Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The church of God residing as a foreigner in Rome to the church of God residing as a foreigner in Corinth, to those who are called and sanctified through the will of God, in our Lord Jesus Christ: may grace and peace from God Almighty be multiplied to you through Jesus Christ.
Beloved, because of the sudden and repeated disasters and setbacks that have come upon us, we consider that we have been somewhat slow in turning our attention to the matters you have been asking about — that shameful and unholy rebellion, so foreign and alien to God's chosen ones, which a few brazen and headstrong individuals fanned into such a frenzy of madness that your good name, so revered, so celebrated, and so deserving of everyone's affection, was gravely maligned. For who that stayed among you did not put your all-virtuous and steadfast faith to the test? Who did not marvel at your sound and gentle piety in Christ? Who did not proclaim the magnificent character of your hospitality? Who did not call blessed your complete and unshakeable knowledge? For you did everything without favoritism and walked in the ordinances of God, submitting to your leaders and paying the honor due to your elders. You directed the young to think modest and dignified thoughts. You instructed the women to perform all their duties with a blameless, dignified, and unsullied conscience, loving their own husbands just as is proper; and, keeping to the rule of submission, to manage their households with dignity, in complete soundness of mind.
And all of you were humble-minded, boasting of nothing, submitting rather than requiring it, taking greater joy in giving than in receiving. Content with what Christ supplied for the journey, and paying attention to his words, you had taken them to heart with care, and his sufferings were before your eyes. So a deep and rich peace was given to all of you, and an insatiable longing to do good, and a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon everyone. Full of holy purpose, in good eagerness and with reverent confidence you stretched out your hands to Almighty God, begging him to be merciful if you had sinned in anything unwillingly. Your struggle, day and night, was on behalf of the whole brotherhood, that the number of his chosen might be saved with mercy and a clear conscience. You were sincere and innocent and bore no grudges against one another. Every rebellion and every division was detestable to you. You grieved over the missteps of your neighbors; you counted their shortcomings as your own. You never regretted any good deed, but were ready for every good work. Adorned with a wholly virtuous and honorable way of life, you carried out everything in the fear of him; his commands and just decrees were inscribed upon the tablets of your hearts.
Every kind of glory and enlargement was given to you, and what was written came to pass: he ate and drank, and grew wide, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked out. From this arose envy and jealousy, discord and faction, persecution and turmoil, war and exile. Thus the disgraced rose up against those held in honor, the obscure against the renowned, fools set themselves against the wise, and the young defied their elders. Because of this, righteousness and peace stand far off, since each person has abandoned the fear of God and grown dim-sighted in faith toward him, neither walking by the ordinances of his commands nor living as citizens in a manner fitting for Christ, but each going about according to the desires of his own wicked heart, having taken up an unjust and irreverent jealousy, through which death itself entered the world.
For it is written thus: And it happened after some days that Cain brought an offering to God from the fruits of the earth, and Abel also brought an offering from the firstborn of his sheep and from their fat. And God looked with favor on Abel and on his gifts, but on Cain and his sacrifices he paid no attention. And Cain was greatly grieved, and his face fell. And God said to Cain: Why have you become so grieved, and why has your face fallen? If you offer rightly but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be still — his desire is turned toward you, and you will rule over him. And Cain said to his brother Abel: Let us go out to the field. And it happened that while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. You see, brothers, jealousy and envy brought about the murder of a brother. Because of jealousy our father Jacob fled from the presence of Esau his brother. Jealousy caused Joseph to be persecuted even to the point of death and to be brought into slavery. Jealousy compelled Moses to flee from Pharaoh the king of Egypt's presence, after he heard this from a fellow countryman: Who made you a judge or a ruler over us? Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? Because of jealousy Aaron and Miriam were made to camp outside the camp. Jealousy brought Dathan and Abiram down alive into Hades, because they rose up in rebellion against Moses, the servant of God. Because of jealousy David suffered envy, not only from foreigners, but was even hunted down by Saul, king of Israel.
