Exhortation to the Greeks 1.8
Summary: The Lord has always called humanity to salvation in many ways, through signs, the prophets, and at last by becoming a human being himself.
Greek text · Stählin 1:8–9
ἐναργῶς εἰς σωτηρίαν παρακαλῶν. φύγωμεν οὖν ἀποστολικῇ πειθόμενοι παραγγελίᾳ »τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας,« καὶ τῷ σωτῆρι τῷ κυρίῳ προσδράμωμεν, ὃς καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ προὔτρεπεν εἰς σωτηρίαν, διὰ τεράτων καὶ σημείων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ἐν ἐρήμῳ δὲ διά τε τῆς βάτου καὶ τῆς ἀκολουθούσης χάριτι φιλανθρωπίας θεραπαίνης δίκην Ἑβραίοις νεφέλης. τούτων μὲν δὴ τῷ φόβῳ τούς σκληροκαρδίους προὔτρεπεν· ἤδη δὲ καὶ διὰ Μωσέως τοῦ πανσόφου καὶ τοῦ φιλαλήθους Ἡσαΐα καὶ παντὸς τοῦ προφητικοῦ χοροῦ λογικώτερον ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον ἐπιστρέφει τοὺς [τὰ] ὦτα κεκτημένους· καὶ ἔσθʼ ὅπῃ μὲν λοιδορεῖται, ἔστιν δʼ οὗ καὶ ἀπειλεῖ· τοὺς δὲ καὶ θρηνεῖ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ᾄδει δὲ ἄλλοις, καθάπερ ἰατρὸς ἀγαθὸς τῶν νοσούντων σωμάτων τὰ μὲν καταπλάττων, τὰ δὲ καταλεαίνων, τὰ δὲ καταντλῶν, τὰ δὲ καὶ σιδήρῳ διαιρῶν, ἐπικαίων δὲ ἄλλα, ἔστι δʼ οὗ καὶ ἀποπρίων, εἴ πως οἷόν τε κἂν παρὰ μέρος ἢ μέλος τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑγιᾶναι. πολύφωνός γε ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ πολύτροπος εἰς ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίαν· ἀπειλῶν νουθετεῖ, λοιδορούμενος ἐπιστρέφει, θρηνῶν ἐλεεῖ, ψάλλων παρακαλεῖ, διὰ βάτου λαλεῖ (σημείων ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τεράτων ἔχρῃζον) καὶ τῷ πυρὶ δεδίττεται τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀνάπτων ἐκ κίονος τὴν φλόγα, δεῖγμα ὁμοῦ χάριτος καὶ φόβου· ἐὰν ὑπακούσῃς, τὸ φῶς, ἐὰν παρακούσῃς, τὸ πῦρ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ κίονος καὶ βάτου ἡ σὰρξ τιμιωτέρα, προφῆται μετʼ ἐκεῖνα φθέγγονται, αὐτὸς ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ ὁ κύριος λαλῶν, αὐτὸς ἐν Ἡλίᾳ, ἐν στόματι προφητῶν αὐτός· σὺ δὲ ἀλλʼ εἰ προφήταις μὴ πιστεύεις, μῦθον δʼ ὑπολαμβάνεις καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ τὸ πῦρ, αὐτός σοι λαλήσει ὁ κύριος, »ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ· ἐκένωσεν δὲ ἑαυτόν« ὁ φιλοικτίρμων θεός, σῶσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον γλιχόμενος· καὶ αὐτὸς ἤδη σοὶ ἐναργῶς ὁ λόγος λαλεῖ, δυσωπῶν τὴν ἀπιστίαν, ναί φημι, ὁ λόγος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος, ἵνα δὴ καὶ σὺ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου μάθῃς, πῇ ποτε ἄρα ἄνθρωπος γένηται
English · Claude translation
… plainly calls us to salvation. Let us flee, then, obeying the apostle's command, from “the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience,” and let us run to our Savior, the Lord, who both now and always has urged us toward salvation: through wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the desert through the bush and through the cloud that, by the grace of his love for humankind, followed the Hebrews like a handmaid. By the fear these inspired he urged the hard-hearted; and now, through Moses the all-wise, Isaiah the lover of truth, and the whole chorus of prophets, he turns to the Word, in a more reasonable way, those who have ears. Sometimes he rebukes, sometimes he threatens; some people he mourns over; to others he sings, like a good physician who, for diseased bodies, puts poultices on some parts, soothes others, bathes others, cuts others with the knife, cauterizes others, and in some cases amputates, if in any way he can make the patient healthy, even at the cost of a part or a limb. The Savior has many voices and many ways for the salvation of human beings. He threatens in order to admonish; he rebukes in order to convert; he mourns in order to show pity; he sings in order to encourage. He speaks through the bush (those people needed signs and wonders), and he frightens human beings with fire, kindling the flame from the pillar, a token of grace and of fear together: if you obey, the light; if you disobey, the fire. But since the flesh is more honorable than the pillar and the bush, after those things the prophets speak: the Lord himself speaking in Isaiah, himself in Elijah, himself in the mouth of the prophets. But if you do not believe the prophets, and take both the men and the fire for a myth, the Lord himself will speak to you, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself,” the compassionate God, longing to save the human being. And the Word himself now speaks to you plainly, putting your unbelief to shame; yes, I say, the Word of God became a human being, so that you too may learn from a human being how a human being may become …
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The famous sentence “the Word of God became a human being, so that you too may learn from a human being how a human being may become God” is split between this section and the next by the digitization's section marker.
- The quotations are Eph 2:2 and Phil 2:6–7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): είας, « → είας,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/8/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/8/).
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