Miscellanies 3.18.106
Summary: Proverbs warns against the paths of the wicked, who destroy themselves and others; Paul commands cleaning out the old leaven and not associating with immoral “brothers”; the believer, crucified with Christ, lives by faith.
Greek text · Stählin 2:245
διὰ τούτους ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης συμβουλεύων ἡμῖν λέγει· μὴ πορευθῇς ἐν ὁδῷ μετʼ αὐτῶν, ἔκκλινον τὸν πόδα σου ἐκ τῶν τρίβων αὐτῶν· οὐ γὰρ ἀδίκως ἐκτείνεται δίκτυα πτερωτοῖς· αὐτοὶ γὰρ αἱμάτων μετέχοντες θησαυρίζουσιν ἑαυτοῖς κακά, τουτέστι τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας ἀντιποιούμενοι καὶ τοὺς πλησίον τὰ ὅμοια ἐκδιδάσκοντες, πολεμισταί, πλῆκται ταῖς οὐραῖς αὐτῶν, κατὰ τὸν προφήτην, ἃς κέρκους Ἕλληνες καλοῦσιν. εἶεν δʼ ἂν οὓς αἰνίσσεται ἡ προφητεία, καταφερεῖς, ἀκρατεῖς, οἱ ταῖς οὐραῖς αὐτῶν πολεμισταί, σκότους καὶ ὀργῆς τέκνα, μιαιφόνοι αὐτῶν τε αὐθένται καὶ τῶν πλησίον ἀνδροφόνοι. ἐκκαθάρατε τὴν παλαιὰν ζύμην, ἵνα ἦτε νέον φύραμα, ὁ ἀπόστολος ἡμῖν ἐμβοᾷ. καὶ πάλιν ἀσχάλλων ἐπὶ τοιούτοις τισὶ διατάττεται μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι, ἐάν τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος ᾖ πόρνος ἢ πλεονέκτης ἢ εἰδωλολάτρης ἢ λοίδορος ἢ μέθυσος ἢ ἅρπαξ, τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν. ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, λέγει, ἵνα θεῷ ζήσω. Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι· ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ὡς ἔζων κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστὸς διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ὑπακοῆς ἁγνῶς καὶ μακαρίως· ὥστε τότε μὲν ἔζων ἐν σαρκὶ σαρκικῶς, ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκί, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
Because of these the same prophet counsels us: “Do not walk in the way with them; turn your foot from their paths; for not unjustly are nets spread for birds; for they, sharing in blood, store up evils for themselves”; that is, claiming uncleanness for themselves and teaching their neighbors the same, “warriors, striking with their tails,” according to the prophet, which the Greeks call “kerkoi.” Those the prophecy hints at would be the sensual, the intemperate, those who are warriors with their tails, children of darkness and wrath, murderous, killers both of themselves and of their neighbors. “Clean out the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump,” the apostle cries to us. And again, grieved at certain such people, he orders us not to associate with anyone “named a brother, if he is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a robber; not even to eat with such a one.” “For through the law I died to the law,” he says, “that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,” as I lived according to the desires, “but Christ lives in me,” purely and blessedly, through obedience to the commandments; so that then I lived in the flesh fleshly, “but the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Prov 1:15–18, an unidentified prophetic phrase (compare Rev 9:10, 19), Eph 2:3, 1 Cor 5:7, 11, and Gal 2:19–20. “Kerkoi” (tails) was a Greek slang term for the male member.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.18.106 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/18/106/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.18.106 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/18/106/).
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