Miscellanies 4.25.160
Summary: Job's “naked I shall depart” means leaving free of sin, as Christ calls us to become like children, pure as when born of the womb of water in baptism; the lamp of the ungodly will be quenched.
Greek text · Stählin 2:319
Ἰὼβ δὲ ὁ δίκαιος αὐτὸς φησὶ γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι ἐκεῖ, οὐ κτημάτων γυμνός (τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ μικρόν τε καὶ κοινόν), ἀλλʼ ὡς δίκαιος γυμνὸς ἄπεισι κακίας τε καὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ ἑπομένου τοῖς ἀδίκως βιώσασιν ἀειδοῦς εἰδώλου· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ εἰρημένον ἐὰν μὴ στραφέντες γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία, καθαροὶ μὲν τὴν σάρκα, ἅγιοι δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν κατὰ ἀποχὴν κακῶν ἔργων, δεικνύντος τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι τοιούτους ἡμᾶς εἶναι βούλεται, οἵους καὶ γεγέννηκεν ἐκ μήτρας ὕδατος· γένεσις γὰρ γένεσιν διαδεχομένη κατὰ προκοπὴν ἀπαθανατίζειν βούλεται, τῶν δὲ ἀσεβῶν ὁ λύχνος σβεσθήσεται.
English · Claude translation
Job the righteous himself says: “Naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked I shall also depart there”; not naked of possessions (for this is small and common), but as a righteous man he departs naked of vice and sin and of the formless image that follows those who have lived unjustly. For this was the meaning of what was said, “Unless you turn and become like children,” pure in flesh and holy in soul by abstaining from evil deeds; God showing that he wishes us to be such as he has also begotten us from the womb of water. For birth succeeding birth by progress wishes to make immortal; “but the lamp of the ungodly will be quenched.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Job 1:21, Matt 18:3, and Prov 13:9 (Job 18:5). “The womb of water” is baptism.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.160 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/160/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.160 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/160/).
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