Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 17.1

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: If we must win pagans, how much more must we not lose believers.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:156

Μετανοήσωμεν οὖν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας, ἵνα μή τις ἡμῶν παραπόληται. εἰ γὰρ ἐντολὰς ἔχομεν ἵνα καὶ τοῦτο πράσσωμεν, ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀποσπᾶν καὶ κατηχεῖν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ψυχὴν ἤδη γινώσκουσαν τὸν θεὸν οὐ δεῖ ἀπόλλυσθαι;

English · Claude translation

Let us, then, repent with our whole heart, so that none of us may perish needlessly. For if we have commandments to do this also, to draw people away from idols and instruct them, how much more ought a soul that already knows God not to perish?

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:156 · 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

Translation notes

  • “Perish needlessly” (παραπόληται): perish through neglect, when it could have been prevented.
  • “Instruct” (κατηχεῖν): teach new converts, the root of “catechize.”

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 17.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/17/1/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 17.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/17/1/).

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