Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Let no one, then, run down the law on account of its punishments, as though it were not good and noble. For if the one who removes a disease of the body will be thought a benefactor, would not the one who attempts to free a soul from injustice be all the more its guardian, in proportion as the soul is more honorable than the body? Now for the sake of the body's health we submit even to cuttings and cauterizings and doses of medicine, and the one who applies these is called both savior and physician, not out of any grudge or ill-will toward the sufferer, but as the reasoning of the art dictates, even cutting away certain parts so that the healthy parts may not be destroyed along with them, and no one would charge the physician's art with wickedness for this. For the sake of the soul, then, shall we not in like manner submit, whether to exile or to the payment of penalties or to bonds, if someone is ever to gain justice out of injustice by this means alone? For the law, caring for its subjects, trains them toward reverence for God and dictates the things that must be done, and restrains each of the sins, imposing penalties on the more moderate offenses among them; but whenever it observes someone so disposed as to seem incurable, driving on to the furthest extreme of injustice, then, caring already for the others, that they not be corrupted by him, it cuts him off as it were a part of the whole body, and thus puts such a person to death in the most healthful way.
"When we are judged by the Lord," the apostle says, "we undergo discipline, so we will not be condemned together with the world." For the prophet had earlier declared: "The Lord has chastened and chastened me, but he has not given me over to death; for it was so that he might teach you his righteousness," he says, "that he chastened you, and tested you, and let you hunger, and let you thirst in the wilderness, so that all his statutes and judgments might come to be known in your heart, as many as I lay upon you this day, and you shall know in your heart that, just as a man chastens his own son, so the Lord our God chastens you." And that the example brings people to their senses, he adds at once: "A shrewd man, watching a wicked man being punished, is himself made sternly cautious,"
since "the fear of the Lord is the offspring of wisdom." And the greatest and most perfect good is when someone is able to lead another from evildoing over to virtue and right conduct — which is exactly what the law accomplishes. So that even when someone falls into an incurable evil, overtaken by injustice and greed, the one being put to death would be benefited; for the law is a benefactor, able to make the unjust just, if only they are willing to listen to it, and freeing others from the evils now present. For it promises to make immortal those who choose to live temperately and justly. And to know the law belongs to a good understanding. And elsewhere: "The wicked do not comprehend the law, yet those who seek the Lord will grasp every good thing." It is necessary, then, that the providence administering all things be both sovereign and good. For the power of both dispenses salvation: the one bringing people to their senses through chastisement, as sovereign; the other showing kindness through well-doing, as benefactress. And it is possible to escape being a child of disobedience, and instead to cross over from darkness into life, and, having submitted one's hearing to wisdom, to become a lawful servant of God — a slave at first, then to become a faithful attendant, fearing the Lord God; and if one should advance further, to be enrolled among the sons; and when love covers a multitude of sins, having grown to the fullness of blessed hope in love, to await the one who has been enrolled in the chosen and beloved adoption of God, already singing the prayer and saying: "Let the Lord become my God."
That the law does good even to the Jews, the apostle has shown by way of the passage addressed to them, writing something like this: "But if you are called a Jew and rest upon the law and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that differ, being instructed out of the law, and are persuaded that you yourself are a guide for the blind, a beacon for those sitting in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, one who teaches infants, possessing the very outline of knowledge and truth in the law" — for the law is admitted to be capable of these things, even if those who do not live according to law boast as though they lived within the law. "Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and mortal is he who has seen understanding, and out of her mouth" — that is, wisdom's — "righteousness goes forth, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue." For the operation belongs to a single Lord, in whom is found the power and the wisdom of God — both law and gospel alike — and the fear which the law begot is this same one, merciful unto salvation. "And let not mercy and faithfulness and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck."
In like manner to Paul, prophecy too reproaches the people for not understanding the law. "Destruction and hardship mark their paths, and the path of peace remains unknown to them; no dread of God stands before their eyes." "Boasting of wisdom, they turned into fools." "We recognize that the law is good, provided one applies it lawfully." But "those wanting to be teachers of the law fail to understand," the apostle says, "either what they say or the matters they so confidently assert," and "the goal of the command is love springing from a clean heart and a virtuous conscience and sincere faith."
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