{"id":24134,"date":"2026-10-25T16:02:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T20:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/?p=24134"},"modified":"2026-10-25T16:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T20:05:19","slug":"judeans-celsus-on-jesus-adherents-as-followers-of-a-bandit-and-criminal-mid-second-century-ce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/2026\/10\/judeans-celsus-on-jesus-adherents-as-followers-of-a-bandit-and-criminal-mid-second-century-ce\/","title":{"rendered":"Judeans: Celsus on Jesus adherents as followers of a bandit and criminal (mid-second century CE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ancient authors:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>Celsus (mid-second century CE) as cited by Origen (mid-third century CE), Against Celsus<\/em> 2.12, 2.44, 3.59, 3.61, 8.54 (link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Comments:<\/em><\/strong> Coming soon. For extensive discussion, see Harland 2026, 226-238.<\/p>\n

Works consulted: P.A. Harland, Ethnic Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean: Social Life Under Empire<\/i> (University of Chicago Press, 2026).<\/p>\n

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[Celsus compares Jesus and his disciples who betray him to those who are worse criminals than bandits]<\/strong><\/p>\n

(2.12) It seems to me that the following assertions by Celsus are childish, namely, that:<\/p>\n

N<\/i>o good commander and leader of great multitudes was ever betrayed. <\/i>Not e<\/i>ven a<\/i>n<\/i> <\/i>evil<\/i> <\/i>bandit-leader<\/i> <\/i>(<\/i>l\u0113starchos) and <\/i>leader of completely evil people<\/i> <\/i>(<\/i>pampon\u0113roi) <\/i>was<\/i> <\/i>ever betrayed, <\/i>that is, <\/i>if he <\/i>seemed <\/i>useful t<\/i>o his associates.<\/i> However,<\/i> <\/i>after Jesus was<\/i> betrayed by his subordinates, <\/i>he <\/i>neither governed like a good commander nor, after deceiving his disciples, produced in the minds of the victims of his deceit that feeling of good-will which would be <\/i>shown<\/i> towards a <\/i>bandit-leader, so to speak<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Now one might find many accounts of generals who were betrayed by their own soldiers, and of bandit-leaders who were captured through the instrumentality of those who did not keep their bargains with them. But even if we grant that no commander or bandit-leader was ever betrayed, what does that contribute to establishing the fact as a charge against Jesus based on one of his disciples betraying him?<\/p>\n

Since Celsus makes an ostentatious exhibition of the pursuit of wisdom (philosophia<\/i>), I would ask of him, if it was a charge against Plato that Aristotle, after being his student for twenty years, went away and attacked his teaching on the immortality of the soul, and styled the ideas of Plato as merely insignificant? And if I were still in doubt, I would continue in this way: Was Plato no longer amazing at dialectics, nor able to defend his views, after Aristotle had left him; and, on that account, are the opinions of Plato false? Or may it not be that while Plato is true, as the students of his form of wisdom would maintain, Aristotle was guilty of wickedness and ingratitude towards his teacher? No, Chrysippos also, in many places of his writings, appears to attack Kleanthes, introducing novel opinions opposed to his views, although the latter had been his teacher when he was a young man, and began the pursuit of wisdom. Aristotle, indeed, is said to have been Plato’s student for twenty years, and no inconsiderable period was spent by Chrysippos in the school of Kleanthes. While Judas did not remain even as long as three years with Jesus. But from the narratives about the lives of the pursuers of wisdom we might take many instances similar to those on which Celsus founds a charge against Jesus on account of Judas. Even the Pythagoreans erected empty tombs for those who, after engaging in the pursuit of wisdom, fell back again into their ignorant mode of life. Yet neither was Pythagoras nor his followers, on that account, weak in argument and the ability to demonstrate a point. . . [omitted many sections<\/i>].<\/p>\n

