Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.6.32

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

Summary: We must learn to use every circumstance for eternal life; the exalted ungodly vanish, but the peaceful and upright have a future; God rejects those who honor him with their lips while their hearts are far from him.

Greek text · Stählin 2:262

μαθεῖν οὖν ἀνάγκη ὅπως ἑκάστῳ τῶν προσπιπτόντων χρηστέον ὡς διʼ εὐζωίας γνωστικῆς εἰς ἕξιν ἀιδίου συνασκηθῆναι ζωῆς. εἶδον, γάρ φησι, τὸν ἀσεβῆ ὑπερυψούμενον καὶ ἐπαιρόμενον ὡς τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου, καὶ παρῆλθον, λέγει ἡ γραφή, καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἦν· καὶ ἐζήτησα αὐτὸν καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ. φύλασσε ἀκακίαν καὶ ἴδε εὐθύτητα, ὅτι ἔστιν ἐγκατάλειμμα ἀνθρώπῳ εἰρηνικῷ. οὗτος δʼ ἂν εἴη ὁ ἀνυποκρίτως ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας πιστεύων καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ψυχῇ γαληνιῶν· ὁ γὰρ λαὸς ὁ ἕτερος τοῖς χείλεσι τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτοῦ πόρρω ἄπεστιν ἀπὸ κυρίου. τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν εὐλογοῦσι, τῇ δὲ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν καταρῶνται· ἠγάπησαν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ γλώσσῃ αὐτῶν ἐψεύσαντο αὐτόν. ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν οὐκ εὐθεῖα μετʼ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐπιστώθησαν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ αὐτοῦ.

English · Claude translation

We must learn, then, how to use each thing that befalls us, so as to be trained, through a good life of knowledge, into the state of eternal life. “For I saw the ungodly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon,” says Scripture, “and I passed by, and behold, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found. Keep innocence and look on uprightness, for there is a remnant for the peaceful man.” This would be the one who believes without hypocrisy with his whole heart and is calm in his whole soul. For the other people “honors with their lips, but their heart is far from the Lord.” “With their mouth they bless, but with their heart they curse.” “They loved him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him; but their heart was not upright with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:262 · 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 37:35 (36:35 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 37:36 (36:36 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 37:37 (36:37 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Isa 29:13 · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 78:36 (77:36 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 78:37 (77:37 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Ps 37:35–37 (36:35–37 LXX), Isa 29:13, Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX), and Ps 78:36–37 (77:36–37 LXX).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/32/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/32/).

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