The Instructor 1.6.25
Summary: Christians are not called children because their knowledge is childish: at baptism, as at Christ's baptism, they receive perfection by enlightenment and the Spirit.
Greek text · Stählin 1:104–105
οὐ γὰρ παῖδες ἡμεῖς καὶ νήπιοι πρὸς τὸ παιδαριῶδες καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητον τῆς μαθήσεως προσηγορεύμεθα, καθὼς οἱ εἰς γνῶσιν πεφυσιωμένοι διαβεβλήκασιν· ἀναγεννηθέντες γοῦν εὐθέως τὸ τέλειον ἀπειλήφαμεν, οὗ ἕνεκεν ἐσπεύδομεν. ἐφωτίσθημεν γάρ· τὸ δὲ ἔστιν ἐπιγνῶναι τὸν θεόν. οὔκουν ἀτελὴς ὁ ἐγνωκὼς τὸ τέλειον. καί μου μὴ λάβησθε ὁμολογοῦντος ἐγνωκέναι τὸν θεόν. ὧδέ πως γὰρ ἔδοξεν εἰπεῖν τῷ λόγῳ· ὃ δὲ ἐλεύθερος. αὐτίκα γοῦν βαπτιζομένῳ τῷ κυρίῳ ἀπʼ οὐρανῶν ἐπήχησε φωνὴ μάρτυς ἠγαπημένου »υἱός μου εἶ σὺ ἀγαπητός, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε.« πυθώμεθα οὖν τῶν σοφῶν· σήμερον ἀναγεννηθεὶς ὁ Χριστὸς ἤδη τέλειός ἐστιν ἤ, ὅπερ ἀτοπώτατον, ἐλλιπής. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, προσμαθεῖν τι αὐτῷ δεῖ. ἀλλὰ προσμαθεῖν μὲν αὐτὸν εἰκὸς οὐδὲ ἓν θεὸν ὄντα. οὐ γὰρ ἂν μείζων τις εἴη τοῦ λόγου οὐδὲ μὴν διδάσκαλος τοῦ μόνου διδασκάλου. μή τι οὖν ὁμολογήσουσιν ἄκοντες τὸν λόγον, τέλειον ἐκ τελείου φύντα τοῦ πατρός, κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομικὴν προδιατύπωσιν ἀναγεννηθῆναι τελείως; καὶ εἰ τέλειος ἦν, τί ἐβαπτίζετο ὁ τέλειος; ἔδει, φασί, πληρῶσαι τὸ ἐπάγγελμα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. παγκάλως. φημὶ γάρ· ἅμα τοίνυν τῷ βαπτίζεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου γίνεται τέλειος; δῆλον ὅτι. οὐδὲν οὖν πρὸς αὐτοῦ προσέμαθεν; οὐ γάρ. τελειοῦται δὲ τῷ λουτρῷ μόνῳ καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τῇ καθόδῳ ἁγιάζεται; οὕτως ἔχει.
English · Claude translation
For we are not called children and infants because of the childish and contemptible character of our learning, as those who are puffed up about knowledge have slandered us. On the contrary, as soon as we are regenerated we have received the perfection for which we were striving. For we were enlightened, and that is to know God. So the one who has known the perfect is not imperfect. And do not find fault with me for professing to have known God; for this is how it pleased the Word to speak, and he is free. For example, when the Lord was baptized, a voice sounded from heaven as witness to the Beloved: “You are my beloved Son; today I have begotten you.” Let us ask the wise, then: is Christ, begotten again today, already perfect, or, what is most absurd, deficient? If the latter, he must learn something more. But it is not reasonable that he should learn anything more, since he is God. For no one could be greater than the Word, nor a teacher of the only Teacher. Will they not, then, be forced to admit that the Word, born perfect of the perfect Father, was perfectly born again, in accordance with the prefiguring of the divine plan? And if he was perfect, why was the perfect one baptized? “It was necessary,” they say, “to fulfill what is required of human beings.” Excellent. For I say: then at the moment he was baptized by John, did he become perfect? Clearly. Then he learned nothing more from him? No. But is he perfected by the washing alone, and sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? So it is.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement is answering teachers (probably Valentinian Gnostics) who claimed a higher “knowledge” (γνῶσις) and looked down on ordinary believers as mere children.
- The heavenly voice is quoted in the form found in some manuscripts of Luke 3:22, combining it with Ps 2:7. Clement argues that Christ, perfect as God, was “perfected” at baptism in the sense of the divine plan, and that the same happens to believers.
- “It was necessary to fulfill” recalls Matt 3:15.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/25/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/25/).
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