Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.11.75

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Peter urges Christians as exiles to abstain from fleshly desires and not use freedom as a cover for evil; Paul teaches that those who died to sin cannot live in it.

Greek text · Stählin 2:229

διὸ καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος Πέτρος φησίν· ἀγαπητοί, παρακαλῶ ὡς παροίκους καὶ παρεπιδήμους ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν σαρκικῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, αἵτινες στρατεύονται κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς, τὴν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν καλὴν ἔχοντες ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· ὅτι οὕτως ἐστὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀγαθοποιοῦντας φιμοῦν τὴν τῶν ἀφρόνων ἀνθρώπων ἐργασίαν, ὡς ἐλεύθεροι καὶ μὴ ὡς ἐπικάλυμμα ἔχοντες τῆς κακίας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλʼ ὡς δοῦλοι θεοῦ. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ γράφει· οἵτινες ἀπεθάνομεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, πῶς ἔτι ζήσομεν ἐν αὐτῇ; ὅτι ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος συνεσταυρώθη, ἵνα καταργηθῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἕως μηδὲ παριστάνετε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ.

English · Claude translation

That is why the admirable Peter says: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly desires, which wage war against the soul, keeping your conduct good among the Gentiles; for thus is the will of God, that by doing good you should silence the doings of foolish men, as free people, and not having your freedom as a cover for evil, but as slaves of God.” Likewise Paul too writes in the letter to the Romans: “We who died to sin, how shall we still live in it? Because our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away,” as far as “nor present your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:229 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics, Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are 1 Pet 2:11–12, 15–16 and Rom 6:2, 6–13. At 1 Pet 2:15 Clement's text reads “doings” (ἐργασίαν) where the New Testament has “ignorance” (ἀγνωσίαν).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.75 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/75/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.75 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/75/).

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