Miscellanies 1.28.179
Summary: Paul knew the mystery by revelation and spoke to those able to receive it; the law must be read in three ways, as sign, as commandment, and as prophecy; Scripture must be studied carefully, not all lumped together.
Greek text · Stählin 2:109–110
εἰκότως ἄρα ὁ ἀπόστολος κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν φησὶν ἐγνωκέναι τὸ μυστήριον, καθὼς προέγραψα ἐν ὀλίγῳ, πρὸς ὃ δύνασθε ἀναγινώσκοντες νοῆσαι τὴν σύνεσίν μου ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. πρὸς ὃ δύνασθε εἶπεν, ἐπεὶ ᾔδει τινὰς γάλα μόνον εἰληφότας, οὐδέπω δὲ καὶ βρῶμα, αὐτίκα οὐχ ἁπλῶς γάλα. τριχῶς δὲ ἡμῖν ἐκληπτέον τοῦ νόμου τὴν βούλησιν, ἢ ὡς σημεῖον ἐμφαίνουσαν ἢ ὡς ἐντολὴν κυροῦσαν εἰς πολιτείαν ὀρθὴν ἢ θεσπίζουσαν ὡς προφητείαν. ἀνδρῶν δὲ εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι τὰ τοιαῦτα διακρίνειν τε καὶ λέγειν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ μία Μύκονος ἡ πᾶσα πρὸς νόησιν γραφή, ᾗ φασιν οἱ παροιμιαζόμενοι· διαλεκτικώτερον δὲ ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα προσιτέον αὐτῇ, τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς θείας διδασκαλίας θηρωμένοις.
English · Claude translation
Fittingly, then, the apostle says that he knew the mystery by revelation: “as I wrote before briefly, by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.” He said “you can,” since he knew that some had received only milk, and not yet solid food, and not simply milk. We must take the meaning of the law in three ways: as showing a sign, as establishing a commandment for right living, or as foretelling as prophecy. And I know well that it belongs to men to distinguish and speak of such things; for the whole of Scripture is not, as the proverb-makers say, “one Myconos” to understanding; but one must approach it as dialectically as possible, hunting the sequence of the divine teaching.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Eph 3:3–4; the allusion 1 Cor 3:2. “One Myconos” was a proverb for lumping different things together.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.179 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/179/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.179 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/179/).
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