Miscellanies 3.11.73
Summary: Moses required three days' abstinence before Sinai; Paul's call to “come out and be separate” means separation from pagan immorality and heresy, not from the married.
Greek text · Stählin 2:229
ὅθεν εἰκότως καὶ ὁ Μωυσῆς κατʼ ὀλίγον εἰς ἐγκράτειαν προβιβάζων τοὺς Ἰουδαίους τριῶν ἡμερῶν κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς ἀπεσχημένους ἀφροδισίου ἡδονῆς προσέταξεν ἐπακούειν τῶν θείων λόγων. ἡμεῖς οὖν ναοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσμεν· καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν θεὸς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔσονταί μου λαός, ἐὰν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς πολιτευώμεθα εἴτε ὁ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἡμῶν εἴτε καὶ ἀθρόα ἡ ἐκκλησία. διὸ ἐξέλθετε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν καὶ ἀφορίσθητε, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε· κἀγὼ εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς καὶ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς πατέρα, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. οὐ τῶν γεγαμηκότων, ὥς φασιν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν ἐν πορνείᾳ βιούντων ἔτι, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῶν προειρημένων αἱρέσεων ἀφορισθῆναι ὡς ἀκαθάρτων καὶ ἀθέων κελεύει προφητικῶς ἡμᾶς.
English · Claude translation
Fittingly, then, Moses too, leading the Jews on little by little to self-control, commanded them to abstain from sexual pleasure for three days in a row before hearing the divine words. “We, then, are temples of God; as the prophet said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people,’” if we live according to the commandments, whether each of us or the whole church together. “Therefore come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; and I will receive you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” He commands us prophetically to be separate not from the married, as they say, but from the Gentiles who still live in sexual immorality, and further from the heresies mentioned before, as unclean and godless.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions and quotations are Exod 19:15 and 2 Cor 6:16–18 (Lev 26:12; Isa 52:11; 2 Sam 7:14).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/73/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/73/).
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