The Instructor 1.8.74
Summary: The one God is good, just, and Creator; his rebukes are medicine, and even his “wrath” is love, since he stoops to human passions for the sake of humankind.
Greek text · Stählin 1:133
τὸ δὲ δίκαιον ἀγαθὸν εἰδὼς φαίνεταί που λέγων »ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος, καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή«, [καὶ] κατὰ τῆς αὐτῆς δυνάμεως ἄμφω τάσσων τὰ ὀνόματα. ἀλλὰ καὶ »οὐδεὶς εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ«· ὁ αὐτὸς ἄρα πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, ὁ ἓν ὤν, πολλαῖς μηνυόμενος δυνάμεσιν· καὶ τοῦτο ἦν τὸ »οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα«, πάντα αὐτὸν ὄντα, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὸν υἱόν· ὡς εἶναι ταῖς ἀληθείαις καταφανὲς τὸ τῶν συμπάντων θεὸν ἕνα μόνον εἶναι ἀγαθόν, δίκαιον, δημιουργόν, υἱὸν ἐν πατρί, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας [τῶν αἰώνων], ἀμήν. Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἀλλότριον τοῦ σωτηρίου λόγου κηδεμονικῶς λοιδορεῖσθαι. καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας φάρμακον, ἐξ οὗ τὸ τῆς αἰδοῦς ἐρύθημα ἐξανθεῖ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν αἰσχύνη παρεισδύεται. εἰ γὰρ ψέξαι χρή, καὶ λοιδορεῖσθαι δεῖ, ἔνθα τὴν ἀπηλγηκυῖαν ψυχὴν καιρός ἐστι τρῶσαι, οὐ θανασίμως, ἀλλὰ σωτηρίως, ὀλίγης ἀλγηδόνος ἀίδιον κερδάναντα θάνατον. πολλὴ δὲ ἡ σοφία περὶ τὴν παιδαγωγίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁ τρόπος τῆς οἰκονομίας αὐτοῦ ποικίλος εἰς σωτηρίαν. προσμαρτυρεῖ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ὁ παιδαγωγός, ἐκκαλεῖται δὲ τοὺς κλητοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω καὶ τοὺς ἀδικεῖν σπεύδοντας ἀποτρέπει τῆς ὁρμῆς, μεταθέσθαι δὲ εἰς ἀμείνω βίον παρακελεύεται. οὐδέτερον γὰρ ἀμάρτυρον θατέρου προσμαρτυρουμένου, ἥ τε χάρις ἐκ μαρτυρίας μεγίστη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐμπαθὲς τῆς ὀργῆς, εἰ δὴ ὀργὴν τὴν νουθεσίαν αὐτοῦ χρὴ καλεῖν, φιλάνθρωπόν ἐστιν εἰς πάθη καταβαίνοντος τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, διʼ ὃν καὶ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
And he clearly knows that the just is good when he says, “So the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good,” setting both names under the same power. And “no one knows the Son but the Father”; the same, then, is his Father, who is one, indicated by many powers. And this was the meaning of “no one knew the Father,” who is all these, before the Son came. So it is truly evident that the God of all things is one only: good, just, Creator, the Son in the Father; to whom be glory forever [and ever], amen. Nor is it foreign to the saving Word to rebuke out of care. For this too is a medicine of divine love for humankind, from which the blush of modesty blooms and shame at sinning creeps in. For if one must censure, one must also rebuke, when it is time to wound the callous soul, not mortally but savingly, escaping eternal death at the cost of a little pain. Great is the wisdom of his instruction, and varied the manner of his plan for salvation. For the Instructor bears witness to the good, calls out the called to better things, turns those eager to do wrong from their impulse, and urges them to change to a better life. Neither is without witness when the other is attested, and the grace from witness is very great; but even the passion of wrath, if we must call his admonition wrath, is loving, since God descends to passions for the sake of the human being, for whose sake the Word of God also became man.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 7:12 and a form of Matt 11:27 (Luke 10:22).
- “God descends to passions” means that Scripture speaks of God's wrath in human terms, as a condescension; Clement holds that God is not subject to passion.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/74/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/74/).
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