Miscellanies 4.13.94
Summary: Sinners are God's enemies by rejecting his commands; “desire nothing” does not mean the world is evil or belongs to another god, but that worldly goods are ours only for use, not permanent possession, to be used well without excess.
Greek text · Stählin 2:289–290
ἐχθροὶ δὲ οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες εἴρηνται θεοῦ, οἱ ἐχθροὶ δὴ τῶν ἐντολῶν αἷς μηδὲ ὑπακηκόασι, γενόμενοι, ὥσπερ φίλοι οἱ ὑπακηκοότες, οἳ μὲν διὰ τὴν οἰκείωσιν, οἳ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀπαλλοτρίωσιν τὴν ἐκ προαιρέσεως προσαγορευθέντες· οὐθὲν γὰρ ἡ ἔχθρα οὐδʼ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἄνευ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντος. καὶ τὸ μηδενὸς ἐπιθυμεῖν οὐχ ὡς ἀλλοτρίων τῶν ἐπιθυμητῶν ὄντων πόθον μὴ ἔχειν διδάσκει, καθάπερ ὑπειλήφασιν οἱ τὸν κτίστην ἄλλον εἶναι παρὰ τὸν πρῶτον θεὸν δογματίζοντες, οὐδʼ ὡς ἐβδελυγμένης καὶ κακῆς οὔσης τῆς γενέσεως, ἄθεοι γὰρ αἱ δόξαι αὗται· ἀλλότρια δὲ ἡμεῖς φαμεν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου οὐχ ὡς ἄτοπα, οὐδʼ ὡς οὐχὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ πάντων κυρίου, ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ μὴ καταμένομεν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα, κτήσει ὄντα ἀλλότρια καὶ τῶν κατὰ διαδοχὴν ὑπάρχοντα, χρήσει δὲ ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ἴδια, διʼ οὓς καὶ ἐγένετο, πλὴν ἐφʼ ὅσον γε αὐτοῖς ἀναγκαῖον συμπαρεῖναι. κατὰ φυσικὴν τοίνυν ὄρεξιν χρηστέον τοῖς μὴ κεκωλυμένοις καλῶς, πᾶσαν ὑπερέκπτωσιν καὶ συμπάθειαν παραιτουμένους.
English · Claude translation
Sinners are called enemies of God, enemies, that is, of the commandments which they have not obeyed; as those who have obeyed are friends; the one named for their intimacy, the others for their estrangement by choice. For enmity and sin are nothing without the enemy and the sinner. And to desire nothing does not teach us to have no longing for the objects of desire as though they were alien, as those have supposed who teach that the Creator is other than the first God, nor as though birth were abominable and evil; for these opinions are godless. We call the things of the world alien, not as absurd, nor as not belonging to God the Lord of all, but because we do not remain among them for the whole of the age; alien in ownership and belonging to successive owners, but each one's own in use, for whom they came into being, only insofar as it is necessary to be with them. We must use what is not forbidden, then, well, according to natural appetite, refusing all excess and passionate attachment.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Rom 5:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word wrongly divided in the digital text): αἷς μὴ δὲ ὑπακηκόασι → αἷς μηδὲ ὑπακηκόασι.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.94 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/94/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.94 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/94/).
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