OF SAINT CLEMENT, BISHOP OF ROME, SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS OF ST. CLEMENT, BISHOP OF ROME
(Translated by J. B. Cotelier. Galland, *Veterum Patrum Bibliotheca*, I, 38, Venice, 1765 [folio])ARGUMENT
On the excellence of the Christian vocation; on contempt for the world; that there is no place for repentance after this life; that the promises are to be earned by the abandonment of present pleasures.INDEX OF CHAPTERS
I. Christ is God; we must think magnificently of Christ; what we owe Him; it is by the mercy of God that we have been saved. II. The wondrous fruitfulness of the Church, previously barren; Isaiah prophesied that the Gentiles would be saved through Christ. III. Christ, therefore, must be acknowledged by us, who called us back from the worship of dead gods and made known to us the Father of truth. IV. Who truly confesses Christ. V. The world is to be despised, and we must strive for the happiness of the other life. VI. The present age and the future are two enemies; there is no hope of salvation for those who spurn the commands of Christ. VII. We must strive so that we may be crowned, or be close to the crown. VIII. There is no place for repentance except in this life. IX. The resurrection of the flesh; the flesh is to be kept chaste, because we shall be judged in the flesh. X. Having abandoned vice, let us pursue virtue; present pleasure must be put aside for the sake of the good things promised. XI. There is to be no doubting the promises of God. XII. The Kingdom of God is to be expected daily.CHAPTER I
A Brethren, we must think of Jesus Christ as God, as the Judge of the living and the dead; and we must not think meanly of our salvation; for when we think meanly of Him, we expect to receive only small things; and while they who hear...A of these things think they are trivial, we sin, not knowing whence we were called, and by whom, and to what place, and how much Jesus Christ endured to suffer for our sake. What compensation, then, shall we give Him, or what fruit worthy of what He gave to us? And how many holy things do we owe Him? For He bestowed upon us the light; as a father He called us sons; He saved us when we were perishing. What praise, then, shall we give Him, or what reward of compensation for what we have received? We who were mentally blinded, and worshipped stones and wood, and gold and silver and bronze, works of men; and our whole life was nothing else but death. Being therefore surrounded by darkness, and having our sight full of such mist, we looked up, having laid aside, by His will, the cloud by which we were enveloped. For He had mercy on us, and being moved with compassion, He saved us, having seen in us much error and destruction, and that we had no hope of salvation save that which comes from Him. For He called us when we were not, and willed that out of nothing we should come into being.
CHAPTER II
Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail: for the children of the desolate one are many more than she who has a husband B. When He said, Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear, He meant us; for our Church was barren before children were given to her. And as for what He said, Cry out, you who do not travail, He says this: that we should simply offer our prayers to God, and not, like those who travail, grow weary. And as for what He said, For the children of the desolate one are many more than she who has a husband, He says this: that our people seemed to be C forgotten by God, but through believing, they have become many; and those who were thought to be desolate have become heirs to the greatness of God. And [another] Scripture also says: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. This means that we must save those who are perishing. For it is a great and marvelous thing to support not those which are standing, but those which are falling. So also Christ willed to save those who were perishing; and He saved many, D coming and calling us when we were already perishing.
CHAPTER III.
A Having, therefore, shown such great mercy toward us—first, that we the living do not sacrifice to dead gods, and do not worship them, but have known through Him the Father of truth—what is the knowledge toward Him, if it be not to not deny Him, through whom we have known Him? And He also says: "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father." B This, then, is our reward, if we confess Him through whom we were saved. But in what shall we confess Him? In doing what He says, and not disobeying His commandments, and honoring Him not only with our lips, but with our whole heart, and with our whole mind. He says also in Isaiah: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me."
CHAPTER IV.
