The Instructor 1.10.93
Summary: God's justice calls to repentance; Clement sets aside the Stoic argument that only the perfect deserve praise, since some deny that the Blessed One is concerned with anyone at all.
Greek text · Stählin 1:145
ὁρᾷς τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης μετανοεῖν συμβουλευούσης; ἔτι δὲ διὰ Ἱερεμίου φωτίζει τοῖς πλανωμένοις τὴν ἀλήθειαν· »τάδε λέγει κύριος· στῆτε ἐπὶ ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ ἴδετε καὶ ἐρωτήσατε τρίβους κυρίου αἰωνίας, ποία ἐστὶν ἡ τρίβος ἡ ἀγαθή, καὶ βαδίζετε ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἁγνισμὸν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν.« ἄγει δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν μετάνοιαν σωτηρίας χάριν τῆς ἡμῶν. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· »ἐὰν μετανοήσῃς, περικαθαριεῖ κύριος τὴν καρδίαν σου καὶ τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ σπέρματός σου.« ἐνῆν μὲν οὖν συνηγόρους ἡμῖν τῆς ζητήσεως ταύτης ἐπισπάσασθαι φιλοσόφους, οἵ φασιν ἐπαινετὸν εἶναι μόνον τὸν τέλειον, ψεκτὸν δὲ τὸν φαῦλον τυγχάνειν. ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ συκοφαντοῦσί τινες τὸ μακάριον, ὡς πράγματʼ οὐκ ἔχον οὔτε αὐτὸ οὔτε ἄλλῳ τῳ παρεχόμενον, τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἀσυνετοῦντες αὐτοῦ, διὰ τούτους δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἔτι τὸ δίκαιον οὐ προσάπτοντας τῷ ἀγαθῷ, ὅδε ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν παρῃτήθη. ἑπόμενον γὰρ ἦν φάσκειν ἡμᾶς τὸ ἐπιπληκτικὸν καὶ ψεκτικὸν εἶδος τῆς παιδαγωγίας ἁρμόδιον εἶναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἐπεὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους φαύλους λέγουσι· σοφὸς δὲ ὁ θεὸς μόνος, ἀφʼ οὗ ἡ σοφία, καὶ τέλειος μόνος, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ
English · Claude translation
Do you see the goodness of justice, advising repentance? Further, through Jeremiah he lights up the truth for those who are astray: “Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, which is the good path, and walk in it, and you will find purification for your souls.” He leads us to repentance for the sake of our salvation. That is why he says: “If you repent, the Lord will cleanse your heart and the heart of your seed.” We could have brought in as advocates in this inquiry the philosophers who say that only the perfect man is praiseworthy and that the bad man is blameworthy. But since some slander the Blessed One as having no concerns himself and causing none to anyone else, not understanding his love for humankind, and because of these and of those who still do not attach justice to the good, this argument has been passed over by us. For it would follow that we should say that the reproving and blaming kind of instruction suits human beings, since they say that all human beings are bad; and God alone is wise, from whom wisdom comes, and alone perfect, and for that reason
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Jer 6:16 and Deut 30:6 (LXX, freely). “The Blessed One … having no concerns himself and causing none to anyone else” quotes the first of Epicurus's Principal Doctrines. The Stoics held that only the wise man is good and all others are bad.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.10.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/10/93/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.10.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/10/93/).
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