Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.11.76

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

Summary: Paul proclaims the same God in law and gospel, attributing “you shall not covet” to the law; his words that no good dwells in his flesh refer to indwelling sin, not to the Creator's work.

Greek text · Stählin 2:229–230

Καὶ δὴ ἐνταῦθα γενόμενος δοκῶ μοι μὴ παραλείψειν ἀνεπισημείωτον, ὅτι τὸν αὐτὸν θεὸν διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελίου ὁ ἀπόστολος κηρύσσει· τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ γεγραμμένον τῷ νόμῳ περιτίθησιν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ, ἕνα εἰδὼς τὸν διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν κηρύξαντα καὶ τὸν διʼ αὐτοῦ εὐαγγελισθέντα πατέρα. φησὶ γάρ· τί ἐροῦμεν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; μὴ γένοιτο· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔγνων εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου· τήν τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν, εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν· οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις. κἂν οἱ ἀντιτασσόμενοι τῶν ἑτεροδόξων προσαποτεινόμενον τὸν Παῦλον τῷ κτίστῃ εἰρηκέναι ὑπολάβωσι τὰ ἑξῆς οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοί, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, ἀγαθόν, ἀλλʼ ἀναγινωσκόντων τὰ προειρημένα καὶ τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα· προεῖπε γάρ· ἀλλʼ ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία, διʼ ἣν ἀκόλουθον ἦν εἰπεῖν ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ἀγαθόν.

English · Claude translation

Having reached this point, I think I should not leave unremarked that the apostle proclaims the same God through the law, the prophets, and the gospel. For in the letter to the Romans he attributes to the law “You shall not covet,” which is written in the gospel, knowing that the Father proclaimed through the law and the prophets and the one proclaimed as good news through himself are one. For he says: “What shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means. But I would not have known sin except through the law; for I would not have known desire if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” And even if those of the heterodox who oppose the Creator suppose that Paul said what follows as aimed at the Creator, “For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh,” let them read what precedes and what follows. For he said before, “but the sin that dwells in me,” because of which it was consistent to say that “good does not dwell in my flesh.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:229–230 · 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
Heresy, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Rom 7:7, 18, 17.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.76 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/76/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.76 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/76/).

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