Clement of Alexandria: The God of the Jews, Greeks & Post-Mortem Salvation
- samshmn
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I quote a particular section from St. Clement of Alexandria’s The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book VI. In it, he cites a writing attributed to Peter to show that the Jews and Greeks worship the same God of Christians, and also addresses the Lord’s descent into Hades to preach to the dead. One interesting claim made about the Jews is that they adore/revere angels and archangels, which Clement condemns.
I now turn to the excerpts. All emphasis will be mine.
Chapter 5. The Greeks Had Some Knowledge of the True God
And that the men of highest repute among the Greeks knew God, not by positive knowledge, but by indirect expression, Peter says in the Preaching: Know then that there is one God, who made the beginning of all things, and holds the power of the end; and is the Invisible, who sees all things; incapable of being contained, who contains all things; needing nothing, whom all things need, and by whom they are; incomprehensible, everlasting, unmade, who made all things by the 'Word of His power,' that is, according to the gnostic scripture, His Son.
Then he adds: Worship this God not as the Greeks, — signifying plainly, that the excellent among the Greeks worshipped the same God as we, but that they had not learned by perfect knowledge that which was delivered by the Son. Do not then worship, he did not say, the God whom the Greeks worship, but as the Greeks, — changing the manner of the worship of God, not announcing another God. What, then, the expression not as the Greeks means, Peter himself shall explain, as he adds: Since they are carried away by ignorance, and know not God (as we do, according to the perfect knowledge); but giving shape to the things of which He gave them the power for use — stocks and stones, brass and iron, gold and silver — matter — and setting up the things which are slaves for use and possession, worship them. And what God has given to them for food — the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the creeping things of the earth, and the wild beasts with the four-footed cattle of the field, weasels and mice, cats and dogs and apes, and their own proper food — they sacrifice as sacrifices to mortals; and offering dead things to the dead, as to gods, are unthankful to God, denying His existence by these things. And that it is said, that we and the Greeks know the same God, though not in the same way, he will infer thus: Neither worship as the Jews; for they, thinking that they only know God, do not know Him, adoring as they do angels and archangels, the month and the moon. And if the moon be not visible, they do not hold the Sabbath, which is called the first; nor do they hold the new moon, nor the feast of unleavened bread, nor the feast, nor the great day. Then he gives the finishing stroke to the question: So do that also, learning holily and righteously what we deliver to you; keep them, worshipping God in a new way, by Christ. For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord says: Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb. Jeremiah 31:31-32; Hebrews 8:8-10 He made a new covenant with us; for what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship Him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and spiritual way by us.
And further, that the same God that furnished both the Covenants was the giver of Greek philosophy to the Greeks, by which the Almighty is glorified among the Greeks, he shows. And it is clear from this. Accordingly, then, from the Hellenic training, and also from that of the law are gathered into the one race of the saved people those who accept faith: not that the three peoples are separated by time, so that one might suppose three natures, but trained in different Covenants of the one Lord, by the word of the one Lord. For that, as God wished to save the Jews by giving to them prophets, so also by raising up prophets of their own in their own tongue, as they were able to receive God's beneficence, He distinguished the most excellent of the Greeks from the common herd, in addition to Peter's Preaching, the Apostle Paul will show, saying: Take also the Hellenic books, read the Sibyl, how it is shown that God is one, and how the future is indicated. And taking Hystaspes, read, and you will find much more luminously and distinctly the Son of God described, and how many kings shall draw up their forces against Christ, hating Him and those that bear His name, and His faithful ones, and His patience, and His coming. Then in one word he asks us, “Whose is the world, and all that is in the world? Are they not God's?” Wherefore Peter says, that the Lord said to the apostles: If any one of Israel then, wishes to repent, and by my name to believe in God, his sins shall be forgiven him, after twelve years. Go forth into the world, that no one may say, We have not heard.
Chapter 6. The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades.
But as the proclamation [of the Gospel] has come now at the fit time, so also at the fit time were the Law and the Prophets given to the Barbarians, and Philosophy to the Greeks, to fit their ears for the Gospel. Therefore, says the Lord who delivered Israel, in an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you. And I have given you for a Covenant to the nations; that you might inhabit the earth, and receive the inheritance of the wilderness; saying to those that are in bonds, Come forth; and to those that are in darkness, Show yourselves. For if the prisoners are the Jews, of whom the Lord said, Come forth, you that will, from your bonds, — meaning the voluntary bound, and who have taken on them the burdens grievous to be borne Matthew 23:4; Luke 11:46 by human injunction — it is plain that those in darkness are they who have the ruling faculty of the soul buried in idolatry.
