Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.13.58

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

Summary: Converts receive forgiveness once in baptism; one who sins afterward and repents may be pardoned but should feel shame, since there is no second washing; the reborn must abandon their old works, not repent of the same sin again and again.

Greek text · Stählin 2:144

τοῦτο ἑκὼν ἐπιτελεῖ. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἐθνῶν καὶ τῆς προβιότητος ἐκείνης ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν ὁρμήσας, ἅπαξ ἔτυχεν ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν· ὁ δὲ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἁμαρτήσας, εἶτα μετανοῶν, κἂν συγγνώμης τυγχάνῃ, αἰδεῖσθαι ὀφείλει, μηκέτι λουόμενος εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. δεῖ γὰρ οὐ τὰ εἴδωλα μόνον καταλιπεῖν ἃ πρότερον ἐξεθείαζεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ προτέρου βίου τὸν οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, ἐν πνεύματι δὲ ἀναγεννώμενον· ὅπερ εἴη ἂν τὸ μὴ εἰς ταὐτὸν ὑπενεχθέντα πλημμέλημα μετανοῆσαι· μελέτη γὰρ ἔμπαλιν ἁμαρτιῶν τὸ πολλάκις μετανοεῖν καὶ ἐπιτηδειότης εἰς εὐτρεψίαν ἐξ ἀνασκησίας.

English · Claude translation

does this willingly. The one, then, who has come to faith from the Gentiles and that former life has obtained forgiveness of sins once. But the one who has sinned after this and then repents, even if he obtains pardon, ought to feel shame, since he is no longer washed for the forgiveness of sins. For the one who is born, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,” but anew in the Spirit, must abandon not only the idols he formerly deified, but also the works of his former life. And this would mean not falling again into the same offense and repenting of it. For repenting often is, on the contrary, a practice of sins and a readiness for fickleness from lack of discipline.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:144 · 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
Topics
Baptism, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is John 1:13. “Washed” refers to baptism.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός. ἐν πνεύματι → ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, ἐν πνεύματι.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/58/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.13.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/13/58/).

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