Miscellanies 3.18.107
Summary: Christ warns against leading his elect astray; Paul forbids association with the sexually immoral but does not call marriage immorality; spouses must not deprive each other except by agreement for a time.
Greek text · Stählin 2:245–246
εἰς ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν μὴ ἀπέλθητε καὶ εἰς πόλιν Σαμαρειτῶν μὴ εἰσέλθητε, τῆς ἐναντίας πολιτείας ἀποτρέπων ἡμᾶς ὁ κύριος λέγει, ἐπεὶ ἡ καταστροφὴ ἀνδρῶν παρανόμων κακή. καὶ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ ὁδοὶ πάντων τῶν συντελούντων τὰ ἄνομα. οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ, φησὶν ὁ κύριος· καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ εἰ μὴ ἐγεννήθη, ἢ ἕνα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν μου σκανδαλίσαι· κρεῖττον ἦν αὐτῷ περιτεθῆναι μύλον καὶ καταποντισθῆναι εἰς θάλασσαν, ἢ ἕνα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν μου διαστρέψαι· τὸ γὰρ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ διʼ αὐτοὺς βλασφημεῖται. ὅθεν γενναίως ὁ ἀπόστολος ἔγραψα ὑμῖν φησὶν ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι πόρνοις ἕως τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ κύριος τῷ σώματι. καὶ ὅτι οὐ τὸν γάμον πορνείαν λέγει, ἐπιφέρει· ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ὁ κολλώμενος τῇ πόρνῃ ἓν σῶμά ἐστιν; ἢ πόρνην τις ἐρεῖ τὴν παρθένον πρὶν ἢ γῆμαι; καὶ μὴ ἀποστερεῖτε, φησίν, ἀλλήλους, εἰ μὴ ἐκ συμφώνου πρὸς καιρόν, διὰ τῆς ἀποστερεῖτε λέξεως τὸ ὀφείλημα τοῦ γάμου, τὴν παιδοποιίαν, ἐμφαίνων, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών, τῇ γυναικὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἀποδιδότω, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τῷ ἀνδρί,
English · Claude translation
“Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans,” the Lord says, turning us away from the opposite way of life, since “the end of lawless men is evil,” and “these are the ways of all who accomplish lawless things.” “Woe to that man,” says the Lord; “it would have been good for him not to have been born, rather than to cause one of my elect to stumble; it would have been better for him to have a millstone put around him and be drowned in the sea, rather than to pervert one of my elect.” “For the name of God is blasphemed because of them.” That is why the apostle nobly says, “I wrote to you in the letter not to associate with the sexually immoral,” as far as “but the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” And to show that he does not call marriage sexual immorality, he adds: “Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her?” Or will anyone call a virgin a prostitute before she marries? “And do not deprive one another,” he says, “except by agreement for a time,” by the word “deprive” showing the debt of marriage, the begetting of children, which he made clear earlier, saying: “Let the husband render to the wife what is due, and likewise the wife to the husband,”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 10:5, Prov 11:3 (LXX), Prov 1:19, a saying of the Lord in the same form as 1 Clem. 46.8 (compare Matt 26:24; 18:6; Luke 17:2), Rom 2:24, and 1 Cor 5:9; 6:13, 16; 7:5, 3.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.18.107 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/18/107/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.18.107 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/18/107/).
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