Let us not, therefore, only call Him Lord; for that will not save us. C For He says: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall be saved, but he who does righteousness." So then, brothers, let us confess Him in our works: in loving one another, in not committing adultery, nor speaking against one another, nor being envious, but being temperate, merciful, kind; and we ought to sympathize with one another, and not be lovers of money; in these works let us confess Him.
and not in the contrary. And we ought not to fear men, but rather God. A Therefore, since we do these things, the Lord said: If you are gathered together with Me in My bosom, and you do not My commandments, I will cast you out, and will say unto you: Depart from Me, I know you not whence you are, workers of iniquity.
CHAPTER V
Whence, brethren, having abandoned the sojourn of this world, let us do the will of Him who called us, and let us not fear to depart out of this world. For the Lord says: You shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves. B Peter answering Him says: If then the wolves should tear the lambs? Jesus said to Peter: Let the lambs not fear the wolves after they are dead; and you, do not fear those who kill you and can do nothing further to you, but fear Him who, after you are dead, has authority over soul and body, to cast into the hell of fire. And know, brethren, that the sojourning of this flesh in this world is little and of short duration, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, and there is rest in the kingdom that is to come and life eternal. What then must we do to attain these, unless we walk C holily and righteously, and deem these worldly things as foreign, and not desire them? For while we desire to possess them, we fall away from the way of righteousness.CHAPTER VI
But the Lord says: No servant can serve two masters. If we desire to serve both God and mammon, it is unprofitable for us. For what is the profit, if one should gain the whole world, but lose his soul? And this age and the future one are two enemies. The one speaks of adultery, and corruption, and avarice, and deceit; but the other renounces these things. We cannot, therefore, be friends of both; but we must, bidding farewell to the one, make use of the other. Let us consider it better to hate the things here, because they are small and of little duration and subject to corruption,and to love the things that are good and incorruptible. For if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; but if not, nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we disobey His commandments. And the Scripture also says in Ezekiel: If Noah and Job and Daniel should rise up, they shall not deliver their children in the captivity. A But if even such righteous men cannot by their own righteousness deliver their children, with what confidence shall we enter into the kingdom of God if we do not keep our baptism pure and undefiled? Or who shall be our advocate, if we are not found having works that are holy and righteous?
CHAPTER VII
Wherefore, my brethren, let us strive, knowing that B the struggle is at hand, and that many make voyages into corruptible struggles, but not all are crowned, unless they have labored much and wrestled well. Let us therefore strive, that we all may be crowned. Wherefore, let us run the straight path, the incorruptible struggle, and let many of us sail into it, and let us strive, that we may also be crowned; and if we cannot all be crowned, let us at least come near to the crown. We ought to know that the one who [cont]
contest, if he is found corrupting it, is scourged, removed, and cast out of the stadium. What do you think? He who has corrupted the contest of incorruption, what shall he suffer? For of those who have not kept the seal, he says: Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished, and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh. B
VARIOUS NOTES
[...] [concerning those who have] consumed their time negligently, so that he is unworthy to be praised even with the least: Chrysostom on I Cor. IX, 24: "Do you not know that those who run in a stadium, all indeed run, but one receives the prize?" This he says, not that one out of all here is to be saved—far from it!—but that we ought to apply much zeal. For just as there, with many descending into the stadium, not many are crowned, but the prize is restricted to one, and it is not enough to have descended into the contest, nor to have been anointed and to have wrestled: so also here it is not enough to have believed and to have contended at random; but unless we run in such a way as to show ourselves blameless until the end, and to come near to the prize, nothing will accrue to us as a benefit. Furthermore, the famous opinion concerning a third state, intermediate between the crown of glory and the punishment of Gehenna, contributes nothing to this: concerning which matter see, if you please, Origen, homil. XXI and XXVII on Numbers; IX, X and XVII on Joshua; V on Psalm XXXVI; II on