Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Of the sins that have already occurred, God grants remission; but of those still to come, each man is his own judge. And this is what it means to repent: to condemn one's own past deeds and to ask amnesty for them from the Father, who alone of all beings is able to render undone what has been done, by his own mercy and by the dew of the Spirit wiping away former sins. "For in whatever state I find you," he says, "in that will I also judge you"; and at every turn the end of all things cries this aloud. So that even for the man who has done the greatest good throughout his life, if at the end he runs aground on wickedness, all his former labors are of no profit, since at the catastrophe of the drama he has been cast out of the contest; while for the one who has lived worse and more carelessly before, it is possible, if he repents afterward, for the time following his repentance to overcome a long span of wicked conduct. But great precision is needed, just as bodies worn down by long illness require careful diet and still greater attention. Thief, do you wish to receive remission? Steal no more. Adulterer, let the fire in you burn no longer. Fornicator, be chaste from now on. You who have seized what is not yours, give it back, and give back more besides. False witness, practice truth. Perjurer, swear no more. And cut short the other passions as well — anger, desire, grief, fear — so that at your departure you may be found already reconciled here with your adversary. Now it is perhaps impossible to cut off all at once passions that have grown up with us; but with God's power, and human supplication, and the help of brothers, and sincere repentance, and continual practice, it is accomplished.
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