Edition Masquer
Contra Celsum

13.

Οὐκοῦν κατὰ ταῦτα ἡ μέν τις θεία σοφία ἐστίν, ἡ δ' ἀνθρωπίνη. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀνθρωπίνη ἐστὶν ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς λεγομένη «σοφία τοῦ κόσμου», ἥτις ἐστὶ «μωρία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ»· ἡ δὲ θεία καὶ ἑτέρα παρὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην, εἴπερ ἐστὶ θεία, χάριτι θεοῦ δωρουμένου αὐτὴν τοῖς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτηδείους πρὸς παραδοχὴν αὐτῆς κατασκευάσασι παραγίνεται, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἐγνωκέναι τὴν διαφορὰν ἑκατέρας σοφίας πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν ἐν ταῖς πρὸς θεὸν εὐχαῖς λέγουσι· «Κἂν γάρ τις τέλειος ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων, τῆς ἀπὸ σοῦ σοφίας ἀπούσης εἰς οὐδὲν λογισθήσεται.» Καὶ γυμνάσιον μέν φαμεν εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην σοφίαν, τέλος δὲ τὴν θείαν· ἥτις καὶ «στερεὰ» λέγεται τῆς ψυχῆς εἶναι «τροφὴ» παρὰ τῷ φήσαντι· «Τελείων δέ ἐστιν ἡ στερεὰ τροφή, τῶν διὰ τὴν ἕξιν τὰ αἰσθητήρια γεγυμνασμένα ἐχόντων πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ.»

Καὶ ἀρχαία μὲν ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ἥδε ἡ δόξα, οὐχ, ὡς οἴεται δὲ Κέλσος, τῆς περὶ αὐτῶν ἀρχαιότητος εἰς Ἡράκλειτον καὶ Πλάτωνα ἀναφερομένης. Ἀνωτέρω γὰρ τούτων οἱ προφῆται διέστειλαν τὸ περὶ ἑκατέρας σοφίας· ἀρκεῖ δ' ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἰπεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ Δαυῒδ τὸ περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν θείαν σοφίαν σοφοῦ λεγόμενον, ὅστις «οὐκ ὄψεται καταφθοράν», φησίν, «ὅταν ἴδῃ σοφοὺς ἀποθνῄσκοντας». Ἡ θεία τοίνυν σοφία, ἑτέρα οὖσα τῆς πίστεως, πρῶτόν ἐστι τῶν καλουμένων «χαρισμάτων» τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ μετ' ἐκείνην δεύτερον τοῖς ἀκριβοῦν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπισταμένοις ἡ καλουμένη γνῶσις, καὶ τρίτον, ἐπεὶ σῴζεσθαι χρὴ καὶ τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους προσιόντας κατὰ δύναμιν τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ, ἡ πίστις. Διὸ λέγεται παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ· «ᾯ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα, ἑτέρῳ δὲ πίστις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι.» Διόπερ οὐ τοὺς τυχόντας εὕροις ἂν μετειληφότας τῆς θείας σοφίας ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας καὶ διαφέροντας πάντων τῶν χριστιανισμῷ προσεχόντων, οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀπαιδευτοτάτοις ἢ ἀνδραπόδοις ἢ ἀμαθεστάτοις διέξεισί τις τὰ περὶ τῆς θείας σοφίας.

Traduction Masquer
Origen Against Celsus

Chapter XIII.

According to the foregoing, then, the one kind of wisdom is human, and the other divine. Now the "human" wisdom is that which is termed by us the wisdom of the "world," which is "foolishness with God;" whereas the "divine"--being different from the "human," because it is "divine"--comes, through the grace of God who bestows it, to those who have evinced their capacity for receiving it, and especially to those who, from knowing the difference between either kind of wisdom, say, in their prayers to God, "Even if one among the sons of men be perfect, while the wisdom is wanting that comes from Thee, he shall be accounted as nothing." ¹ We maintain, indeed, that "human" wisdom is an exercise for the soul, but that "divine" wisdom is the "end," being also termed the "strong" meat of the soul by him who has said that "strong meat belongeth to them that are perfect, ² even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." ³ This opinion, moreover, is truly an ancient one, its antiquity not being referred back, as Celsus thinks, merely to Heraclitus and Plato. For before these individuals lived, the prophets distinguished between the two kinds of wisdom. It is sufficient for the present to quote from the words of David what he says regarding the man who is wise, according to divine wisdom, that "he will not see corruption when he beholds wise men dying." ⁴ Divine wisdom, accordingly, being different from faith, is the "first" of the so-called "charismata" of God; and the "second" after it--in the estimation of those who know how to distinguish such things accurately--is what is called "knowledge;" ⁵ and the "third"--seeing that even the more simple class of men who adhere to the service of God, so far as they can, must be saved--is faith. And therefore Paul says: "To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit." ⁶ And therefore it is no ordinary individuals whom you will find to have participated in the "divine" wisdom, but the more excellent and distinguished among those who have given in their adherence to Christianity; for it is not "to the most ignorant, or servile, or most uninstructed of mankind," that one would discourse upon the topics relating to the divine wisdom.