# 2 Clement 2.3

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [2 Clement](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/) (*Clementis ad Corinthios epistula secunda*)
- Date: ca. 100–150 (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:130; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 128–161 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/2/3/

Summary: The Gentile believers now outnumber those who seemed to have God.

## Greek text

ὃ δὲ εἶπεν· Ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα· ἐπεὶ ἔρημος ἐδόκει εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ λαὸς ἡμῶν. νυνὶ δὲ πιστεύσαντες πλείονες ἐγενόμεθα τῶν δοκούντων ἔχειν θεόν.

## English translation (Claude)

And when he said, “For the children of the desolate are more than of her who has the husband,” he meant that our people seemed to be deserted by God, but now that we have believed we have become more numerous than those who seem to have God.

## Translation notes

- “Those who seem to have God”: probably the Jewish people.

## Citation (SBL)

2 Clem. 2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/2/3/).