The Instructor 1.7.58

Summary: The same Lord instructed Israel through Moses and now guides the new people directly; he is Instructor and Judge, who rebukes sin so that sinners may repent.

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Greek text · Stählin 1:124

νυνὶ δὲ βάδιζε καὶ ὁδήγησον τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον εἰς τὸν τόπον, ὃν εἶπά σοι.« ἐνταῦθα διδάσκαλός ἐστι παιδαγωγίας· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς διὰ μὲν Μωσέως παιδαγωγὸς ὁ κύριος τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ παλαιοῦ, διʼ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ νέου καθηγεμὼν λαοῦ, πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. »ἰδού«, γάρ φησι τῷ Μωσεῖ, »ὁ ἄγγελός μου προπορεύεταί σου«, τὴν εὐαγγέλιον καὶ ἡγεμόνιον ἐπιστήσας τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν· τὸ δὲ ἀξίωμα τὸ κυριακὸν φυλάττων »ᾗ δʼ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπισκέπτωμαι,« φησίν, »ἐπάξω ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῶν«, τουτέστιν, ᾗ δʼ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ κριτὴς καθεσθῶ, ἀποδώσω τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν τὰ ἀντάξια· ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς παιδαγωγὸς καὶ κριτὴς τοὺς παρακούσαντας αὐτοῦ δικάζει, τὸ δὲ ἁμάρτημα αὐτῶν οὐ παρασιωπᾷ ὁ φιλάνθρωπος λόγος, ἐλέγχει δέ, ἵνα μετανοήσωσιν· »θέλει γὰρ ὁ κύριος τὴν μετάνοιαν τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν θάνατον.« ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰς ἄλλων ἁμαρτίας ὡς νήπιοι διʼ ἀκοῆς παραδεξάμενοι φόβῳ τῆς ἀπειλῆς τοῦ μὴ τὰ ὅμοια παθεῖν ἀποσχώμεθα τῶν ἴσων πλημμελημάτων. τί οὖν ἦν ὃ ἥμαρτον; »ὅτι ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτῶν ἀπέκτειναν ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐνευροκόπησαν ταῦρον· ἐπικατάρατος ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν.« Τίς ἂν οὖν τούτου μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς φιλανθρωπότερον παιδεύσαι;

English · Claude translation

But now go, and lead this people to the place of which I told you.” Here he is a teacher of instruction. For truly the Lord was, through Moses, the Instructor of the old people, and through himself the guide of the new people, face to face. “Behold,” he says to Moses, “my angel goes before you,” setting over them the power of the Word as bearer of good news and guide; but keeping the Lord's own dignity, he says, “On the day I visit, I will bring their sin upon them,” that is, on the day I sit as judge I will repay what their sins deserve. For the same one is Instructor and Judge, and he judges those who disobey him; the loving Word does not pass over their sin in silence, but convicts it, so that they may repent. “For the Lord wills the repentance of the sinner rather than his death.” And let us, as infants, hearing of the sins of others, keep from similar offenses for fear of the threat, lest we suffer the same. What, then, was their sin? “That in their anger they killed men, and in their desire they hamstrung a bull; cursed be their anger.” Who, then, could train us more lovingly than he?

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:124 · 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
Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Exod 32:34 (twice), Ezek 18:23 and 33:11 (freely), and Gen 49:6–7.

Notes on the original text

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

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.7.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/7/58/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.7.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/7/58/).

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