The Instructor 1.3.8
Summary: Because 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.
Greek text · Stählin 1:94–95
οὐδὲν δὲ ὃ μὴ δύναται θεός. ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἄρα ὃν πεποίηκεν ὁ θεός, διʼ αὑτὸν αἱρετόν ἐστιν, τὸ δὲ διʼ αὑτὸν αἱρετὸν οἰκεῖόν ἐστιν ὅτῳ περ ἂν ᾖ διʼ αὑτὸν αἱρετόν, τούτῳ δὲ καὶ ἀσμενιστὸν καὶ φιλητόν. ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλητὸν μέν τί ἐστί τινι, οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ φιλεῖται ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ; φιλητὸς δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀποδέδεικται, φιλεῖται ἄρα πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. πῶς γὰρ οὐ φιλεῖται, διʼ ὃν ὁ μονογενὴς ἐκ κόλπων πατρὸς καταπέμπεται λόγος τῆς πίστεως; [ἡ] πίστις ἐκ περιουσίας αὐτὸς σαφῶς ὁ κύριος ὁμολογῶν καὶ λέγων »αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ὑμεῖς ἐμὲ πεφιλήκατε,« καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς »καὶ ἠγάπησας αὐτούς, καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας«. τί μὲν οὖν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς βούλεται καὶ τί ἐπαγγέλλεται, ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ διακείμενος καὶ ὑπαγορεύσει μὲν τῶν πρακτέων, ἀπαγορεύσει δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων, ἤδη που δῆλον.
English · Claude translation
There is nothing that God cannot do. The human being, then, whom God made, is desirable for his own sake; and what is desirable for its own sake is akin to the one for whom it is desirable for its own sake, and to him it is also welcome and lovable. But can something be lovable to someone and not be loved by him? The human being has been shown to be lovable; so the human being is loved by God. For how can he not be loved, for whose sake the only-begotten is sent down from the bosom of the Father, the Word of faith, faith in abundance? The Lord himself confesses it plainly, saying, “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me”; and again, “And you loved them, as you loved me.” What the Instructor wants and what he promises, then, being engaged in both deed and word, prescribing what is to be done and forbidding the opposite, is by now clear.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 16:27 and 17:23; the allusion is John 1:18. The bracketed article before πίστις is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): τε, « → τε,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/3/8/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/3/8/).
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