The Instructor

Contents

1. 1.1.1Clement introduces the Word as Exhorter, Instructor, and Teacher: having converted us, he now trains our conduct and heals our passions.
2. 1.1.2The Word will also be the Teacher of doctrine, but as Instructor he first guides practice by precept and by good and bad examples.
3. 1.1.3As the body needs a physician before it can work, the soul needs the Instructor to heal its passions before it can be taught.
4. 1.2.4The Instructor, the sinless Son of God, is the model we must imitate; and there are degrees of freedom from sin, down to not persisting in it.
5. 1.2.5Moses's law of the Nazirite, read allegorically, teaches quick repentance for sin; the prophets' “therefore thus says the Lord” shows that judgment follows sin.
6. 1.2.6The Word, who made the whole human being, heals both body and soul, as his healing of the paralytic and raising of Lazarus show; he forgives sins and orders all creation for humanity's sake.
7. 1.3.7God, who forgives as God and trains as man, loves the human being as his own handiwork, into whom he breathed something of himself.
8. 1.3.8Because the human being is God's own creature, God loves him, as the sending of the only-begotten Son and Christ's own words show.
9. 1.3.9We must love the Word in return and imitate him, the sighted guide in our darkness, so that God's image and likeness may be fulfilled in us.
10. 1.4.10Men and women have the same virtue, the same Instructor, and the same salvation; in the age to come the distinction of sex no longer matters.
11. 1.4.11“Human being” and “child” are names shared by men and women; all are lambs of the one Shepherd.
12. 1.5.12The “children” of Scripture are the believers: Jesus calls his disciples children, blesses children, and tells us to become like them.
13. 1.5.13The Gospels and the prophets alike call the Lord's people children and infants.
14. 1.5.14Scripture's images of lambs, calves, doves, and chicks all describe believers as simple and innocent children of the Lord.
15. 1.5.15Scripture calls believers young colts, tied to Christ the vine, and lambs gathered by the Shepherd.
16. 1.5.16Christ's “children” are not the unreasoning but the humble, who have renounced the world and seek holy wisdom.
17. 1.5.17Those who know God as their only Father and leave anxious cares behind are true children; all on earth are disciples of the one teacher.
18. 1.5.18Perfection belongs to Christ, the perfect man; the church, guarded from heresies, is perfected by receiving him as its head.
19. 1.5.19“Infant” means not foolish but newly gentle, like Paul among his churches; the new people is gentle and guileless.
20. 1.5.20“Infants” means not the foolish but the innocent and new, the people who have come to know God newly through Christ.
21. 1.5.21God welcomes the weak and childlike as parents love the young; Isaac playing with Rebecca under the king's eye is a figure of the joyful, patient life of the children of Christ.
22. 1.5.22The saved rejoice like Isaac; the church, the bride, is called patience, and Christ the King looks down on her joy.
23. 1.5.23The window is Christ's flesh; Isaac, carrying the wood but not slain, is a type of the Lord who bore the cross and rose again.
24. 1.5.24Isaiah calls the Lord himself a child, “Mighty God” and “Prince of Peace”; John calls him the Lamb of God, the Father's infant, whom we children resemble.
25. 1.6.24Clement turns to answer those who criticize calling Christians “children.”
26. 1.6.25Christians are not called children because their knowledge is childish: at baptism, as at Christ's baptism, they receive perfection by enlightenment and the Spirit.
27. 1.6.26Baptism enlightens, makes us sons, perfects, and makes immortal; it is called grace, enlightenment, perfection, and washing, and God's gift in it is complete.
28. 1.6.27Believing and being born again already bring perfection in life; God's call is his salvation, and the one enlightened at once passes from darkness into light.
29. 1.6.28Baptism removes sin like a cataract, freeing the spirit's eye to see God; the believer is already in the light, while the fulfillment of the promise awaits the resurrection.
30. 1.6.29Faith already holds eternal life; what it grasps now as promise it receives after the resurrection as rest, while enlightenment dispels the darkness of ignorance.
31. 1.6.30Baptism, the healing medicine of the Word, washes away all sins and changes our character; faith is the one salvation for all, as Paul teaches.
32. 1.6.31All the baptized are sons of God and equal in Christ; there is no division into “gnostics” and lower “psychics.”
33. 1.6.32Using his opponents' own language of “straining,” Clement says baptism strains away sin; God reveals himself to infants, those born again and clothed with Christ.
34. 1.6.33Paul distinguishes the good infancy of simplicity from the bad infancy of those under the law; in Christ believers are adopted heirs, not slaves.
35. 1.6.34Paul's “when I was an infant” refers to his life under the law; infancy in Christ is perfection. Clement then takes up Paul's saying about milk.
36. 1.6.35Clement proposes a different punctuation of 1 Cor 3:1–2: Paul gave milk “in Christ,” and milk is the simple, true, natural food of the Word.
37. 1.6.36Milk, the Word, is the believer's food from beginning to end; the solid food Paul withheld may mean the face-to-face vision in the age to come.
38. 1.6.37No one, not even the Gnostics, knows now what “eye has not seen”; we boast only in Christ, the milk of the flock, and milk and solid food are the same Word.
39. 1.6.38Milk may be the preaching and solid food faith; Christ's words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood speak symbolically of faith and hope, which sustain the church.
40. 1.6.39Clement argues from ancient physiology that milk is changed blood, so that milk and meat, flesh and blood, are one in substance, against those who rank “solid food” above milk.
41. 1.6.40Blood is changed into milk in quality, not substance; nothing is more nourishing, sweet, or white than milk.
42. 1.6.41Milk, prepared by God for the newborn like the manna for Israel, pictures the spiritual food of the Word, whom the Father rained down to nourish the faithful.
43. 1.6.42The church is the one virgin mother who nurses her children with the Word; Christ bore her in the travail of his flesh and swaddled her in his blood, and is everything to his little ones.
44. 1.6.43Christ gives his flesh and blood as food; Clement explains flesh as the Spirit and blood as the Word, and Christ, who shed his blood for us, as the Father's milk.
45. 1.6.44Peter calls believers newborns who long for the milk of the Word; and physiology shows milk and blood, and so milk and solid food, to be the same substance.
46. 1.6.45The milk of the Lord nourishes the reborn and leads to the heavenly Jerusalem; the Word is both food and drink, one substance serving both.
