Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.4.12

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

Summary: Christians, free to choose, rest on faith in God's word as an unshakable criterion; Hebrews 11 shows that faith justified the righteous even before the law.

Greek text · Stählin 2:119

Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ φυγὴν δεδόσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτοκρατορικὴν παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου διὰ τῶν γραφῶν παρειληφότες ἀμεταπτώτῳ κριτηρίῳ τῇ πίστει ἐπαναπαυώμεθα, τὸ πνεῦμα πρόθυμον ἐνδειξάμενοι, ὅτι εἱλόμεθα τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου φωνῆς πεπιστεύκαμεν· καὶ ὁ τῷ λόγῳ πιστεύσας οἶδεν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀληθές· ἀλήθεια γὰρ ὁ λόγος· ὁ δὲ ἀπιστήσας τῷ λέγοντι ἠπίστησε τῷ θεῷ. πίστει νοοῦμεν κατηρτίσθαι τοὺς αἰῶνας ῥήματι θεοῦ εἰς τὸ μὴ ἐκ φαινομένων τὸ βλεπόμενον γεγονέναι, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· πίστει πλείονα θυσίαν Ἄβελ παρὰ Κάιν προσήνεγκε, διʼ ἧς ἐμαρτυρήθη εἶναι δίκαιος, μαρτυροῦντος ἐπὶ τοῖς δώροις αὐτῷ τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ διʼ αὐτῆς ἀποθανὼν ἔτι λαλεῖ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἕως ἢ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν. τούτους μὲν οὖν καὶ πρὸ νόμου ἡ πίστις δικαιώσασα κληρονόμους κατέστησε τῆς θείας ἐπαγγελίας.

English · Claude translation

But we, who have received from the Lord through the Scriptures that choice and avoidance have been given to human beings with sovereign freedom, rest on faith as an unshakable criterion, having shown a willing spirit, because we have chosen life and have believed God through his voice. And the one who has believed the Word knows the matter to be true; for the Word is truth. But the one who disbelieved the speaker disbelieved God. “By faith we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God, so that what is seen came into being from what does not appear,” says the apostle. “By faith Abel offered a greater sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts; and through it, though he died, he still speaks,” and so on, down to “than to have the passing enjoyment of sin.” These, then, faith justified even before the law and made heirs of the divine promise.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:119 · 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
Scripture and canon, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Deut 30:19, John 17:17, and Matt 26:41 (a willing spirit); the quotations are Heb 11:3–4, continued to 11:25.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/12/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/12/).

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