Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
This, then, is what stands written in the Gospel according to Mark; and in all the other Gospels that are agreed upon, though perhaps here and there a word is exchanged for another in each, all display the very same agreement of sense. But we must know clearly that the Savior teaches nothing in a merely human way; rather he teaches all things to his own by a divine and mystical wisdom, so that we ought not to listen to what is said in a fleshly manner, but to search out and come to understand the meaning hidden within them, with worthy inquiry and comprehension. For even those things which seem to have been spoken plainly by the Lord himself to the disciples are found, even now, to require attention no less — indeed still more — than the things uttered enigmatically, on account of the surpassing excess of wisdom within them. And where even what is thought to have been opened up by him to those within, to the very children of the kingdom whom he himself has called, still has need of further consideration, how much more do those sayings which seem to have been uttered simply, and for that reason were not even questioned by their hearers, yet bear upon the whole end of salvation itself, and are wrapped in a wondrous and heaven-transcending depth of meaning — such sayings it is fitting not to receive superficially with the ears, but rather, letting the mind sink down into the very spirit of the Savior and the hidden secret of his meaning.
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