Miscellanies 7.2.11 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2

διὸ καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς [ἃς] ἔδωκεν τάς τε προτέρας τάς τε δευτέρας ἐκ μιᾶς ἀρυτόμενος πηγῆς ὁ κύριος, οὔτε τοὺς πρὸ νόμου ἀνόμους εἶναι ὑπεριδὼν οὔτʼ αὖ τοὺς μὴ ἐπαΐοντας τῆς βαρβάρου φιλοσοφίας ἀφηνιάσαι συγχωρήσας. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐντολάς, τοῖς δὲ φιλοσοφίαν παρασχὼν »συνέκλεισεν« τὴν ἀπιστίαν εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν, ὅθεν ἀναπολόγητός ἐστι πᾶς ὁ μὴ πιστεύσας. ἄγει γὰρ ἐξ ἑκατέρας προκοπῆς Ἑλληνικῆς τε καὶ βαρβάρου ἐπὶ τὴν διὰ πίστεως τελείωσιν. εἰ δέ τις Ἑλλήνων ὑπερβὰς τὸ προηγούμενον τῆς φιλοσοφίας τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς εὐθέως ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ διδασκαλίαν, ὑπερεδίσκευσεν οὗτος, κἂν ἰδιώτης ᾖ, τὴν ἐπίτομον τῆς σωτηρίας διὰ πίστεως εἰς τελείωσιν ἑλόμενος.

English · Claude translation

Therefore the Lord, drawing from one spring the commandments that he gave, both the former and the latter, neither overlooked those before the law, leaving them lawless, nor allowed those who did not understand the barbarian philosophy to run wild. For by giving commandments to the one and philosophy to the others, he “shut up” unbelief until his coming, so that everyone who has not believed is without excuse. For he leads from either kind of progress, Greek and barbarian, to the perfection that comes through faith. And if any of the Greeks, passing over the preliminary training of Greek philosophy, has rushed straight to the true teaching, he has outstripped the rest, even if he is unlearned, having chosen the short way of salvation, through faith to perfection.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2 · 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

Gal 3:22 · allusion, high confidence
Rom 11:32 · allusion, medium confidence
Rom 1:20 · echo, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

“The barbarian philosophy” is Clement's term for the Hebrew Scriptures. The allusions are Gal 3:22–23 / Rom 11:32 (“shut up”) and Rom 1:20 (“without excuse”). The bracketed ἃς is marked by Stählin for deletion. “Outstripped” renders a metaphor from throwing the discus farther.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.2.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/2/11/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.2.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/2/11/).