For to those who were righteous according to the law, faith was wanting. Wherefore also the Lord, in healing them, said, Your faith has saved you. But to those that were righteous according to philosophy, not only faith in the Lord, but also the abandonment of idolatry, were necessary. Straightway, on the revelation of the truth, they also repented of their previous conduct.
Wherefore the Lord preached the Gospel to those in Hades. Accordingly the Scripture says, Hades says to Destruction, We have not seen His form, but we have heard His voice. It is not plainly the place, which, the words above say, heard the voice, but those who have been put in Hades, and have abandoned themselves to destruction, as persons who have thrown themselves voluntarily from a ship into the sea. They, then, are those that hear the divine power and voice. For who in his senses can suppose the souls of the righteous and those of sinners in the same condemnation, charging Providence with injustice?
But how? Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept in ward and guard? 1 Peter 3:19-20 And it has been shown also, in the second book of the Stromata, that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. For it was requisite, in my opinion, that as here, so also there, the best of the disciples should be imitators of the Master; so that He should bring to repentance those belonging to the Hebrews, and they the Gentiles; that is, those who had lived in righteousness according to the Law and Philosophy, who had ended life not perfectly, but sinfully. For it was suitable to the divine administration, that those possessed of greater worth in righteousness, and whose life had been pre-eminent, on repenting of their transgressions, though found in another place, yet being confessedly of the number of the people of God Almighty, should be saved, each one according to his individual knowledge.
And, as I think, the Saviour also exerts His might because it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did by drawing to salvation those who became willing, by the preaching [of the Gospel], to believe in Him, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend; it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only. If, accordingly, to all, then all who believe shall be saved, although they may be of the Gentiles, on making their profession there; since God's punishments are saving and disciplinary, leading to conversion, and choosing rather the repentance than the death of a sinner; and especially since souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies, are able to perceive more clearly, because of their being no longer obstructed by the paltry flesh.
If, then, He preached only to the Jews, who wanted the knowledge and faith of the Saviour, it is plain that, since God is no respecter of persons, the apostles also, as here, so there preached the Gospel to those of the heathen who were ready for conversion. And it is well said by the Shepherd, “They went down with them therefore into the water, and again ascended.” But these descended alive, and again ascended alive. But those who had fallen asleep, descended dead, but ascended alive. Further the Gospel Matthew 27:52 says, that many bodies of those that slept arose,— plainly as having been translated to a better state. There took place, then, a universal movement and translation through the economy of the Saviour.
One righteous man, then, differs not, as righteous, from another righteous man, whether he be of the Law or a Greek. For God is not only Lord of the Jews, but of all men, and more nearly the Father of those who know Him. For if to live well and according to the law is to live, also to live rationally according to the law is to live; and those who lived rightly before the Law were classed under faith, and judged to be righteous — it is evident that those, too, who were outside of the Law, having lived rightly, in consequence of the peculiar nature of the voice, though they are in Hades and in ward, 1 Peter 3:19 on hearing the voice of the Lord, whether that of His own person or that acting through His apostles, with all speed turned and believed. For we remember that the Lord is the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:24 and power can never be weak.
So I think it is demonstrated that the God being good, and the Lord powerful, they save with a righteousness and equality which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere. For it is not here alone that the active power of God is beforehand, but it is everywhere and is always at work. Accordingly, in the Preaching of Peter, the Lord says to the disciples after the resurrection, I have chosen you twelve disciples, judging you worthy of me, whom the Lord wished to be apostles, having judged them faithful, sending them into the world to the men on the earth, that they may know that there is one God, showing clearly what would take place by the faith of Christ; that they who heard and believed should be saved; and that those who believed not, after having heard, should bear witness, not having the excuse to allege, “We have not heard.”