But let us leave the examples of ancient times and come to those who contended nearest to our own day. Let us take up the noble examples that belong to our own generation. Out of envy and rivalry the greatest and most upright pillars of the church suffered persecution and struggled even unto death. Let us bring before our eyes the noble apostles: Peter, who because of unjust envy endured not one or two but many hardships, and having thus borne his witness went to the place of glory due him. Because of envy and contention Paul demonstrated how to win the prize for endurance: seven times he was bound in chains, driven out, stoned, and became a herald in both the East and the West, earning the noble renown due to his trust in God, after instructing the entire world in righteousness, and having arrived at the farthest point of the West and testified before the rulers, he thus departed from this world and was received into the holy place, becoming the greatest model of steadfast endurance.
Around these men who lived so devoutly there gathered a great multitude of the chosen, who, having suffered many outrages and torments because of jealousy, became a most excellent example among us. Because of jealousy, women persecuted as Danaids and Dircae, suffering terrible and unholy abuses, reached the sure finish line of the faith and received a noble prize, weak as they were in body. Envy estranged wives from their husbands and corrupted the very words spoken by our father Adam: This at last is bone out of my own bones, and flesh out of my own flesh. Jealousy and strife have overturned great cities and uprooted great nations.
Beloved, in writing these things we are not merely correcting you, but reminding ourselves as well, since we stand in the very same contest and face the very same struggle. Let us therefore set aside empty and worthless anxieties, and turn to the noble and venerable standard handed down to us, and consider what is pleasing, delightful, and acceptable in the sight of our Maker. Let us gaze upon the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is in the eyes of his Father, seeing that, shed for our salvation, it offered the grace of repentance to the whole world. Let us pass through all the generations and learn that in generation after generation the Master has given a place for repentance to those willing to turn to him. Noah preached repentance, and those who listened were saved. Jonah preached destruction to the Ninevites, but they, repenting of their sins, appeased God through their prayers and received salvation, even though they were strangers to God.
The ministers of the grace of God, speaking through the Holy Spirit, spoke concerning repentance. And the Master of all things himself spoke of repentance, confirming it with an oath: As surely as I live, declares the Lord, it is not the sinner's death I want, but rather his turning back — adding also this gracious word: Turn back, house of Israel, from your lawless ways; I have spoken to the children of my people. Even if your sins extend from the ground up to the sky, and even if they are more crimson than scarlet thread and darker than sackcloth, yet should you return to me with your entire heart and say, 'Father' — I will heed you as a consecrated nation. And in another place he speaks thus: Bathe and make yourselves clean; remove the evils of your souls from before my eyes; stop your wrongdoing; learn how to act rightly; pursue justice; free the one being oppressed; render a fair verdict for the fatherless and secure justice for the widow. Come, then, and let us argue the matter together, says the Lord: even if your sins are crimson-red, I shall bleach them like snow; and if they are deep scarlet, I shall bleach them like wool. And if you are willing and pay heed to me, you shall feast on the good produce of the land; but if you refuse and will not heed me, the sword shall consume you — for the mouth of the Lord has pronounced this. Wishing, then, that all his beloved should share in repentance, he established this by his own almighty resolve.
Therefore let us obey his magnificent and glorious will, and, becoming suppliants of his mercy and kindness, let us fall before him and turn to his compassion, leaving behind the futile toil, the strife, and the jealousy that leads to death. Let us fix our eyes on those who have perfectly served his magnificent glory. Let us take Enoch, who, found righteous through obedience, was carried off, and his death was never found. Noah, found faithful through his ministry, preached new birth to the world, and through him the Master preserved the living creatures that entered the ark in harmony.
Abraham, known as God's friend, was found faithful in becoming obedient to what God said. Through obedience he departed from his own country, his relatives, and his father's household, so that, leaving behind a small territory, a modest set of relations, and an unassuming home, he might come into possession of God's promises. For God tells him: Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's household, and go to the land I will point out to you; I will turn you into a mighty nation, bless you, magnify your name, and you will become a blessing; those who bless you I will bless, and those who curse you I will curse, and through you every family on earth will find blessing. And again, once he had parted ways with Lot, God told him: Raise your eyes and survey the land from where you now stand — north, south, east, and toward the sea — for I am giving to you and to your descendants forever all the land you can see. I will make your descendants as numerous as the sand of the earth; if anyone could count the grains of sand on the earth, then your descendants too could be counted. And again it says: God led Abraham outside and told him: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to number them — such will your descendants be. And Abraham put his trust in God, and this was reckoned to him as righteousness. Because of his faith and hospitality, he was granted a son in his old age, and through obedience he presented that son as an offering to God upon the mountain that God had pointed out to him.
