Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.15.98

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

Summary: Paul, free, made himself a slave to all; the knowing Christian abstains for the weaker brother's conscience, not his own, and does everything to God's glory within the rule of faith.

Greek text · Stählin 2:291–292

ἐλεύθερος γὰρ ὢν ἐκ πάντων πᾶσιν ἐμαυτὸν ἐδούλωσα, φησίν, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας κερδήσω, καὶ πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος πάντα ἐγκρατεύεται· ἀλλὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν οὖν ἀφεκτέον ὧν ἀφεκτέον. συνείδησιν δὲ λέγω οὐχὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, γνωστικὴ γάρ, ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου, ἵνα μὴ κακῶς οἰκοδομηθῇ ἀμαθίᾳ μιμούμενος ὃ μὴ γινώσκει, καταφρονητὴς ἀντὶ μεγαλόφρονος γινόμενος. ἵνα τί γὰρ ἡ ἐλευθερία μου κρίνεται ὑπὸ ἄλλης συνειδήσεως; εἰ ἐγὼ χάριτι μετέχω, τί βλασφημοῦμαι ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐγὼ εὐχαριστῶ; πάντα οὖν ὅσα ποιεῖτε εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ποιεῖτε· ὅσα ὑπὸ τὸν κανόνα τῆς πίστεως ποιεῖν ἐπιτέτραπται.

English · Claude translation

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all,” he says, “that I might win all.” “And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things.” “But the earth is the Lord's and its fullness.” For conscience' sake, then, one must abstain from what one must abstain from. “Conscience, I say, not your own,” for it is knowing, “but the other's,” so that he may not be badly built up, imitating in ignorance what he does not know, becoming a despiser instead of magnanimous. “For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thanks, why am I blasphemed for what I give thanks for? So whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” whatever one has been permitted to do under the rule of faith.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:291–292 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are 1 Cor 9:19, 25, and 1 Cor 10:26, 29–31.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.15.98 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/15/98/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.15.98 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/15/98/).

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