The Instructor 1.6.36
Summary: Milk, the Word, is the believer's food from beginning to end; the solid food Paul withheld may mean the face-to-face vision in the age to come.
Greek text · Stählin 1:111–112
Οὕτω γοῦν τελεία τροφὴ τὸ γάλα ἐστὶ τὸ τέλειον καὶ εἰς τέλος ἄγει τὸ ἀκατάπαυστον. διὸ κἀν τῇ ἀναπαύσει τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐπήγγελται γάλα καὶ μέλι. εἰκότως γάλα αὖθις ὑπισχνεῖται τοῖς δικαίοις ὁ κύριος, ἵνα δὴ σαφῶς ὁ λόγος ἄμφω δειχθῇ, ἄλφα καὶ ὦ, ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος [ὁ λόγος ἀλληγορούμενος γάλα]. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ Ὅμηρος ἄκων μαντεύεται τοὺς δικαίους τῶν ἀνθρώπων »γαλακτοφάγους« καλῶν. ἔξεστι δὲ καὶ οὕτως ἐκλαμβάνειν τὴν γραφήν· »κἀγὼ δέ, ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐδυνήθην λαλῆσαι ὑμῖν ὡς πνευματικοῖς, ἀλλʼ ὡς σαρκίνοις, ὡς νηπίοις ἐν Χριστῷ,« ὡς δύνασθαι σαρκίνους νοεῖσθαι τοὺς νεωστὶ κατηχουμένους καὶ νηπίους ἔτι ἐν Χριστῷ. πνευματικοὺς μὲν γὰρ τοὺς πεπιστευκότας ἤδη τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι προσεῖπεν, σαρκικοὺς δὲ τοὺς νεοκατηχήτους καὶ μηδέπω κεκαθαρμένους, οὓς »ἔτι σαρκικοὺς« εἰκότως λέγει ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῖς ἐθνικοῖς τὰ σαρκὸς ἔτι φρονοῦντας. »ὅπου γὰρ ἐν ὑμῖν ζῆλος καὶ ἔρις, οὐχὶ σαρκικοί ἐστε καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε;« διὸ καὶ »γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα« φησίν, τὴν γνῶσιν ὑμῖν ἐνέχεα, λέγων, τὴν ἐκ κατηχήσεως ἀνατρέφουσαν εἰς ζωὴν ἀίδιον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ »ἐπότισα« ῥῆμα τελείας μεταλήψεως σύμβολόν ἐστιν. πίνειν μὲν γὰρ οἱ τέλειοι λέγονται, θηλάζειν δὲ οἱ νήπιοι. »τὸ αἷμά μου,« γάρ φησιν ὁ κύριος, »ἀληθής ἐστι πόσις.« μή τι οὖν »γάλα« εἰπὼν »ἐπότισα« τὴν ἐν λόγῳ γάλακτι τελείαν εὐφροσύνην, τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, ᾐνίξατο; τὸ δʼ ἐπαγόμενον ἑξῆς »οὐ βρῶμα, οὔπω γὰρ ἐδύνασθε« τὴν ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι ἐναργῆ ἀποκάλυψιν βρώματος δίκην πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον αἰνίττεσθαι δύναται. »βλέπομεν γὰρ ὡς διʼ ἐσόπτρου νῦν,« ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος λέγει, »τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον.« διὸ κἀκεῖνο ἐπήγαγεν· »ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἔτι νῦν δύνασθε, ἔτι γὰρ σαρκικοί ἐστε,« τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦντες, ἐπιθυμοῦντες, ἐρῶντες, ζηλοῦντες, μηνιῶντες, φθονοῦντες· οὐ γὰρ ὅτι ἔτι ἐν σαρκί ἐσμεν, ὡς ὑπειλήφασί τινες· σὺν αὐτῇ γὰρ τὸ πρόσωπον ἰσάγγελον ἔχοντες πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον
English · Claude translation
So milk is perfect food, since it is perfect and leads to the end that has no end. That is why the same milk and honey are promised in the rest as well. Rightly the Lord again promises milk to the righteous, so that the Word may be clearly shown to be both, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end [the Word being figuratively called milk]. Homer too, unwillingly, prophesies something of this kind when he calls the righteous among men “milk-drinkers.” The Scripture can also be understood in this way: “And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to people of the flesh, as to infants in Christ,” so that “people of the flesh” may be understood as those recently instructed and still infants in Christ. For he called spiritual those who have already believed in the Holy Spirit, and fleshly those newly instructed and not yet purified, whom he rightly calls “still fleshly,” since, like the pagans, they still think the things of the flesh. “For where there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking as mere men?” That is why he says, “I gave you milk to drink,” meaning, I poured into you the knowledge that nourishes from instruction to eternal life. And the word “I gave to drink” is a symbol of perfect partaking; for the perfect are said to drink, and infants to suck. “For my blood,” says the Lord, “is true drink.” When he said, “I gave you milk to drink,” did he not then hint at the perfect gladness in the Word, the milk, the knowledge of the truth? And what follows, “not solid food, for you were not yet able,” may hint at the clear revelation in the age to come, face to face, like solid food. “For now we see as in a mirror,” the same apostle says, “but then face to face.” So he added that too: “Indeed, even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly,” thinking the things of the flesh: desiring, loving, being jealous, raging, envying. Not because we are still in the flesh, as some have supposed; for with the flesh, having a face like the angels', we shall see the promise face to face.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rev 1:8 and 22:13 (compare 21:6), Homer, Iliad 13.5–6 (“milk-drinkers,” the righteous Abioi), 1 Cor 3:1–3, John 6:55, and 1 Cor 13:12. The bracketed words are marked by the editor as a gloss.
- “Not because we are still in the flesh” rejects the view that the body itself prevents perfection: the resurrection body will see God (compare Luke 20:36, “equal to the angels”).
- The Greek of this section ends with the first words of the sentence completed in 1.6.37; the translation gives the whole sentence here.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): τῷ, « → τῷ,«; ου, « → ου,«; ῦν, « → ῦν,«; τε, « → τε,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/36/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/36/).
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