Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
He showed me people sitting on a bench, and another man sitting on a chair, and he said to me: "Do you see the ones sitting on the bench?" "I see them, sir," I said. "These," he said, "are faithful, and the man seated on the chair is a spurious prophet — he ruins the understanding of God's servants — he destroys the double-minded, not the faithful. So these double-minded people come to him as to a fortune-teller and ask him what is going to happen to them; and that false prophet, having no power of the divine Spirit in himself, speaks with them according to their questions and according to the desires of their wickedness, and fills their souls just as they wish. For being empty himself, he gives empty answers to empty people — whatever he is asked, he answers according to the emptiness of the person. But he also speaks some true words, for the devil fills him with his own spirit, in case he can break down any of the righteous. Now those who are strong in faith in the Lord, clothed with the truth, do not attach themselves to such spirits, but keep away from them; but those who are double-minded and repent frequently tell fortunes just like the pagans, and bring greater sin on themselves by practicing idolatry — for whoever asks a false prophet about some matter is an idolater, empty of the truth, and foolish. For every spirit given by God is not questioned, but having the power of the Godhead, speaks all things of itself, because it comes from above, from the power of the divine Spirit. But the spirit that is questioned and speaks according to human desires is earthly and light, having no power; and it does not speak at all unless it is asked." "How then, sir," I said, "will a person know which of them is a prophet and which a false prophet?" "Listen," he said, "about both kinds of prophets, and as I am about to tell you, so you will test the prophet and the false prophet. Test the person who has the divine Spirit by his life. First, the one who has the Spirit from above is gentle and quiet and humble-minded, and keeps away from every wickedness and vain desire of this age, and makes himself poorer than all other people, and answers no one anything when questioned, nor does he speak in private, nor does the Holy Spirit speak whenever a person wants him to speak, but he speaks only when God wants him to speak. So when the person who has the divine Spirit joins an assembly of righteous men who trust in that same Spirit, and those men together bring their petition before God, the angel of the prophetic spirit stationed near him floods that man with fullness, and once filled by the Holy Spirit he addresses the crowd exactly as the Lord intends. That, then, is how the Spirit of the Godhead makes itself evident. This, then, is how great is the power belonging to the Spirit of the Godhead of the Lord. Now hear," he said, "about the earthly spirit, empty and powerless, but foolish. First of all, that man who seems to have a spirit exalts himself and wants to have the first seat, and is at once impudent and shameless and talkative, and lives amid many luxuries and many other deceptions, and takes payment for his prophesying; and if he does not receive payment, he does not prophesy. Now could a spirit sent from God ever accept a fee and then prophesy? No genuine prophet of God could act this way — the spirit driving such men is earthbound, not heavenly. Then too, he does not come near a gathering of righteous men at all, but avoids them; instead he clings to the double-minded and the empty, and prophesies to them in a corner, and deceives them, speaking everything emptily according to their desires — for he gives answers to empty people. For an empty vessel put together with empty vessels does not break, but they chime together with one another. But when he comes into a gathering full of righteous men who have the Spirit of the Godhead, and a petition is made by them, that man collapses into emptiness: dread drives the earthbound spirit out of him, his voice fails him entirely, and he ends up shattered, incapable of uttering a word. For if you pack a storeroom with wine or oil, and among them place an empty jar, and later want to unpack the storeroom, you will find that jar, which you placed there empty, still empty. So too the empty prophets, when they come among the spirits of the righteous, are found to be just as they came. You have the life of both kinds of prophets. Test, then, by his works and his life the man who claims to be a bearer of the Spirit. But you, believe the spirit that comes from God and has power; and put no trust at all in the earthly and empty spirit, because there is no power in it, for it comes from the devil. Now hear the illustration I am about to give you: pick up a rock and hurl it toward the heavens — see whether you can reach it; or again, take a tube of water and squirt it skyward — see whether you can pierce the heavens." "How, sir," I said, "could such things ever happen? Both of the things you named are impossible." "Just as these things are impossible," he said, "so too the earthly spirits are powerless and feeble. Now consider the power that comes from above: hail is a very tiny pellet, and yet when it lands on someone's skull, how sharp the pain is! Or again take a drop that falls from the roof-tile to the ground, and it wears through the stone. You see, then, that the smallest things falling from above onto the earth have great power. In the same way, the Spirit that descends from above carries real strength. Put your trust, then, in this Spirit, and stay clear of the other one."
He says to me: "Take away from yourself every wicked desire, and put on the desire that is good and reverent; for clothed with this desire you will hate the wicked desire and will rein it in as you wish. For the wicked desire is savage and is tamed only with difficulty. It is fearsome, and in its savagery it wears people down utterly; and especially if a servant of God falls into it and is not sensible, he is dreadfully worn down by it. It wears down those who have no clothing of the good desire but are entangled in this present age; these it hands over to death." "What kinds of works, sir," I said, "belong to the wicked desire that hand people over to death? Make them known to me, so that I may keep away from them." "Listen," he said, "to the kinds of works by which the wicked desire puts God's servants to death.