(2.44) Next Celsus says with extreme simplicity:<\/p>\n

If, after inventing defences which are absurd, and by which you were ridiculously deluded, you imagine that you really make a good defense, what prevents you from regarding those other individuals who have been condemned, and have died a miserable death, as greater and more divine messengers of heaven (than Jesus)<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Now, that manifestly and clearly there is no similarity between Jesus, who suffered what is described, and those who have died a wretched death on account of the howling of chants (go\u0113teia<\/i>), or whatever else they are charged with, is clear to everyone. For no one can point to any actions of the howlers of chants which turned away souls from the practice of the many errors which prevail among human beings and from the flood of wickedness.<\/p>\n

Now Celsus\u2019 Judean [i.e. an imagined Judean interlocutor in Celsus\u2019 discussion] compares Jesus to bandits (l\u0113stai<\/i>). He says that:<\/p>\n

Any similarly shameless <\/i>person<\/i> might be able to say regarding even a <\/i>bandit<\/i> and murderer whom punishment had overtaken, that such <\/i>a person was not a bandit but a god<\/i> because he predicted to his fellow <\/i>bandits<\/i> that he would suffer such punishment as he actually did suffer.<\/i><\/p>\n

First of all, it might be answered that it is not because he predicted that he would suffer such things that we entertain those opinions regarding Jesus which lead us to have confidence in him, as one who has come down to us from God. Secondly, we assert that this very comparison has been somehow foretold in the gospels, since God was \u201cnumbered among the lawless ones (anomoi<\/i>).\u201d They desired a “bandit” \u2013 who had been thrown into prison for revolution and murder \u2013 to be released to them [i.e. the crowds desired Barabbas] and for Jesus to be crucified. And they crucified Jesus between two bandits. Actually, Jesus is always crucified with bandits among his genuine disciples and witnesses to the truth, and he suffers the same condemnation for that crime which is common among men. We say that if those persons have any resemblance to bandits, namely persons who on account of their piety towards God suffer all kinds of injury and death so that they may keep their piety pure and unstained according to the teaching of Jesus, then it is also clear that Jesus, the author of such teaching, is with good reason compared by Celsus to a bandit-leader. However, the one who died for the common good of humankind was not justly put to death. Nor were the ones who suffered because of their piety and who, alone among all people, were persecuted because of what appeared to them the right way of honouring God. Nor was it the case that Jesus was persecuted without the charge of impiety being incurred by his persecutors. . . [omitted many sections<\/i>].<\/p>\n

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[Participants in the mysteries of Jesus adherents compared to various criminals]<\/strong><\/p>\n

(3.59) Immediately after this, Celsus, perceiving that he has slandered us too bitterly, as if by way of defense expresses himself as follows:<\/p>\n

That I bring no heavier charge than what the truth forces me to, any one may see from the following remarks: Those who invite participants in other mysteries proclaim as follows: ‘Every one who has clean hands, and a prudent tongue may participate.’ Still others proclaim as follows: ‘Anyone who is pure from all pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who has lived well and in a just manner may participate.’ Such is the proclamation made by those who promise purification from errors. But let us hear what kind of persons these Christians invite. They proclaim that the kingdom of God will receive every one who is a sinner, who completely lacks understanding, who is a child, and, to speak generally, whoever is unfortunate. Do you not designate someone as a sinner because he is unjust, a thief, a housebreaker, a poisoner, a committer of sacrilege, and a tomb-robber? Who else would a bandit invite?<\/i><\/p>\n

Now, in answer to such statements, we say that it is not the same thing to invite those who are sick in soul to be cured, and those who are in health to the knowledge and study of divine things. We, however, keeping both these things in view, at first invite all men to be healed. We exhort those who are sinners to come to the consideration of the teachings which teach men not to sin. We exhort those who are devoid of understanding to those teachings which produce wisdom. We exhort those who are children to rise in their thoughts to adulthood, and we exhort those who are simply unfortunate to good fortune, or, more appropriately, to blessedness. And when those who have been turned towards virtue have made progress, and have shown that they have been purified by the word, and have led as far as they can a better life, then and not before do we invite them to participation in our mysteries. “For we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.” . . . [omitted many sections<\/i>].<\/p>\n