47. 1.6.46Christ's food was doing the Father's will; ours is Christ himself, the bread from heaven, whose flesh, like grain and baked bread, rises and gladdens the church.
48. 1.6.47The Word is called food, flesh, bread, blood, wine, and milk; Christ's flesh, the heavenly bread, nourishes to incorruption, and Abel's pleading blood prefigures his.
49. 1.6.48Abel's blood spoke of the Word who would suffer; and ancient physiology shows that the body is formed and nourished from blood.
50. 1.6.49As a mother nourishes her child with milk from her blood, Christ, who gave us new birth, nourishes us with the Word; we are united to him by his blood, his Word, and his training.
51. 1.6.50Blood and milk together symbolize Christ's passion and teaching; as milk mixes well with water, the Word is joined with baptism.
52. 1.6.51Milk mixes with water, honey, and wine, as the Word is joined with baptism, heals and cleanses, and raises the suffering human being to incorruption.
53. 1.6.52Butter fuels the lamp as the Word enlightens; those who call themselves perfect “gnostics” should learn from Paul, who did not claim to have attained perfection.
54. 1.7.53Our Instructor is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who leads his children to salvation; godliness is his instruction.
55. 1.7.54The Instructor, like a general or a pilot, steers the child through the storms of the world to the harbor of heaven.
56. 1.7.55The famous tutors of antiquity failed to form their pupils' character; the Persian princes learned only archery and grew up in incest and license.
57. 1.7.56Our Instructor is Jesus, God and Word, who guided Israel in the desert, made his covenant with Abraham, and led and wrestled with Jacob.
58. 1.7.57The one who wrestled with Jacob was the Word, the face of God, who kept his name for the new people; he also taught Moses to lead.
59. 1.7.58The same Lord instructed Israel through Moses and now guides the new people directly; he is Instructor and Judge, who rebukes sin so that sinners may repent.
60. 1.7.59The old covenant taught by fear through the Word as angel; in the new, the Word became flesh and fear became love, and God's people, foreknown from eternity, are newborn.
61. 1.7.60The law was given by the Word through Moses and was temporary; grace and truth came through Jesus, whom Moses foretold as the prophet like himself, prefigured by Joshua.
62. 1.7.61Prophecy gives the Instructor a rod: persuasion, threat, rod, and finally fire each heal those the previous could not; the Lord's discipline saves from death.
63. 1.8.62Against those who say the God who threatens and punishes is not good, Clement answers that he became man out of love and hates nothing that he has made.
64. 1.8.63Since God hates nothing he has made, he loves the human being above all, and being good he benefits and cares for him, as his instruction through the Word shows.
65. 1.8.64Justice is itself a good; so the good God can also be just, and his anger and punishment serve the right training of his children.
66. 1.8.65Reproof, rebuke, and admonition are like surgery, medicine, and diet for the soul; like a general, the Word punishes for the good of those he leads.
67. 1.8.66The Lord rebukes out of love, not hatred; like a vinedresser pruning a vine, the Word cuts back our excesses so that we bear fruit.
68. 1.8.67Rebuke aims at salvation; Moses and even Plato teach that just punishment benefits the one punished, and the fear of the Lord brings life.
69. 1.8.68The Word who judges also forgives; his threats are warnings given out of love, to frighten us away from sin before punishment comes.
70. 1.8.69God punishes not in anger but for justice, and each sinner chooses his own penalty; the fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom.
71. 1.8.70God seeks repentance even in his threats; he punishes to correct, but does not seek vengeance, since he teaches us to pray for our enemies.
72. 1.8.71Christ's prayer in John 17 shows the one God to be both good and righteous: the Father is called good and the Son, his Word in the Father, just.
73. 1.8.72Jesus himself calls his Father good, merciful, and the one who makes the sun shine and the rain fall: so the good Father and the just Creator are the same God.
74. 1.8.73The Father to whom Jesus prays is the Creator of the heavens, whom all admit to be just; so the Lord is the Son of the just God, as Paul also teaches.
75. 1.8.74The one God is good, just, and Creator; his rebukes are medicine, and even his “wrath” is love, since he stoops to human passions for the sake of humankind.
76. 1.9.75The Word uses every means of correction, as good parents do; Clement now defines each kind, beginning with admonition, and illustrates it from the prophets.
77. 1.9.76The Lord admonishes Israel, foreknowing their refusal yet still calling them to repentance out of love and respect for their free will.
78. 1.9.77Censure and complaint appear in the prophets' charges against Israel's adultery and ingratitude, which is worse than that of ox and donkey.
79. 1.9.78Reprimand and reproof, sharp as dye-fixers, expose sin in order to save; Solomon shows that the Lord disciplines those he loves.
80. 1.9.79Bringing to one's senses and visitation, the sharpest reprimands, appear in the prophets and in Jesus's lament over Jerusalem.
81. 1.9.80Reviling, accusation, and lamentation are further forms of the Instructor's correction, found in Isaiah, John the Baptist, David, and Jeremiah.
82. 1.9.81Ridicule and indignation also serve the Instructor's purpose: his use of fear is a spring of salvation, and mercy and reproof go together, calling sinners to repentance.
83. 1.9.82Solomon and even Plato teach that reproof, a blow to the soul, purifies and saves from death; God is no terror to those who do good.
84. 1.9.83Like a physician using both soothing and bitter medicines, the Savior uses fear to heal; all humanity needs Jesus as physician, guide, light, life, shepherd, and instructor.
85. 1.9.84The Word, the good Shepherd, binds, heals, and seeks his sheep, feeds them on the holy mountain of the church, and will clothe their flesh with incorruption.
86. 1.9.85The Instructor who came to serve and gave his life is good; but he is also just, dealing crookedly with the crooked, and his reproof is for our benefit.
87. 1.9.86Israel's unfaithfulness brought judgment, and they returned to God through fear, having despised his kindness; fear serves love.
88. 1.9.87Reverent fear, like a good child's toward a father, differs from a slave's hateful fear; the one God is both just in rebuke and good in mercy.
89. 1.9.88Like a mirror or a physician, God's reproof only reveals sin; God is good in himself and just for our sake, and his justice came to us in the law and in the incarnate Word.
90. 1.10.89Having shown the Word's severity, Clement turns to his gentleness: the Instructor both dissuades and exhorts, blames and praises.
