Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. For so the scripture states: "no one whose trust rests on him will ever be disgraced." This is the message of faith that we announce—that if you acknowledge with your lips the claim that Jesus is Lord, and trust in your heart that God raised him up from among the dead, you will be rescued. This plainly describes a perfect righteousness, fulfilled both in deed and in contemplation. We ought, then, to speak well of those who harass us—to speak well, and never to curse. For this is our boasting, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity we have known God, showing forth through this small occasion the work of love, because it was not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God that we conducted ourselves in the world.
This the apostle says concerning knowledge; and the common teaching of faith he called the fragrance of knowledge in the second letter to the Corinthians. For to this very day the same veil remains upon the many at the reading of the old covenant, not being lifted by their turning to the Lord. For this reason he also pointed to a resurrection for those able to discern it, out of the life that still crawls on its belly in the flesh. Hence too he called such people offspring of vipers—the pleasure-lovers, those enslaved to belly and private parts, and those who for the sake of worldly desires cut off one another's heads. "Dear children, our love should be shown not merely in speech or with the tongue," says John, teaching that to be perfect is this, "but through action and in truth. By this we will know that we belong to the truth." And if God is love, then piety too is love; "there is no dread in love, for mature love drives dread away. This is what loving God means: keeping his commands." And again, to one who longs to become the gnostic it is written: "but be a pattern of the faithful in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity"; for the perfection of faith, I think, is distinguished from common faith.
And indeed the divine apostle sets forth the rule of the gnostic through such sayings as these—writing on the one hand: "for I have learned to be satisfied whatever my circumstances. I know what it is to go without, and I know what it is to have plenty; in every situation, in all of them, I have grasped the secret—whether well-fed or hungry, whether prosperous or lacking; I can manage anything through the one who gives me strength"; and on the other hand, speaking to others so as to shame them, he does not hesitate to say: "but call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle of sufferings, in part being made a spectacle by reproaches and afflictions, and in part becoming companions of those so treated. For you had compassion on my bonds, and accepted with joy the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and abiding possession. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of endurance, that having done the will of God you may receive the promise; for yet a very little while, he who comes will come and will not delay. My righteous one will go on living by faith; and should he draw back, my soul takes no delight in him. But we do not belong among those who draw back to their ruin—we belong among those whose faith preserves the soul."
Then he sets before you a whole swarm of divine models. "Was it not through faith," he says, "and by enduring, that they prevailed"—those who tasted mockery and whips, and beyond that, chains and prison? They were stoned, put to the test, cut down by the sword, wandering about clothed in sheepskin and goatskin, lacking everything, mistreated and oppressed—people the world did not deserve—roaming through deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. "And all of these, though faith won them a good report, did not obtain what God had promised." It remains to understand what is said by way of silent implication: alone.
He goes on, then, to add: "since God had planned in advance something more excellent for our sake"—for he was generous—"so that they would not reach fulfillment without us." Therefore, given that so vast and luminous a company of witnesses surrounds us, let us throw off every burden and the sin that clings to us so readily, and run with patience the contest laid out ahead of us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith. That he means one identical salvation in Christ for the righteous of former times and for ourselves, he has already stated plainly; and just as clearly he adds this concerning Moses: "judging the disgrace borne for Christ to be wealth greater than Egypt's treasures; for he fixed his gaze on the reward to come; through faith he departed from Egypt, unafraid of the king's fury, for he held firm as one who sees the unseen one." Divine Wisdom speaks concerning the martyrs: "to foolish eyes they appeared to have perished, their leaving was reckoned a misfortune, and their passing from among us a ruin; yet they dwell in peace. For even though in the estimation of men they suffer punishment, their hope brims with immortality."
Then it adds, teaching that martyrdom is a glorious purification: "and having undergone brief discipline, they will reap great benefit, for God tested them and found them deserving of himself"—that is, he permitted them to be tried for the proving and confounding of the tempter, and found them deserving of himself, that is, in plain terms, fit to be named children. "He put them through fire like gold, and welcomed them as a complete burnt sacrifice offered whole. And when the moment of their visitation comes, they will blaze forth and dart about like sparks through dry stalks. They will pass judgment on nations and hold sway over peoples, and their Lord shall rule them for all ages."
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