Because of his hospitality and piety, Lot escaped the destruction of Sodom, at the time when the whole surrounding district was condemned by fire and brimstone — the Master thereby making clear that he does not forsake those who place their hope in him, while he subjects the wavering to chastisement and suffering. For when his wife left with him, holding a different view and not of one mind with him, this was made a sign, in that she turned into a pillar of salt, remaining so to this day, so that everyone might know that the double-minded, those uncertain of God's power, become an example of judgment for every generation.
Because of faith and hospitality Rahab the prostitute was saved. For when the spies sent out by Joshua son of Nun went to Jericho, the king of that land learned that they had come to spy out the country, and he sent men to seize them, so that once seized they might be put to death. So the hospitable Rahab took them in and hid them in the upper room under the flax stalks. And when the king's men stood before her and said: The spies of our land came to you; bring them out, for so the king commands — she answered: The men you seek did indeed come to me, but they left at once and are on their way, showing them a different road. And she said to the men: I know for certain that the Lord your God is delivering this land to you, for fear and dread of you has fallen upon those who live in it. So when it happens that you take it, save me and my father's household. And they said to her: It will be just as you have spoken to us. So when you learn that we are approaching, gather all your people under your own roof, and they will be saved; for whoever is found outside the house will perish. And they agreed to give her a token: she was to hang a scarlet thread out from her house, signifying clearly that redemption comes to all who believe and hope in God through the blood of the Lord. You see, beloved, that in this woman there was not only faith but also prophecy.
Let us therefore be humble-minded, brothers, laying aside all haughtiness, conceit, folly, and anger, and let us act according to what is written; for the Holy Spirit says: The wise person must not glory in wisdom, nor the powerful one glory in power, nor the wealthy one glory in wealth, but whoever glories should glory in the Lord, seeking him out and practicing justice and righteousness — recalling above all the sayings of the Lord Jesus that he uttered while teaching gentleness and forbearance. For he said this: Show mercy, so that you may be shown mercy; forgive, so that it may be forgiven you; as you do, so it will be done to you; as you give, so it will be given to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; as you are kind, so kindness will be shown to you; with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. With this command and with these instructions let us strengthen ourselves to walk in obedience to his holy words, being humble-minded; for the holy word says: On whom shall I look, except on the one who is gentle and quiet and trembles at my words.
It is right and holy, then, brothers, that we submit to God instead of falling in with those who, through arrogance and turmoil, have made themselves ringleaders of a loathsome envy. For we would incur no small injury, but rather grave danger, were we recklessly to surrender ourselves to the whims of people who hurl themselves into strife and factions, thereby estranging us from what is good. Let us show one another kindness, in keeping with the tenderness and mercy of our Maker. For it is written: The kind will dwell in the land, and the innocent will be left upon it, but transgressors will be cut off from it. And again it says: I saw a wicked man exalted on high, towering like the cedar trees of Lebanon; then I moved on, and look — he was gone; I sought out his place, and could not find it. Guard blamelessness and look toward what is right, for there is a future reserved for the peaceable man.
So let us cling to those who live peaceably in reverence, and not to those who wish for peace only in pretense. For it says somewhere: This people pays me honor with their lips, yet their heart keeps its distance from me. And again: Their mouths speak blessing, while their hearts hold a curse. And again it says: They professed affection for him with their mouths, and deceived him with their tongues, yet their hearts were not steady toward him, nor did they keep faith with his covenant. Therefore let the treacherous lips that utter lawlessness against the righteous be silenced. And again: May the Lord wipe out every treacherous lip, every tongue that speaks arrogantly, those who declare: We will make our tongue mighty, our lips belong to us alone — who has authority over us? Because of the affliction of the poor and the sighing of the needy, I will rise up now, says the Lord; I will set him in the safety he longs for; I will act with confidence on his behalf.
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