Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 12.4

Anonymous · 2 Clement · ca. 100–150 · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: An anonymous sermon, transmitted in the manuscripts after 1 Clement as Clement's “second letter to the Corinthians.” The text itself names no author and is not a letter; the ascription to Clement of Rome is traditional and not accepted by modern scholars.

Summary: “Outside as inside”: let the soul show itself in good works.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:146

καὶ τὸ ἔξω ὡς τὸ ἔσω, τοῦτο λέγει· τὴν ψυχὴν λέγει τὸ ἔσω, τὸ δὲ ἔξω τὸ σῶμα λέγει. ὃν τρόπον οὖν σου τὸ σῶμα φαίνεται, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ψυχή σου δῆλος ἔστω ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἔργοις.

English · Claude translation

And “the outside as the inside” means this: by “the inside” he means the soul, and by “the outside” he means the body. As your body is visible, so let your soul also be evident in good works.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:146 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 128–161 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9 (1896) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong breathing)): λέγει τὸ ἕσω → λέγει τὸ ἔσω.

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 12.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/12/4/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 12.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/12/4/).

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