Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 18.2

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: The preacher confesses he is a sinner still striving for righteousness.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:158

καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς πανθαμαρτωλὸς ὢν καὶ μήπω φυγὼν τὸν πειρασμόν, ἀλλʼ ἔτι ὢν ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ὀργάνοις τοῦ διαβόλου σπουδάζω τὴν δικαιοσύνην διώκειν, ὅπως ἰσχύσω κἂν ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς γενέσθαι, φοβούμενος τὴν κρίσιν τὴν μέλλουσαν.

English · Claude translation

For I myself, being an utter sinner and not yet having escaped temptation, but still being in the midst of the devil's instruments, am eager to pursue righteousness, so that I may be able at least to come near it, fearing the judgment to come.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:158 · 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)
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The preacher speaks of himself; a rare personal glimpse in the sermon.

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 18.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/18/2/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 18.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/18/2/).

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