Against Celsus

Jesus accordingly, as Celsus imagines, exhibited after His death only the appearance of wounds received on the cross, and was not in reality so wounded as He is described to have been; whereas, according to the teaching of the Gospel— some portions of which Celsus arbitrarily accepts, in order to find ground of accusation, and other parts of which he rejects— Jesus called to Him one of His disciples who was sceptical, and who deemed the miracle an impossibility. That individual had, indeed, expressed his belief in the statement of the woman who said that she had seen Him, because he did not think it impossible that the soul of a dead man could be seen; but he did not yet consider the report to be true that He had been raised in a body, which was the antitype of the former. And therefore he did not merely say, “Unless I see, I will not believe;” but he added, “Unless I put my hand into the print of the nails, and lay my hands upon His side, I will not believe.” These words were spoken by Thomas, who deemed it possible that the body of the soul might be seen by the eye of sense, resembling in all respects its former appearance,

Both in size, and in beauty of eyes,
And in voice;

and frequently, too,

“Having, also, such garments around the person (as when alive).”

Jesus accordingly, having called Thomas, said, “Reach hither your finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.”