The Instructor 3.11.81
Summary: Those who say “let us eat and drink” are already dead to God, and Paul excludes such sinners from the kingdom; love is shown by goodwill, not by the church kiss, which should be holy and restrained.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 1:280–281
»φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν.« οἳ δὲ οὐκ αὔριον ἀληθῶς, ἀλλʼ ἤδη τεθνήκασι τῷ θεῷ, θάπτοντες τοὺς σφετέρους νεκρούς, τουτέστιν αὑτοὺς εἰς θάνατον κατορύττοντες. ἀντιτάσσεται δὲ αὐτοῖς εὖ μάλα ἐρρωμένως ὁ ἀπόστολος· »μὴ πλανᾶσθε· οὔτε μοιχοὶ οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι,« καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τούτοις ἐπᾴδει, »βασιλείαν θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν.« εἰ δὲ καὶ εἰς βασιλείαν θεοῦ κεκλήμεθα, ἀξίως τῆς βασιλείας πολιτευώμεθα θεὸν ἀγαπῶντες καὶ τὸν πλησίον. ἀγάπη δὲ οὐκ ἐν φιλήματι, ἀλλʼ ἐν εὐνοίᾳ κρίνεται. οἳ δὲ οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ φιλήματι καταψοφοῦσι τὰς ἐκκλησίας, τὸ φιλοῦν ἔνδον οὐκ ἔχοντες αὐτό. καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο ἐκπέπληκεν ὑπονοίας αἰσχρᾶς καὶ βλασφημίας τὸ ἀνέδην χρῆσθαι τῷ φιλήματι, ὅπερ ἐχρῆν εἶναι μυστικόν (»ἅγιον« αὐτὸ κέκληκεν ὁ ἀπόστολος), † ἀπογευομένης [ἀξίως τῆς βασιλείας πολιτευώμεθα] τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν εὔνοιαν διὰ στόματος σώφρονος καὶ μεμυκότος, διʼ οὗ μάλιστα διακονεῖται τρόπος ἥμερος. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἄναγνον φίλημα, πλῆρες ἰοῦ, ἁγιωσύνην ὑποκρινόμενον.
English · Claude translation
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” But they are not dying tomorrow; truly they are already dead to God, burying their own dead, that is, burying themselves into death. The apostle opposes them very forcefully: “Do not be deceived: neither adulterers nor effeminate men nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,” and whatever else he adds in the same strain, “will inherit the kingdom of God.” If we have been called into the kingdom of God, let us live worthily of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbor. Love is judged not by a kiss but by goodwill. But there are those who do nothing but make the churches resound with a kiss, not having love itself within. For this very thing, the unrestrained use of the kiss, which ought to be mystical (the apostle has called it “holy”), has filled the churches with shameful suspicions and evil reports; the soul should taste goodwill through a self-controlled and closed mouth, through which above all a gentle disposition is expressed. There is also another, impure kiss, full of poison, pretending to holiness.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 15:32 (Isa 22:13), 1 Cor 6:9–10, and Rom 16:16 (“holy kiss”); “burying their own dead” echoes Matt 8:22. The Greek of the sentence about the holy kiss is corrupt; the edition marks it with a dagger and brackets a repeated phrase (“let us live worthily of the kingdom”), which the translation omits.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): οι, « → οι,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/81/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/81/).
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