91. 1.10.90The Instructor exhorts through counsel, which draws on the past (Israel's punishments), the present (Christ's miracles), and the future.
92. 1.10.91Counsel looks also to the future judgment; the Lord consoles sinners with the hope of salvation and calls them to wisdom and to the good land.
93. 1.10.92The beatitude is another form of instruction: the blessed are like a fruitful tree, the ungodly like dust; God calls the wanderer back like a dove to its mate.
94. 1.10.93God's justice calls to repentance; Clement sets aside the Stoic argument that only the perfect deserve praise, since some deny that the Blessed One is concerned with anyone at all.
95. 1.10.94Praise and blame are both necessary medicines: blame for the hardened, praise for the willing; Scripture warns the young against the company of sinners.
96. 1.10.95Ezekiel's portrait of the righteous man outlines the Christian life that leads to eternal life.
97. 1.11.96Christ is like a mustard seed, small but saving and sharp; of old the Word instructed unruly Israel through Moses and the prophets.
98. 1.11.97The law was Israel's instructor to Christ; the one true Instructor is Jesus, the Father's Son, trustworthy through his knowledge, freedom of speech, and goodwill shown in giving his life.
99. 1.12.98Jesus, who formed, regenerated, and instructs the human being, shows us the true life; imitating him, we are transformed toward God's image and likeness and learn a simple, self-sufficient life.
100. 1.12.99Christ's instruction is for peace, not war; it needs no luxury, and it forms a noble disposition that shows itself in every part of daily life.
101. 1.12.100The Word is Savior because he heals with rational medicines; we owe him gratitude, and must contemplate God, live by the truth, and make our words match our deeds.
102. 1.13.101Sin is whatever is contrary to right reason (the Word); obedience to the Word is faith, and produces right action.
103. 1.13.102Sin makes man like the beasts; right action (duty) is obedience to the Word's commands, leading to eternal rest in God, and the Christian life is a system of such rational actions.
104. 1.13.103The Lord's commandments, written down as spiritual precepts, direct both this life and the eternal life; Clement will outline the latter from Scripture.
105. 2.1.1Book 2 begins the practical instruction with the body: others live to eat, but the Christian eats to live, cleansing the soul's eye and purifying the flesh.
106. 2.1.2Food is for life, not pleasure; simple food gives health and strength, while elaborate cookery breeds disease.
107. 2.1.3Gluttons search the world for delicacies, spending their lives around the kitchen.
108. 2.1.4Gluttony has no limit; the belly will be destroyed; and those who call their lavish dinners agapai (love feasts) profane the holy name of love.
109. 2.1.5Simple food makes people stronger and wiser; true love (agapē) is heavenly food, never failing, and must not be dragged down to the level of banquets.
110. 2.1.6The law hangs on love of God and neighbor; the church's supper is a sign of love, not love itself, for God's kingdom is not food and drink.
111. 2.1.7The church's common meal should serve love and be plain and moderate; gluttony makes human beings like beasts, crawling on their bellies like the serpent.
112. 2.1.8Isaiah condemns the feasting of those who say “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”; Christians avoid food offered to idols, not from fear but for conscience's sake and for the weak.
113. 2.1.9Food is indifferent in itself, but Christians must not eat at the table of demons or cause the weak to stumble; they should use God's gifts as masters and seek the heavenly food.
114. 2.1.10Christians may accept invitations and eat what is set before them, giving thanks, but should avoid gluttony, refrain for the sake of the weak, and not eat with a brother who lives immorally.
115. 2.1.11Paul and the Pythagoreans say abstaining from meat and wine is good; eating meat is not sin, but gluttonous table manners make people like pigs and dogs.
116. 2.1.12Excess in food is the clearest vice; Paul rebuked the Corinthians whose common suppers shamed the poor.
117. 2.1.13Christians should eat with decorum, not talk with their mouths full, and do all to God's glory, as the Lord's simple meal of bread and fish shows.
118. 2.1.14The fish Peter caught stands for simple, God-given food and for putting away greed; not everything permitted is profitable, and God, who feeds the birds, provides our needs.
119. 2.1.15Simple foods such as bulbs, olives, vegetables, milk, cheese, and fruit are healthy; the risen Lord ate broiled fish; the glutton is ruled by a “belly-demon.”
120. 2.1.16Matthew ate no meat and John the Baptist ate locusts and honey; but Peter's vision shows that food is indifferent, and the middle way is best.
121. 2.1.17The mean is having what is necessary; the law's food restrictions trained the Jews in frugality by breaking the habit of luxury.
122. 2.1.18Plato condemned the luxurious life, as David's simple distribution of bread shows; those whose god is the belly face destruction.
123. 2.2.19Water is the natural drink, as the rock in the desert shows; wine is prescribed only as medicine. The great cluster of grapes is Christ, crushed for us, whose blood is both fleshly, redeeming us, and spiritual, anointing us.
124. 2.2.20To drink Christ's blood is to share his incorruption: the mingling of the cup and the Word is called the Eucharist, which sanctifies body and soul. The young should for the most part avoid wine, which inflames desire.
125. 2.2.21The impulses of youth must be cooled by water; grown men should take their midday meal dry, since excess drink shows incontinence.
126. 2.2.22Water should be drunk in moderation; wine may be taken sparingly in the evening, and the elderly may drink more freely, but always within the limits of a clear mind.
127. 2.2.23Wine in moderation helps health and good humor; it should be mixed with plenty of water, both being God's gifts.
128. 2.2.24Excess wine confuses speech and sight, as in Pentheus's drunken vision of two suns, and leads to anger, folly, and every kind of fall.
129. 2.2.25The Word should be present especially at banquets, to keep them from drunkenness; wisdom is the art of living and must accompany us always.
130. 2.2.26The drunkard is a ridiculous and pitiable sight; we should shape ourselves so as not to become such a spectacle.
131. 2.2.27Drunkenness is defined and condemned; Proverbs shows the drunkard in rags, full of woes, with the livid eyes of a corpse, dead to the Word.
132. 2.2.28Proverbs warns against drunkenness, likening the drunkard to a pilot lost in a storm at sea, whose mind is shipwrecked on pleasure.
133. 2.2.29Paul forbids drunkenness; Christ changed water into wine but did not permit drunkenness; wine is a symbol of his blood; drink only to meet need, keeping the soul dry and clear.
