Through these notes, I hope to be able to glean Clement’s true views of God and Christ—this goal is made more difficult however, as the translation itself bears many the typical marks of nominal Christianity, e.g., arbitrary capitalization of words such as Spirit, sometimes translating “Holy Spirit” as “Holy Ghost,” and the confusing use of the title “lord” for both God and Christ. But seeing as how these quirks have, as was mentioned, more to do with the translator than with the thoughts and beliefs of the actual writer, they have been ignored in the conclusion, even though they are still included in the main list of quotations.
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Quotations taken from The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. IX, 5th edition.
Edited by Allan Menzies, D.D.
The first epistle of Clement has more genuineness about it than the second, and is generally thought to have been written during the reign of Domitian, around 96 C.E. Being such an early and well accepted work, it is invaluable to us in terms of the evolution of the doctrine of the Trinity (as well as various other interesting doctrinal points).
Chap. I (page 229)
“The church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied.”
Chap. II (page 229)
“Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and ye had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all.”
Chap. VII (page 231)
“Let us look stedfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God…”
Chap. IX (page 232)
“..us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him. 1”
1 Gen. v. 24; Heb xi. 5. Literally, “and his death was not found.”
Chap. XVI (page 233)
“Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God…”
Chap. XIX (page 235)
“…let us look steadfastly to the Father and Creator of the universe…”
Chap. XX (page 235)
“while he does good to all, but most abundantly to us who have fled for refuge to His compassions through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and majesty for ever and ever. Amen.”
Chap. XXIV (page 236)
“Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first-fruits by raising Him from the dead.”
Chap. XXVI (page 237)
“Do we then deem it any great and wonderful thing for the Maker of all things to raise up again those that have piously served Him in the assurance of a good faith, when even by a bird He shows us the mightiness of His power to fulfill His promise? For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, “Thou shalt raise me up, and I shall confess unto Thee”; and again, “I laid me down, and slept”; “I awaked, because Thou art with me;” and again, Job says, “Thou shalt raise up this flesh of mine, which has suffered all things.”
Chap. XXX. (page 238)
“…being justified by our works, and not our words.”
Chap. XXXII (page 238)
“…him have sprung the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also [was descended] our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.”
Chap. XXXVI (page 240)
“This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Saviour, even Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all our offerings, the defender and helper of our infirmity. By Him we look up to the heights of heaven. By Him we behold, as in a glass, His immaculate and most excellent visage. By Him are the eyes of our hearts opened. By Him our foolish and darkened understanding blossoms up anew towards His marvelous light. By Him the Lord has willed that we should taste of immortal knowledge, “who, being the brightness of His majesty, is by so much greater obtained a more excellent name than they.” For it is thus written, “Who maketh His angles spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.” But concerning His Son the Lord spoke thus: “Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten Thee. Ask of me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” And again He saith to Him, “Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” But who are His enemies? All the wicked, and those who set themselves to oppose the will of God.”
Chap. XLI (page 241)
“Not in every place, brethren, are the daily sacrifices offered, or the peace-offerings, or the sin-offerings and the trespass-offerings, but in Jerusalem only. And even there they are not offered in any place, but only at the altar before the temple, that which is offered being first carefully examined by the high priest and the ministers already mentioned. Those, therefore, who do anything beyond that which is agreeable to His will, are punished with death.”
Chap. XLII (page 241)
“The apostles have preached the gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God. Having therefore received their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand.”
Chap. XLII (pages 241, 242)
“And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit 16, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place, “I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.”
16 Or, “having tested them in spirit.”
Chap. XLIII (page 242)
“Did not Moses know beforehand that this would happen? Undoubtedly he knew; but he acted thus, that there might be no sedition in Israel, and that the name of the true and only God might be glorified; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Chap. XLVI (page 243)
“Have we not [all] one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us?”
Chap. XLIX (page 244)
“On account of the love He bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God…”
Chap. L (page 244)
“This blessedness cometh upon those who have been chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord…”
Chap. LVI (page 246)
“For in this way they shall secure a fruitful and perfect remembrance from us, with sympathy for them, both in our prayers to God, and our mention of them to the saints. 1”
1 Literally, “there shall be to them a fruitful and perfect remembrance, with compassions both towards God and the saints.”
Chap. LVII (page 246)
“For thus speaketh all-virtuous Wisdom: “Behold, I will bring forth to you…”
Chap. LVIII (page 246)
“Let us, therefore flee from the warning threats pronounced by Wisdom on…”
Chap. LVIII (page 246)
“For, as God liveth, and as the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Chap. LIX (page 247)
“…in prayer and supplication, shall desire that the Creator of all preserve unbroken the computed number of His elect in the whole world through His beloved Son Jesus Christ…”
Chap. LIX (page 247)
“…the Creator and Guardian of every spirit, who multiplies nations upon earth, and from all madest choice of those who love Thee through Jesus Christ, They beloved Son, through whom Thou didst instruct, sanctify, honour us.”
