Miscellanies 3.2.8
Summary: Epiphanes says God made male and female for common union and gave men strong desire, which no law can abolish; Clement answers that this destroys both law and gospel, which forbid adultery and coveting a neighbor's wife.
Greek text · Stählin 2:199
κοινῇ τοίνυν ὁ θεὸς ἅπαντα ἀνθρώπῳ ποιήσας καὶ τὸ θῆλυ τῷ ἄρρενι κοινῇ συναγαγὼν καὶ πάνθʼ ὁμοίως τὰ ζῷα κολλήσας τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἀνέφηνεν κοινωνίαν μετʼ ἰσότητος. οἳ δὲ γεγονότες οὕτω τὴν συνάγουσαν κοινωνίαν τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῶν ἀπηρνήθησαν καὶ φασιν· ὁ μίαν ἀγόμενος ἐχέτω, δυναμένων κοινωνεῖν ἁπάντων, ὥσπερ ἀπέφηνε τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ζῴων. ταῦτα εἰπὼν κατὰ λέξιν πάλιν ὁμοίως αὐταῖς ταῖς λέξεσιν ἐπιφέρει· τὴν γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν εὔτονον καὶ σφοδροτέραν ἐνεποίησε τοῖς ἄρρεσιν εἰς τὴν τῶν γενῶν παραμονήν, ἣν οὔτε νόμος οὔτε ἔθος οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῶν ὄντων ἀφανίσαι δύναται. θεοῦ γάρ ἐστι δόγμα. καὶ πῶς ἔτι οὗτος ἐν τῷ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐξετασθείη λόγῳ ἄντικρυς καὶ τὸν νόμον καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον διὰ τούτων καθαιρῶν; ὃ μὲν γάρ φησιν· οὐ μοιχεύσεις. τὸ δὲ πᾶς ὁ προσβλέπων κατʼ ἐπιθυμίαν ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν λέγει. τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις πρὸς τοῦ νόμου λεγόμενον τὸν ἔνα δείκνυσι θεὸν διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελίου κηρυσσόμενον· λέγει γάρ· οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τῆς τοῦ πλησίον. ὁ πλησίον δὲ οὐχ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος τῷ Ἰουδαίῳ, ἀδελφὸς γὰρ καὶ ταὐτότης τοῦ πνεύματος, λείπεται δὴ πλησίον τὸν ἀλλοεθνῆ λέγειν. πῶς γὰρ οὐ πλησίον ὁ οἷός τε κοινωνῆσαι τοῦ πνεύματος; οὐ γὰρ μόνων Ἑβραίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐθνῶν πατὴρ Ἀβραάμ.
English · Claude translation
God, then, having made all things in common for man, and having brought the female together with the male in common and joined all living things alike, declared justice to be fellowship with equality. But those who were born in this way denied the fellowship that brought about their birth, and say, ‘Let the one who has married one woman keep her,’ though all could share, as the rest of the living things show.” Having said this word for word, he adds again in the very same words: “For he implanted in males a vigorous and more violent desire for the continuance of the races, which neither law nor custom nor anything else can abolish. For it is God's decree.” And how could this man still be considered in our discussion, when he plainly destroys both the law and the gospel by these words? For the one says, “You shall not commit adultery”; the other says, “Everyone who looks with desire has already committed adultery.” For “You shall not covet,” said by the law, shows the one God proclaimed through the law, the prophets, and the gospel; for it says, “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.” And the neighbor is not the Jew to the Jew, for he is a brother and of the same spirit; it remains, then, that “neighbor” means the foreigner. For how is one who is able to share in the Spirit not a neighbor? For Abraham is the father not only of Hebrews but also of Gentiles.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Exod 20:14, Matt 5:28, and Exod 20:17 (Deut 5:21). The allusion is Rom 4:16–17 (Abraham father of many nations).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (iota subscript missing; misreading in the digital text (τὸ); wrong breathing on οἷός): καὶ τὶ εὐαγγέλιον → καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον; ὁ Ἰουδαῖος τῶ Ἰουδαίῳ → ὁ Ἰουδαῖος τῷ Ἰουδαίῳ; πλησίον ὁ οἶός τε κοινωνῆσαι → πλησίον ὁ οἷός τε κοινωνῆσαι.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/8/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/8/).
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