134. 2.2.30Seeking rare imported wines is a sign of incontinence; for the self-controlled one local wine, the gift of one God, is enough.
135. 2.2.31Drink with decorum, slowly and without gulping; do not show off in drinking, for wine has ruined many.
136. 2.2.32Warlike peoples glory in drunkenness, but the peaceful Christian drinks soberly, as the Lord did: he drank wine, blessed the cup as his blood, and taught self-control at meals.
137. 2.2.33The Encratites, who reject wine, are answered by the Lord's example; women should drink modestly and not expose themselves, and all should behave as in the Lord's presence.
138. 2.2.34Drunkards have their reason in their belly, like the astrologers' “headless” figure; Noah's drunkenness is recorded as a warning; enough wine is enough.
139. 2.3.35Gold and silver cups, costly vessels, and luxurious furniture are useless and harmful; the time is short.
140. 2.3.36Paul's teaching on living “as though not” applies all the more to luxury; the Lord bids us sell our goods and follow him, possessing only faith, confession, and kindness.
141. 2.3.37Riches end in Hades; household goods should be judged by usefulness, not costliness, since a plain knife, basin, lamp, or bed serves just as well.
142. 2.3.38The Lord ate simply, reclined on grass, washed feet with a towel, and asked for water in a clay jar; a Christian's goods should suit a single, simple life.
143. 2.3.39Wealth ill-used is vice's citadel and love of money the root of all evils; luxury extends even to golden chamber pots. True wealth is freedom from desire, and wisdom is bought only with the Word.
144. 2.4.40Revels and all-night drinking parties with flutes, dances, and cymbals have no place at a Christian feast; we should walk decently as in the day.
145. 2.4.41Flutes and pipes suit beasts and idolaters, and sensual music corrupts; the instruments of Psalm 150 are to be understood spiritually as the tongue, mouth, body, and church.
146. 2.4.42Other peoples use instruments for war; Christians use one peaceful instrument, the Word, to honor God.
147. 2.4.43At meals Christians should love God through thanksgiving and psalms and their neighbor through good conversation; singing to the lyre or cithara, as David did, is not blameworthy.
148. 2.4.44Blessing God with psalms at meals and before sleep is fitting; Greek drinking songs imitated the Hebrew psalms; love songs and soft, chromatic music are to be avoided.
149. 2.5.45Jesters and buffoonery have no place among Christians: speech is the fruit of character, and ridiculous speech comes from a ridiculous character.
150. 2.5.46Laughter is natural but must be moderated: a smile befits the self-controlled, while loud laughter is the mark of the fool.
151. 2.5.47One should be neither a loud laugher nor sullen, but thoughtful; a smile must suit the occasion and the company.
152. 2.5.48Laughter is a danger to the young; wine makes the foolish laugh and dance, loosens the tongue into foul speech, and exposes hidden character.
153. 2.6.49Christians must avoid and discourage foul speech, which defiles; the Instructor guards the ears with chaste words like wrestlers' ear-guards and turns the eyes to good things.
154. 2.6.50Paul forbids foul and foolish talk; we will give account for every idle word; keeping company with the righteous guards ears and eyes.
155. 2.6.51Hate evil and cling to good; avoid shameful sights, words, and deeds, as Noah's sons covered their father's nakedness.
156. 2.6.52The Instructor cuts off sin at its root, forbidding foul words as the path to foul deeds; the body and marriage are not shameful, only their misuse; idle chatter must also be avoided.
157. 2.7.53Mockery at meals breeds enmity and is sinful; better to keep silent; and the young should generally stay away from banquets.
158. 2.7.54Wisdom warns against dining and drinking with married women; if women must be present they should be modestly dressed, and men should keep their eyes and posture decorous.
159. 2.7.55At table the self-controlled eat little and slowly, do not reach first or linger long, and sit decorously.
160. 2.7.56The self-controlled leave meals early; the apostles avoided serving tables and forbade idol offerings, blood, strangled things, and sexual immorality; drunkenness brings both foolish laughter and tears.
161. 2.7.57Elders may tease the young gently in ways that teach modesty; but mockery should be passed over in silence, for it is dangerous.
162. 2.7.58Speech should be measured to the listener: the old may speak at feasts, the young briefly when asked; the voice should be neither loud nor inaudible.
163. 2.7.59Avoid contentious argument and immoderate speech; a measured voice befits the self-controlled, as Odysseus's rebuke of the babbling Thersites shows.
164. 2.7.60Wisdom forbids idle chatter even in prayer; at table Christians should avoid rude noises and habits, and behave with calm and decorum, for the Christian belongs to peace.
165. 2.8.61Garlands and perfumes are unnecessary; the sinful woman who anointed Jesus's feet honored him with what she had, and her perfume symbolizes his teaching spreading to the ends of the earth.
166. 2.8.62The anointed feet of the Lord are the apostles who spread his teaching; allegorically, too, the oil is Christ, the adulterated perfume Judas, the tears repentant sinners, and the loosened hair mourning Jerusalem.
167. 2.8.63Judas was the poisoned oil; Christ's washing of the disciples' feet prepared them for their mission; the kings' golden crowns prefigured Christ, the incorruptible Word.
168. 2.8.64Aristippus argued that perfume does not harm a man any more than a horse; but for rational beings such indulgence is blameworthy, and luxury invents endless perfumes.
169. 2.8.65Some cities banished perfumers; Christians should smell of goodness and of Christ, anointed with the Spirit as Christ himself was anointed.
170. 2.8.66Some mild perfumes may be allowed to women, but in excess they smell of the funeral; perfume can make men effeminate.
171. 2.8.67As luxury is shut out of taste, so it must be shut out of smell; the incense the High Priest offers is spiritual, the fragrance of love; plain oil is enough for the body.
172. 2.8.68Some fragrances have medicinal uses and may be used as remedies; but pleasure without usefulness belongs to the character of a courtesan.
173. 2.8.69Moderate use of ointment for health is allowed, as Sirach commends the physician and perfumer; but lavish perfume is effeminate, and even makes hair gray sooner.
174. 2.8.70Garlands belong to revels; flowers are best enjoyed in the meadow and by sight, glorifying the Creator, not worn on the head where they chill it and give no pleasure.
175. 2.8.71Flowers and beauty fade; the Christian's crowns are spouse, marriage, and children, and Christ is the crown of the church; flowers have medicinal properties but garlands are for revelers.
