Miscellanies 4.18.113
Summary: Love keeps one from sin, and if one falls, confession and a broken spirit please God; God is love, and love fulfills the law, as Christ does; the same deed differs as done from fear or from love, by faith or by knowledge.
Greek text · Stählin 2:298
ἡ ἀγάπη ἁμαρτάνειν οὐκ ἐᾷ· ἢν δὲ καὶ περιπέσῃ ἄκων τοιαύτῃ τινὶ περιστάσει διὰ τὰς παρεμπτώσεις τοῦ ἀντικειμένου, μιμησάμενος τὸν Δαβὶδ ψαλεῖ· ›ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ἀρέσει αὐτῷ ὑπὲρ μόσχον νέον, φέροντα κέρατα καὶ ὁπλάς. ἰδέτωσαν πτωχοὶ καὶ εὐφρανθήτωσαν.‹ λέγει γάρ· ›θῦσον τῷ θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ κυρίῳ τὰς εὐχάς σου· καὶ ἐπικάλεσαί με ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς σου, καὶ ἐξελοῦμαί σε καὶ δοξάσεις με·‹ ›θυσία γὰρ τῷ θεῷ πνεῦμα συντετριμμένον.‹ ἀγάπη τοίνυν καὶ ὁ θεὸς εἴρηται, ἀγαθὸς ὢν. οὗ ἡ ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον οὐκ ἐργάζεται, μήτε ἀδικοῦσα μήτε ἀνταδικοῦσά ποτε, ἀγαθοποιοῦσα δὲ πρὸς πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς κατʼ εἰκόνα θεοῦ. πλήρωμα οὖν νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη, καθάπερ ὁ Χριστός, τουτέστιν ἡ παρουσία τοῦ ἀγαπῶντος ἡμᾶς κυρίου, καὶ ἡ κατὰ Χριστὸν ἀγαπητικὴ ἡμῶν διδασκαλία τε καὶ πολιτεία. ἀγάπῃ γοῦν τὸ μὴ μοιχεῦσαι καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐπιθυμῆσαι τῆς τοῦ πλησίον τελειοῦται, φόβῳ πρότερον κεκωλυμένον. τὸ αὐτὸ γοῦν ἔργον διαφορὰν ἴσχει ἢ διὰ φόβον γενόμενον ἢ διʼ ἀγάπην τελεσθὲν καὶ ἤτοι διὰ πίστεως ἢ καὶ γνωστικῶς ἐνεργούμενον.
English · Claude translation
Love does not allow one to sin; and if one should fall unwillingly into such a situation through the intrusions of the adversary, imitating David he will sing: “I will confess to the Lord, and it will please him more than a young calf bearing horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it and rejoice.” For he says: “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Lord; and call on me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.” “For a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit.” God, then, is called love, being good. His love “does no wrong to the neighbor,” neither wronging nor ever wronging in return, but doing good to all without exception, according to the image of God. So “love is the fulfillment of the law,” as Christ is, that is, the coming of the Lord who loves us, and our loving teaching and conduct according to Christ. By love, at any rate, not committing adultery and not desiring the neighbor's wife is perfected, which was formerly prevented by fear. The same deed, then, differs according to whether it is done through fear or accomplished through love, and whether it is worked through faith or in the way of knowledge.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 69:30–32 (68:31–33 LXX), Ps 50:14–15 (49:14–15 LXX), Ps 51:17 (50:19 LXX), 1 John 4:8, and Rom 13:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ὢν): ἀγαθὸς ὤν. οὗ ἡ ἀγάπη → ἀγαθὸς ὢν. οὗ ἡ ἀγάπη.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.113 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/113/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.113 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/113/).
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