Sophia Scriptura

Prophetic Extracts 7.2

Clement of Alexandria · Prophetic Extracts · ca. 200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The Savior was baptized, though he needed no cleansing, to sanctify all water for those reborn, so that body and soul are cleansed.

Greek text · Stählin 3:138

»πνεῦμα γὰρ θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο τῇ ἀβύσσῳ.« καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ σωτὴρ ἐβαπτίσατο μὴ χρῄζων αὐτός, ἵνα τοῖς ἀναγεννωμένοις τὸ πᾶν ὕδωρ ἁγιάσῃ. ταύτῃ τοι οὐ μόνον τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καθαιρόμεθα.

English · Claude translation

“For the Spirit of God was borne over the abyss.” And for this reason the Savior was baptized, not needing it himself, so that he might sanctify all water for those being regenerated. In this way we are cleansed not only in body but also in soul.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:138 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Printed there under the wrong title “Excerpts of Theodotus”, and incomplete (it breaks off in ch. 63).
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Ign. Eph. 18.2 (To the Ephesians) · echo, medium confidence
Topics
Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is a form of Gen 1:2. Compare Ign. Eph. 18.2.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 7.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/7/2/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 7.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/7/2/).

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