Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 53.3

Clement of Alexandria · Excerpts from Theodotus · ca. 200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Wisdom secretly sowed the spiritual seed in Adam, through angels, as Paul says of the law.

Greek text · Stählin 3:124

ἔσχεν δὲ ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἀδήλως αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας ἐνσπαρὲν τὸ σπέρμα τὸ πνευματικὸν εἰς τὴν ψυχήν· »διαταγείς«, φησί, »διʼ ἀγγέλων ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου· ὁ δὲ μεσίτης ἑνὸς οὐκ ἔστιν· ὁ δὲ θεὸς εἶς ἐστιν.« διʼ ἀγγέλων οὖν τῶν ἀρρένων τὰ σπέρματα ὑπηρετεῖται τὰ εἰς γένεσιν προβληθέντα ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας, καθὸ ἐγχωρεῖ γίνεσθαι.

English · Claude translation

And Adam, without his knowledge, had the spiritual seed sown in his soul by Wisdom; “ordained,” he says, “through angels by the hand of a mediator; but a mediator is not of one; but God is one.” So the seeds put forth by Wisdom for birth are ministered through the male angels, as far as it can happen.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:124 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Gal 3:19–20.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 53.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/53/3/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 53.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/53/3/).

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