1 Clement

Contents

1. 0The church at Rome greets the church at Corinth.
2. 1.1The Roman church apologizes for its delay in addressing the revolt at Corinth.
3. 1.2The Corinthians were once famous for faith, piety, hospitality, and knowledge.
4. 1.3The Corinthians once respected their leaders and elders, and their households were well ordered.
5. 2.1The Corinthians were humble, generous, and attentive to Christ's words and sufferings.
6. 2.2The church enjoyed deep peace and the fullness of the Spirit.
7. 2.3They prayed for forgiveness even of unintended sins.
8. 2.4They labored in prayer for the salvation of all believers.
9. 2.5They bore no grudges.
10. 2.6They hated division and shared one another's failings.
11. 2.7They were always ready to do good.
12. 2.8God's commandments were written on their hearts.
13. 3.1Prosperity made the Corinthians proud, as Scripture foretold.
14. 3.2Pride bred jealousy, strife, and disorder.
15. 3.3The young rose up against their elders.
16. 3.4Jealousy, through which death entered the world, has driven out peace.
17. 4.1The story of Cain and Abel begins.
18. 4.2God accepted Abel's offering, not Cain's.
19. 4.3Cain was angry.
20. 4.4God questions Cain.
21. 4.5God's warning to Cain.
22. 4.6Cain killed his brother.
23. 4.7Jealousy led to fratricide.
24. 4.8Jealousy drove Jacob into flight.
25. 4.9Jealousy sold Joseph into slavery.
26. 4.10Jealousy forced Moses to flee Egypt.
27. 4.11Jealousy put Aaron and Miriam outside the camp.
28. 4.12Revolt against Moses destroyed Dathan and Abiram.
29. 4.13Jealousy made Saul persecute David.
30. 5.1Turning to recent examples.
31. 5.2The greatest pillars of the church were persecuted to death.
32. 5.3The example of the apostles.
33. 5.4Peter endured many trials and died a martyr.
34. 5.5Paul showed the way to the prize of endurance.
35. 5.6Paul's sufferings and preaching in East and West.
36. 5.7Paul preached to the ends of the West and died a martyr.
37. 6.1A great multitude of Roman Christians also suffered.
38. 6.2Christian women were tortured in cruel spectacles but finished the race of faith.
39. 6.3Jealousy has broken up marriages.
40. 6.4Jealousy has destroyed cities and nations.
41. 7.1The Romans face the same struggle as the Corinthians.
42. 7.2Return to the rule of the tradition.
43. 7.3Seek what pleases God.
44. 7.4Christ's precious blood won the grace of repentance for the world.
45. 7.5God has always given opportunity to repent.
46. 7.6Noah preached repentance.
47. 7.7The Ninevites repented and were saved.
48. 8.1The prophets spoke of repentance by the Spirit.
49. 8.2God swore that he desires repentance, not death.
50. 8.3God promises to hear all who turn to him, however great their sins.
51. 8.4Isaiah's call to repentance: though your sins are scarlet, they will be white as snow.
52. 8.5God wills all his beloved to repent.
53. 9.1Obey God's will and abandon strife and jealousy.
54. 9.2Look to those who served God perfectly.
55. 9.3Enoch was taken up because of his obedience.
56. 9.4Noah's faithfulness saved the creatures in the ark.
57. 10.1Abraham, God's friend, was faithful and obedient.
58. 10.2Abraham obediently left his home to inherit God's promises.
59. 10.3God's call and promise to Abraham.
60. 10.4God promised Abraham the land.
61. 10.5God promised Abraham countless descendants.
62. 10.6Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
63. 10.7Abraham received Isaac and offered him to God.
64. 11.1Lot was saved from Sodom because of his hospitality.
65. 11.2Lot's wife became a warning against doubt.
66. 12.1Rahab was saved by faith and hospitality.
67. 12.2Joshua's spies are hunted in Jericho.
68. 12.3Rahab hid the spies.
69. 12.4Rahab misled the king's men.
70. 12.5Rahab confessed that God was giving Israel the land.
71. 12.6The spies promised to save Rahab's household.
72. 12.7Rahab's scarlet cord foreshadowed redemption through Christ's blood.
73. 12.8Rahab had faith and prophecy.
74. 13.1Be humble, boasting only in the Lord, and remember Jesus's teaching.
