Miscellanies 2.13.58
Summary: Converts receive forgiveness once in baptism; one who sins afterward and repents may be pardoned but should feel shame, since there is no second washing; the reborn must abandon their old works, not repent of the same sin again and again.
Greek text · Stählin 2:144
τοῦτο ἑκὼν ἐπιτελεῖ. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἐθνῶν καὶ τῆς προβιότητος ἐκείνης ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν ὁρμήσας, ἅπαξ ἔτυχεν ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν· ὁ δὲ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἁμαρτήσας, εἶτα μετανοῶν, κἂν συγγνώμης τυγχάνῃ, αἰδεῖσθαι ὀφείλει, μηκέτι λουόμενος εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. δεῖ γὰρ οὐ τὰ εἴδωλα μόνον καταλιπεῖν ἃ πρότερον ἐξεθείαζεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ προτέρου βίου τὸν οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, ἐν πνεύματι δὲ ἀναγεννώμενον· ὅπερ εἴη ἂν τὸ μὴ εἰς ταὐτὸν ὑπενεχθέντα πλημμέλημα μετανοῆσαι· μελέτη γὰρ ἔμπαλιν ἁμαρτιῶν τὸ πολλάκις μετανοεῖν καὶ ἐπιτηδειότης εἰς εὐτρεψίαν ἐξ ἀνασκησίας.
English · Claude translation
does this willingly. The one, then, who has come to faith from the Gentiles and that former life has obtained forgiveness of sins once. But the one who has sinned after this and then repents, even if he obtains pardon, ought to feel shame, since he is no longer washed for the forgiveness of sins. For the one who is born, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,” but anew in the Spirit, must abandon not only the idols he formerly deified, but also the works of his former life. And this would mean not falling again into the same offense and repenting of it. For repenting often is, on the contrary, a practice of sins and a readiness for fickleness from lack of discipline.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is John 1:13. “Washed” refers to baptism.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός. ἐν πνεύματι → ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, ἐν πνεύματι.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/58/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/58/).
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