"Foremost of all is desire for another man's wife or husband, and for extravagant wealth, and for many pointless delicacies, and for drunkenness, and for many other foolish luxuries; for every luxury is foolish and empty for God's servants. These desires, then, are wicked, putting God's servants to death; for this wicked desire is a daughter of the devil. One must therefore keep away from the wicked desires, so that by keeping away from them you may live to God. But those who are mastered by them and do not resist them will die utterly, for these desires are deadly. But you, put on the desire for righteousness, and arm yourself with the fear of the Lord and resist them; for the fear of God dwells in the good desire. The wicked desire, if it sees you armed with the fear of God and standing against it, will flee far from you and will no longer appear to you, fearing your armor. So when you have won and been crowned for your victory over it, go to the desire for righteousness, and having handed over to her the victory you won, serve her as she wishes. If you serve the good desire and submit to her, you will be able to master the wicked desire and subject it, just as you wish."
"I wanted, sir," I said, "to know in what ways I must serve the good desire." "Listen," he said: "practice righteousness and virtue, honesty, reverence for the Lord, faith, and a mild temper — and any other good quality akin to these. By doing these things you will become a servant well-pleasing to God, and you will go on living for him; indeed everyone who serves the good desire will live for God." With that he brought the twelve commandments to a close and told me: "You now hold these commandments; go forward in them, and press those who hear them to purify their repentance for whatever days remain to them. Carry out with care this task I am entrusting to you, and your labor will bear much fruit; those on the verge of repenting will look on you with favor and be won over by what you say, since I myself will stand beside you and see to it that they yield to your words." I replied: "Sir, these commandments are magnificent, good, and glorious, capable of gladdening the heart of anyone able to observe them. Yet I am uncertain a human being can actually hold to them, they are so extremely severe." He answered me: "Decide within yourself that they are able to be observed, and you will observe them without difficulty — they will not seem harsh at all; but once the thought takes root in your heart that a human being cannot hold to them, you will fail to keep them. Understand this now: neglect them instead of observing them, and neither you, your children, nor your household will obtain salvation — precisely because you will have already convinced yourself a human being is unable to hold to them."
And he said this to me so angrily that I was thrown into confusion and became greatly afraid of him; for his form was so changed that a person could not bear his anger. But seeing me utterly troubled and confounded, he began to speak to me more gently and cheerfully, and said: "Foolish, senseless, double-minded man — can you not grasp God's glory, its vastness, its might, its wonder? He built the world for man's sake, put the whole of creation under man's dominion, and handed him full authority over everything beneath the sky. If, then," he said, "man rules as lord over all God's creatures and holds sway over every one of them, why should he be unable to master these commandments as well? Whoever keeps the Lord within his own heart," he said, "is able to master every single one of them. But those who merely have the Lord's name on their lips, their hearts calloused and distant from him, find these same commandments harsh and impassable. So you, empty and unsteady in faith, place your Lord within your heart, and you will discover there is nothing gentler, sweeter, or simpler than these commandments. Come back, you who tread the devil's commandments — harsh, bitter, savage, brazen ones — and stop fearing the devil, since he holds no power over you at all; I myself, the angel of repentance who overpowers him, will stand at your side. Fear is the devil's only weapon, and that fear has no real strength behind it; refuse to fear him, and he will run from you."
I told him: "Sir, hear me out on a small matter." "Speak," he said, "whatever you like." "People," I said, "sir, are eager enough to hold to God's commandments, and everyone asks the Lord to give them strength for his commandments and to yield to them; yet the devil is relentless and gets the upper hand over them." "He cannot," he replied, "get the upper hand over God's servants who place their whole hope in him. The devil can grapple with them, but he cannot pin them down. Resist him, then, and, beaten, he will run from you in shame. It is only the partly empty who dread the devil as if he had real strength. Picture someone filling a whole row of jars with good wine, leaving just a handful only partly filled; he goes to inspect them and gives no thought to the full ones, since he already knows they're fine, but he checks the half-filled ones anxiously, worried they may have soured, for half-empty jars quickly turn sour, and the pleasure of the wine is lost. So too the devil comes to all God's servants, testing them. Those, then, who are full in faith resist him strongly, and he withdraws from them, having no place to enter. So then he comes to the half-empty ones, and having a place, he enters into them, and does in them whatever he wishes, and they become enslaved to him.
"But I say to you, the angel of repentance: do not fear the devil. For I have been sent," he said, "to be with those who repent with their whole heart, and to strengthen them in the faith. Put your trust in God, then, you who have given up on your own life over your sins, piling one wrong upon another and burdening yourself further — trust that by returning to the Lord wholeheartedly, doing what is right for whatever time is left to you, and giving him faithful service in line with his purpose, he will cure the sins of your past and grant you strength enough to overcome everything the devil does. Do not be frightened in the least by the devil's threats, for he is as feeble as the tendons of a corpse. Listen to me instead, and stand in awe of the one who has power over everything, to save or to destroy, and hold to these commandments, and you will go on living for God." I answered him: "Sir, I now feel fortified in every one of the Lord's just demands, since you stand with me; and I am confident you will break the devil's strength completely, so that we will get the better of him and triumph over everything he does. And I trust, sir, that with the Lord's help strengthening me, I will manage to hold to these commandments you have laid upon me." "You will hold to them," he said, "provided your heart stays clean before the Lord; and everyone will hold to them who scours from their heart the empty cravings of this present age, and such people will go on living for God."
← All of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others: The Apostolic Fathers