Chap. LIX (page 247)
“…comfort the faint-hearted; let all the nations know that Thou art God alone and Jesus Christ Thy Son, and we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.”
Chap. LXI (page 247)
“O Thou, who only hast power to do these things and more abundant good with us, we praise Thee through the High Priest and Guardian of our souls Jesus Christ…”
Chap. LXII (page 248)
“…and long-suffering to be well-pleasing to Almighty God with holiness, being of one mind—not remembering evil—in love and peace with instant gentleness, even as also our fathers fore-mentioned found favour by the humility of their thoughts towards the Father and God and Creator and all mankind. And of these things we put you in mind with the greater pleasure, since we were well assured that we were writing to men who were faithful and of highest repute and had peered into the oracles of the instruction of God.
Chap. LXIV (page 248)
“May God, who seeth all things, and who is the Ruler of all spirits and the Lord of all flesh—who chose our Lord Jesus Christ and us through Him to be a peculiar people—grant to every soul that calleth upon His glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, patience, long-suffering, self-control, purity, and sobriety, to the well-pleasing of His name, through our High Priest and Protector, Jesus Christ, by whom be to Him glory, and majesty, and power, and honour, both now and for evermore. Amen.”
Chap. LXV (page 248)
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and with all everywhere that are the called of God through Him…”
Aside from the translation biases mentioned at the beginning, First Clement does not even come close to hinting at a Trinity. In every place that Clement mentions both God and Christ, he keeps them separate and distinct [not Christ and the Father, as if he were separating persons, but rather GOD and Christ]. The third person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit) is also left out of quite a few God and Christ references, much like in the canonical New Testament.
I also took the liberty of including some passages to show Clement's views on: a future resurrection; the importance of works; Wisdom personified; organization of the congregations in his time; the "computed number of the elect," ect.
And on a final note, the passage in chapter XLI (p. 241) struck me as being very thought provoking as to the dating of the letter. Because Clement mentions an ongoing persecution within his epistle, most scholars have settled on either Domitian's reign (96 C.E.) or Nero's reign (about 68 C.E.) as the time of writing. But if the epistle was really written closer to 96 C.E., then why exactly would Clement mention the priests and the altar and the temple at Jerusalem as if they were still there? The temple at Jerusalem was completely destroyed in 70 C.E. Very strange indeed methinks.
The Second Epistle of Clement
I also took the liberty of including some passages to show Clement's views on: a future resurrection; the importance of works; Wisdom personified; organization of the congregations in his time; the "computed number of the elect," ect.
And on a final note, the passage in chapter XLI (p. 241) struck me as being very thought provoking as to the dating of the letter. Because Clement mentions an ongoing persecution within his epistle, most scholars have settled on either Domitian's reign (96 C.E.) or Nero's reign (about 68 C.E.) as the time of writing. But if the epistle was really written closer to 96 C.E., then why exactly would Clement mention the priests and the altar and the temple at Jerusalem as if they were still there? The temple at Jerusalem was completely destroyed in 70 C.E. Very strange indeed methinks.
The Second Epistle of Clement
Quotations taken from The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. IX, 5th edition.
Edited by Allan Menzies, D.D.
The second epistle is not generally accepted as being from Clement himself, but is accepted as likely coming from somewhere in the middle of the second century C.E. The Trinity-significant quotations are also somewhat scarcer in Second Clement (I also got a bit more picky due to lack of time). Therefore, I will present just a couple of interesting passages.
Chap. I. (page 251)
“Brethren, it is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as of God,--as the Judge of the living and the dead.”
Chap. IV. (page 251)
“Let us, then, not only call Him Lord, for that will not save us. For He saith, “Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he that worketh righteousness.” Wherefore, brethren, let us confess Him by our works, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, or speaking evil of one another, or cherishing envy; but by being continent, compassionate, and good. We ought also to sympathize with one another, and not be avaricious. By such works let us confess Him, and not by those that are of an opposite kind.”
Chap. XIV (page 255)
“I think not that ye are ignorant that the living church is the body of Christ (for the Scripture saith, “God created man, male and female;” the male is Christ, the female is the church)”
Chap. XX (page 256)
“To the only God, invisible, Father of truth, who sent forth to us the Saviour and Author of immortality, through whom He also manifested to us the truth and the heavenly life, to Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
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