When Celsus accused Christians of believing that God abandoned all humankind and was concerned with the Church alone, Origen answered him that this was never a Christian belief.962 Origen says, “But since it was the purpose of God that the nations should receive the benefits of Christ's teaching, all the devices of men against Christians have been brought to nothing; for the more that kings, and rulers, and peoples have persecuted them everywhere, the more have they increased in number and grown in strength.”963
961 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 7 (NPNF I/13:80).
962 Origen, Against Celsus 4.28 (ANF 4:508); N. R. M. De Lange, Origen and the Jews: Studies in JewishChristian Relations in Third-Century Palestine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976): p. 76.
963 Origen, Against Celsus 7.26 (ANF 4 :622).