The Instructor 1.6.27
Summary: Believing and being born again already bring perfection in life; God's call is his salvation, and the one enlightened at once passes from darkness into light.
Greek text · Stählin 1:106
πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἡ τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγὴ σωτηρίας ἐστὶν ἀρχή. μόνον δὲ ἄρα οἱ πρῶτον δραξάμενοι τῶν ὅρων τῆς ζωῆς ἤδη τέλειοι, ζῶμεν δὲ ἤδη οἱ θανάτου κεχωρισμένοι. σωτηρία τοίνυν τὸ ἕπεσθαι Χριστῷ. »ὃ γὰρ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ, ζωή ἐστιν.« »ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν,« φησίν, »ὁ τὸν λόγον μου ἀκούων καὶ πιστεύων τῷ πέμψαντί με ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ εἰς κρίσιν οὐκ ἔρχεται, ἀλλὰ μεταβέβηκεν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωήν.« οὕτω τὸ πιστεῦσαι μόνον καὶ ἀναγεννηθῆναι τελείωσίς ἐστιν ἐν ζωῇ· οὐ γάρ ποτε ἀσθενεῖ ὁ θεός. ὡς γὰρ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ἔργον ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦτο κόσμος ὀνομάζεται, οὕτως καὶ τὸ βούλημα αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶ σωτηρία καὶ τοῦτο ἐκκλησία κέκληται. οἶδεν οὖν οὓς κέκληκεν, οὓς δὲ κέκληκεν, σέσωκεν· κέκληκεν δὲ ἅμα καὶ σέσωκεν. »αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς«, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, »θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε.« οὐκ ἄρα θεμιτὸν ἡμῖν ἀτελὲς τὸ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διδασκόμενον νοεῖν, τὸ δὲ μάθημα ἀίδιος σωτηρία ἀιδίου σωτῆρος, ᾧ ἡ χάρις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν. καὶ ὁ μόνον ἀναγεννηθείς, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τοὔνομα ἔχει, φωτισθεὶς ἀπήλλακται μὲν παραχρῆμα τοῦ σκότους, ἀπείληφεν δὲ αὐτόθεν τὸ φῶς.
English · Claude translation
Moreover, deliverance from evils is the beginning of salvation. Those, then, who have merely first grasped the boundaries of life are already perfect; and we who have been separated from death already live. Salvation, then, is following Christ: “For what came to be in him is life.” “Truly, truly, I say to you,” he says, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” So merely believing and being born again is perfection in life; for God is never weak. For as his will is a work, and this is called the world, so his intention is the salvation of human beings, and this has been called the church. He knows, then, whom he has called; and those whom he has called, he has saved; and he has called and saved at the same moment. “For you yourselves,” says the apostle, “are taught by God.” It is not lawful for us, then, to think imperfect what is taught by him; and the lesson is the eternal salvation of the eternal Savior, to whom be thanks forever, amen. And the one who has only been regenerated, as the very name shows, being enlightened, is at once set free from darkness and receives the light on the spot.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 1:3–4 (with the punctuation common in the second century: “what came to be in him is life”), John 5:24, and 1 Thess 4:9; the allusion is Rom 8:30. “Perfect” here means complete in what is essential, not sinless (see 1.6.28–29 on the resurrection still to come).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): ῖν, « → ῖν,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/27/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/27/).
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