Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 1.7.57

Clement of Alexandria · The Instructor · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The one who wrestled with Jacob was the Word, the face of God, who kept his name for the new people; he also taught Moses to lead.

Greek text · Stählin 1:123–124

οὗτος ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἄγων καὶ φέρων, ὁ συγγυμναζόμενος καὶ ἀλείφων κατὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ τὸν ἀσκητὴν Ἰακώβ. ὅτι δὲ ὁ λόγος ἦν ὁ ἀλείπτης ἅμα τῷ Ἰακὼβ καὶ παιδαγωγὸς τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, »ἠρώτησεν«, φησίν, »αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀνάγγειλόν μοι τί τὸ ὄνομά σου. καὶ εἶπεν· ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐρωτᾷς τὸ ὄνομά μου;« ἐτήρει γὰρ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ καινὸν τῷ νέῳ λαῷ τῷ νηπίῳ· ἔτι δὲ ἀνωνόμαστος ἦν ὁ θεὸς ὁ κύριος, μηδέπω γεγενημένος ἄνθρωπος. πλὴν ἀλλὰ »ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου Εἶδος θεοῦ· εἶδον γάρ«, φησί, »θεὸν πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, καὶ ἐσώθη μου ἡ ψυχή.« πρόσωπον δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ λόγος, ᾧ φωτίζεται ὁ θεὸς καὶ γνωρίζεται. τότε καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπωνόμασται, ὅτε εἶδεν τὸν θεὸν τὸν κύριον. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ θεός, ὁ λόγος, ὁ παιδαγωγός, ὁ φήσας αὐτῷ πάλιν ὕστερον »μὴ φοβοῦ καταβῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον«. ὅρα πῶς μὲν ἕπεται τῷ δικαίῳ ὁ παιδαγωγός, ὅπως δὲ καὶ ἀλείφει τὸν ἀσκητήν, πτερνίζειν διδάσκων τὸν ἀνταγωνιστήν. αὐτὸς γοῦν οὗτος καὶ τὸν Μωσέα διδάσκει παιδαγωγεῖν· λέγει γὰρ ὁ κύριος· »εἴ τις ἡμάρτηκεν ἐνώπιόν μου, ἐξαλείφω αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς βίβλου μου.

English · Claude translation

This was the man who led and carried, who trained with the athlete Jacob and anointed him against the evil one. That the Word was Jacob's trainer and the Instructor of humanity, it says: “He asked him and said to him, Tell me what your name is. And he said, Why do you ask my name?” For he was keeping the new name for the new, infant people; and the Lord God was still unnamed, not yet having become man. Yet “Jacob called the name of that place the Form of God: for I have seen God,” he says, “face to face, and my soul was saved.” The face of God is the Word, by whom God is made visible and known. Then too he was named Israel, when he saw the Lord God. This is God, the Word, the Instructor, who said to him again later, “Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt.” See how the Instructor accompanies the righteous man, and how he anoints the athlete, teaching him to trip up his opponent. This same one teaches Moses to instruct. For the Lord says: “If anyone has sinned before me, I will blot him out of my book.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:123–124 · 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
Topics
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Gen 32:29 and 32:30 (LXX: “Form of God” for Peniel), Gen 46:3, and Exod 32:33. “Trip up” (πτερνίζειν) plays on the name Jacob (“heel-grabber”).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.7.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/7/57/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.7.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/7/57/).

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