176. 2.8.72The early Greeks did not use garlands; Christians avoid them because they are dedicated to idols and used in the service of demons.
177. 2.8.73Garlands are for the dead and for idols; the Christian awaits the unfading crown of heaven; the Lord's crown of thorns is a type of the church, of faith, and of the cost of discipleship.
178. 2.8.74Those who crowned Jesus with thorns unwittingly witnessed to his kingship; the crown of thorns symbolizes his bearing our sins, and believers gather grapes from those thorns.
179. 2.8.75The Word who appeared to Moses in the thorny bush at the giving of the law was crowned with thorns at his departure, showing that all is the work of one power.
180. 2.8.76Perfumes made from flowers have medicinal value, and all these things were created for our good use; the godly may enjoy flowers' scent but should not wear garlands.
181. 2.9.77Before sleep we should bless God and call on the Word; luxurious bedding is harmful as well as self-indulgent, and plain level beds are healthier.
182. 2.9.78Neither luxury nor Cynic hardship: Christians should sleep on a simple, moderately firm bed, as Jacob slept with a stone for a pillow and saw the heavenly vision.
183. 2.9.79Christians should be like servants awake for their master's return, rising at night to bless God like the watchful angels; the enlightened are awake and alive.
184. 2.9.80Wisdom and Paul call us to watchfulness and sobriety as children of the day; light food and discipline keep us wakeful, and the inner light should be turned within.
185. 2.9.81Overeating brings heavy sleep and clouds the soul, as Lot's drunken sleep shows; Christians should rise at night to study, work, or spin, and not sleep by day.
186. 2.9.82The soul does not need sleep, only the body; true dreams come from a sober soul, and constant converse with God makes us wakeful like the angels.
187. 2.10.83The aim of marital intercourse is children, and in begetting a human being cooperates with God; seed must not be wasted in unnatural acts. Moses's prohibition of the hare and the hyena was read as a symbolic ban on pederasty and adultery.
188. 2.10.84Clement agrees with the moral meaning of the prohibition but rejects the belief that animals change their sex: seasonal changes in birds alter color and voice, not nature.
189. 2.10.85The hyena does not change sex or have both sexes; its supposed female organ is only a fleshy growth, a mark of its lust.
190. 2.10.86The hyena's perversion is a picture of unnatural lust; Plato called pederasty beastly, and Paul condemns unnatural relations as dishonorable passions.
191. 2.10.87Nature itself, by the structure of the body, forbids homosexual acts and other unfruitful intercourse; Jeremiah's “hyena's den” condemns idolatry.
192. 2.10.88The hare's constant mating was read as a symbol; the prohibition of eating it teaches abstinence from excessive intercourse, intercourse with pregnant women, homosexual acts, pederasty, and adultery.
193. 2.10.89Moses forbade sexual immorality, adultery, and the corruption of boys openly; the punishment of Sodom was written as a warning to us.
194. 2.10.90We should regard boys as sons and other men's wives as daughters, and control the sexual organs with modesty; nature permits marriage for procreation, not excess or relations with youths.
195. 2.10.91Plato, learning from Moses, forbade sowing where seed cannot grow; the law forbids homosexual intercourse and adultery; sexual union is lawful only with one's own wife.
196. 2.10.92Seed must not be wasted; Moses forbade intercourse during menstruation, and Clement holds that intercourse during pregnancy is also wrong, since pleasure alone, even in marriage, is not a lawful aim.
197. 2.10.93The organs of generation, which God created, are not shameful to name; during pregnancy nature is at work and should not be disturbed; lust breeds many passions, and Scripture prays to be delivered from them.
198. 2.10.94Whether to marry at all is a real question; even within marriage intercourse is not to be used freely, since, as Democritus said, it exhausts the body.
199. 2.10.95Marriage is to be accepted, for God wills humanity to multiply, but not for licentiousness; intercourse not aimed at children outrages nature.
200. 2.10.96Marriage aims at children; abortion, used to hide sexual immorality, destroys humanity with the embryo; the married should not have intercourse by day, the time for prayer, reading, and good works.
201. 2.10.97Marital intercourse should be occasional and modest, at night after the day's prayers, and marked by dignity toward one's wife; love founded on lust soon fades and turns to hate.
202. 2.10.98Licentious speech must not even be named among Christians; intercourse is risky except for procreation, and adultery leads to death.
203. 2.10.99Even pagan poetry condemns adultery and homosexual acts; those who sin in darkness forget that God's eyes see all, as Sirach, Isaiah, and Heraclitus say.
204. 2.10.100The light within us is not overcome by darkness; the fornicator is dead to God; modesty must never be put off, and in the resurrection the pure flesh will put on incorruption like the angels.
205. 2.10.101The Word dwells in us as in a temple, which sexual sin defiles; the fate of those who sinned at Peor is a warning, and Sirach warns against following desires.
206. 2.10.102Sexual desire must be ruled; only the married may sow, at the right time; and the Lord's words about ravens and lilies teach that we need not care for costly food or clothing.
207. 2.10.103The lilies are clothed by God; Christians are told not to seek “what” they will eat, that is, dainties and luxury, which the nations seek, but plain food, which the Father knows we need.
208. 2.10.104If the Lord removes anxiety even about food and clothing, he condemns cosmetics and finery all the more; the “grass” thrown into the oven is the crowd that loves display.
209. 2.10.105The rich man in purple and Lazarus illustrate the fate of the lovers of finery; Sparta allowed ornaments only to courtesans, while effeminate Athenians wore gold.
210. 2.10.106Love of finery is idolatry of a mere image of beauty; clothing is needed only to protect the body against cold and heat.
211. 2.10.107Since clothing serves a need common to men and women, it should be similar for both; women may have softer fabrics, but not silks and transparent fabrics that reveal the body.
212. 2.10.108Dyed clothing is useless and suggestive; white suits those pure within, as Daniel's vision of the Ancient of Days and the martyrs' white robes in Revelation show.
213. 2.10.109Embroidered and dyed clothing is for display; Scripture forbids boasting in clothing; the faithful are clothed with incorruption; a wife who loves finery falls away from God and her husband, like Eriphyle.
214. 2.10.110Prodicus pictured virtue in white and vice in gaudy clothes; the queen's golden robes in Psalm 45 are the church's adornment of faith, in which Christ shines like gold.
