Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 9

Fear of this kind leads both to repentance and to hope. Hope is the expectation of good things — the expectation of a good that is absent but anticipated. Even gentleness is drawn into hope, which we have learned to guide toward love. Love is the harmony of those who live by the word, the life, and the manner; to put it concisely, it is a community of life, a longing of friendship and natural affection, governed by right reason about how we treat our friends. A friend is another self; therefore we call brothers those who have been reborn through the same word. Hospitality stands beside love, a kind of skill in caring for strangers. Strangers are those for whom worldly things are alien. Worldly people, the apostle says, are those who set their hope on the earth and obey fleshly desires; "do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good, pleasing, and perfect" (Romans 12:2). Thus hospitality turns toward what benefits strangers; strangers are foreigners, foreigners are friends, friends are brothers — "dear brother," as Homer says. Philanthropy also accompanies love, for through it natural affection arises, a friendly use of people; and natural affection, a skill in caring for friends or relatives, runs together with love. If the true human being within us is the spiritual one, then philanthropy becomes love of brothers toward those who share the same Spirit. Affection is the keeping of goodwill or love; love is complete acceptance; to love is to delight in the good, both leading and being led. We are led into unity through harmony, which is the knowledge of common goods; for like‑mindedness is harmony of minds. And love, the apostle says, "let it be without hypocrisy; let us know ourselves, hating the evil and clinging to the good with brotherly love and the virtues that follow, as far as possible, living at peace with all people" (cf. Romans 12:9–18). Then "do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (cf. Romans 12:21). The same apostle testifies to the Jews that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. They did not know the will of the law, nor did they do it; they thought the law willed whatever they themselves willed. Nor did they believe the law as prophesying, but followed it with empty words and fear, not with disposition and faith. "For the end of the law is Christ, for righteousness to everyone who believes," the one prophesied under the law (Romans 10:4). Therefore it was said to them by Moses: "I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation; by a nation without understanding I will anger you" (Deuteronomy 32:21), plainly to obedience. And through Isaiah: "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me" (Isaiah 65:1), before the coming of the Lord, after which those things prophesied to Israel are now said to belong to it fittingly: "I stretched out my hands all day to a disobedient and contrary people." Do you see the reason for the calling of the nations, clearly stated by the prophet, because of the people's disobedience and contradiction? Then the goodness of God is also shown to them; for the apostle says: "but through their transgression salvation has come to the nations, to provoke them to jealousy and to repentance" (cf. Romans 11:11). The Shepherd, placing the word on the righteous who have fallen asleep, knows that there are some righteous ones among the nations and among the Jews — not only before the coming of the Lord, but also before the law, according to what pleases God, like Abel, like Noah, and any other righteous person. He says that the apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God and fell asleep in power and faith also preached to those who had fallen asleep before. Then he adds: "and they themselves gave them the seal of the preaching." They went down with them into the water and came up again. But these, being alive, went down and came up alive; those who had fallen asleep, having died, went down, but came up alive, and through this they were made alive and came to know the name of the Son of God. For this reason they also rose together with them and were joined to the building of the tower, fitted together unharmed; for they fell asleep in righteousness and great purity, yet they lacked this one seal alone. For when nations that do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, though they have no law, are a law to themselves, according to the apostle (cf. Romans 2:14). Since virtues follow one another, what need is there to say more, now that it has been shown that faith follows repentance and hope, reverence follows faith, and perseverance and practice in these, together with learning, lead together to love, which is perfected by knowledge? But it must be noted that only the divine is wise by nature; therefore wisdom is the power of God, which teaches the truth; and perhaps the perfection of knowledge is taken from there. The philosopher loves and cherishes the truth, becoming a true servant through love and counted a friend. The beginning of this is to marvel at things, as Plato says in the Theaetetus, and Matthias in the Traditions, urging us to marvel at what is present, treating this as the first step toward the knowledge that lies beyond. In which also in the Hebrew gospel it is written: "the one who marvels will reign, and the one who reigns will rest." It is impossible for the unlearned, as long as they remain unlearned, to philosophize — I mean the one who has not received the notion of wisdom, since philosophy is a desire for what truly exists and the lessons that lead to it. Even if doing good is practiced by some, the knowing how to use and do and cooperate, so that one becomes like God — I say God the Savior — serving the God of all things through the word of the high priest, through which the truly good and just things are seen (Hebrews 13:15). Piety is a practice that follows and accompanies God.