75. 13.2Jesus's sayings on mercy, forgiveness, and judgment.
76. 13.3Obey Christ's words with humility.
77. 13.4God looks on the humble.
78. 14.1Obey God, not the ringleaders of jealousy.
79. 14.2Following troublemakers is dangerous.
80. 14.3Be kind, as God is kind.
81. 14.4The kind will inherit the land.
82. 14.5The proud vanish, but the peaceable have a future.
83. 15.1Side with those who truly seek peace.
84. 15.2God rejects lip-service.
85. 15.3Blessing with the mouth, cursing in the heart.
86. 15.4Words without a faithful heart.
87. 15.5God will silence deceitful and boastful lips.
88. 15.6God will rise to help the poor.
89. 15.7God will act openly for the poor.
90. 16.1Christ belongs to the humble, not to those who lord it over his flock.
91. 16.2Christ came in humility, as the Spirit foretold.
92. 16.3Isaiah's Suffering Servant: despised and rejected.
93. 16.4The Servant bears our sins.
94. 16.5By his wounds we are healed.
95. 16.6All have gone astray like sheep.
96. 16.7Like a lamb to the slaughter, he was silent.
97. 16.8His life was taken from the earth.
98. 16.9He died for his people's sins.
99. 16.10The innocent Servant.
100. 16.11An offering for sin.
101. 16.12The righteous Servant will justify many.
102. 16.13He was numbered with the transgressors.
103. 16.14He bore the sins of many.
104. 16.15“I am a worm and not a man.”
105. 16.16The sufferer is mocked.
106. 16.17If the Lord was so humble, how much more should we be.
107. 17.1Imitate the humble prophets.
108. 17.2Abraham humbly called himself dust and ashes.
109. 17.3Job was righteous.
110. 17.4Yet Job confessed that no one is pure.
111. 17.5Moses, though glorified, was humble.
112. 17.6Moses: “I am steam from a pot.”
113. 18.1David, a man after God's heart.
114. 18.2David's prayer of repentance (Psalm 51) begins.
115. 18.3“Wash me from my sin.”
116. 18.4“Against you only have I sinned.”
117. 18.5“I was conceived in sin.”
118. 18.6God loves truth and reveals hidden wisdom.
119. 18.7“Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”
120. 18.8“Let me hear joy and gladness.”
121. 18.9“Blot out my sins.”
122. 18.10“Create in me a clean heart.”
123. 18.11“Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”
124. 18.12“Restore the joy of your salvation.”
125. 18.13“I will teach sinners your ways.”
126. 18.14“Deliver me from bloodguilt.”
127. 18.15“My lips will declare your praise.”
128. 18.16God does not desire burnt offerings.
129. 18.17God accepts a broken and contrite heart.
130. 19.1The humility of the saints has benefited every generation.
131. 19.2Return to the goal of peace and look to God the Creator.
132. 19.3Contemplate God's patience toward all creation.
133. 20.1The heavens obey God in peace.
134. 20.2Day and night keep their order.
135. 20.3Sun, moon, and stars move in concord.
136. 20.4The earth yields food in its seasons.
137. 20.5Even the depths obey God's ordinances.
138. 20.6The sea keeps within its bounds.
139. 20.7God set the sea's limits.
140. 20.8The ocean and the worlds beyond it obey God.
141. 20.9The seasons follow one another in peace.
142. 20.10Winds, springs, and the smallest creatures live in peace.
143. 20.11God ordained all things in peace and blesses us through Christ.
144. 20.12Doxology.
145. 21.1God's blessings will judge us if we live unworthily.
146. 21.2God's Spirit searches our innermost being.
147. 21.3God knows all our thoughts.
148. 21.4Do not desert God's will.
149. 21.5Better to offend the proud than to offend God.
150. 21.6Reverence Christ, respect leaders, honor elders, teach the young, guide wives in goodness.
151. 21.7Wives should show purity, gentleness, and impartial love.
152. 21.8Children should be raised in Christ's discipline.
153. 21.9God searches our thoughts and holds our life.
154. 22.1Christ calls us through the Spirit in Psalm 34.
155. 22.2Who desires life?
156. 22.3Guard your tongue.
157. 22.4Turn from evil and do good.
158. 22.5Seek peace.
159. 22.6God watches over the righteous and opposes evildoers.
160. 22.7God delivers the righteous.
