Miscellanies 2.23.147
Summary: The law's death penalty for adultery agrees with the gospel, since one Lord gave both: the adulteress dies to the commandments, but the one who repents is reborn; more is required of those given more. Book 2 ends here.
Greek text · Stählin 2:193–195
τί οὖν ὁ νόμος; πρὸς ἀναστολὴν τῆς εὐεπιφορίας τῶν παθῶν ἀναιρεῖσθαι προστάττει τὴν μοιχευθεῖσαν καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐλεγχθεῖσαν· ἐὰν δὲ ἱέρεια ᾖ, πυρὶ παραδίδοσθαι προστάττει. λιθοβολεῖται δὲ καὶ ὁ μοιχός, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τόπῳ, ἵνα μηδὲ ὁ θάνατος αὐτοῖς κοινὸς ᾖ. οὐ δὴ μάχεται τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὁ νόμος, συνᾴδει δὲ αὐτῷ. πῶς γὰρ οὐχί, ἑνὸς ὄντος ἀμφοῖν χορηγοῦ τοῦ κυρίου; ἡ γάρ τοι πορνεύσασα ζῇ μὲν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἀπέθανεν δὲ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς, ἡ δὲ μετανοήσασα οἷον ἀναγεννηθεῖσα κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν τοῦ βίου παλιγγενεσίαν ἔχει ζωῆς, τεθνηκυίας μὲν τῆς πόρνης τῆς παλαιᾶς, εἰς βίον δὲ παρελθούσης αὖθις τῆς κατὰ τὴν μετάνοιαν γεννηθείσης. μαρτυρεῖ τοῖς εἰρημένοις διὰ Ἰεζεκιὴλ τὸ πνεῦμα λέγον· οὐ βούλομαι τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι. αὐτίκα λιθόλευστοι γίνονται ὡς ἂν διὰ σκληροκαρδίαν ἀποθανόντες τῷ νόμῳ, ᾧ μὴ ἐπείσθησαν, τῇ δὲ ἱερείᾳ ἐπιτείνεται τὰ τῆς κολάσεως, ὅτι ᾧ πλεῖον ἐδόθη, οὗτος καὶ ἀπαιτηθήσεται. Περιγεγράφθω καὶ ὁ δεύτερος ἡμῖν ἐνθάδε Στρωματεὺς διὰ τὸ μῆκός τε καὶ πλῆθος τῶν κεφαλαίων.
English · Claude translation
What, then, of the law? To check the proneness of the passions, it commands that the woman who has committed adultery and been convicted of it be put to death; and if she is a priest's daughter, it commands that she be given to the fire. The adulterer too is stoned, but not in the same place, so that not even death may be shared by them. The law, then, does not fight with the gospel, but agrees with it. For how could it not, since the one Lord is the giver of both? For the woman who has committed sexual immorality lives in sin but has died to the commandments; while the one who has repented, as though born again by the conversion of her life, has a rebirth of life: the old harlot having died, and the one born by repentance having come to life again. The Spirit bears witness to what has been said through Ezekiel, saying: “I do not desire the death of the sinner so much as that he turn back.” So they are stoned, as having died to the law through hardness of heart, since they did not obey it; and the punishment is increased for the priest's daughter, because “to whom more was given, from him more will be required.” Let our second Miscellany be brought to a close here, because of its length and the number of its chapters.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions and quotations are Lev 20:10, Deut 22:22–24, Lev 21:9, Ezek 18:23 (33:11), and Luke 12:48. Clement reads the death penalty spiritually: the repentant sinner dies to her old life and is reborn. Lev 21:9 speaks of a priest's daughter; the Greek ἱέρεια may mean “priestess” or “priest's daughter.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent on the relative ᾧ; wrong breathing on οἷον): ἡ δὲ μετανοήσασα οἶον ἀναγεννηθεῖσα → ἡ δὲ μετανοήσασα οἷον ἀναγεννηθεῖσα; ἀποθανόντες τῷ νόμῳ, ᾦ μὴ → ἀποθανόντες τῷ νόμῳ, ᾧ μὴ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.147 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/147/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.147 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/147/).
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