Miscellanies 3.12.88
Summary: We become children again, reborn through water; the married too may care for the Lord's things, and both wife and virgin are holy in the Lord; Paul speaks sternly to restrain those inclined to a second marriage.
Greek text · Stählin 2:236–237
οὕτως οὖν ἐπιστραφέντας ἡμᾶς αὖθις ὡς τὰ παιδία γενέσθαι βούλεται, τὸν ὄντως πατέρα ἐπιγνόντας, διʼ ὕδατος ἀναγεννηθέντας, ἄλλης ταύτης οὔσης ἢ τῆς ἐν τῇ κτίσει σπορᾶς. ναί, φησίν, ὁ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου· ὁ δὲ γαμήσας πῶς ἀρέσει τῇ γυναικί· τί δέ; οὐκ ἔξεστι καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ κατὰ θεὸν ἀρέσκοντας εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ θεῷ; οὐχὶ δὲ ἐφεῖται καὶ τῷ γεγαμηκότι σὺν καὶ τῇ συζύγῳ μεριμνᾶν τὰ τοῦ κυρίου; ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἡ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία καὶ τῷ σώματι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι, οὕτω καὶ ἡ γεγαμημένη τὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου μεριμνᾷ ἐν κυρίῳ, ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία καὶ τῷ σώματι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι· ἄμφω γὰρ ἅγιαι ἐν κυρίῳ, ἣ μὲν ὡς γυνή, ἣ δὲ ὡς παρθένος. πρὸς ἐντροπὴν δὲ καὶ ἀνακοπὴν τῶν εὐεπιφόρων εἰς τὸν δεύτερον γάμον ἁρμονίως ὁ ἀπόστολος ὑπέρτονον φθέγγεται καὶ αὐτίκα φησί· πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει.
English · Claude translation
So he wishes us, having turned back, to become again like children, having come to know the true Father, reborn through water, this being a different sowing from that in creation. “Yes,” it says, “the unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord, but the married man how he may please his wife.” What then? Is it not lawful for those who please their wives according to God to give thanks to God too? Is it not permitted to the married man, together with his wife, to care for the things of the Lord? But as the unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, “that she may be holy in body and spirit,” so too the married woman cares in the Lord for the things of her husband and the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit; for both are holy in the Lord, the one as wife, the other as virgin. And to shame and restrain those prone to a second marriage, the apostle fittingly speaks in a high tone, and at once says: “Every sin is outside the body; but the one who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Matt 18:3, John 3:5, 1 Cor 7:32–34, and 1 Cor 6:18. Clement adapts 1 Cor 7:34 to include the married woman.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.12.88 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/12/88/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.12.88 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/12/88/).
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