215. 2.10.111Women's clothing may be soft but not ornate; it is shameful to spend wealth on covering the body, which Adam covered with leaves; wool is only sheep's hair.
216. 2.10.112John the Baptist wore camel's hair and ate locusts and honey, and Elijah wore a sheepskin: examples of frugal, simple life.
217. 2.10.113Isaiah went naked and barefoot and Jeremiah wore only a loincloth; trailing robes are pretentious; the Lord's long robe signifies the Scriptures, and he is clothed with light.
218. 2.10.114Women should not bare any part of the body; Scripture commands the head to be veiled; purple clothing draws the eyes of men and inflames vanity.
219. 2.10.115Costly purples and fine linens make their wearers worth less than their clothes; the foolish pursue what seems good instead of what is truly good.
220. 2.11.116Ornate sandals with gold, jewels, and erotic inscriptions show vanity; footwear should be chosen according to nature.
221. 2.11.117Shoes are for protection; women should wear plain shoes, while men may go barefoot; John the Baptist's words about the Lord's sandal strap show plain footwear.
222. 2.12.118Precious stones and pearls fascinate the foolish like fire fascinates children; the true pearl is Christ, the pure Word, through whom the flesh, reborn in water, becomes precious.
223. 2.12.119The jeweled walls of the heavenly Jerusalem are symbols of the apostles and the Spirit; those who read them literally as an excuse for luxury do not understand God's will.
224. 2.12.120God gives necessities openly and hides luxuries; all things are made for sharing, and the loving person says “Why should I not share?”; spending on people is better than on jewels.
225. 2.12.121Costly things are for no one's pride; ornaments should be thrown away, since true beauty is inner virtue: justice, self-control, courage, and godliness.
226. 2.12.122Love of finery teaches deceit; women loaded with gold chains are like rich prisoners in fetters.
227. 2.12.123Gold ornaments are chains and even the bonds of Aphrodite's adultery; serpent-shaped jewelry recalls the serpent that deceived Eve.
228. 2.12.124Clement quotes Aristophanes's long comic catalogue of women's clothes, cosmetics, and jewelry.
229. 2.12.125Women waste their wealth on burdensome ornaments; the Lord called the hoarding rich man a fool; Apelles mocked a pupil who painted Helen rich instead of beautiful.
230. 2.12.126The Hebrews melted their women's ornaments into the golden calf; the prophets condemn ornaments as the trappings of idolatry and unfaithfulness.
231. 2.12.127Christian women should reject courtesan-like adornment and be adorned with good works.
232. 2.12.128Natural beauty needs no ornament and ugliness is only exposed by it; Christian women should embrace simplicity, which is sufficiency, born of justice.
233. 2.12.129The Christian woman's jewelry should be generosity, good works, modesty, self-control, and wisdom; the ears should not be pierced for earrings but opened to true teaching.
234. 3.1.1Knowing oneself leads to knowing and becoming like God; desire, shape-shifting like Proteus, degrades the human being, but the one in whom the Word dwells has true beauty and is made like God.
235. 3.1.2One who wills what God wills becomes god: God in man and man god, through the Word, the Mediator; the flesh is a servant and should not be adorned like a procuress.
236. 3.1.3God freed the flesh and adorned it with immortality; love is true beauty, as Paul describes it; the Lord himself had no outward beauty, but showed the true beauty of goodness and immortality.
237. 3.2.4Adorned women who neglect the soul are like Egyptian temples: magnificent outside, but with only a cat or crocodile in the inner shrine.
238. 3.2.5Made-up women are like Egyptian temples: behind the curtain of cosmetics is no image of God but a harlot and the serpent; love of finery turns wives into courtesans.
239. 3.2.6Women who spend the day on cosmetics destroy their natural beauty and health and dishonor the Creator, as even the comic poet Menander said.
240. 3.2.7Made-up women are idle ornaments who ruin households and marriages, as the comic poets mock with their catalogue of a woman's toilet.
241. 3.2.8Cosmetics made of vile substances deserve contempt; even the comic poet Alexis ridicules women's tricks to disguise their bodies.
242. 3.2.9The testimony of pagan writers is followed by Scripture: cosmetics betray a sick soul, and Proverbs warns against drinking from a strange river, the adulterous woman or heresy.
243. 3.2.10Love of finery is insatiable and blind like Wealth itself; women who adorn themselves to be seen betray adultery, and Jeremiah calls their beautifying vain.
244. 3.2.11Animals rejoice in their natural beauty, but women seek artificial beauty with cosmetics and mirrors, like masks; Christians should look at the unseen, not the seen.
245. 3.2.12Moses forbade images; God chose David for his heart, not his looks; Abraham left all his wealth to follow God; only Esther adorned herself rightly, to save her people.
246. 3.2.13Paris's finery and effeminate luxury seduced Helen and brought the Trojan War: without an Instructor to check desire, adornment ruined two continents.
247. 3.2.14One who is untrained should not take the reins; the fallen angels, lured by fading beauty, and the Shechemites who outraged Dinah, are warnings.
248. 3.3.15Men too have caught the disease of luxury, dressing effeminately and removing their body hair in public shops, betraying adultery and perversion.
249. 3.3.16Men who shave and dye their hair try in vain to cheat age and death; old age is venerable, and God himself is called the Ancient of Days with hair white as wool.
250. 3.3.17Only God can make hair white or black; dyeing gray hair counterfeits his work; Christians are to put off the old man, not their gray hair, and men should not groom themselves like women.
251. 3.3.18Men who wear gold ornaments are effeminate; God made woman smooth and gave man a beard as a sign of strength and rule, crowned in age with gray hair.
252. 3.3.19The beard is a sign of manhood older than Eve, who was taken from Adam's side; to remove it is to transgress nature; smoothing marks the effeminate and the adulteress.
253. 3.3.20Every hair is numbered by God and Christ dwells in us; public depilation is indecent and unnatural; those predestined to be conformed to Christ's image should not disfigure the body.
254. 3.3.21Licentiousness is everywhere: prostitution of women and boys, homosexual acts, and, because of the exposure of infants, fathers unknowingly committing incest with their own children in the brothels.
255. 3.3.22The laws permit prostitution and trade in human beings for pleasure; Moses forbade it, and his prophecy of a land filled with sexual immorality has come true.
