Apologetics -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Celsus (Platonic philosopher), active 180; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
After this the Jew makes another silly remark, saying, “How is it that,
if Jesus pointed out beforehand both the traitor and the perjurer, they
did not fear him as a God, and cease, the one from his intended treason,
and the other from his perjury?” Here the learned Celsus did not see the
contradiction in his statement: for if Jesus foreknew events as a God,
then it was impossible for His foreknowledge to prove untrue; and
therefore it was impossible for him who was known to Him as going to
betray Him not to execute his purpose, nor for him who was rebuked as
going to deny Him not to have been guilty of that crime. For if it had
been possible for the one to abstain from the act of betrayal, and the
other from that of denial, as having been warned of the consequences of
these actions beforehand, then His words were no longer true, who
predicted that the one would betray Him and the other deny Him. For if
He had foreknowledge of the traitor, He knew the wickedness in which the
treason originated, and this wickedness was by no means taken away by
the foreknowledge. And, again, if He had ascertained that one would deny
Him, He made that prediction from seeing the weakness out of which that
act of denial would arise, and yet this weakness was not to be taken
away thus at once[91] by the foreknowledge. But whence he derived the
statement, “that these persons betrayed and denied him without
manifesting any concern about him,” I know not; for it was proved, with
respect to the traitor, that it is false to say that he betrayed his
master without an exhibition of anxiety regarding Him. And this was
shown to be equally true of him who denied Him; for he went out, after
the denial, and wept bitterly.
Footnote 91:
οὕτως ἀθρόως.
Chapter XIX.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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