Jeremiah; the tomes on Matthew at chapters XX, pericope 1, and at chapter XXVII, verse 15; homilies on Luke, and the Explanation of the Epistle to the Romans at chapter II, verse 10; chapter X, verse 8, etc.; chapter XIV, verse 10, etc.; Didymus, book De Spiritu Sancto, before the middle; Basil in the Shorter Rules, response to interrogation 256; Gregory Nazianzen, oration 26, p. 458; oration 56, p. 590; oration 40, p. 644, 645, 653; Gregory Nyssen, oration against those who delay baptism; the Chronicle edited by Rader, p. 562, 564; Paulinus in his sixth poem; Philastrius, heresy 99; Ambrose, Observation 2 on Micah; the Life of Ambrose, at the end; Jerome, epistle 22, chapter 2; book against Jovinian, last chapter; epistle 50, chapter 7 and 8; book against the Pelagians; and on Psalm XV, 10; LXI, 13; LXIV, 14; CXVII, 56; CXXIV, 6; Pelagius, epistle to Demetrias, chapter 10; Augustine, both elsewhere and in his book De Haeresibus, last heresy, book I to Boniface, chapter 22; sermon on the words of the Apostle; Salvian, book to the Catholic Church, a little before the end, and four uncertain authors, the Soluter of questions to Antiochus, chapter 114, and the Exhorter of monks, in both tomes; S. Athanasius, Objurgator of the fallen virgin, Tom. IV of S. Ambrose, and Tom. IX of Jerome, and the author of the homily De Corpore et Sanguine Christi, or on the Passover, excused as Jerome, Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius of Emesa, and Caesarius of Arles: to these must be added Prudentius at the end of the Hamartigenia: C *Αὐτίκα ὁ Πέτρος*, in Clement of Alexandria’s Hypotyposeis, p. 807. *Τοῦτο γέρας λαβόντα*. That is: "Now indeed Peter in the Apocalypse says that infants aborted, if they have the lot of a better status, are handed over to a guardian angel, so that having received knowledge they might obtain a better mansion, suffering what they would have suffered if they had existed in a body: but the rest are to attain only to salvation, obtaining mercy because of the injury done to them, and are to remain without punishment, receiving this as a gift." Origen, homily on Joshua: "I thus see there are two species of those who through faith hasten and struggle toward salvation; and the rest that it would be worth the effort to compare with the passages of Chrysostom, the Paraenesis to Theodore, chapter 7, Augustine’s book of fifty homilies, last homily, chapter 11, and Caesarius, homily 6, which our Stephanus Baluzius brought to light, a man of outstanding genius and excellent learning." COT. Dorotheus the abbot in his "Doctrine" praises this passage in such a way that he relates Clement’s sentiment rather than his words in this manner: "Hence the old Latin translation, which also holds in the very new Lyons Bibliotheca Patrum, must be corrected, rendering the aforesaid words of Dorotheus thus mistakenly and carelessly: 'For as Climacus says, whoever desires to obtain the crown, let him study and apply labor to be among the crowned,' when it should have been rendered: 'And Saint Clement says, even if one is not crowned, let him at least study not to be found far from those who are crowned.' But the mistake of 'Climacus' instead of 'Clement' is all the more serious because John Climacus was a little younger than Dorotheus. This passage of Clement is excellently illustrated by another cited in the notes of Cotelier according to Peter Faber, Agonistici, book II, ch. 10: 'Let us hasten rather that we may be crowned with the perfect and the faithful; but if not, at least let us earn the praise of those who please [God]. Blessed is he who has contended in the contest, so that he may receive the crown of victory with the perfect. But miserable is he who has negligently consumed this time of his life, so that he is unworthy to be praised even with the least.' To this is added what Tertullian writes, book Ad Uxorem, chapter 3: 'All struggle to the first place; the second has consolation, it does not have victory.' Thus here Clement, looking to athletic contests, exhorts us that if we cannot earn a distinguished crown, we may at least earn praise from the Lord." COUST. D *ὁ τὸν φθαρτὸν ἀγῶνα ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ φθείρων, μαστιγωθεὶς αἴρεται, καὶ ἔξω βάλλεται τοῦ σταδίου*. Again, the agonistic custom of scourging and casting out athletes who sinned against the rules of the contests, often mentioned by many ancient and recent authors, indeed famously among the pagans by Lucian in *The Fisherman*, after the middle; Arrian in *Epictetus*, book II, chapter 22, towards the middle; Dio Chrysostom, oration 34, after the beginning; among Christians by Origen, homily on Jeremiah; Epiphanius, heresy 61, penult. chapter; and Sidonius, book II, epistle 9. Cyprian, bishop, is very fitting for the Roman pontiff: *Παραφθείρας γὰρ ἀγῶνα ὁ ἀθλητής, μαστιγωθεὶς ἐκβάλλεται τοῦ ἀγῶνος*. (35) *Ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει*. Fide- lity—me in Tertullian, *De resurrectione carnis*, chapter 51, write: *Vermis illorum non decedet*. ID.
