Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.3.11

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

Summary: The fear produced by the law is not a passion, for the law is holy and spiritual; death is not an evil; the end of sin is death, but God's gift is eternal life in Christ.

Greek text · Stählin 2:253

οὔκουν πάθος ὁ φόβος οὗ γεννητικὸς ὁ νόμος. ὥστε ὁ νόμος ἅγιος καὶ τῷ ὄντι πνευματικός ἐστι κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον. δεῖ δή, ὡς ἔοικε, τήν γε τοῦ σώματος φύσιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίαν πολυπραγμονήσαντας τὸ ἑκατέρου τέλος καταλαβέσθαι καὶ μὴ τὸν θάνατον ἡγεῖσθαι κακόν· ὅτε γὰρ δοῦλοι ἦτε τῆς ἁμαρτίας, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἐλεύθεροι ἦτε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. τίνα οὖν καρπὸν εἴχετε τότε; ἐφʼ οἷς νῦν ἐπαισχύνεσθε· τὸ γὰρ τέλος ἐκείνων θάνατος. νῦν δὲ ἐλευθερωθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, δουλωθέντες δὲ τῷ θεῷ, ἔχετε τὸν καρπὸν ὑμῶν εἰς ἁγιασμόν, τὸ δὲ τέλος ζωὴν αἰώνιον. τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος, τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.

English · Claude translation

So the fear that the law produces is not a passion. So “the law is holy” and truly “spiritual,” according to the apostle. We must, it seems, inquire closely into the nature of the body and the substance of the soul, understand the end of each, and not consider death an evil. “For when you were slaves of sin,” says the apostle, “you were free with regard to righteousness. What fruit, then, did you have then? Things of which you are now ashamed; for the end of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit for sanctification, and the end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:253 · 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, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Rom 7:12, 14 and Rom 6:20–23.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.3.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/3/11/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.3.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/3/11/).

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