Miscellanies 3.6.47
Summary: The seed of the sanctified is holy, and spouses sanctify each other; Christ forbade divorce except for sexual immorality, citing “the two shall be one flesh”; that there is no marriage after the resurrection, like the end of food, does not license indulgence now.
Greek text · Stählin 2:217–218
τῶν δὲ ἁγιασθέντων ἅγιον οἶμαι καὶ τὸ σπέρμα. ἡγιάσθαι μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν ὀφείλει οὐ μόνον τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τρόπος καὶ ὁ βίος καὶ τὸ σῶμα· ἐπεὶ τίνι λόγῳ ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος ἡγιάσθαι λέγει τὴν γυναῖκα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἢ τὸν ἄνδρα ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικός; τί δέ ἐστιν ὅπερ ὁ κύριος εἶπεν πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τοῦ ἀποστασίου πυνθανομένους, εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀπολῦσαι γυναῖκα Μωυσέως ἐπιτρέψαντος; πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν, φησίν, ὁ Μωυσῆς ταῦτα ἔγραψεν· ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι τῷ πρωτοπλάστῳ ὁ θεὸς εἶπεν· ἔσεσθε οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν; ὥστε ὁ ἀπολύων τὴν γυναῖκα χωρὶς λόγου πορνείας ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχευθῆναι. ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, φησίν, οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίζονται. καὶ γὰρ περὶ τῆς κοιλίας καὶ τῶν βρωμάτων εἴρηται· τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ ταύτην καὶ ταῦτα καταργήσει· τούτους ἐπιρραπίζων τοὺς δίκην κάπρων καὶ τράγων ζῆν οἰομένους, ἵνα μὴ ἀδεῶς ἐσθίοιεν καὶ ὀχεύοιεν.
English · Claude translation
And the seed of those who have been sanctified is, I think, holy too. For not only our spirit ought to be sanctified, but also our character, life, and body. Otherwise, for what reason does the apostle Paul say that the wife is sanctified by the husband or the husband by the wife? And what is it that the Lord said to those who asked about the certificate of divorce, whether it is lawful to put away a wife, since Moses permitted it? “Because of your hardness of heart,” he says, “Moses wrote these things. But have you not read that God said to the first-formed man, ‘You two shall be one flesh’? So whoever puts away his wife except for the reason of sexual immorality makes her commit adultery.” “But after the resurrection,” he says, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” For it has also been said about the belly and foods: “Foods are for the belly and the belly for foods; but God will do away with both it and them”; rebuking those who think they may live like boars and goats, so that they may not eat and mate without fear.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are 1 Cor 7:14, Matt 19:3–9 (a free form, with Gen 2:24 and Matt 5:32), Luke 20:35 (Matt 22:30), and 1 Cor 6:13.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/47/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/47/).
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