Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.13.56

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Those forgiven must sin no more; the first repentance cleanses the life of ignorance; but the Lord foresaw human weakness and the devil's jealous schemes against the forgiven.

Greek text · Stählin 2:143

Τὸν οὖν εἰληφότα τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν οὐκέτι ἁμαρτάνειν χρή. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῇ πρώτῃ καὶ μόνῃ μετανοίᾳ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν (αὕτη ἂν εἴη τῶν προϋπαρξάντων κατὰ τὸν ἐθνικὸν καὶ πρῶτον βίον, τὸν ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ λέγω) αὐτίκα τοῖς κληθεῖσι πρόκειται μετάνοια ἡ καθαίρουσα τὸν τόπον τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ τῶν πλημμελημάτων, ἵνα ἡ πίστις θεμελιωθῇ. καρδιογνώστης δὲ ὢν ὁ κύριος καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα προγινώσκων τό τε εὐμετάβολον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τὸ παλίμβολον καὶ πανοῦργον τοῦ διαβόλου ἄνωθεν ἀρχῆθεν προεῖδεν, ὡς ζηλώσας ἐπὶ τῇ ἀφέσει τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον προστρίψεταί τινας αἰτίας τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τοῖς δούλοις τοῦ θεοῦ, φρονίμως πονηρευόμενος, ὅπως δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ συνεκπέσοιεν αὐτῷ.

English · Claude translation

The one who has received the forgiveness of sins, then, must sin no longer. For as to the first and only repentance for sins (this would be for sins committed before, in the first, pagan life, I mean the life in ignorance), at once there is set before those who have been called this repentance, which cleanses the place of the soul from offenses, so that faith may be founded. But the Lord, who knows the heart and foreknows the future, foresaw from the beginning both the changeableness of man and the treachery and cunning of the devil: how, jealous of man for the forgiveness of sins, he would contrive occasions of sin for the servants of God, wickedly and shrewdly, so that they too might fall together with him.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:143 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 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 (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Herm. Mand. 4.3.1–4 (Shepherd of Hermas: Mandates) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Baptism, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is Acts 15:8 (“who knows the heart”). Clement here follows Hermas, Mand. 4.3.1–4.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/56/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/56/).

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