Miscellanies 6.12.97
Summary: Man was made in God's image for incorruption, and the knower strives toward perfection; he is pure even in speech, understands the nature of sin itself, and so has the higher repentance that prevents sin rather than follows it.
Greek text · Stählin 2:480–481
ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐκ ἔγνωσαν μυστήρια θεοῦ, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς ἰδίας ἰδιότητος ἐποίησεν αὐτόν, καθʼ ἣν ἰδιότητα τοῦ πάντα εἰδότος ὁ γνωστικὸς καὶ δίκαιος καὶ ὅσιος μετὰ φρονήσεως εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τελείας ἀφικνεῖσθαι σπεύδει. ὅτι δʼ οὐ μόνον αἱ πράξεις καὶ αἱ ἔννοιαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ λόγοι καθαρεύουσι τῷ γνωστικῷ. ἐδοκίμασας τὴν καρδίαν μου, ἐπεσκέψω νυκτὸς φησίν· ἐπύρωσάς με καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν ἐμοὶ ἀδικία, ὅπως ἂν μὴ λαλήσῃ τὸ στόμα μου τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ τί λέγει τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων; αὐτὴν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν γνωρίζει, οὐ παραχθεῖσαν ἐπὶ μετάνοιαν (κοινὸν γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πιστῶν), ἀλλʼ ὅ ἐστιν ἁμαρτία· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῆσδέ τινος καταγινώσκει, ἀλλʼ ἁπλῶς πάσης τῆς ἁμαρτίας· οὐδʼ ὃ ἐποίησέν τις κακῶς, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ποιητέον συνίστησιν. ὅθεν καὶ ἡ μετάνοια δισσή· ἣ μὲν κοινὴ ἐπὶ τῷ πεπλημμεληκέναι, ἣ δέ, τὴν φύσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καταμαθοῦσα, ἀφίστασθαι τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν αὐτοῦ κατὰ προηγούμενον λόγον πείθει, ᾧ ἕπεται τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν.
English · Claude translation
But, it seems, they did not know the mysteries of God: that God created man for incorruption and made him an image of his own proper being; and according to this proper being of the one who knows all things, the one who knows, righteous and holy with prudence, hastens to arrive at the measure of full maturity. And that in the one who knows not only actions and thoughts but also words are pure, is shown here: “You tested my heart, you visited it by night,” it says; “you tried me by fire, and no injustice was found in me, so that my mouth might not speak the works of men.” And what does it mean by “the works of men”? He recognizes sin itself, not only sin that has been brought to repentance (for that is common to the other believers too), but what sin is. For he does not condemn this or that sin, but simply all sin; nor does he set out what someone has done wrongly, but what must not be done. Hence repentance too is twofold: the one is common, for having transgressed; the other, having learned the nature of sin, persuades one to withdraw from sinning itself by a reason that goes before, which is followed by not sinning.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Wis 2:22–23 and Ps 17:3–4 (16:3–4 LXX); “the measure of full maturity” is Eph 4:13.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.12.97 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/12/97/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.12.97 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/12/97/).
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