(3.60) Moreover, since we teach that “wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor dwell in a body that is involved in sin” [Wisdom 1:4], we say: Whoever has clean hands, and therefore lifts up holy hands to God, and by reason of being occupied with elevated and heavenly things, can say, “The lifting up of my hands is like the evening sacrifice,” let him come to us. Whooever has a wise tongue through meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, and by “reason of habit has his senses exercised to discern between good and evil,” let him have no reluctance in coming to the strong and rational sustenance which is adapted to those who are athletes in piety and every virtue. And since the grace of God is with all those who love with a pure affection the teacher of the teachings of immortality, whoever is pure not only from all defilement, but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly initiated in the mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only to the holy and the pure. The initiated of Celsus accordingly says, “Let him whose soul is conscious of no evil come.” But he who acts as initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, will say to those who have been purified in heart: “The person whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious of no evil, and especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the word, let such a person hear the teachings which were spoken in private by Jesus to his genuine disciples.” Therefore in the comparison which Celsus institutes between the procedure of the initiators into the Greek mysteries and the teachers of the teaching of Jesus, he does not know the difference between inviting the evil to be healed and initiating those already purified into the sacred mysteries!<\/p>\n

(3.61) Not to participation in mysteries, then, and to fellowship in the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God ordained before the world to the glory of God\u2019s holy ones, do we invite the evil man, and the thief, and the housebreaker, and the poisoner, and the committer of sacrilege, and the plunderer of the dead, and all those others whom Celsus may enumerate in his exaggerating style, but such as these we invite to be healed. For there are in the divinity of the word some helps towards the cure of those who are sick, respecting which the word says, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;” others, again, which to the pure in soul and body exhibit “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets,” and “by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which “appearing” is manifested to each one of those who are perfect, and which enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things. But as he exaggerates the charges against us, adding, after his list of those vile individuals whom he has mentioned, this remark, “What other persons would a robber summon to himself by proclamation?” we answer such a question by saying that a robber summons around him individuals of such a character, in order to make use of their villainy against the men whom they desire to slay and plunder. A Christian, on the other hand, even though he invite those whom the robber invites, invites them to a very different vocation, viz., to bind up these wounds by His word, and to apply to the soul, festering amid evils, the drugs obtained from the word, and which are analogous to the wine and oil, and plasters, and other healing appliances which belong to the art of medicine.<\/p>\n

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[Return to Celsus’ characterization of Jesus followers as criminals]<\/strong><\/p>\n

(8.54) When Celsus adds: “We must therefore believe that men are entrusted to certain beings who are the keepers of this prison-house,” our answer is, that the souls of those who are called by Jeremiah “prisoners of the earth,” when eager in the pursuit of virtue, are even in this life delivered from the bondage of evil. For Jesus declared this, as was predicted by the prophet Isaiah long before Jesus\u2019 arrival, when he said that “the prisoners would go forth, and they that were in darkness would show themselves.” And Jesus himself, as Isaiah also foretold of him, arose as “a light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,” so that we may therefore say, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords from us.”<\/p>\n

