Miscellanies 1.20.100
Summary: Christ's teaching is complete in itself; philosophy adds no power to it but serves as a hedge against sophistry and as dessert to the bread of faith; the Greeks who took from the barbarians as their own are thieves who hold partial truths.
Greek text · Stählin 2:63–64
αὐτοτελὴς μὲν οὖν καὶ ἀπροσδεὴς ἡ κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα διδασκαλία, δύναμις οὖσα καὶ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ, προσιοῦσα δὲ φιλοσοφία ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ οὐ δυνατωτέραν ποιεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλʼ ἀδύνατον παρέχουσα τὴν κατʼ αὐτῆς σοφιστικὴν ἐπιχείρησιν καὶ διακρουομένη τὰς δολερὰς κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιβουλὰς φραγμὸς οἰκείως εἴρηται καὶ θριγκὸς εἶναι τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος. καὶ ἣ μὲν ὡς ἄρτος ἀναγκαία πρὸς τὸ ζῆν, ἡ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ἀλήθεια· ἡ προπαιδεία δὲ προσοψήματι ἔοικεν καὶ τραγήματι, δείπνου δὲ λήγοντος γλυκὺ τρωγάλιον κατὰ τὸν Θηβαῖον Πίνδαρον. ἄντικρυς δὲ ἐξεῖπεν ἡ γραφή· πανουργότερος ἔσται ἄκακος συνίων, ὁ δὲ σοφὸς δέξεται γνῶσιν. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ, φησὶν ὁ κύριος, ὁ δὲ ζητῶν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτὸν ἀληθής ἐστι καὶ ἀδικία οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ. ἔμπαλιν οὖν ἀδικεῖ ὁ σφετερισάμενος τὰ βαρβάρων καὶ ὡς ἴδια αὐχῶν, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δόξαν αὔξων καὶ ψευδόμενος τὴν ἀλήθειαν. οὗτος κλέπτης ὑπὸ τῆς γραφῆς εἴρηται. φησὶ γοῦν· υἱέ, μὴ γίνου ψεύστης· ὁδηγεῖ γὰρ τὸ ψεῦσμα πρὸς τὴν κλοπήν. ἤδη δὲ ὁ κλέπτης ὅπερ ὑφελόμενος ἔχει ἀληθῶς κἂν χρυσίον ᾖ κἂν ἄργυρος κἂν λόγος κἂν δόγμα. ἐκ μέρους τοίνυν, ἃ κεκλόφασιν, ἀληθῆ μέν, στοχαστικῶς δὲ καὶ ταῖς τῶν λόγων ἀνάγκαις ἴσασι. μαθητευθέντες οὖν καταληπτικῶς ἐπιγνώσονται.
English · Claude translation
The teaching according to the Savior, then, is complete in itself and needs nothing, being “the power and wisdom of God”; and Greek philosophy, coming to it, does not make the truth more powerful, but, making the sophistic attack against it powerless and repelling the treacherous plots against the truth, it has fittingly been called the hedge and wall of the vineyard. The truth according to faith is necessary for life like bread; preliminary training is like relish and dessert, “a sweet sweetmeat at the end of dinner,” according to Pindar of Thebes. Scripture has said outright: “The innocent who understands will be more shrewd, and the wise will receive knowledge.” And “he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory,” says the Lord, “but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” Conversely, then, the one who appropriates the things of the barbarians and boasts of them as his own does wrong, increasing his own glory and falsifying the truth. Scripture calls him a thief. At any rate it says, “My son, do not be a liar; for lying leads to theft.” Yet the thief really has what he has taken, whether gold, silver, word, or doctrine. What they have stolen, then, is partly true, but they know it by guesswork and the necessities of argument. When they become disciples, then, they will know it with understanding.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 1:24, Pindar (fragment 124), Prov 21:11 (LXX), John 7:18, and Did. 3.5 (“My son, do not be a liar”). The hedge and vineyard recall Isa 5:2.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misspelling in the digital text): τὰς δολερὸς κατὰ → τὰς δολερὰς κατὰ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.20.100 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/20/100/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.20.100 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/20/100/).
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