The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Clemens Romanus (Clement of Rome)
Clement of Rome. The Apostolic Fathers, Volume 1. Lake, Kirsopp, editor. London: William Heinemann Ltd.; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1912.
Let us cleave, then, to his blessing and let us[*](The faith of the Patriarchs) consider what are the paths of blessing. Let us unfold the deeds of old.
Why was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith?
Isaac in confident knowledge of the future was gladly led as a sacrifice.
Jacob departed from his country in meekness because of his brother, and went to Laban and served him, and to him was given the sceptre of the twelve tribes of Israel.
And if anyone will candidly consider this[*](The greatness of Jacob’s blessing) in detail, he will recognize the greatness of the gifts given by him.
For from him[*](The obscurity of this passage is partly due to an ambiguity in the Greek, partly to the faultiness of the chapter-divisions. The first verse of this chapter ought really to be closely connected with the last verse of Chapter XXXI; the by him in XXXII, 1 means by God, and the from him in XXXII, 2 means from Jacob.) come the priests and all the Levites, who serve the altar
of God, from him comes the Lord Jesus according to the flesh, from him come the kings and rulers and governors in the succession of Judah, and the other sceptres of his tribes are in no small renown seeing that God promised that thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven.All of them therefore were all renowned and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous actions which they had wrought, but through his will;
and therefore we who by his will have been called in Christ Jesus, are not made righteous by ourselves, or by our wisdom or understanding or piety or the deeds which we have wrought in holiness of heart, but through faith, by which Almighty God has justified all men from the beginning of the world; to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
What shall we do, then, brethren? Shall we be[*](Continuance in good works) slothful in well-doing (ind cease from love? May the Master forbid that this should happen, at least to us, but let us be zealous to accomplish every good deed with energy and readiness.
For the Creator and Master of the universe himself rejoices in his works.
For by his infinitely great might did he establish the heavens, and by his incomprehensible understanding did he order them; and he separated the earth from the water that surrounds it, and fixed it upon the secure foundation of his own will; and the animals
that move in it did he command to exist by his own decree; the sea and the living things in it did he make ready, and enclosed by his own power.Above all, man, the most excellent and from his intellect the greatest of his creatures, did he form in the likeness of his own image by his sacred and faultless hands.[*](Or perhaps did he form in accordance with his intellect.)