Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.13.85

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

Summary: The Son must be believed even without demonstration; trust, which is more than faith, grows as learning grows, and those who scorn philosophy scorn faith as well.

Greek text · Stählin 2:382

πιστευτέον ἄρα τούτῳ καὶ κατὰ Πλάτωνα, κἂν ἄνευ γε εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἀποδείξεων διά τε τῆς παλαιᾶς διά τε τῆς νέας διαθήκης κηρύσσηται καὶ λέγηται. ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε, φησὶν ὁ κύριος, ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν· ἔμπαλιν δέ· ὁ πιστεύων ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον. μακάριοι ἄρα πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπʼ αὐτῷ. πλεῖόν ἐστι τῆς πίστεως τὸ πεποιθέναι· ὅταν γὰρ ἐπίστηταί τις ὅτι ὁ υἱός ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν, πέποιθεν ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ. ὡς δὲ ἡ μάθησις κατʼ Ἐμπεδοκλέα τὰς φρένας αὔξει, οὕτως ἡ εἰς τὸν κύριον πεποίθησις αὔξει τὴν πίστιν. τῶν αὐτῶν γοῦν φαμεν εἶναι φιλοσοφίαν μὲν ψέγειν, πίστεως δὲ κατατρέχειν ἀδικίαν τε ἐπαινεῖν καὶ τὸν κατʼ ἐπιθυμίαν βίον εὐδαιμονίζειν.

English · Claude translation

He must be believed, then, even according to Plato, even if he is proclaimed and spoken of through the old and the new covenant without probable and necessary demonstrations. “For if you do not believe,” says the Lord, “you will die in your sins”; and conversely: “He who believes has eternal life.” “Blessed, then, are all who trust in him.” Trust is more than faith; for when someone understands that the Son of God is our teacher, he trusts that his teaching is true. And as learning, according to Empedocles, increases the mind, so trust in the Lord increases faith. At any rate we say that it belongs to the same people to find fault with philosophy and to disparage faith, to praise injustice, and to call the life of desire happy.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:382 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Empedocles, fragment 17.14 (Empedocles (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are John 8:24, John 3:36 (compare John 6:47), Ps 2:12, and Empedocles, fragment 17.14 (Diels–Kranz). “Trust” renders πεποιθέναι (“to be confident, to rely on”).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.13.85 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/13/85/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.13.85 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/13/85/).

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