{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">The first book of our answer to the treatise of Celsus,\r\nentitled <i>A True Discourse</i>, which concluded with\r\nthe representation of the Jew addressing Jesus,\r\nhaving now extended to a sufficient length, we intend\r\nthe present part as a reply to the charges brought by him\r\nagainst those who have been converted from Judaism to Christianity.\r\nAnd we call attention, in the first place, to this\r\nspecial question, viz. why Celsus, when he had once resolved\r\nupon the introduction of individuals upon the stage of his book,\r\ndid not represent the Jew as addressing the converts from\r\nheathenism rather than those from Judaism, seeing that his\r\ndiscourse, if directed to us, would have appeared more likely\r\nto produce an impression.<a id=\"r35\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f35\"><sup>[35]</sup></a> But probably this claimant to\r\nuniversal knowledge does not know what is appropriate in the\r\nmatter of such representations; and therefore let us proceed\r\nto consider what he has to say to the converts from Judaism.\r\nHe asserts that “they have forsaken the law of their fathers,\r\nin consequence of their minds being led captive by Jesus;\r\nthat they have been most ridiculously deceived, and that they\r\nhave become deserters to another name and to another mode of\r\nlife.” Here he has not observed that the Jewish converts have\r\nnot deserted the law of their fathers, inasmuch as they live\r\naccording to its prescriptions, receiving their very name from\r\nthe poverty of the law, according to the literal acceptation of\r\nthe word; for Ebion signifies “poor” among the Jews,<a id=\"r36\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f36\"><sup>[36]</sup></a> and\r\nthose Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the\r\nname of Ebionites. Nay, Peter himself seems to have observed\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_2\">2</span>for a considerable time the Jewish observances enjoined by the\r\nlaw of Moses, not having yet learned from Jesus to ascend\r\nfrom the law that is regulated according to the letter, to that\r\nwhich is interpreted according to the spirit,—a fact which we\r\nlearn from the Acts of the Apostles. For on the day after the\r\nangel of God appeared to Cornelius, suggesting to him “to\r\nsend to Joppa, to Simon surnamed Peter,” Peter “went up\r\ninto the upper room to pray about the sixth hour. And he\r\nbecame very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they\r\nmade ready he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and\r\na certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great\r\nsheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth;\r\nwherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping\r\nthings of the earth, and fowls of the air. And there came a\r\nvoice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not\r\nso, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or\r\nunclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second\r\ntime, What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common.”<a id=\"r37\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f37\"><sup>[37]</sup></a>\r\nNow observe how, by this instance, Peter is represented as still\r\nobserving the Jewish customs respecting clean and unclean\r\nanimals. And from the narrative that follows, it is manifest\r\nthat he, as being yet a Jew, and living according to their traditions,\r\nand despising those who were beyond the pale of Judaism,\r\nstood in need of a vision to lead him to communicate to Cornelius\r\n(who was not an Israelite according to the flesh), and to\r\nthose who were with him, the word of faith. Moreover, in the\r\nEpistle to the Galatians, Paul states that Peter, still from fear\r\nof the Jews, ceased upon the arrival of James to eat with the\r\nGentiles, and “separated himself from them, fearing them that\r\nwere of the circumcision;”<a id=\"r38\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f38\"><sup>[38]</sup></a> and the rest of the Jews, and\r\nBarnabas also, followed the same course. And certainly it\r\nwas quite consistent that those should not abstain from the\r\nobservance of Jewish usages who were sent to minister to the\r\ncircumcision, when they who “seemed to be pillars” gave the\r\nright hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas, in order that,\r\nwhile devoting themselves to the circumcision, the latter might\r\npreach to the Gentiles. And why do I mention that they who\r\npreached to the circumcision withdrew and separated themselves\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_3\">3</span>from the heathen, when even Paul himself “became as a\r\nJew to the Jews, that he might gain the Jews?” Wherefore\r\nalso in the Acts of the Apostles it is related that he even\r\nbrought an offering to the altar, that he might satisfy the Jews\r\nthat he was no apostate from their law.<a id=\"r39\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f39\"><sup>[39]</sup></a> Now, if Celsus had\r\nbeen acquainted with all these circumstances, he would not\r\nhave represented the Jew holding such language as this to the\r\nconverts from Judaism: “What induced you, my fellow-citizens,\r\nto abandon the law of your fathers, and to allow your\r\nminds to be led captive by him with whom we have just conversed,\r\nand thus be most ridiculously deluded, so as to become\r\ndeserters from us to another name, and to the practices of\r\nanother life?”</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK II.","Chapter I."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-40"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2f04a42f3c2afcc568aecd92880e1ed7a8fcf1b7f8b41524a0ecdaabb2e422d3","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"ACT","chapter":10,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Acts x. 9-15","verse":9,"verse_end":15}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f37","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f37","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f37\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r37\">37</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> Acts <abbr title=\"ten\">x.</abbr> 9-15.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f37","text_sha256":"d4a00251ae23bfa06b8ac0bd04b85dd85e97deefde025f73010e1efa341e8d01","verified":false,"work_id":null}