The Instructor 1.6.34
Summary: Paul's “when I was an infant” refers to his life under the law; infancy in Christ is perfection. Clement then takes up Paul's saying about milk.
Greek text · Stählin 1:110
Ὅρα πῶς ὡμολόγησεν εἶναι νηπίους τοὺς ὑπὸ φόβον καὶ ἁμαρτίας, τοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν πίστιν υἱοὺς καλῶν ἀπήνδρωσεν ὡς πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ νηπίων. »οὐκέτι γάρ«, φησί, »δοῦλος εἶ, ἀλλὰ υἱός· εἰ δὲ υἱός, καὶ κληρονόμος διὰ θεοῦ.« τί οὖν ἐνδεῖ τῷ υἱῷ μετὰ τὴν κληρονομίαν; χάριεν τοίνυν οὕτως ἐξηγήσασθαι τὸ »ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος,« τουτέστιν ὅτε ἤμην Ἰουδαῖος (Ἑβραῖος γὰρ ἄνωθεν ἦν), »ὡς νήπιος ἐφρόνουν,« ἐπειδὴ εἱπόμην τῷ νόμῳ· »ἐπεὶ δὲ γέγονα ἀνήρ,« οὐκέτι τὰ τοῦ νηπίου, τουτέστι τὰ τοῦ νόμου, ἀλλὰ τὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς φρονῶ, τουτέστι τὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃν μόνον ἄνδρα ἡ γραφή, καθὼς προειρήκαμεν, καλεῖ, »κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου.« ἡ δὲ ἐν Χριστῷ νηπιότης τελείωσίς ἐστιν, ὡς πρὸς τὸν νόμον. Ἐνταῦθα γενομένοις τῇ νηπιότητι ἡμῶν συνηγορητέον. ἔτι καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοῦ ἀποστόλου εἰρημένον ἐπεξηγητέον »γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα, ὡς νηπίους ἐν Χριστῷ, οὐ βρῶμα· οὔπω γὰρ ἐδύνασθε· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἔτι νῦν δύνασθε.« οὔ μοι γὰρ δοκεῖ Ἰουδαϊκῶς ἐκδέχεσθαι δεῖν τὸ ῥητόν. ἀντιπαραθήσω γὰρ κἀκείνην τὴν γραφὴν »εἰσάξω ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, τὴν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.« ἀνακύπτει τοίνυν
English · Claude translation
See how he acknowledged that those under fear and sins are infants, while he made men of those under faith, calling them sons, in contrast to the infants under the law. “For you are no longer a slave,” he says, “but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” What, then, does the son lack after the inheritance? So it is fitting to explain the words “When I was an infant” thus: that is, when I was a Jew (for he was a Hebrew from the beginning), “I thought as an infant,” since I followed the law; “but when I became a man,” I no longer think the things of the infant, that is, of the law, but the things of the man, that is, of Christ, whom alone Scripture, as we said before, calls “man”; “I did away with the things of the infant.” But infancy in Christ is perfection, compared with the law. Having come this far, we must defend our infancy, and also explain what the apostle said: “I gave you milk to drink, as infants in Christ, not solid food; for you were not yet able; indeed, even now you are not able.” For it seems to me that the saying should not be understood in the Jewish way. I will set beside it that other Scripture: “I will bring you into the good land, flowing with milk and honey.” There arises, then,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Gal 4:7, 1 Cor 13:11, 1 Cor 3:2, and Exod 3:8 (with Exod 33:3); the allusion is Phil 3:5. “In the Jewish way” means too literally.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period at a section boundary; the sentence continues in 1.6.35; stray space before the closing quotation mark): ἀνακύπτει τοίνυν. → ἀνακύπτει τοίνυν; ος, « → ος,«; υν, « → υν,«; ήρ, « → ήρ,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/34/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/34/).
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