CHAPTER VIII
A As, therefore, we are on earth, let us repent. For we are clay in the hand of the craftsman. For as the potter, if he makes a vessel, and it becomes twisted or broken in his hands, shapes it again; but if he has already cast it into the fiery furnace, he can no longer assist it: so also let us, while we are in this world, repent with our whole heart for the evil things we have done in the flesh B, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we have time for repentance. For after we have departed from the world, we can no longer confess there or repent any more. Therefore, brothers, by doing the will of the Father, and by keeping the flesh pure, and by keeping the commandments of the Lord, we shall receive eternal life. For the Lord says B in the Gospel: If you have not kept the little, who will give you the great? For I say to you, that he who is faithful in the least, is faithful also in much. Therefore He means this: Keep the flesh pure and the seal unstained, that we may receive eternal life.CHAPTER IX
And let no one of you say that this flesh is not judged and does not rise again. Know in what you were saved, in what you recovered your sight, if it was not while being in this flesh. We must, therefore, guard the flesh as a temple of God. For as you were called in the flesh, so you will also come in the flesh. One Christ the Lord C, who saved us, being first Spirit, became flesh, and so called us: so also we in this flesh shall receive the reward. Let us therefore love one another, that we may all come into the kingdom of God. As we haveA a time to be healed, let us give ourselves to the healing God, rendering unto him a reward. What sort? To repent from a sincere heart. For He is the knower of all things, and He knows what is in our heart. Let us therefore give Him an eternal B praise, not from the mouth only, but also from the heart, that He may receive us as sons. For the Lord also said: My brethren are these who do the will of my Father.
CHAPTER X
Therefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father who called us, that we may live, and let us rather pursue virtue, but abandon vice as the forerunner of our sins; and let us flee impiety, lest evils overtake us. For if we endeavor to do good, peace will follow us. For this very reason, it is not possible to find a man B who is led by human fears, preferring the enjoyment of this present life rather than the promise that is to come. For they are ignorant of how great a torment the enjoyment of the present time has, and what delights the future promise has. And indeed, if they alone did these things, it would be tolerable; but now they persist in corrupting innocent souls with wicked doctrines, not knowing that they will have a double condemnation, both they and those who hear them.
CHAPTER XI
Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we do not have faith in the promise of God, we shall be wretched. For the prophetic word also says: C Wretched are the double-minded and those who are uncertain in their heart, who say: We have heard all these things in the times of our fathers, and we, O sons, waiting day after day, have seen nothing of these things. O foolish ones, compare yourselves to a tree; take the vine; first of all it casts its leaves...
then the shoot is produced, after this the unripe grape, then the mature cluster: so also my people has had its agitations and pressures, then it shall receive the good things. A Therefore, my brethren, let us not be double-minded, but let us patiently hope, that we may also receive our reward. For faithful is He who has promised to repay each one according to his works. If, therefore, we perform righteousness before God, we shall enter into His kingdom, and we shall receive the promises, which [as it is written] *ear has not heard, nor eye seen, nor has it ascended into the heart of man* (1 Cor. II, 9).
CHAPTER XII
B Let us therefore, hour by hour, await the kingdom of God, in love and righteousness; since we do not know the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, when asked by someone, when His kingdom would come, said: "When the two shall be one, and the outside as the inside, and the male with the female, neither male nor female." The two are one, when one to another...