Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.3.10

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

Summary: The Basilidians make faith a natural gift of the elect; the Valentinians leave faith to simple Christians and claim knowledge for themselves, the spiritual saved by nature.

Greek text · Stählin 2:118

Ἐνταῦθα φυσικὴν ἡγοῦνται τὴν πίστιν οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Βασιλείδην, καθὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκλογῆς τάττουσιν αὐτήν, τὰ μαθήματα ἀναποδείκτως εὑρίσκουσαν καταλήψει νοητικῇ. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου τὴν μὲν πίστιν τοῖς ἁπλοῖς ἀπονείμαντες ἡμῖν, αὑτοῖς δὲ τὴν γνῶσιν, τοῖς φύσει σῳζομένοις κατὰ τὴν τοῦ διαφέροντος πλεονεξίαν σπέρματος ἐνυπάρχειν βούλονται, μακρῷ δὴ κεχωρισμένην πίστεως, ᾗ τὸ πνευματικὸν τοῦ ψυχικοῦ, λέγοντες. ἔτι φασὶν οἱ ἀπὸ Βασιλείδου πίστιν ἅμα καὶ ἐκλογὴν οἰκείαν εἶναι καθʼ ἕκαστον διάστημα, κατʼ ἐπακολούθημα δʼ αὖ τῆς ἐκλογῆς τῆς ὑπερκοσμίου τὴν κοσμικὴν ἁπάσης φύσεως συνέπεσθαι πίστιν κατάλληλόν τε εἶναι τῇ ἑκάστου ἐλπίδι καὶ τῆς πίστεως τὴν δωρεάν.

English · Claude translation

At this point the followers of Basilides consider faith to be natural, and so they also assign it to election, as finding the doctrines without demonstration, by an intellectual apprehension. The followers of Valentinus, assigning faith to us, the simple, and knowledge to themselves, who are saved by nature by the superiority of the superior seed, would have it that knowledge is far separated from faith, as the spiritual from the psychic. Further, the followers of Basilides say that faith and election are proper to each stage, and that, as a consequence of the supramundane election, the worldly faith of every nature follows, and that the gift of faith corresponds to each one's hope.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:118 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 56.3 (Excerpts from Theodotus) · echo, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare the Valentinian teaching in Exc. 56.3.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.3.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/3/10/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.3.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/3/10/).

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