Miscellanies 2.15.66
Summary: Sins not arising from choice are not counted; God, who is both just and good, forgives sins, as Jeremiah says; John's first letter distinguishes sins unto death and not unto death.
Greek text · Stählin 2:148
οὐ λογίζονται δὲ ὅσαι μὴ κατὰ προαίρεσιν συνίστανται· ὁ γὰρ ἐπιθυμήσας ἤδη μεμοίχευκε φησίν. ἀφίησί τε τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὁ φωτίζων λόγος· καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, φησὶν ὁ κύριος, ζητήσουσιν τὴν ἀδικίαν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ οὐχ ὑπάρξει, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας Ἰούδα, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρεθῶσιν, ὅτι τίς ὥσπερ ἐγώ; καὶ τίς ἀντιστήσεται κατὰ πρόσωπόν μου; ὁρᾷς ἕνα θεὸν καταγγελλόμενον ἀγαθόν, τῶν κατʼ ἀξίαν ἀπονεμητικόν τε καὶ ἀφετικὸν ἁμαρτημάτων. φαίνεται δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐν τῇ μείζονι ἐπιστολῇ τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἐκδιδάσκων ἐν τούτοις· ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει, καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι μὴ πρὸς θάνατον εἶπεν· ἔστι γὰρ ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον· οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω, ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ τις. πᾶσα ἀδικία ἁμαρτία ἐστί.
English · Claude translation
Those are not counted that do not arise from choice; for “he who has desired,” it says, “has already committed adultery.” And the Word who enlightens forgives sins: “And in that time,” says the Lord, “they will seek the injustice of Israel, and it will not exist, and the sins of Judah, and they will not be found. For who is like me? And who will stand against my face?” You see one God proclaimed as good, rendering what is deserved and forgiving sins. And John too, in his larger letter, is seen teaching the differences among sins in these words: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he will ask, and he will give him life,” he said, for those who sin not unto death; “for there is a sin unto death; I do not say that one should ask about that. All injustice is sin,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 5:28 (a free form), Jer 50:20, 44 (27:20, 44 LXX), and 1 John 5:16–17. “One God … good” is directed against Marcion's separation of the just and the good God.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.15.66 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/15/66/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.15.66 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/15/66/).
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