Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
That the Greeks pilfered from every scripture has, I think, been shown well enough through many proofs already; but that the most esteemed among the Greeks fail to know God through full knowledge, grasping him instead only by roundabout inference, Peter states in the Preaching: "Understand, then, that a single God exists, the one who set in motion the origin of everything and holds dominion over its close"; and again: "the unseen one, who beholds everything, boundless, who bounds everything within himself, lacking nothing, he whom everything needs and because of whom everything subsists, ungraspable, unending, undecaying, never fashioned, the maker of everything through the utterance of his might" — that is to say, through the scripture known to the initiate, which is to say, through the Son. He then continues: "Give this God your worship, not in the fashion practiced by the Greeks" — implying plainly that the very same God was being worshiped both by us and by the esteemed men of Greece, only not with complete knowledge, since they had never received the tradition handed down through the Son. "Do not, then," he says, "give worship" — he did not mean a God the Greeks worship as distinct from ours, but rather "not in the fashion the Greeks use," thereby altering how God is to be revered, not announcing some other deity.
As for what "not in the Greek fashion" actually means, Peter himself clarifies it as he continues: "because, carried along by their ignorance and lacking the perfect knowledge that we possess of God, they molded into images the very materials given them for use — timber and stone, bronze and iron, gold and silver — forgetting the substance and purpose of these things, they raised up as objects for reverence mere tools meant to serve existence, and bow down before them; and as for what God gave them to eat — the birds overhead, the creatures swimming the deep, the things that crawl upon the ground, the beasts roaming wild, together with the herds grazing the pasture, weasels, mice, cats, dogs, and apes — they instead offer up their own food as sacrificial victims fit for a meal, and by presenting dead things to dead things as if to gods, they display no thankfulness toward God, and by this conduct deny outright that he even exists."
And to confirm further that it was as though a single God were recognized by both ourselves and the Greeks — even if not in the same fashion — he goes on to add something along these lines: "nor as the Jews do either, though again not identically; for they, supposing themselves alone to possess knowledge of God, fail actually to comprehend him, since they render service to angels and archangels, to the lunar cycle and the moon itself. And should the moon fail to appear, they forgo what they term the first sabbath, and likewise skip the new-moon rite, the unleavened-bread observance, the festival, and the solemn day." He then supplies the culmination of the whole matter: "so that you too, taking up in a devout and upright fashion what has been passed on to you, might hold fast to it, revering God in a fresh manner through Christ; for we came upon this written among the sacred texts, in the Lord's own words: 'Look, I am forging with you a covenant that is new, unlike the one I forged with your ancestors at Mount Horeb.' A fresh covenant he made with us; for the paths of both Greek and Jew belong to the old order, while we who give him reverence in a manner newly made, forming a third people, are called Christians." By this, I think, he plainly established that this one and only God is known to the Greeks after a pagan fashion, to the Jews after a Jewish fashion, and to us after a manner that is fresh and grounded in the Spirit.
He demonstrated further that this same God stands behind both covenants, and moreover that he is the very one who bestowed philosophy upon the Greeks, the means by which the Almighty comes to be honored in their midst. This much is plain from what follows as well: out of Hellenic learning, and equally out of the Law, those who embrace the faith are drawn together into a single people destined for salvation — the three groups not divided across ages, as though one should imagine them three separate breeds, but rather each trained under a distinct covenant belonging to the one Lord, all the while sharing in the one Lord's utterance. Since, then, God chose to rescue the Jews through the prophets he provided them, he likewise raised up the finest among the Greeks as prophets suited to that people, matched to their own speech, insofar as they could receive whatever benefit flows from God, thereby setting them apart from ordinary humanity — a point the apostle Paul, alongside Peter's Preaching, will confirm when he writes:
"Take up the Greek writings too, get acquainted with the Sibyl, and see how she declares that one God exists and speaks of what is yet to come; and take up and study Hystaspes, and you will discover the Son of God described there with even greater clarity and directness, along with an account of how many kings will muster armies against Christ, despising him and every soul who carries his name, his devoted followers, his patient endurance, and his return." Elsewhere in a single line he puts the question to us: "this world entire, and everything found within it — to whom does it belong? Does it not belong to God?" For this very reason Peter reports the Lord's words to the apostles: "So then, should anyone from Israel wish, by turning back through my name, to place faith in God, his offenses will be pardoned him. Yet after twelve years, go out into the world, so that none may claim, 'We were never told.'"
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