161. 22.8Mercy surrounds those who trust the Lord.
162. 23.1The merciful Father gives graciously to the single-minded.
163. 23.2Do not doubt God's gifts.
164. 23.3Doubters complain that God's promises have not come true.
165. 23.4Like fruit on a vine, God's promises ripen in their time.
166. 23.5The Lord will come suddenly.
167. 24.1Christ's resurrection is the firstfruit of ours.
168. 24.2Nature shows resurrection.
169. 24.3Day and night picture resurrection.
170. 24.4Sowing pictures resurrection.
171. 24.5Seeds decay and rise to bear fruit.
172. 25.1The sign of the phoenix.
173. 25.2The phoenix dies in a nest of spices.
174. 25.3A new phoenix carries its parent's bones to Egypt.
175. 25.4It lays them on the altar of the sun.
176. 25.5The priests confirm its five-hundred-year cycle.
177. 26.1If God shows resurrection through a bird, he will surely raise the faithful.
178. 26.2The Psalms speak of being raised.
179. 26.3Job looked for the resurrection of the flesh.
180. 27.1Hold fast to God, faithful in his promises.
181. 27.2God cannot lie.
182. 27.3Rekindle faith; all things are near to God.
183. 27.4God made all things by his word.
184. 27.5No one can resist God's power.
185. 27.6Nothing escapes God.
186. 27.7The heavens declare God's glory.
187. 28.1Fear God and flee evil, since he sees all.
188. 28.2No one can escape God.
189. 28.3God is everywhere.
190. 28.4God embraces all things.
191. 29.1Approach God in holiness; he has chosen us.
192. 29.2God chose his people as his portion.
193. 29.3God takes a people for himself like firstfruits.
194. 30.1As God's holy portion, flee slander, impurity, drunkenness, rebellion, adultery, and pride.
195. 30.2God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
196. 30.3Be humble and self-controlled, justified by deeds, not words.
197. 30.4Much talk does not make one righteous.
198. 30.5Do not use many words.
199. 30.6Seek praise from God, not self.
200. 30.7Let others testify to our good deeds.
201. 30.8Arrogance marks the cursed; humility, the blessed.
202. 31.1Look at the ways of God's blessing from the beginning.
203. 31.2Abraham was blessed for righteousness through faith.
204. 31.3Isaac willingly went to be sacrificed.
205. 31.4Jacob's humility; the twelve tribes came from him.
206. 32.1Consider the greatness of God's gifts.
207. 32.2From Jacob came priests, Christ in the flesh, and kings.
208. 32.3They were glorified by God's will, not their own works.
209. 32.4We are justified not by our own wisdom, piety, or works, but through faith.
210. 33.1Faith is no excuse for idleness; hurry to do good.
211. 33.2God rejoices in his works.
212. 33.3God made and ordered heaven, earth, and sea.
213. 33.4God formed humanity in his image.
214. 33.5God made man male and female in his image.
215. 33.6God blessed his creation.
216. 33.7The righteous and God himself are adorned with good works.
217. 33.8Do the work of righteousness with all your strength.
218. 34.1The good worker has confidence before his employer.
219. 34.2Be eager to do good.
220. 34.3The Lord comes with his reward.
221. 34.4Do not be idle in good works.
222. 34.5Serve God's will as the angels do.
223. 34.6The angels cry “Holy, holy, holy.”
224. 34.7Pray together with one voice.
225. 34.8God has prepared unimaginable things for those who wait for him.
226. 35.1God's gifts are marvelous.
227. 35.2God's present gifts: life, righteousness, truth, faith, self-control.
228. 35.3Only God knows what he has prepared.
229. 35.4Strive to be among those who wait for God.
230. 35.5Keep your mind on God and cast away all sin.
231. 35.6Those who do or approve of these sins are hateful to God.
232. 35.7God rebukes the hypocrite (Psalm 50).
233. 35.8The hypocrite's sins.
234. 35.9God's silence is not approval.
235. 35.10God will expose sin.
236. 35.11Warning to those who forget God.
237. 35.12A sacrifice of praise leads to salvation.
238. 36.1Jesus Christ is our salvation and high priest.
239. 36.2Through Christ we see God and taste immortal knowledge.
240. 36.3The angels are God's servants.
241. 36.4God calls Christ his Son.
242. 36.5Christ sits at God's right hand.
