Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.12.97

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

Summary: These are a few of Scripture's many precepts, including those for presbyters, bishops, deacons, and widows; their deeper interpretation belongs to the Teacher, to whom the Instructor now sends us.

Greek text · Stählin 1:289

Ὀλίγα ταῦτα ἐκ πολλῶν δείγματος χάριν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν διεξελθὼν τῶν θείων γραφῶν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τοῖς αὑτοῦ παρατίθεται παισίν, διʼ ὧν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ἄρδην ἐκκόπτεται κακία καὶ περιγράφεται ἀδικία. μυρίαι δὲ ὅσαι ὑποθῆκαι εἰς πρόσωπα ἐκλεκτὰ διατείνουσαι ἐγγεγράφαται ταῖς βίβλοις ταῖς ἁγίαις, αἳ μὲν πρεσβυτέροις, αἳ δὲ ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις, ἄλλαι χήραις, περὶ ὧν ἄλλος ἂν εἴη λέγειν καιρός. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ παραβολῶν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν ἔξεστιν ὠφελεῖσθαι. ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐμόν, φησὶν ὁ παιδαγωγός, διδάσκειν ἔτι ταῦτα, διδασκάλου δὲ εἰς τὴν ἐξήγησιν τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων λόγων χρῄζομεν, πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν βαδιστέον.

English · Claude translation

These few out of many, for the sake of example, the Instructor has gone through from the divine Scriptures themselves and sets before his children; through them, so to speak, vice is cut out root and branch and injustice is circumscribed. Countless counsels addressed to chosen persons are written in the holy books, some to presbyters, some to bishops and deacons, others to widows, about which there will be another occasion to speak. Many things, too, through riddles, and many through parables, readers may profit from. “But it is not my task,” says the Instructor, “to teach these things any longer. We need a Teacher for the interpretation of those holy words, to whom we must go.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:289 · 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
Church office, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The precepts for church offices are those of the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 3; 5; Titus 1–2).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.97 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/97/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.97 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/97/).

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