256. 3.3.23The old Roman laws punished effeminacy; the beard is natural beauty, anointed like Aaron's; effeminate men betray their character by their dress, walk, and look, as Sirach says.
257. 3.3.24Men who pluck their bodies yet pamper their heads are effeminate; even barbarians like Celts and Scythians wear their hair untended and live frugally.
258. 3.3.25Nomads live simply, even drinking their animals' blood, which Christians may not touch; human blood shares in the Word; the Lord calls us to be stripped of luxury, carrying only the tree of life.
259. 3.4.26The rich keep crowds of slaves for every luxury: cooks, cupbearers, handsome boys, hairdressers, and eunuchs serving as procurers.
260. 3.4.27The true eunuch is one who does not wish to indulge; Samuel warned that a king would take daughters as servants; rich women neglect housework for idle and corrupting company.
261. 3.4.28Rich women parade in litters, visit temples and diviners, and learn love charms that destroy marriages, trading purity for shame.
262. 3.4.29Scripture warns against letting just anyone into the house; rich women surround themselves with effeminate men who are servants of adultery and lewdness.
263. 3.4.30Rich women keep pets, dwarfs, and freaks, yet neglect widows, the old, and orphans, exposing their own babies while raising birds; Christ counts what is done for the least as done for him.
264. 3.5.31Rich women's baths are furnished with luxury and gold vessels, where they dine and drink and display their wealth to attract lovers.
265. 3.5.32Women who will not undress before their husbands bathe naked in mixed public baths or before their slaves, feeding lust.
266. 3.5.33Mixed bathing exposes lust; men should set an example of modesty; we should respect others and ourselves, and above all the Word, who is present everywhere.
267. 3.6.34Wealth should be used worthily and shared; stripped of finery, masters are no different from slaves; the good man stores up treasure in heaven by giving to the poor.
268. 3.6.35Wealth is like a snake, dangerous unless handled with knowledge; the true riches are virtue and wisdom; the rich man is the one who gives, not the one who keeps.
269. 3.6.36Only the good, the Christians, can possess true goods: righteousness and the Word; the one who asks God receives, so the godly possess all things.
270. 3.7.36Chapter 7 opens: luxury wandering into pleasure is a shipwreck.
271. 3.7.37The life of the belly is unworthy of human nature, made by the Beautiful One; love of pleasure and wealth makes it hard to enter the kingdom; luxury only feeds thieves.
272. 3.7.38Elijah's simple meal and the Lord's command to carry no purse teach frugality: Christians should share, give up excess possessions and servants, and travel light, household and all.
273. 3.7.39Husband and wife should travel together with frugality; the body is the measure of possessions; generosity is the staff for the road to heaven, and like a well it refills as it gives.
274. 3.7.40The one who has the Word lacks nothing; the just live not by bread alone but by the Word, the bread of heaven; this wealth inherits God's kingdom.
275. 3.8.41Frugality trains Christians to endure persecution, having no fatherland on earth; examples teach virtue, as Penelope's faithfulness and the Spartans' drunken Helots did.
276. 3.8.42Some are saved by being taught, others by seeking themselves: Abraham sought God and was called friend; the apostles obeyed the Word and proclaimed him.
277. 3.8.43The one who neither seeks nor listens is useless; the Instructor uses examples of others' sins and their punishment, and of others' rewards, to turn us from vice and toward the crown.
278. 3.8.44The destruction of Sodom for its luxury, adultery, and pederasty is an instruction to us, as Jude teaches with the examples of Israel in the desert and the fallen angels.
279. 3.8.45Jude also names Cain, Balaam, and Korah as warnings; punishments and threats hold back from sin those not yet able to bear the freedom of sons.
280. 3.9.46There are four reasons for bathing; pleasure is ruled out, women may bathe for cleanliness and health and men for health only; too much bathing weakens and ages the body.
281. 3.9.47Bathing should be moderate and occasional, not luxurious; above all the soul must be washed by the Word, lest we be like the whitewashed tombs the Lord condemned.
282. 3.9.48The best washing is spiritual, cleansing the inside first, as the Lord taught and Isaiah prophesied; the body can be washed with plain water.
283. 3.10.49Young men should exercise in the gymnasium; women should exercise in spinning, weaving, and housework, like the woman of Proverbs 31, Sarah, and Rachel.
284. 3.10.50Scripture gives examples of humble work: Rachel pastured sheep and Jacob tended Laban's flocks; men may wrestle, play ball, walk, hoe, draw water, and chop wood.
285. 3.10.51Reading aloud and plain wrestling are good exercise, not for rivalry or show; in exercise as in everything, the mean between idleness and excess is best.
286. 3.10.52Humble self-help and service to others, like Abraham serving his guests, are good exercise; fishing is allowed, but the better fishing is catching people through baptism.
287. 3.11.53Soft clothing and gold need not be wholly forbidden, but the Instructor, as charioteer, must rein in the passions; Christians should wear plain white clothing, witnessing by good conduct among the Gentiles.
288. 3.11.54The self-controlled have plain, seemly dress; the law of leprosy, where the one wholly white is clean, and Plato's preference for white teach simplicity.
289. 3.11.55White and simple dress reflects a pure character; plain undressed wool keeps warm in winter and suits an easy, sufficient life.
290. 3.11.56Women may wear softer but plain clothing; Christians should put on Christ; ears should not be pierced; whoever thinks gold adorns him is worth less than gold.
291. 3.11.57Women may wear a gold ring only as a seal for household goods; a wife with an unchaste husband may adorn herself to please him alone, while gently leading him to simplicity.
292. 3.11.58Dignity comes from removing excess; husbands should entrust the household to their wives; men may have a signet ring for sealing only; freedom lies in the soul, not in ornaments.
293. 3.11.59Christians should live freely as God's adopted children; a man's signet ring should be worn on the little finger and engraved with a dove, fish, ship, lyre, or anchor, not idols or weapons.
294. 3.11.60Christians should not engrave lovers on their rings; men should keep short hair and a beard, not shaved bare, as the psalmist praises Aaron's anointed beard.
295. 3.11.61Hair should be cut only as needed, the moustache trimmed with scissors, and the beard left alone for its dignity; a distinctive appearance helps keep people from sinning.
296. 3.11.62Short hair toughens a man's head; women should tie their hair simply with a plain pin, since elaborate braiding damages the hair and makes them fearful of spoiling it.
