Miscellanies 6.16.136
Summary: The bodily spirit is the seat of perception and desire; “You shall not covet” means ruling that spirit, and man is God's image not in bodily shape but because, as God creates by the Word, the knower acts well by reason.
Greek text · Stählin 2:500–501
διὰ τοῦ σωματικοῦ ἄρα πνεύματος αἰσθάνεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἥδεται, ὀργίζεται, τρέφεται, αὔξεται· καὶ δὴ καὶ πρὸς τὰς πράξεις διὰ τούτου πορεύεται τὰς κατʼ ἔννοιάν τε καὶ διάνοιαν, καὶ ἐπειδὰν κρατῇ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, βασιλεύει τὸ ἡγεμονικόν. τὸ οὖν οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις οὐ δουλεύσεις φησὶ τῷ σαρκικῷ πνεύματι, ἀλλὰ ἄρξεις αὐτοῦ, ἐπεὶ ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ εἰς τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἀτακτεῖν ἐπανίσταται, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκὸς εἰς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διεξαγωγὴν ἐπικρατεῖ· μή τι οὖν εἰκότως κατʼ εἰκόνα θεοῦ γεγονέναι ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἴρηται, οὐ κατὰ τῆς κατασκευῆς τὸ σχῆμα, ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ ὁ μὲν θεὸς λόγῳ τὰ πάντα δημιουργεῖ, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὁ γνωστικὸς γενόμενος τῷ λογικῷ τὰς καλὰς πράξεις ἐπιτελεῖ. εἰκότως τοίνυν αἱ δύο πλάκες τὰς τοῖς δισσοῖς πνεύμασι τὰς δεδομένας ἐντολὰς τῷ τε πλασθέντι τῷ τε ἡγεμονικῷ τὰς πρὸ τοῦ νόμου παραδεδομένας ἀλλαχῇ εἴρηνται μηνύειν· καὶ τὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων κινήματα κατά τε τὴν διάνοιαν ἀποτυποῦνται κατά τε τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐνέργειαν φανεροῦνται· ἐξ ἀμφοῖν γὰρ ἡ κατάληψις.
English · Claude translation
Through the bodily spirit, then, man perceives, desires, feels pleasure, becomes angry, is nourished, and grows; and indeed through it he proceeds to actions in accordance with thought and reasoning; and when it masters the desires, the ruling part reigns. The commandment “You shall not desire,” then, says: you shall not be a slave to the fleshly spirit, but shall rule over it; since “the flesh desires against the spirit” and rises up to disorder contrary to nature, “and the spirit against the flesh” prevails, for the conduct of man according to nature. Is it not, then, fitting that man is said to have been made in the image of God, not in the shape of his constitution, but because God creates all things by the Word, and man, when he has become a knower, accomplishes good actions by his reasoning faculty? Fittingly, then, the two tablets are said elsewhere to indicate the commandments given to the two spirits, to the one that was formed and to the ruling one, those handed down before the law; and the movements of the senses are both imprinted in thought and made manifest in the activity that comes from the body; for apprehension comes from both.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Exod 20:17 (Deut 5:21) and Gal 5:17; the allusion is Gen 1:26–27. “By the Word” (λόγῳ) and “by his reasoning faculty” (τῷ λογικῷ) are a wordplay.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.136 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/136/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.136 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/136/).
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