Miscellanies 4.12.87
Summary: God does not cause afflictions but permits them and turns them to good as training, for others because of their sins, for the Lord and the apostles because of ours; God's will is our sanctification, for which the Lord was not prevented from suffering.
Greek text · Stählin 2:286
οὐ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν τοίνυν αὐτὸν τὰς θλίψεις οἴεσθαι χρή, μὴ γὰρ εἴη τοῦτο ἐννοεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ κωλύειν τοὺς ἐνεργοῦντας πεπεῖσθαι προσῆκεν καταχρῆσθαί τε εἰς καλὸν τοῖς τῶν ἐναντίων τολμήμασιν (καθελῶ γοῦν φησι, τὸν τοῖχον καὶ ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα), παιδευτικῆς τέχνης τῆς τοιαύτης οὔσης προνοίας ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων διὰ τὰς οἰκείας ἑκάστου ἁμαρτίας, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων διὰ τὰς ἡμῶν. αὐτίκα ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ φησίν, ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν, ἀπέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς πορνείας, εἰδέναι ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ, μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας καθάπερ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν κύριον, τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, διότι ἔκδικος ὁ κύριος περὶ πάντων τούτων, καθὼς καὶ προείπομεν ὑμῖν καὶ διεμαρτυράμεθα. οὐ γὰρ ἐκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἁγιασμῷ. τοιγαροῦν ὁ ἀθετῶν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀθετεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν καὶ δόντα τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον εἰς ὑμᾶς. διὰ τοῦτον οὖν τὸν ἁγιασμὸν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐκωλύθη παθεῖν ὁ κύριος.
English · Claude translation
We must not think, then, that he causes the afflictions, far be it to think so; but we must be persuaded that he does not prevent those who cause them, and uses the enemies' daring deeds for good (“I will pull down the wall,” at any rate, he says, “and it will be for trampling”), such providence being an art of training, for others because of each one's own sins, but for the Lord and the apostles because of ours. For example, the divine apostle says: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of desire like the Gentiles who do not know the Lord; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in sanctification. Therefore the one who rejects this rejects not man but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.” For the sake of this sanctification of ours, then, the Lord was not prevented from suffering.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Isa 5:5 and 1 Thess 4:3–8.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.87 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/87/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.12.87 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/12/87/).
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