Miscellanies 3.5.43
Summary: Those led by passion cannot know God, and conduct reveals ignorance of him; Paul tells believers, circumcised in Christ and raised with him, to seek things above and put to death sexual immorality and evil desire.
Greek text · Stählin 2:215–216
θεοῦ δὲ γνῶσιν λαβεῖν τοῖς ἔτι ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἀγομένοις ἀδύνατον· οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος τυχεῖν μηδεμίαν τοῦ θεοῦ γνῶσιν περιπεποιημένοις· καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἀποτυγχάνοντος τοῦδε τοῦ τέλους ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄγνοια κατηγορεῖν ἔοικε, τὸ δὲ ἀγνοεῖν τὸν θεὸν ἡ τοῦ βίου πολιτεία παρίστησιν. παντάπασι γὰρ ἀδύνατον ἄμα τε καὶ ἐπιστήμονα εἶναι καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος κολακείαν μὴ ἐπαισχύνεσθαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ συνᾴδειν ποτὲ δύναται τὸ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τὴν ἡδονὴν τῷ μόνον εἶναι τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθὸν ἢ καὶ μόνον καλὸν τὸν κύριον καὶ μόνον ἀγαθὸν τὸν θεὸν καὶ μόνον ἐραστόν. ἐν Χριστῷ δὲ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε, μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ἀπεθάνετε γάρ, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ θεῷ, οὐχὶ δὲ πορνεία ἣν ἀσκοῦσιν. νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν, διʼ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργή. ἀποθέσθωσαν οὖν καὶ αὐτοὶ ὀργήν, θυμόν, κακίαν, βλασφημίαν, αἰσχρολογίαν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν, ἀπεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον σὺν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν νέον τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν κατʼ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν.
English · Claude translation
It is impossible for those still led by the passions to receive the knowledge of God; so neither can those who have acquired no knowledge of God attain the hope. And ignorance of God seems to accuse the one who fails of this goal; and the conduct of one's life shows ignorance of God. For it is altogether impossible to be at once a person of understanding and not to be ashamed of flattering the body; for that pleasure is the good can never agree with the view that only the noble is good, or that the Lord alone is noble and God alone good and alone worthy of love. “In Christ you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in putting off the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ. If, then, you were raised with Christ, seek the things above, set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God,” but not the sexual immorality that they practice. “Put to death, then, your members that are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, passion, desire, because of which the wrath comes.” Let them too, then, put away “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful talk from their mouth, having put off the old man with its desires, and having put on the new, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Col 2:11; 3:1–3, 5–6, 8–10.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.5.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/5/43/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.5.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/5/43/).
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