The Instructor 3.12.100 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:290

ὢ τῶν θείων δημιουργημάτων, ὢ τῶν θείων παραγγελμάτων· ὕδωρ τοῦτο, ἐν ἑαυτῷ κυμαινέτω· πῦρ τοῦτο, τὴν ὀργὴν συνεχέτω, ἀὴρ τοῦτο, εἰς αἰθέρα πλανάσθω· γῆ δὲ καὶ πεπήχθω καὶ φερέσθω, ὅταν ἐγὼ θέλω. ἄνθρωπον ἔτι πλάσαι βούλομαι· ὕλην ἔχω τὰ στοιχεῖα· συνοικῶ μου τῷ πλάσματι. ἐάν με γνωρίσῃς, δουλεύσει σοι τὸ πῦρ. τοσοῦτος ὁ λόγος οὗτος ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ὁ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργὸς καὶ διʼ αὐτὸν ἤδη καὶ τοῦ κόσμου παιδαγωγός· οὗ τῇ ἐγκελεύσει ἄμφω συνεστήκαμεν προσμένοντες τὴν κρίσιν. »οὐ γὰρ ὑπόκλοπον φορεῖ βροτοῖσι φωνάεντα λόγον † ἔσται λόγος σοφία,« ὥς φησι Βακχυλίδης. τὰ δὲ »ἄμεμπτα καὶ ἀκέραια καὶ ἄμωμα τοῦ θεοῦ« κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον »τέκνα μέσον γενεᾶς σκολιᾶς καὶ διεστραμμένης φωστήρων δίκην ἐν κόσμῳ φαίνεσθε«.

English · Claude translation

O divine works of creation! O divine commands! “Let this be water, let it surge within itself; let this be fire, let it restrain its fury; let this be air, let it wander into the ether; and let the earth be both fixed and moved, when I will. I wish still to form man; I have the elements as material; I dwell with my creature. If you know me, fire will serve you.” Such is this Word, the Instructor, the Creator of the world and of man, and for man's sake now the Instructor of the world too; at whose command both the world and we hold together, awaiting the judgment. “For not a stolen word does he bear for mortals … the word will be wisdom,” as Bacchylides says. But you, “the blameless and pure and unblemished children of God,” according to Paul, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, shine like lights in the world.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:290 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Phil 2:15 · quotation, high confidence
Gen 2:7 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Christology, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

The speech of the Word to the elements is not a quotation from Scripture; its source is unknown. The Bacchylides quotation (fragment 26) is corrupt in the manuscripts and marked with a dagger by the edition; its meaning is uncertain. The last quotation is Phil 2:15.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): ία, « → ία,«.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.100 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/100/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.100 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/100/).