The Instructor 1.5.18
Summary: Perfection belongs to Christ, the perfect man; the church, guarded from heresies, is perfected by receiving him as its head.
Greek text · Stählin 1:100–101
ἔχει γὰρ οὕτως τὸ ἀληθές, τὸ μὲν τέλειον εἶναι παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ διδάσκοντι ἀεί, τὸ δὲ παιδικὸν καὶ νήπιον παρʼ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀεὶ μανθάνουσιν. ταύτῃ τοι ἡ προφητεία τὸ τέλειον τῇ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τετίμηκεν προσηγορίᾳ καὶ διά γε τοῦ Δαβὶδ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ διαβόλου »ἄνδρα αἱμάτων« φησὶ »βδελύσσεται κύριος«, ἄνδρα αὐτὸν ὡς τέλειον ἐν κακίᾳ καλεῖ· λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὁ κύριος ἀνὴρ διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν τέλειον ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. αὐτίκα γοῦν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐπιστέλλων πρὸς Κορινθίους φησίν· »ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ«, εἴτε ὡς νηπίους καὶ ἁγίους πλὴν ἀλλὰ τῷ μόνῳ κυρίῳ. σαφέστατα δὲ Ἐφεσίοις γράφων ἀπεκάλυψεν τὸ ζητούμενον ὧδέ πως λέγων· »μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι, κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης, ἀληθεύοντες δὲ ἐν ἀγάπῃ αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα·« ταῦτα λέγων »εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος Χριστοῦ«, »ὅς ἐστι κεφαλή« καὶ ἀνὴρ ὁ μόνος ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τέλειος. ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ νήπιοι τοὺς παραφυσῶντας εἰς φυσίωσιν φυλαξάμενοι τῶν αἱρέσεων ἀνέμους καὶ μὴ καταπιστεύοντες τοῖς ἄλλους ἡμῖν νομοθετοῦσι πατέρας, τελειούμεθα τότε, ὅτε ἐσμὲν ἐκκλησία τὴν κεφαλήν, τὸν Χριστόν, ἀπειληφότες.
English · Claude translation
For this is how the truth stands: perfection is always with the Lord who teaches, and childhood and infancy with us who are always learning. So prophecy has honored the perfect with the name “man.” Through David, speaking of the devil, it says, “The Lord abhors a man of blood,” calling him “man” as perfect in wickedness; and the Lord too is called “man” because he is perfect in righteousness. So the apostle, writing to the Corinthians, says: “For I betrothed you to one man, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ,” whether as infants and holy, but in any case to the Lord alone. Writing to the Ephesians, he revealed most clearly what we are seeking, saying: “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him.” He says this “for the building up of the body of Christ,” “who is the head,” and the only man perfect in righteousness. And we infants, guarding against the winds of the heresies that puff us up with pride, and not trusting those who set up other fathers for us, are perfected when we are the church, having received the head, Christ.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 5:6 (5:7 LXX), 2 Cor 11:2, and Eph 4:13–15 with 4:12 and 4:15. “Those who set up other fathers for us” are probably the Gnostic teachers, who proclaimed a Father other than the Creator.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside the quotation of Eph 4:13): τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰς ἄνδρα → τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.5.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/5/18/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.5.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/5/18/).
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