If Celsus, and those who like him are opposed to us, had been able to sound the depths of the gospel narratives, they would not have counselled us to put our confidence in those beings whom they call “the keepers of the prison-house.” It is written in the gospel that a woman was bowed together, and could in no way lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her and perceived the reason why she was bowed together, he said, “Shouldn\u2019t this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound these eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” And how many others are still bowed down and bound by Satan, who hinders them from looking up at all, and who would have us to look down also! And no one can raise them up, except the Word, that came by Jesus Christ, and that previously inspired the prophets. And Jesus came to release those who were under the dominion of the devil. Speaking of the devil, Jesus said with that depth of meaning which characterized his words, “Now is the prince of this world judged.” We are, then, indulging in no baseless calumnies against lower spirits (daimones<\/i>; or: demons), but are condemning their agency upon earth as destructive to humankind, and show that, under cover of oracles and bodily cures, and such other means. The lower spirits are seeking to separate from God the soul which has descended to this “body of humiliation.” Those who feel this humiliation exclaim, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” It is not without reason, then, that we expose our bodies to be beaten and tortured. For surely it is not in vain for a person to submit to such sufferings, if by that means he may avoid granting the name of gods on those earthly spirits that unite with their worshippers to bring him to destruction. Indeed, we think it both reasonable in itself and well-pleasing to God to suffer pain for the sake of virtue, to undergo torture for the sake of piety, and even to suffer death for the sake of holiness. For “precious in the sight of God is the death of his holy ones.” We maintain that to overcome the love of life is to enjoy a great good.<\/p>\n

However, when Celsus compares us to criminals (kakourgoi<\/i>), who justly suffer punishment for banditry (l\u0113steia<\/i>), and does not shrink from placing so laudable a purpose as that which we set before us upon the same level with the obstinacy of bandits (l\u0113stai<\/i>), he makes himself the brother and companion of those who accounted Jesus among criminals, fulfilling the scripture which says: “He was numbered among the lawless ones (anomoi<\/i>).”<\/p>\n

[Failure of Jesus followers to honour the gods and lower spirits also shows that they are unjust]<\/strong><\/p>\n

(8.55) Celsus goes on to say:<\/p>\n

They must make their choice between two alternatives. If they refuse to render due service to the gods, and to respect those who are set over this service, let them not make it to adulthood or marry wives, or have children, or indeed have any share in the affairs of life. But let them leave quickly and leave no posterity behind them, so that such a descent group (<\/i>genos) may become extinct from the face of the earth. Or, on the other hand, if they will take wives, bring up children, taste of the fruits of the earth, share in all the blessings of life, and bear its appointed sorrows (for nature herself has allotted sorrows for all people, for sorrows must exist, and earth is the only place for them), then must they discharge the duties of life until they are released from its bonds and render due honour to those beings who control the affairs of this life, if they do not want to show themselves to be ungrateful to those beings. For it would be unjust in them, after receiving the good things which those beings dispense, to pay them no tribute in return.<\/i><\/p>\n

To this we reply, that there appears to us to be no good reason for our leaving this world, except when piety and virtue require it. For example, as when those who are set as judges and think that they have power over our lives place before us the alternative either to live in violation of the commands of Jesus, or to die if we continue obedient to them. But God has allowed us to marry, because all are not fit for the higher, that is, the perfectly pure life. God would have us to bring up all our children and not destroy any of the offspring given us by his providence. And this does not conflict with our purpose not to obey the lower spirits (daimones<\/i>) that are on the earth. For, “being armed with the whole armour of God, we stand” as athletes of piety against the descent group of lower spirits that plot against us.<\/p>\n

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Source of translation: <\/i><\/b>F. Crombie, The Writings of Origen<\/em>, Ante-Nicene Christian Library (Edinburgh: T and T Clark, 1869-1872), public domain, thoroughly adapted by Harland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancient authors:\u00a0Celsus (mid-second century CE) as cited by Origen (mid-third century CE), Against Celsus 2.12, 2.44, 3.59, 3.61, 8.54 (link). Comments: Coming soon. For extensive discussion, see Harland 2026, 226-238. Works consulted: P.A. Harland, Ethnic Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean: Social Life Under Empire (University of Chicago Press, 2026). \u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017 [Celsus compares Jesus and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,79,717,113,117,296,81,728,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-greek-and-roman-ethnography-on-barbarians","category-05-judeans-jews-and-jesus-adherents-christians-as-participants-in-ethnographic-culture","category-banditry-and-piracy","category-celsus-greek","category-christians-jesus-adherents","category-ethnicity-ancient-world","category-judeans-israelites-hebrews","category-murder","category-origen-greek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24141,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions\/24141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}