Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.12.83

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

Summary: Basilides, pressed about the Lord's sufferings, would call even him a sinful man; his theory that martyrs are punished for sins in a former life fails, since confessing or denying rests with our choice.

Greek text · Stählin 2:284–285

εἶθʼ ὑποβὰς καὶ περὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἄντικρυς ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπου λέγει· ἐὰν μέντοι παραλιπὼν τούτους ἅπαντας τοὺς λόγους ἔλθῃς ἐπὶ τὸ δυσωπεῖν με διὰ προσώπων τινῶν, εἰ τύχοι, λέγων, ὁ δεῖνα οὖν ἥμαρτεν, ἔπαθεν γὰρ ὁ δεῖνα, ἐὰν μὲν ἐπιτρέπῃς, ἐρῶ, οὐχ ἥμαρτεν μέν, ὅμοιος δὲ ἦν τῷ πάσχοντι νηπίῳ· εἰ μέντοι σφοδρότερον ἐκβιάσαιο τὸν λόγον, ἐρῶ, ἄνθρωπον ὅντινʼ ἂν ὀνομάσῃς ἄνθρωπον εἶναι, δίκαιον δὲ τὸν θεόν. καθαρὸς γὰρ οὐδείς, ὥσπερ εἶπέ τις, ἀπὸ ῥύπου. ἀλλὰ τῷ Βασιλείδῃ ἡ ὑπόθεσις προαμαρτήσασάν φησι τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν ἑτέρῳ βίῳ τὴν κόλασιν ὑπομένειν ἐνταῦθα, τὴν μὲν ἐκλεκτὴν ἐπιτίμως διὰ μαρτυρίου, τὴν ἄλλην δὲ καθαιρομένην οἰκείᾳ κολάσει. καὶ πῶς τοῦτο ἀληθὲς ἐφʼ ἡμῖν κειμένου τοῦ ὁμολογῆσαι καὶ κολασθῆναι ἢ μή; λύεται γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀρνησομένου ἡ κατὰ τὸν Βασιλείδην πρόνοια.

English · Claude translation

Then, going on, he speaks even about the Lord plainly as about a man: “If, however, leaving all these arguments, you come to shame me by pointing to certain persons, saying, for instance, ‘So-and-so, then, sinned, for so-and-so suffered,’ I will say, if you allow me, that he did not sin, but was like the suffering infant; but if you press the argument more forcefully, I will say that whatever man you name is a man, but God is righteous. For no one is pure from filth,” as someone said. But Basilides' hypothesis says that the soul, having sinned beforehand in another life, undergoes punishment here: the elect honorably through martyrdom, the other purified by an appropriate punishment. And how is this true, when confessing and being punished, or not, rests with us? For in the case of one who will deny, Basilides' providence is undone.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:284–285 · 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
Martyrdom, Heresy, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation of Basilides continues; the allusion is Job 14:4 (LXX). “Whatever man you name” hints that Basilides would include Christ.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.83 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/83/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.83 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/83/).

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