Miscellanies 7.10.55
Summary: Knowledge perfects faith; faith is the foundation and Christ is both foundation and building; knowledge is handed down by tradition like a deposit, and it leads on to love and the inheritance.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ἔστιν γάρ, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ἡ γνῶσις τελείωσίς τις ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἀνθρώπου, διὰ τῆς τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμης συμπληρουμένη κατά τε τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὸν βίον καὶ τὸν λόγον, σύμφωνος καὶ ὁμόλογος ἑαυτῇ τε καὶ τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ. διὰ ταύτης γὰρ τελειοῦται ἡ πίστις, ὡς τελείου τοῦ πιστοῦ ταύτῃ μόνως γιγνομένου. πίστις μὲν οὖν ἐνδιάθετόν τί ἐστιν ἀγαθόν, καὶ ἄνευ τοῦ ζητεῖν τὸν θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσα εἶναι τοῦτον καὶ δοξάζουσα ὡς ὄντα. ὅθεν χρή, ἀπὸ ταύτης ἀναγόμενον τῆς πίστεως καὶ αὐξηθέντα ἐν αὐτῇ χάριτι τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ κομίσασθαι ὡς οἷόν τέ ἐστιν γνῶσιν. γνῶσιν δὲ σοφίας τῆς κατὰ διδασκαλίαν ἐγγινομένης διαφέρειν φαμέν. ᾗ μὲν γάρ τί ἐστι γνῶσις, ταύτῃ πάντως καὶ σοφία τυγχάνει, ᾗ δέ τι σοφία, οὐ πάντως γνῶσις. ἐν μόνῃ γὰρ τῇ τοῦ προφορικοῦ λόγου * τὸ τῆς σοφίας ὄνομα φαντάζεται. πλὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ διστάσαι περὶ θεοῦ, πιστεῦσαι δὲ θεμέλιος γνώσεως, ἄμφω δὲ ὁ Χριστός, ὅ τε θεμέλιος ἥ τε ἐποικοδομή, διʼ οὗ καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὰ τέλη. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄκρα οὐ διδάσκεται, ἥ τε ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, πίστις λέγω καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη, ἡ γνῶσις δὲ ἐκ παραδόσεως διαδιδομένη κατὰ χάριν θεοῦ τοῖς ἀξίους σφᾶς αὐτοὺς τῆς διδασκαλίας παρεχομένοις οἷον παρακαταθήκη ἐγχειρίζεται, ἀφʼ ἧς τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης ἀξίωμα ἐκλάμπει ἐκ φωτὸς εἰς φῶς. εἴρηται γὰρ »τῷ ἔχοντι προστεθήσεται«, τῇ μὲν πίστει ἡ γνῶσις, τῇ δὲ γνώσει ἡ ἀγάπη, τῇ ἀγάπῃ δὲ ἡ κληρονομία.
English · Claude translation
For knowledge is, so to speak, a kind of perfecting of the human being as human, brought to completion through the understanding of divine things in character, life, and speech, harmonious and consistent with itself and with the divine Word. For through it faith is perfected, since only in this way does the believer become perfect. Faith, then, is an inward good: even without seeking God it confesses that he exists and glorifies him as existing. Hence one must, starting from this faith and growing in it by the grace of God, acquire knowledge about him as far as possible. And we say that knowledge differs from the wisdom that comes through teaching. For insofar as something is knowledge, it is certainly also wisdom; but insofar as something is wisdom, it is not certainly knowledge. For the name of wisdom appears only in … spoken discourse. But not to doubt about God, and to believe, is the foundation of knowledge; and Christ is both, the foundation and what is built on it, through whom are both the beginning and the ends. The extremes, the beginning and the end, I mean faith and love, are not taught; but knowledge, handed down by tradition by the grace of God to those who show themselves worthy of the teaching, is entrusted to them like a deposit, and from it the dignity of love shines out from light to light. For it is said, “To him who has, more will be added”: to faith knowledge, to knowledge love, and to love the inheritance.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are 1 Cor 3:11–12 (foundation), Matt 13:12 / 25:29 (“to him who has”), and 2 Tim 1:12–14 (the deposit). An asterisk in the edition marks a gap after “only in”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text; word split in the digital text): ᾗ δέ τι σοφία. οὐ πάντως → ᾗ δέ τι σοφία, οὐ πάντως; παρακα ταθήκη → παρακαταθήκη.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.10.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/10/55/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.10.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/10/55/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text