243. 36.6His enemies are those who oppose God's will.
244. 37.1Serve God like soldiers.
245. 37.2Soldiers obey their commanders in good order.
246. 37.3Each soldier serves in his own rank.
247. 37.4Great and small need each other.
248. 37.5Like the body's members, all serve the whole.
249. 38.1Let each serve the others with his own gift.
250. 38.2Strong and weak, rich and poor, wise and humble should serve one another without boasting.
251. 38.3Remember that we came from nothing and owe all to God.
252. 38.4Give thanks to God for everything.
253. 39.1Fools mock us to exalt themselves.
254. 39.2Mortals have no strength of their own.
255. 39.3A vision in Job.
256. 39.4No mortal is pure before God.
257. 39.5Mortals are frail and perish.
258. 39.6They died for lack of wisdom.
259. 39.7Anger and envy destroy the foolish.
260. 39.8The fool's prosperity is short-lived.
261. 39.9The fool's children will find no help.
262. 40.1Do everything in the order God has appointed.
263. 40.2God set times for worship.
264. 40.3God determined where and by whom worship is offered.
265. 40.4Offerings made in order are acceptable.
266. 40.5In Israel's worship each order had its own role.
267. 41.1Each should serve God in his own rank.
268. 41.2Sacrifices were offered only in the appointed place and manner.
269. 41.3Disobeying God's order brought death.
270. 41.4Greater knowledge means greater responsibility.
271. 42.1The gospel came from God through Christ to the apostles.
272. 42.2Christ from God, the apostles from Christ: all in good order.
273. 42.3The apostles went out preaching the coming kingdom.
274. 42.4The apostles appointed bishops and deacons from their first converts.
275. 42.5Scripture foretold bishops and deacons.
276. 43.1Moses too recorded God's commands, and the prophets confirmed them.
277. 43.2Moses settled the priesthood dispute with the twelve rods.
278. 43.3Moses sealed the tent.
279. 43.4The blossoming rod would show God's choice.
280. 43.5Aaron's rod blossomed and bore fruit.
281. 43.6Moses acted to prevent disorder.
282. 44.1The apostles foresaw strife over the office of bishop.
283. 44.2The apostles provided for others to succeed the leaders they appointed.
284. 44.3Leaders rightly appointed and blameless should not be removed.
285. 44.4Deposing blameless bishops is a serious sin.
286. 44.5Blessed are the presbyters who died in office.
287. 44.6The Corinthians removed blameless leaders.
288. 45.1Be zealous only for what leads to salvation.
289. 45.2The scriptures are true and given by the Spirit.
290. 45.3Scripture never shows the righteous rejected by the holy.
291. 45.4The righteous were persecuted only by the wicked.
292. 45.5They endured with glory.
293. 45.6Daniel was persecuted by the ungodly.
294. 45.7The three young men were persecuted by the wicked, but God protects his worshipers.
295. 45.8Those who endured were honored by God.
296. 46.1Follow these examples.
297. 46.2Cling to the holy.
298. 46.3We become like our companions.
299. 46.4Hold fast to the righteous.
300. 46.5Why is there strife among you?
301. 46.6One God, one Christ, one Spirit, one calling.
302. 46.7Division tears apart Christ's body.
303. 46.8Jesus's warning against causing his elect to stumble.
304. 46.9The schism has harmed many and still continues.
305. 47.1Reread Paul's letter to you.
306. 47.2What Paul wrote at the start.
307. 47.3Paul rebuked their factions over Paul, Cephas, and Apollos.
308. 47.4Their earlier partisanship was less serious.
309. 47.5Now worse people have led them astray.
310. 47.6The Corinthian church has rebelled against its presbyters because of one or two people.
311. 47.7The scandal brings blasphemy on the Lord's name.
312. 48.1Repent quickly and seek God's mercy.
313. 48.2Repentance is a gate to life.
314. 48.3The gate of the Lord.
315. 48.4The gate of righteousness is Christ.
316. 48.5Whatever gifts one has—
317. 48.6—the greater one is, the humbler one should be.
318. 49.1Love keeps Christ's commandments.
319. 49.2God's love is indescribable.
320. 49.3Love's beauty is beyond words.
321. 49.4Love lifts us beyond telling.
322. 49.5A hymn to love, which unites, forgives, and makes perfect.
323. 49.6Out of love Christ gave his blood, flesh, and soul for us.
