Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 7.3

Clement of Alexandria · Excerpts from Theodotus · ca. 200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: They distinguish the Only-begotten who remained in the Father's bosom from the one who appeared on earth, called “as only-begotten” and “firstborn,” though they say he is the same.

Greek text · Stählin 3:108

καὶ ὁ μὲν μείνας »μονογενὴς υἱὸς εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς« τὴν ἐνθύμησιν διὰ τῆς γνώσεως ἐξηγεῖται τοῖς αἰῶσιν, ὡς ἂν καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ προβληθείς, ὁ δὲ ἐνταῦθα ὀφθεὶς οὐκέτι »μονογενής«, ἀλλʼ »ὡς μονογενὴς« πρὸς τοῦ ἀποστόλου προσαγορεύεται, »δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς«, ὅτι εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν ἐν μὲν τῇ κτίσει »πρωτότοκός« ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς, ἐν δὲ πληρώματι μονογενής· ὁ δὲ αὐτός ἐστι τοιοῦτος ὢν ἑκάστῳ τόπῳ οἷος κεχωρῆσθαι δύναται.

English · Claude translation

And the one who remained, “the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father,” explains the Thought to the Aeons through knowledge, as one put forth from his bosom; but the one who appeared here is no longer called “only-begotten” by the apostle, but “as only-begotten”: “glory as of the only-begotten.” For being one and the same, Jesus is “firstborn” in creation, but only-begotten in the Pleroma; and he is the same, being such in each place as he can be contained.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:108 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are John 1:18, John 1:14, and Col 1:15. The Pleroma (“fullness”) is the Valentinian divine realm. “The apostle” here is John.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 7.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/7/3/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 7.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/7/3/).

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