The Second 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.

And by the outside as the inside he means this, that the inside is the soul, and the outside is the body. Therefore, just as your body is visible, so let your soul be apparent in your good works.

And by the male with the female neither male nor female he means this, that when a brother sees a sister he should have no

thought of her as female, nor she of him as male.[*](Or, if αὑτοῦ be read instead of αὐτοῦ, nor have any thought of himself as male.)

When you do this, he says, the kingdom of my Father will come.

Therefore, brethren, let us at last repent[*](The need for repentance) forthwith, and be sober for our good, for we are full of much folly and wickedness; let us wipe off from[*](The impression made on those without) ourselves our former sins, and let us gain salvation by repenting with all our souls. Let us not be men-pleasers, and let us wish to please by our righteousness not ourselves alone, but also those who are without, that the name be not blasphemed on our account.

For the Lord says, Every way is my name blasphemed among all the heathen, and again, Woe unto him on whose account my name is blasphemed.[*](The source of this quotation is unknown.) Wherein is it blasphemed?

In that you do not do what I desire. For when the heathen hear from our mouth the oracles of God, they wonder at their beauty and greatness; afterwards, when they find out that our deeds are unworthy of the words which we speak, they turn from their wonder to blasphemy, saying that it is a myth and delusion.

For when they hear from us that God says: It is no credit to you, if ye love them that love you, but it is a credit to you, if ye love your enemies, and those that hate you;— when they hear this they wonder at this extraordinary

goodness; but when they see that we not only do not love those that hate us, but not even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the name is blasphemed.