Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.9.48

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

Summary: The best washing is spiritual, cleansing the inside first, as the Lord taught and Isaiah prophesied; the body can be washed with plain water.

Greek text · Stählin 1:264

καὶ πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς φησιν· »οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, ὅτι καθαρίζετε τὸ ἔξω τοῦ ποτηρίου καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, ἔνδοθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ἀκαθαρσίας. καθάρισον πρῶτον τὸ ἔνδον τοῦ ποτηρίου, ἵνα γένηται καὶ τὸ ἔξωθεν καθαρόν.« τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄριστον λουτρὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποσμήχει τὸν ῥύπον καί ἐστι πνευματικόν, ἐφʼ οὗ διαρρήδην ἡ προφητεία λέγει· »ἐκπλυνεῖ κύριος τὸν ῥύπον τῶν υἱῶν καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων Ἰσραήλ, καὶ καθαριεῖ τὸ αἷμα ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν«, τὸ αἷμα τῆς ἀνομίας καὶ τῶν προφητῶν τοὺς φόνους. καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς καθάρσεως ἐπήγαγεν ὁ λόγος εἰπών· »ἐν πνεύματι κρίσεως καὶ ἐν πνεύματι καύσεως.« τὸ δὲ τοῦ σώματος τὸ σαρκικὸν καὶ διὰ μόνου ὕδατος ἀποπληροῦται, καθάπερ ἐν ἀγροῖς γίνεται πολλάκις, ὅπου βαλανεῖον οὐκ ἔστιν.

English · Claude translation

And again he says to the same people: “Woe to you, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of uncleanness. Clean first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.” The best bath, then, wipes off the filth of the soul and is spiritual; of it prophecy says expressly: “The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Israel, and will cleanse the blood from their midst,” the blood of lawlessness and the murders of the prophets. And the Word added the manner of cleansing, saying: “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The fleshly washing of the body is accomplished even by water alone, as often happens in the country, where there is no bath.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:264 · 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
Ethics, Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Matt 23:25–26 and Isa 4:4.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.9.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/9/48/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.9.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/9/48/).

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