῦρ", οὐ σῶμα νοοῦμεν αὐτόν, οὕτως ἐὰν λέγηται "πνεῦμα" ὁ θεός, οὐ σῶμα αὐτὸν λέγομεν εἶναι. Πρὸς γὰρ ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἔθος τῇ γραφῇ τὰ νοητὰ ὀνομάζειν πνεύματα καὶ πνευματικά· οἷον ἐὰν λέγῃ ὁ Παῦλος· "Ἀλλ' ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης, οὐ γράμ ματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέννει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ", "γράμμα" μὲν τὴν αἰσθητὴν ὠνόμασεν ἐκδοχὴν τῶν θείων γραμμάτων "πνεῦμα" δὲ τὴν νοητήν. Οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ἐν τῷ "πνεῦμα ὁ θεός"· ἐπεὶ καὶ Σαμαρεῖς καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σωματικῶς καὶ τυπικῶς ἐποίουν τὰ προσταττόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου, εἶπεν ὁ σωτὴρ πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν· "Ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα, ὅτε οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοιςοὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ πατρί· πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν." ∆ι' ὧν ἐδίδαξεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ "δεῖ προσκυνεῖν" καὶ σαρκίναις θυσίαις τὸν θεὸν ἀλλ' "ἐν πνεύματι". Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀνάλογον [τῷ] "ἐν πνεύματι" καὶ νοητῶς λατρεύειν τινὰ αὐτῷ "πνεῦμα" νοηθείη ἄν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἐν τύποις "προσκυνεῖν δεῖ" τῷ πατρὶ ἀλλ' "ἐν ἀληθείᾳ", ἥτις "διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο" μετὰ τὸ δοθῆναι τὸν νόμον "διὰ Μωϋσέως". "Ἡνίκα" γὰρ "ἐὰν ἐπιστρέψωμεν πρὸς κύριον"–"ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι"–, "περιαιρεῖται τὸ" τῇ καρδίᾳ "κάλυμμα" ἐπικείμενον, "ἡνίκα ἂν ἀναγινώσκηται Μωϋσῆς".