The Instructor 1.8.72
Summary: Jesus 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.
Greek text · Stählin 1:132
»ἄνδρα«, φησί, »κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ κρινεῖ«, ἀγαθοῦ ζυγοῦ πρόσωπον ἡμῖν [δικαιοσύνης] τὸν Ἰησοῦν γνωρίσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ, διʼ οὗ καὶ τὸν θεόν, οἷον ἐκ τρυτάνης ἰσοσθενοῦς, ἔγνωμεν. ἐπὶ τούτου καὶ ἡ σοφία διαρρήδην λέγει »ἔλεος γὰρ καὶ ὀργὴ μετʼ αὐτοῦ·« κύριος γὰρ ἀμφοῖν οὗτος μόνος· »δυνάστης ἐξιλασμῶν, ἐκχέων ὀργήν· κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ, οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἔλεγχος αὐτοῦ·« ἐλέους γὰρ καὶ ἐλέγχου σκοπὸς ἡ τῶν ἐλεγχομένων σωτηρία. ναὶ μὴν ὅτι ἀγαθὸς αὐτὸς »ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ«, ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν ὁμολογήσει λόγος, »ὅτι αὐτὸς χρηστός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀχαρίστους καὶ πονηροὺς« καὶ προσέτι »γίνεσθε οἰκτίρμονες« λέγων, »καθὼς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν οἰκτίρμων ἐστίν«, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁπηνίκα διαρρήδην λέγει »οὐδεὶς ἀγαθός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·« ἐπὶ τούτοις αὖθις »ὁ πατήρ μου« φησὶν »ἐπιλάμπει τὸν ἥλιον τὸν αὑτοῦ ἐπὶ πάντας.« Παρασημειωτέον ἐνταῦθα ὅτι τὸν αὑτοῦ πατέρα τὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν εἶναι ὁμολογεῖ, δίκαιος δὲ ὁ δημιουργὸς εἶναι οὐκ ἀντιλέγεται. καὶ πάλιν »ὁ πατήρ μου« φησὶ »βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους.«
English · Claude translation
“He will judge a man according to his works,” it says, God having made Jesus known to us as the face of a good balance [of justice], through whom we have known God as by an evenly balanced scale. Of him Wisdom also says expressly, “For mercy and wrath are with him”; for he alone is Lord of both: “mighty in forgiveness, pouring out wrath; as great as his mercy, so great also is his reproof.” For the aim of both mercy and reproof is the salvation of those reproved. And that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus” is himself good, the same Word will again confess, “for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked,” and further, when he says, “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful”; and also when he says expressly, “No one is good but my Father who is in heaven.” Besides these he says again, “My Father makes his sun shine on all.” It should be noted here that he confesses his own Father to be the good one and the Creator; and that the Creator is just is not disputed. And again, “My Father sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Sir 16:12 (“he will judge a man according to his works”; compare Ps 62:12 and Rom 2:6), Sir 16:11–12, Rom 15:6, Luke 6:35–36, a form of Mark 10:18 (Matt 19:17), and Matt 5:45 (twice). The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misplaced space at the opening quotation mark): φησὶ » βρέχει → φησὶ »βρέχει.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/72/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/72/).
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