297. 3.11.63Wigs are godless: when the presbyter lays on hands in blessing he blesses someone else's hair; wives who wear false hair deceive their husbands and shame Christ; gray hair should not be dyed.
298. 3.11.64True beauty is first the soul's, adorned by the Spirit with the virtues; bodily beauty comes from health, temperate food, and drink, not cosmetics.
299. 3.11.65Exercise produces genuine beauty by using up the surplus of food through heat; in an idle body food is not properly absorbed.
300. 3.11.66Idleness breeds excess and lust, which exercise dissolves; those made in God's image should not dishonor him with cosmetics; wives should adorn themselves with modesty and the hidden beauty of the heart.
301. 3.11.67Women's true adornment is their own handiwork and household care, in which husband, children, and God rejoice; the valiant woman of Proverbs is a crown to her husband.
302. 3.11.68Women should correct theatrical postures, walks, and voices; Proverbs warns of the harlot's honeyed lips; Samson was defeated by a harlot, but Joseph by his chastity defeated Potiphar's wife.
303. 3.11.69Affected, mincing walks are the mark of catamites and courtesans; the harlot's steps do not lead to life.
304. 3.11.70The eyes must be guarded, for ogling is adultery with the eyes; the Lord says to cut out the offending eye; the eye is the lamp of the body, revealing what is within.
305. 3.11.71Paul commands us to put sexual immorality to death, but some women flaunt themselves with mastic, pins, and painted faces, like the foolish woman in Proverbs who calls to passers-by.
306. 3.11.72Proverbs warns against the adulteress's stolen waters, which lead to Hades; Isaiah threatens the vain daughters of Zion with humiliation.
307. 3.11.73Mistresses should keep their maidservants chaste, for a servant's license reflects on her mistress; walking should be dignified, not showy, and no sign of softness should appear in a man.
308. 3.11.74Masters should treat servants with fairness and kindness, as Peter teaches; Zeno's portrait of the modest, manly young man is a good model.
309. 3.11.75Men should not idle in barbershops and taverns or gamble; only good company benefits, as the prohibition of pork symbolically teaches avoidance of swinish people.
310. 3.11.76The food laws allegorically teach us to avoid plunderers and keep company with the righteous, who ruminate on the Word; Christians should not attend the games and theaters, which are full of disorder and lust.
311. 3.11.77The shows inflame lust and fill the mind with shameful images; spectacles that kill without pity, waste wealth, and provoke riots are not harmless play.
312. 3.11.78Every believer must pursue the true philosophy of loving God and neighbor; even the unlettered can hear, for faith's book is love, and one can live in the world in a godly way.
313. 3.11.79Buyers and sellers should name one honest price without oaths; Christ drove the dishonest from the temple; men and women should come to church modestly, and women should be veiled at prayer.
314. 3.11.80Christians should be at all times what they appear in church; instead many change like the octopus, returning from worship to love songs, drinking, and revelry.
315. 3.11.81Those who say “let us eat and drink” are already dead to God, and Paul excludes such sinners from the kingdom; love is shown by goodwill, not by the church kiss, which should be holy and restrained.
316. 3.11.82A kiss is not love, for love of God is keeping his commandments; greetings should be quiet and inward, and one should turn away from gazing at women.
317. 3.11.83One can sin by looking as well as touching, so Christians must guard their eyes and avoid even suspicion, as Paul and Sirach teach.
318. 3.12.84Husbands should show restraint toward their wives before the servants; the greatest bond of marriage is self-control, sweeter than gold or power.
319. 3.12.85Good precepts are to be welcomed even from pagan wisdom; Christians, redeemed by Christ's blood, should leave pagan vices behind, fenced in by the cross, and live in good order.
320. 3.12.86The Instructor speaks sternly for our salvation, desiring repentance rather than death; earthly goods are named after the true goods that God has prepared for us.
321. 3.12.87The Instructor now gives a summary of Scripture's commandments, leaving interpretation to the Teacher; he leads the child on the way of salvation to the treasures of wisdom revealed through law, prophets, Christ, and the Spirit.
322. 3.12.88The whole law is summed up in the Golden Rule and the two great commandments, but the Instructor will set out the commandments in detail.
323. 3.12.89The Decalogue, signified by the letter iota (ten), and Isaiah's call to wash and do justice sum up the commandments; good works themselves are prayer acceptable to God.
324. 3.12.90God hears the one who acts justly; the fast God chooses is freeing the oppressed and feeding the hungry, and the sacrifice he wants is a broken spirit and a heart that glorifies him.
325. 3.12.91Scripture teaches forgiveness, honesty for soldiers and tax collectors, impartial judgment, love that covers sins, and giving Caesar his due and God his.
326. 3.12.92Scripture condemns liars and the conceited, blesses the humble and merciful, and commands love of enemies and faith in prayer; servants must be treated as equals before God.
327. 3.12.93Servants should be corrected, not punished; the Lord condemns love of glory, welcomes the repentant sinner, and counts every kindness to the needy as done to himself.
328. 3.12.94The law of Moses was written on stone, the law of the apostles on hearts; the Instructor now gives the apostolic commands, beginning with Ephesians on truth, anger, and kindness.
329. 3.12.95The apostolic household code: wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters; then Paul's exhortations to walk by the Spirit, bear burdens, be at peace, pray, and speak graciously.
330. 3.12.96More apostolic counsels: train for godliness, serve believing masters faithfully, give generously, love sincerely, pray constantly, and practice hospitality.
331. 3.12.97These are a few of Scripture's many precepts, including those for presbyters, bishops, deacons, and widows; their deeper interpretation belongs to the Teacher, to whom the Instructor now sends us.
332. 3.12.98The Instructor hands us over to the Teacher; the church is the school and Christ the Bridegroom its only Teacher, the propitiation for the world's sins, whom we know by keeping his commandments.
333. 3.12.99Christians, nurtured by the Instructor, should run to Mother Church; the Word who created all things refashions human beings as the bridle guides the horse.
334. 3.12.100The Word commands the elements and dwells with the humanity he formed; he is both Creator and Instructor, and his children must shine as blameless lights in a crooked generation.
335. 3.12.101The work ends with a prayer to the Word, Instructor and Teacher, and a hymn to Christ the Savior as shepherd, fisher of men, and nourishing milk of his children, praised with the Father and the Holy Spirit.