The Instructor 3.8.45
Summary: Jude 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.
Greek text · Stählin 1:262–263
ἀγρίων ἀγγέλων τετήρηκεν.« καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν διδασκαλικώτατα ἐκτίθεται τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν κρινομένων· »οὐαὶ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Κάιν ἐπορεύθησαν καὶ τῇ πλάνῃ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ ἐξεχύθησαν καὶ τῇ ἀντιλογίᾳ τοῦ Κορὲ ἀπώλοντο.« τοὺς γὰρ μὴ δυναμένους ἐξουσίαν υἱοθεσίας φέρειν ὁ φόβος μὴ ἐξυβρίζειν διατηρεῖ. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ αἱ κολάσεις καὶ αἱ ἀπειλαί, ἵνα δείσαντες τὰς δίκας τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἀποσχώμεθα. ἔχω σοι φιλοκοσμίας κολάσεις διηγήσασθαι καὶ φιλοδοξίας τιμωρίας, οὐκ ἀκρασίας μόνον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ πλούτῳ κακόφρονας παραθέσθαι βλασφημίας, ἐν αἷς διὰ τοῦ φοβεῖν ὁ λόγος ἀνείργει τῶν ἀδικημάτων. ἀλλὰ γὰρ φειδόμενος τοῦ μήκους τοῦ συντάγματος τὰς ἑξῆς τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ προσάγω σοι ἐντολάς, ἵνα δὴ φυλάξῃ τὰς ἀπειλάς.
English · Claude translation
of savage angels.” And a little further on he sets out most instructively the images of those judged: “Woe to them, for they went in the way of Cain, and abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” Fear keeps those who cannot bear the freedom of adoption from insolence. That is why there are punishments and threats: so that, fearing the penalties, we may keep from sinning. I could tell you the punishments of love of finery and the penalties of love of glory, not only of incontinence, and set out the denunciations of those who are evil-minded about wealth, in which the Word restrains us from wrongdoing by fear. But, sparing the length of the treatise, I bring you the Instructor's commandments that follow, so that you may guard against the threats.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Jude 6 (end, with “savage angels,” a variant reading) and Jude 11.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.8.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/8/45/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.8.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/8/45/).
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