Miscellanies 6.8.64
Summary: God's goodness has always been universal: many gates are open, the gate of righteousness being Christ, and the nations that forget God once had a dim knowledge of him.
Greek text · Stählin 2:463–464
οὐ χρόνῳ τοίνυν τὸ ἀπροσωπόληπτον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλʼ ἐξ αἰῶνος, οὐδὲ μὴν ἤρξατό ποτε ἡ εὐεργεσία αὐτοῦ, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ περιορίζεται τόποις ἢ ἀνθρώποις τισίν, οὐδὲ γὰρ μερικὴ ἡ εὐποιία αὐτοῦ. ἀνοίξατέ μοι πύλας δικαιοσύνης φησίν· ἐν αὐταῖς εἰσελθὼν ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ κυρίῳ. αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ κυρίου, δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσονται ἐν αὐτῇ. ἐξηγούμενος δὲ τὸ ῥητὸν τοῦ προφήτου Βαρνάβας ἐπιφέρει· πολλῶν πυλῶν ἀνεῳγυιῶν ἡ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐν ᾗ μακάριοι πάντες οἱ εἰσελθόντες. τῆς αὐτῆς ἔχεται ἐννοίας κἀκεῖνο τὸ προφητικόν· κύριος ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν, οὐ τῶν διαθηκῶν τῶν διαφόρων μόνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τῆς διδασκαλίας τρόπων τῶν τε ἐν Ἕλλησιν εἰς δικαιοσύνην ἀγόντων τῶν τε ἐν βαρβάροις. σαφῶς δὲ ἤδη καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ μαρτυρῶν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ψάλλει· ἀποστραφήτωσαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ εἰς τὸν Ἅιδην, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ἐπιλανθανόμενα τοῦ θεοῦ. ἐπιλανθάνονται δὲ δηλονότι οὗ πρότερον ἐμέμνηντο, καὶ ὃν πρὶν ἢ ἐκλαθέσθαι ἐγίνωσκον, τοῦτον παραπέμπονται. ἦν ἄρα εἴδησίς τις ἀμαυρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
English · Claude translation
God's impartiality, then, is not from a point in time but from eternity; nor did his beneficence ever begin, nor is it confined to certain places or people, for his doing of good is not partial. “Open to me the gates of righteousness,” he says; “entering by them I will give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter by it.” And Barnabas, explaining the prophet's saying, adds: “Of the many gates that are open, the one in righteousness is this one, which is in Christ, in which all who have entered are blessed.” That prophetic saying too holds the same meaning: “The Lord upon many waters”: not only the various covenants, but also the ways of teaching, both among the Greeks and among the barbarians, that lead to righteousness. And David, bearing clear witness to the truth, sings: “Let the sinners be turned back to Hades, all the nations that forget God.” They forget, evidently, one whom they formerly remembered, and they set aside the one whom they knew before they forgot him. There was, then, a dim knowledge of God even among the nations.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 118:19–20 (117:19–20 LXX), Ps 29:3 (28:3 LXX), and Ps 9:17 (9:18 LXX). The saying ascribed to Barnabas is in fact 1 Clem. 48.4.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.8.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/8/64/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.8.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/8/64/).
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