Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

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Giuseppe
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Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Giuseppe »


But that certain Christians and (all) Jews should maintain, the former that there has already descended, the latter that there will descend, upon the earth a certain God, or Son of a God, who will make the inhabitants of the earth righteous, is a most shameless assertion, and one the refutation of which does not need many words.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04164.htm

The greek for "certain" is τίνες.

hence, for Celsus, only a part of Christians believed that Jesus "has already descended" on earth.

Evidently, for the other Christians, Jesus will descend on the earth only in the future. This is 100% expected under the Doherty paradigm. How many times did Doherty point out that Paul never talked about the Parousia as a Second Coming ?
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Secret Alias »

The Marcionites are repeatedly identified as holding that the Christ - the messiah of the Jews - has yet to come. In other words the Marcionites held what would become the Jewish position on the appearance of the messiah.
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Secret Alias »

The report is quite ambiguous and vague
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Giuseppe
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Giuseppe »

The report is simply unexpected under historicity.

Totally expected if the early Christians believed in a Christ crucified in outer space.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Joseph D. L. »


But that certain Christians and (all) Jews should maintain, the former that there has already descended, the latter that there will descend, upon the earth a certain God, or Son of a God, who will make the inhabitants of the earth righteous, is a most shameless assertion, and one the refutation of which does not need many words. Now here he appears to pronounce correctly regarding not certain of the Jews, but all of them, that they imagine that there is a certain (God) who will descend upon the earth; and with regard to Christians, that certain of them say that He has already come down. For he means those who prove from the Jewish Scriptures that the advent of Christ has already taken place, and he seems to know that there are certain heretical sects which deny that Christ Jesus was predicted by the prophets.

Origen elucidates upon Celsus's meaning and interprets this passage as all Jews rejecting Christ as yet to come, and "certain" Christians say that he has. Certain/τίνες may not necessarily be a quantitative number, and that "certain", i.e. those regarding may be intended.

Calesus only divides Christians and Jews into a fifty-fifty split. When he says certain Christians, he is further dividing Christians into different groups, without elucidating further who is the in the majority and minority.
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Secret Alias »

The report is simply unexpected under historicity.
It has nothing to do with 'historicity.' He's just making an offhanded comment based on the traditions and understandings he has gathered from his research. The way you read ANY statement is to filter it through your pre-existent filter. You would see a picture of a naked woman through the lens of historicity.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Giuseppe
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Giuseppe »

Secret Alias wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 9:46 am
The report is simply unexpected under historicity.
It has nothing to do with 'historicity.' He's just making an offhanded comment based on the traditions and understandings he has gathered from his research.
where is the confutation of what I have just inferred? It is recognized by some critical scholars of Celsus, in the critical modern Italian edition in my possession who talk explicitly about an "error" by part of Celsus since, they write, all the Christians believed that Jesus has already descended on the earth.

Evidently, they ignore the other ONLY alternative: that a Jesus crucified in outer space can't be descended on earth.

If you want, I can mention the scholars who have cried "error" because THEY read Celsus with lens coloured of historicity. Evidently you are one of them, if you want to be called "scholar".
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Secret Alias »

Do you understand that Jews say that the messiah hasn't come yet? That's what's being offered up here only that - because of the ambiguity of Celsus's flippant remark - the terminologies ''God or Son of God' is carelessly applied to Christians and Jews alike. Remember we don't have the original context. My suspicion is that the previous line spoke about the (Marcionite) Christian belief that Jesus came down from heaven. Celsus doesn't care about exact accuracy here. He's lumping Christians and Jews as peoples who are equally horrible.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Secret Alias »

And look at the context in Origen:
Ὅτι δὲ καὶ Χριστιανῶν τινες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι, οἱ μὲν καταβεβηκέναι <λέγουσιν,> οἱ δὲ καταβήσεσθαι εἰς τὴν γῆν τινα θεὸν ἢ θεοῦ υἱὸν τῶν τῇδε
δικαιωτήν, τοῦτ' αἴσχιστον, καὶ οὐδὲ δεῖται μακροῦ λόγου ὁ ἔλεγχος
and later:
Σαφὲς δὴ ὅτι οὐ μόνον Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν τινες εἰρήκασιν ἡμῖν δουλεύειν ἥλιον καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κατά τινας σκηνικὸς φιλόσοφος καὶ φυσιολογίας τῆς Ἀναξαγόρου γενόμενος ἀκροατής
which is translated:
Now it is undoubted, that not only have certain of the Jews and Christians declared that the sun and the heavenly bodies are our servants; but he also has said this, who, according to some, is the philosopher of the stage, and who was a hearer of the lectures on the philosophy of nature delivered by Anaxagoras
Notice how the text is translated differently? He's just being vague. Which is further reinforced by 4.22:
But, according to Celsus, the Christians, making certain additional statements to those of the Jews, assert that the Son of God has been already sent on account of the sins of the Jews; and that the Jews having chastised Jesus, and given him gall to drink, have brought upon themselves the divine wrath.
So the Jews don't use the term 'Son of God.' Sometimes you just have to recognize that ancient writers didn't speak with exactness.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Celsus claims that only SOME (τίνες) Christians believed that Christ was lived on earth

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Joseph D. L. wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 8:29 am
But that certain Christians and (all) Jews should maintain, the former that there has already descended, the latter that there will descend, upon the earth a certain God, or Son of a God, who will make the inhabitants of the earth righteous, is a most shameless assertion, and one the refutation of which does not need many words. Now here he appears to pronounce correctly regarding not certain of the Jews, but all of them, that they imagine that there is a certain (God) who will descend upon the earth; and with regard to Christians, that certain of them say that He has already come down. For he means those who prove from the Jewish Scriptures that the advent of Christ has already taken place, and he seems to know that there are certain heretical sects which deny that Christ Jesus was predicted by the prophets.

Origen elucidates upon Celsus's meaning and interprets this passage as all Jews rejecting Christ as yet to come, and "certain" Christians say that he has. Certain/τίνες may not necessarily be a quantitative number, and that "certain", i.e. those regarding may be intended.

Calesus only divides Christians and Jews into a fifty-fifty split. When he says certain Christians, he is further dividing Christians into different groups, without elucidating further who is the in the majority and minority.
The statement which Celsus calls shameless and attributes to Christians is, then: "there has already descended upon the earth a certain god or son of a god who will make the inhabitants of the earth righteous."

This is basically the Jewish messianic hope, and not all Christians believed that. Origen is right.

Reading Celsus overly literally here, we could also surmise that he knows of no Christians who believe in a future advent of the son of God, since he says explicitly that it is Christians (οἱ μέν) who believe in a past advent and Jews (οἱ δέ) who believe in a future advent. This, however, is almost certainly not his intent. Rather, it is simply to ridicule the Jewish messianic belief which only some (τινες) Christians espoused.
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