The Instructor 1.6.35 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:110–111

ἀπορία μεγίστη κατὰ τὴν τῶν γραφῶν τῶνδε συμβολήν, τί νοοῦσιν. εἰ γὰρ ἀρχὴ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἡ διὰ τοῦ γάλακτος νηπιότης ἐστίν, ἐξευτελίζεται δὲ αὕτη ὡς παιδαριώδης καὶ ἀτελής, πῶς ἡ τοῦ τελείου καὶ γνωστικοῦ μετὰ τὴν βρῶσιν ἀνάπαυσις αὖθις νηπίῳ τετίμηται γάλακτι; μή τι οὖν τὸ »ὡς«, παραβολῆς ὂν δηλωτικόν, τοιοῦτόν τι ἐμφαίνει, καὶ δὴ ἀναγνωστέον ὧδέ πως τὸ ῥητόν· »γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα ἐν Χριστῷ« καὶ διαστήσαντες ὀλίγον ἐπαγάγωμεν »ὡς νηπίους,« ἵνα κατὰ τὴν διαστολὴν τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τοιαύτην ἀποδεξώμεθα διάνοιαν· κατήχησα ὑμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ ἁπλῇ καὶ ἀληθεῖ καὶ αὐτοφυεῖ τροφῇ τῇ πνευματικῇ· τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ γάλακτος ζωοτρόφος οὐσία, φιλοστόργοις πηγάζουσα μαστοῖς· ὡς νοεῖσθαι τὸ πᾶν τῇδε· ὥσπερ τῷ γάλακτι αἱ τίτθαι τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς νεογνοὺς ἐκτρέφουσιν, κἀγὼ δὲ οὕτω τῷ Χριστοῦ γάλακτι λόγῳ πνευματικὴν ὑμῖν ἐνστάζων τροφήν.

English · Claude translation

… a very great difficulty, when these Scriptures are compared, as to what they mean. For if the infancy that comes by milk is the beginning of faith in Christ, and it is despised as childish and imperfect, how is the rest of the perfect and knowing man, after solid food, honored again with infant's milk? Perhaps, then, the “as,” which indicates a comparison, shows something like this, and the saying should be read as follows: “I gave you milk to drink in Christ,” and, pausing a little, let us add, “as infants,” so that, by this division of the reading, we may accept a meaning like this: I instructed you in Christ with simple, true, and natural spiritual food. For such is the life-nourishing substance of milk, springing from loving breasts. So that the whole may be understood thus: just as nurses rear newborn children on milk, so I too, with the Word, the milk of Christ, instill spiritual food into you.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:110–111 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

1 Cor 3:2 · quotation, high confidence
1 Cor 3:1 · quotation, medium confidence
1 Pet 2:2 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

The Greek of this section begins in the middle of the sentence begun in 1.6.34. “The perfect and knowing man” (γνωστικός) is the Gnostics' word, which Clement uses for the mature Christian.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): υς, « → υς,«.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/35/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/35/).