Miscellanies 4.18.111
Summary: Following Clement of Rome: love of God and neighbor lifts us to God, covers sins, and perfects the elect; Paul says that even martyrdom without love, done from fear, is nothing.
Greek text · Stählin 2:297
Ἡ σεμνὴ οὖν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἡμῶν καὶ ἁγνὴ ἀγωγὴ κατὰ τὸν Κλήμεντα τὸ κοινωφελὲς ζητεῖ, ἐάν τε μαρτυρῇ ἐάν τε καὶ παιδεύῃ ἔργῳ τε καὶ λόγῳ, διττῷ δὲ τούτῳ, ἀγράφῳ τε καὶ ἐγγράφῳ. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, τὸ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν πλησίον, αὕτη εἰς τὸ ἀνεκδιήγητον ὕψος ἀνάγει· ›ἀγάπη καλύπτει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν‹, ἀγάπη πάντα ἀνέχεται, πάντα μακροθυμεῖ, ἀγάπη κολλᾷ ἡμᾶς τῷ θεῷ, πάντα ποιεῖ ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ· ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἐτελειώθησαν πάντες οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ· δίχα ἀγάπης οὐδὲν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ. τῆς τελειότητος αὐτῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξήγησις, φησί. τίς ἱκανὸς ἐν αὐτῇ εὑρεθῆναι, εἰ μὴ οὓς ἂν αὐτὸς καταξιώσῃ ὁ θεός; αὐτίκα ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος ἐὰν τὸ σῶμά μου ἐπιδῶ φησίν, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, χαλκός εἰμι ἠχῶν καὶ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον· ἢν μὴ ἐκ διαθέσεως ἐκλεκτῆς, διʼ ἀγάπης γνωστικῆς μαρτυρήσω, λέγει, φόβῳ δέ.
English · Claude translation
The dignified and pure conduct of our philanthropy, then, according to Clement, seeks the common good, whether it bears witness or teaches by deed and word, and this word is twofold, unwritten and written. This is love: to love God and one's neighbor; this leads up to the indescribable height. “Love covers a multitude of sins; love bears all things, is patient in all things; love joins us to God, does all things in concord. In love all the elect of God were perfected; without love nothing is pleasing to God. Of its perfection there is no explanation,” he says. “Who is able to be found in it, except those whom God himself counts worthy?” For example, the apostle Paul says: “If I give up my body, but have not love, I am a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal”; if I bear witness, he says, not from a chosen disposition, through knowing love, but from fear.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Clem. 49.5–50.1, 3, and 1 Cor 13:3, 1 (combined).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐὰν τὸ σῶμά μου ἐπιδῶ φησίν. ἀγάπην δὲ → ἐὰν τὸ σῶμά μου ἐπιδῶ φησίν, ἀγάπην δὲ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.111 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/111/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.111 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/111/).
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