What then? Did not the same dispensation obtain in Hades, so that even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation, might either exhibit repentance, or confess that their punishment was just, because they believed not? And it were the exercise of no ordinary arbitrariness, for those who had departed before the advent of the Lord (not having the Gospel preached to them, and having afforded no ground from themselves, in consequence of believing or not) to obtain either salvation or punishment. For it is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the advent should have the advantage of the divine righteousness. But to all rational souls it was said from above, Whatever one of you has done in ignorance, without clearly knowing God, if, on becoming conscious, he repent, all his sins will be forgiven him. For, behold, it is said, I have set before your face death and life, that you may choose life. God says that He set, not that He made both, in order to the comparison of choice. And in another Scripture He says, If you hear Me, and be willing, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you hear Me not, and are not willing, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Isaiah 1:19-20
Again, David expressly (or rather the Lord in the person of the saint, and the same from the foundation of the world is each one who at different periods is saved, and shall be saved by faith) says, My heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced, and my flesh shall still rest in hope. For You shall not leave my soul in hell, nor will You give Your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life, You will make me full of joy in Your presence. As, then, the people was precious to the Lord, so also is the entire holy people; he also who is converted from the Gentiles, who was prophesied under the name of proselyte, along with the Jew. For rightly the Scripture says, that the ox and the bear shall come together. Isaiah 11:7 For the Jew is designated by the ox, from the animal under the yoke being reckoned clean, according to the law; for the ox both parts the hoof and chews the cud. And the Gentile is designated by the bear, which is an unclean and wild beast. And this animal brings forth a shapeless lump of flesh, which it shapes into the likeness of a beast solely by its tongue. For he who is convened from among the Gentiles is formed from a beastlike life to gentleness by the word; and, when once tamed, is made clean, just as the ox. For example, the prophet says, The sirens, and the daughters of the sparrows, and all the beasts of the field, shall bless me. Isaiah 43:20 Of the number of unclean animals, the wild beasts of the field are known to be, that is, of the world; since those who are wild in respect of faith, and polluted in life, and not purified by the righteousness which is according to the law, are called wild beasts. But changed from wild beasts by the faith of the Lord, they become men of God, advancing from the wish to change to the fact. For some the Lord exhorts, and to those who have already made the attempt he stretches forth His hand, and draws them up. For the Lord dreads not the face of any one, nor will He regard greatness; for He has made small and great, and cares alike for all. Wisdom 6:7 And David says, For the heathen are fixed in the destruction they have caused; their foot is taken in the snare which they hid. But the Lord was a refuge to the poor, a help in season also in affliction. Those, then, that were in affliction had the Gospel seasonably proclaimed. And therefore it said, Declare among the heathen his pursuits, that they may not be judged unjustly.
If, then, He preached the Gospel to those in the flesh that they might not be condemned unjustly, how is it conceivable that He did not for the same cause preach the Gospel to those who had departed this life before His advent? For the righteous Lord loves righteousness: His countenance beholds uprightness. But he that loves wickedness hates his own soul.
If, then, in the deluge all sinful flesh perished, punishment having been inflicted on them for correction, we must first believe that the will of God, which is disciplinary and beneficent, saves those who turn to Him. Then, too, the more subtle substance, the soul, could never receive any injury from the grosser element of water, its subtle and simple nature rendering it impalpable, called as it is incorporeal. But whatever is gross, made so in consequence of sin, this is cast away along with the carnal spirit which lusts against the soul.
Now also Valentinus, the Coryphæus of those who herald community, in his book on The Intercourse of Friends, writes in these words: Many of the things that are written, though in common books, are found written in the church of God. For those sayings which proceed from the heart are vain. For the law written in the heart is the People of the Beloved — loved and loving Him. For whether it be the Jewish writings or those of the philosophers that he calls the Common Books, he makes the truth common. And Isidore, at once son and disciple to Basilides, in the first book of the Expositions of the Prophet Parchor, writes also in these words: The Attics say that certain things were intimated to Socrates, in consequence of a dæmon attending on him. And Aristotle says that all men are provided with dæmons, that attend on them during the time they are in the body — having taken this piece of prophetic instruction and transferred it to his own books, without acknowledging whence he had abstracted this statement. And again, in the second book of his work, he thus writes: And let no one think that what we say is peculiar to the elect, was said before by any philosophers. For it is not a discovery of theirs. For having appropriated it from our prophets, they attributed it to him who is wise according to them. Again, in the same: For to me it appears that those who profess to philosophize, do so that they may learn what is the winged oak, and the variegated robe on it, all of which Pherecydes has employed as theological allegories, having taken them from the prophecy of Cham.
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