But if you will have us to meet the most ridiculous among the charges of
Celsus, listen to him when he says: “Now God, being unknown amongst men,
and deeming himself on that account to have less than his due,[494]
would desire to make himself known, and to make trial both of those who
believe upon him and of those who do not, like those of mankind who have
recently come into the possession of riches, and who make a display of
their wealth; and thus they testify to an excessive but very mortal
ambition on the part of God.”[495] We answer, then, that God, not being
known by wicked men, would desire to make Himself known, not because He
thinks that He meets with less than His due, but because the knowledge
of Him will free the possessor from unhappiness. Nay, not even with the
desire to try those who do or who do not believe upon Him, does He, by
His unspeakable and divine power, Himself take up His abode in certain
individuals, or send His Christ; but He does this in order to liberate
from all their wretchedness those who do believe upon Him, and who
accept His divinity, and that those who do _not_ believe may no longer
have this as a ground of excuse, viz. that their unbelief is the
consequence of their not having heard the word of instruction. What
argument, then, proves that it follows from our views that God,
according to our representations, is “like those of mankind who have
recently come into the possession of riches, and who make a display of
their wealth?” For God makes no display towards us, from a desire that
we should understand and consider His pre-eminence; but desiring that
the blessedness which results from His being known by us should be
implanted in our souls, He brings it to pass through Christ, and His
ever-indwelling word, that we come to an intimate fellowship[496] with
Him. No mortal ambition, then, does the Christian doctrine testify as
existing on the part of God.
Footnote 494:
καὶ παρὰ τοῦτ’ ἔλαττον ἔχειν δοκῶν.
Footnote 495:
καθάπερ οἱ νεόπλουτοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιδεικτιῶντες, πολλήν τινα καὶ
πάνυ θνητὴν φιλοτιμίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταμαρτυροῦσι.
Footnote 496:
οἰκείωσιν.