Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.7.33

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

Summary: Renamed “caution,” fear is rational, avoiding harm and leading to repentance; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so those who reject the law are without wisdom.

Greek text · Stählin 2:130

εὔλογον οὖσαν ἔκκλισιν. ὀνοματομάχους τούτους οὐκ ἄπο τρόπου ὁ Φασηλίτης ἐκάλει Κριτόλαος. ἀστεία μὲν οὖν ἤδη καὶ καλλίστη πέφηνε τοῖς ἐγκαλοῦσιν ἡμῖν ἡ ἐντολὴ ὀνόματος ἐναλλαγῇ νοηθεῖσα. ἡ οὖν εὐλάβεια λογικὴ δείκνυται, τοῦ βλάπτοντος ἔκκλισις οὖσα, ἐξ ἧς ἡ μετάνοια τῶν προημαρτημένων φύεται. ἀρχὴ γὰρ σοφίας φόβος κυρίου, σύνεσις δὲ ἀγαθὴ πᾶσι τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν. τὴν σοφίας λέγει ποίησιν, ἥ ἐστι φόβος θεοῦ ὁδοποιῶν εἰς σοφίαν. εἰ δὲ ὁ νόμος φόβου ἐμποιητικός, ἀρχὴ σοφίας γνῶσις νόμου, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνευ νόμου σοφός. ἄσοφοι τοίνυν οἱ παραιτούμενοι τὸν νόμον, ᾧ ἕπεται ἀθέους αὐτοὺς λογίζεσθαι. παιδεία δὲ ἀρχὴ σοφίας. σοφίαν δὲ καὶ παιδείαν ἀσεβεῖς ἐξουθενήσουσιν, λέγει ἡ γραφή.

English · Claude translation

since it is a reasonable avoidance. Critolaus of Phaselis not inappropriately called such people “fighters about names.” So the commandment has now appeared elegant and most beautiful even to those who accuse us, once understood by a change of name. Caution, then, is shown to be rational, being an avoidance of what harms; and from it springs repentance for sins previously committed. For “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and good understanding belongs to all who practice it.” He speaks of the practice of wisdom, which is the fear of God making a road to wisdom. And if the law produces fear, the knowledge of the law is the beginning of wisdom, and there is no one wise without law. Those who reject the law, then, are without wisdom, and it follows that they are to be counted godless. And “instruction is the beginning of wisdom.” “But the ungodly will despise wisdom and instruction,” says Scripture.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:130 · 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
  • Ps 111:10 (110:10 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Prov 1:7 · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics, Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Ps 111:10 (110:10 LXX; Prov 1:7), Prov 1:7 (LXX).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.7.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/7/33/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.7.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/7/33/).

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