Miscellanies 1.29.182
Summary: The law of nature and the law of learning come from the one God and the one Word; Moses calls the Lord a covenant, and the Preaching of Peter calls him Law and Word. So ends Book 1.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 2:111–113
εἴτʼ οὖν τὸν ἅμα τῇ γενέσει φησὶ νόμον εἴτε καὶ τὸν αὖθις, δοθέντα, πλὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ὅ τε τῆς φύσεως ὅ τε τῆς μαθήσεως νόμος, εἷς ὤν, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Πολιτικῷ ἕνα τὸν νομοθέτην φησίν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Νόμοις ἕνα τὸν συνήσοντα τῶν μουσικῶν, διὰ τούτων διδάσκων τὸν λόγον εἶναι ἕνα καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἕνα. Μωυσῆς δὲ φαίνεται τὸν κύριον διαθήκην καλῶν, ἰδοὺ ἐγώ, λέγων, ἡ διαθήκη μου μετὰ σοῦ· ἐπεὶ καὶ πρότερον εἶπεν διαθήκην, † μὴ ζητεῖν αὐτὴν ἐν γραφῇ. ἔστι γὰρ διαθήκη ἣν ὁ αἴτιος τοῦ παντὸς θεὸς τίθεται, θεὸς δὲ παρὰ τὴν θέσιν εἴρηται καὶ τάξιν, τὴν διακόσμησιν. ἐν δὲ τῷ Πέτρου Κηρύγματι εὕροις ἂν νόμον καὶ λόγον τὸν κύριον προσαγορευόμενον. Ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν γνωστικῶν ὑπομνημάτων πρῶτος ἡμῖν Στρωματεὺς ἐνταυθοῖ περιγεγράφθω.
English · Claude translation
Whether, then, he means the law given together with birth or the one given later, both the law of nature and the law of learning are from God, being one; as Plato too says in the Statesman that the lawgiver is one, and in the Laws that the one who understands music is one, teaching by these words that the Word is one and God is one. And Moses appears to call the Lord a covenant, saying, “Behold, I, my covenant is with you”; since he said “covenant” earlier too, … not to seek it in writing. For a covenant is what God, the cause of all, sets; and God (θεός) is so called from setting (θέσις) and order, the arrangement of the world. And in the Preaching of Peter you would find the Lord called Law and Word. But let the first Stromateus of our gnostic notes according to the true philosophy end here.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Gen 17:4 (LXX). The derivation of θεός from θέσις is traditional. The text is corrupt in one place (dagger). “Stromateus” is Clement's name for each book of the Stromata.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.29.182 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/29/182/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.29.182 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/29/182/).
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