Miscellanies 2.17.77
Summary: We fail to act from inability, unwillingness, or both; we cannot become like the Lord in substance, since adoption is not nature, but we can become eternal sons who behold the Father; willing comes first; the one who knows lives consistently.
Greek text · Stählin 2:153
ἡ δὲ ἐπιστήμη διὰ τοῦ λόγου συνίσταται καὶ ἀμετάπτωτός ἐστιν ἄλλῳ λόγῳ. ἐνταῦθα τὴν γνῶσιν πολυπραγμονεῖ. Ἃ δὲ μὴ ποιοῦμεν, ἤτοι διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι οὐ ποιοῦμεν ἢ διὰ τὸ μὴ βούλεσθαι ἢ διʼ ἀμφότερα. οὐχ ἱπτάμεθα μὲν οὖν, ἐπειδὴ οὔτε δυνάμεθα οὔτε βουλόμεθα· οὐ νηχόμεθα δὲ φέρʼ εἰπεῖν ἄρτι, ἐπειδὴ δυνάμεθα μέν, οὐ βουλόμεθα δέ· οὐκ ἐσμὲν δὲ ὡς ὁ κύριος, ἐπειδὴ βουλόμεθα μέν, οὐ δυνάμεθα δέ. οὐδεὶς γὰρ μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἀρκετὸν δὲ ἐὰν γενώμεθα ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος, οὐ κατʼ οὐσίαν, ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἴσον εἶναι πρὸς τὴν ὕπαρξιν τὸ θέσει τῷ φύσει, τῷ δὲ ἀιδίους γεγονέναι καὶ τὴν τῶν ὄντων θεωρίαν ἐγνωκέναι καὶ υἱοὺς προσηγορεῦσθαι καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων καθορᾶν μόνον. προηγεῖται τοίνυν πάντων τὸ βούλεσθαι· αἱ γὰρ λογικαὶ δυνάμεις τοῦ βούλεσθαι διάκονοι πεφύκασι· θέλε, φησί, καὶ δυνήσῃ· τοῦ γνωστικοῦ δὲ καὶ ἡ βούλησις καὶ ἡ κρίσις καὶ ἡ ἄσκησις ἡ αὐτή. εἰ γὰρ αἱ αὐταὶ αἱ προθέσεις, τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ τὰ δόγματα καὶ αἱ κρίσεις, ἵνα δὴ ὦσιν αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ λόγοι καὶ ὁ βίος καὶ ὁ τρόπος ἀκόλουθοι τῇ ἐνστάσει· καρδία δὲ εὐθεῖα ἐκζητεῖ γνώσεις καὶ ἐκείνων ἐπαΐει. ὁ θεὸς δεδίδαχέν με σοφίαν καὶ γνῶσιν ἁγίων ἔγνωκα.
English · Claude translation
Knowledge is formed through reason and cannot be shaken by another argument. Here it inquires into knowing. What we do not do, we do not do either because we cannot, or because we do not wish to, or for both reasons. We do not fly, since we neither can nor wish to; we do not swim right now, say, since we can but do not wish to; and we are not like the Lord, since we wish to but cannot. “For no disciple is above the teacher, but it is enough if we become like the teacher”: not in substance, for it is impossible for what is by adoption to be equal in existence to what is by nature, but in having become eternal, having come to know the contemplation of what exists, being called sons, and beholding the Father alone through what is his own. Willing, then, precedes everything; for the rational powers are by nature the servants of willing. “Will,” it says, “and you will be able.” For the one who knows, willing, judging, and practice are the same. For if the purposes are the same, the doctrines and judgments are the same too, so that his words, life, and manner may be consistent with his stance. “An upright heart seeks knowledge,” and hears it. “God has taught me wisdom, and I have come to know the knowledge of the holy.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 10:24–25 (Luke 6:40), an unidentified saying (“Will and you will be able”), Prov 27:21a (LXX), and Prov 30:3 (LXX, where Prov 30:1–14 stands in chapter 24).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (γὰρ); wrong breathing on οὐ; wrong breathing on οὖν): διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ού ποιοῦμεν → διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι οὐ ποιοῦμεν; οὐχ ἱπτάμεθα μὲν οὗν → οὐχ ἱπτάμεθα μὲν οὖν; εἰ τὰρ αἱ αὐταὶ → εἰ γὰρ αἱ αὐταὶ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.17.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/17/77/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.17.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/17/77/).
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