Miscellanies 4.12.86
Summary: If suffering were God's will, persecution would be good or persecutors innocent; rather, God does not will persecution but does not prevent it, which preserves both his providence and his goodness.
Greek text · Stählin 2:286
εἰ δέ, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ὁ Βασιλείδης, ἓν μέρος ἐκ τοῦ λεγομένου θελήματος τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπειλήφαμεν τὸ ἠγαπηκέναι ἅπαντα, ὅτι λόγον ἀποσῴζουσι πρὸς τὸ πᾶν ἅπαντα, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ μηδενὸς ἐπιθυμεῖν καὶ τρίτον τὸ μισεῖν μηδὲ ἕν, θελήματι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ αἱ κολάσεις ἔσονται· ὅπερ ἀσεβὲς ἐννοεῖν. οὔτε γὰρ ὁ κύριος θελήματι ἔπαθεν τοῦ πατρὸς οὔθʼ οἱ διωκόμενοι βουλήσει τοῦ θεοῦ διώκονται, ἐπεὶ δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ καλόν τι ἔσται διωγμὸς διὰ τὴν βούλησιν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἢ ἀθῷοι οἱ διατιθέντες καὶ θλίβοντες. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲν ἄνευ θελήματος τοῦ κυρίου τῶν ὅλων. λείπεται δὴ συντόμως φάναι τὰ τοιαῦτα συμβαίνειν μὴ κωλύσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ· τοῦτο γὰρ μόνον σῴζει καὶ τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
And if, as Basilides himself says, we take one part of what is called God's will to be having loved everything, because all things preserve a relation to the whole, another to desire nothing, and a third to hate nothing, then punishments too will be by God's will, which it is impious to think. For neither did the Lord suffer by the Father's will, nor are the persecuted persecuted by God's will; otherwise one of two things follows: either persecution will be something good because of God's will, or those who inflict and afflict are innocent. But nothing happens without the will of the Lord of the universe. It remains, then, to say briefly that such things happen because God does not prevent them; for this alone preserves both the providence and the goodness of God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement's formula “God does not prevent” (μὴ κωλύσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ) is his answer to the problem of evil. The statement that the Lord did not suffer “by the Father's will” is directed against Basilides' view of suffering as punishment.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.86 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/86/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.86 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/86/).
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