Celsus' comment is preceded by:
Quote:Even in the New Testament itself we see evidence of a still bigger problem. Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians repeatedly warns Christians to beware of letters forged in Paul’s name (2 Thes. 2:2, 3:17) – ironically, most scholars agree that this letter is itself a forgery! This is a bind for believers in an inerrant New Testament: because either this letter is a forgery, or it is authentic and Paul really is warning us that forgers are out there – but either way, it’s inescapable: people were forging letters in Paul’s name.16
It gets worse: the majority of Bible scholars are convinced that half the letters of Paul – as well as the epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude – are just such forgeries. Many apologists try to mitigate this uncomfortable fact by claiming that writing scripture under a more famous false name was a common and accepted practice. Though it was certainly common, it was hardly accepted. On the contrary, Bart Ehrman notes: “People in the ancient world did not appreciate forgeries any more than people do today. There are numerous discussions of forgery in ancient Greek and Latin sources. In virtually every case the practice is denounced as deceitful and ill-spirited, sometimes even in documents that are themselves forged.”17Tertullian reports that a church tribunal convicted a presbyter (a church elder) from Asia Minor for forging fictional miracle stories about Paul. He confessed to committing the crime “out of love for Paul,” but the court was unimpressed and found him guilty. They reprimanded the presbyter and removed him from office.18 But unfortunately, in many if not most cases, forgers were able to get away with it. The criteria for determining forged scripture in the 2nd and 3rd centuries too often boiled down to whether you agreed with what it had to say!There is abundant evidence that tampering with texts occurred again and again throughout the early Christian world – not least because the Christians themselves complained about it so often. The author of Revelation is so concerned about his work being tinkered with, he threatens divine wrath upon anyone who dares alter his book (22: 18-19). The second-century Bishop Dionysius of Corinth fumed about not only his letters, but even scripture being deliberately altered: “When my fellow-Christians invited me to write letters to them I did so. These the devil’s apostles have filled with tares (weeds), taking away some things and adding others…Small wonder then if some have dared tamper even with the word of the Lord himself, when they have conspired to mutilate my own humble efforts.”
Ehrman of course has written an entire book on the rampant forgeries in xtian "scriptures" so he has that burden to overcome.