324. 50.1Love's perfection cannot be described.
325. 50.2Pray to be found in love.
326. 50.3Those perfected in love await Christ's kingdom.
327. 50.4God promises to raise his people from their tombs.
328. 50.5Keeping God's commands in love brings forgiveness.
329. 50.6Blessed are the forgiven.
330. 50.7The blessing is for God's chosen.
331. 51.1Seek forgiveness; the ringleaders should consider the common hope.
332. 51.2The loving would rather suffer than harm others or the church's harmony.
333. 51.3Better to confess than to harden one's heart like Korah's rebels.
334. 51.4The rebels went down alive into Hades.
335. 51.5Pharaoh perished because he hardened his heart.
336. 52.1God needs nothing but our confession.
337. 52.2Praise pleases God more than sacrifice.
338. 52.3Offer praise and call on God in trouble.
339. 52.4A broken spirit is God's sacrifice.
340. 53.1A reminder from the scriptures they know well.
341. 53.2God told Moses the people had made an idol.
342. 53.3God threatened to destroy the people.
343. 53.4Moses offered himself for the people.
344. 53.5Moses's great love for his people.
345. 54.1Who among you is truly noble?
346. 54.2Let the ringleaders withdraw so the church can be at peace with its presbyters.
347. 54.3Whoever steps aside will be honored everywhere.
348. 54.4True citizens of God's kingdom act this way.
349. 55.1Pagan rulers gave their lives or went into exile for their people.
350. 55.2Christians have given themselves up to free or feed others.
351. 55.3Many women have acted with courage.
352. 55.4Judith risked herself for her city.
353. 55.5God gave Holofernes into Judith's hand.
354. 55.6Esther risked her life and saved her people by fasting and prayer.
355. 56.1Pray for the offenders to yield to God's will.
356. 56.2Accept correction; it unites us to God's will.
357. 56.3God disciplines but does not destroy.
358. 56.4God disciplines those he loves.
359. 56.5Correction from the righteous is a mercy.
360. 56.6Blessed is the one God corrects.
361. 56.7God wounds and heals.
362. 56.8God delivers from every distress.
363. 56.9God rescues in famine and war.
364. 56.10God shelters from slander.
365. 56.11No fear of enemies or beasts.
366. 56.12Even beasts will be at peace.
367. 56.13Your house will be at peace.
368. 56.14Your descendants will be many.
369. 56.15You will die in ripe old age.
370. 56.16God, a good Father, disciplines us for our good.
371. 57.1The ringleaders must submit to the presbyters and repent.
372. 57.2Better to be small in Christ's flock than to be cast out.
373. 57.3Wisdom calls out (Proverbs 1).
374. 57.4Wisdom will laugh at the disaster of those who refused her.
375. 57.5Those who hated wisdom will not find her.
376. 57.6They will reap what they sowed.
377. 57.7Whoever listens to Wisdom will dwell securely.
378. 58.1Obey God and dwell securely in his name.
379. 58.2An oath by God, Christ, and the Spirit: the humble and obedient will be saved.
380. 59.1Disobeying this letter, which speaks God's word, is dangerous.
381. 59.2Rome will pray that God keep all his elect safe through Christ.
382. 59.3The great prayer praises God, who humbles the proud and lifts the lowly.
383. 59.4Intercession for the afflicted, the sick, the hungry, and prisoners.
384. 60.1Praise of God the faithful Creator, and a prayer for forgiveness.
385. 60.2A prayer for cleansing and right living.
386. 60.3A prayer for God's favor and protection.
387. 60.4A prayer for peace for all people.
388. 61.1A prayer for the rulers whose authority comes from God.
389. 61.2A prayer that God guide rulers to govern well.
390. 61.3The prayer closes with praise through Christ the high priest.
391. 62.1The letter has said enough about the Christian life.
392. 62.2Summary of the letter: faith, repentance, love, self-control, and concord.
393. 62.3The Corinthians know the scriptures well.
394. 63.1Submit and end the faction.
395. 63.2Obey this letter, written through the Spirit, and end the quarrel.
396. 63.3Rome has sent trustworthy envoys.
397. 63.4Rome's only concern is Corinth's peace.
398. 64.1A closing blessing through Christ the high priest.
399. 65.1Send back the Roman envoys with news of peace.
400. 65.2Final blessing and doxology.