Second Clement: An Ancient Homily

1Brothers, this is how we ought to think about Jesus Christ: as God, and as the judge of the living and the dead. And we must not think small things about our salvation.

For when we think small things about him, we also hope to receive small things. And those who hear about these things as if they were small commit sin, and we ourselves sin because we do not know where we were called from, or by whom, or into what place, or how much Jesus Christ endured to suffer for our sake.

What recompense, then, will we give him? What fruit worthy of what he himself has given us? How many holy things do we owe him?

He granted us the light. As a father he called us sons. When we were perishing, he saved us.

What praise, then, will we give him, or what wage of recompense for the things we have received?

We were blind in the mind, worshiping stones and wood and gold and silver and bronze, the works of human hands. And our whole life was nothing other than death. So, wrapped in dimness and full of such mist in our sight, we regained our sight when we put off that cloud that wrapped us, by his will.

For he had mercy on us, and being moved with compassion he saved us, seeing in us much error and destruction, and seeing that we had no hope of salvation except the hope that comes from him.

For he called us when we did not exist, and he willed us into existence from nothing.

2"Rejoice, barren one who bears no children; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate one are more numerous than the children of her who has a husband" (Isaiah 54:1). When he said, "Rejoice, barren one who bears no children," he was speaking about us. For our church was barren before children were given to her.

And when he said, "Shout, you who are not in labor," this is what he means: we should offer up our prayers to God simply, and not grow weary as women in labor do.

And when he said, "For the children of the desolate one are more numerous than the children of her who has a husband," he said this because our people once seemed desolate, abandoned by God. But now that we have believed, we have become more numerous than those who seemed to have God.

And another scripture says, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13). This means that he must save those who are perishing. For the great and wonderful thing is not to support what is standing, but what is falling. So also Christ willed to save the things that were perishing, and he saved many, coming and calling us when we were already perishing.

3Since he has shown us such great mercy, think first of this: we who are alive do not sacrifice to dead gods or worship them. Through him we have come to know the Father of truth. And what is this knowledge of him? It is refusing to deny the one through whom we came to know him.

He himself says, "Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father" (Matthew 10:32).

This, then, is our reward, if we confess the one through whom we were saved.

And how do we confess him? By doing what he says and not disobeying his commandments, and by honoring him not only with our lips but from our whole heart and from our whole mind.

For he says also in Isaiah, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Isaiah 29:13).

4So let us not merely call him Lord, for that will not save us.

He himself says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will be saved, but only the one who does righteousness."

Therefore, brothers, let us confess him in our deeds: by loving one another, by not committing adultery, by not speaking evil of one another, by not being jealous, but by being self-controlled, merciful, and good. We ought also to suffer with one another and not love money. It is by these deeds that we confess him, and not by their opposites.

And we must not fear human beings more than we fear God.

For this reason, when you do these things, the Lord said: "If you are gathered close to me in my bosom and do not keep my commandments, I will cast you away and say to you, 'Go away from me; I do not know where you come from, you workers of lawlessness.'"

5So then, brothers, let us leave behind our sojourn in this world and do the will of the one who called us. Let us not be afraid to depart from this world.

For the Lord says: "You will be like lambs among wolves."

Peter answered him, "What if the wolves tear the lambs apart?"

Jesus said to Peter: "The lambs should not fear the wolves after they have died. And you, do not fear those who kill you and after that can do nothing more to you. Fear the one who, after you have died, has authority to cast both soul and body into Gehenna of fire."

And know this, brothers: the sojourn of this flesh in this world is brief and short-lived, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, and so is the rest of the coming kingdom and eternal life.

What then must we do to obtain these things? We must conduct ourselves in holiness and righteousness, regard these worldly things as foreign, and not desire them.

For when we desire to possess these things, we fall away from the righteous way.

6The Lord says: “No household servant can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). If we want to serve both God and mammon, it does us no good. For what is the profit if someone gains the whole world but forfeits his soul (Matthew 16:26)?

This present age and the age to come are two enemies. This age preaches adultery, corruption, love of money, and deceit; the coming age renounces these things. So we cannot be friends of both. We must renounce this age and make use of the other.

We think it is better to reject the things here, because they are small, short-lived, and perishable, and to love the things there—the good things that are immortal. For if we do the will of Christ, we will find rest; but if not, nothing will rescue us from eternal punishment if we disobey his commandments.

And the scripture says in Ezekiel: “Even if Noah and Job and Daniel should rise, they will not rescue their children” (see Ezekiel 14:14, 20, a loose paraphrase). If even such righteous men cannot rescue their children by their own righteousness, then with what confidence will we enter the kingdom of God unless we keep our baptism pure and undefiled? Or who will be our advocate, unless we are found to have works that are holy and righteous?

7So then, my brothers, let us enter the struggle, knowing that the contest is at hand. In perishable contests many enter, but not all are crowned. Only those who have labored much and contended well receive the crown.

Let us therefore contend, so that all of us may be crowned.

Let us run the straight course, the imperishable contest. Let many of us sail into it and contend, so that we may also be crowned. And if we cannot all be crowned, let us at least come near the crown.

We must understand this: the one who contends in a perishable contest, if he is found cheating, is scourged, removed, and thrown out of the stadium.

What do you think? What will the one who has corrupted the contest of immortality suffer?

For of those who have not kept the seal, Scripture says, "Their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be a spectacle to all flesh."

8Since we are still on the earth, let us repent. For we are clay in the hand of the craftsman. Think of how a potter works. If a vessel he is making becomes twisted or broken in his hands, he reshapes it. But if he has already put it into the kiln, he can no longer help it. So it is with us. While we are in this world, let us repent from the whole heart of the evil things we have done in the flesh, so that the Lord may save us while we still have time for repentance. For after we have gone out of the world, we can no longer confess there or repent any longer.

So then, brothers, if we do the will of the Father and keep the flesh pure and guard the commandments of the Lord, we will receive eternal life. For the Lord says in the gospel: "If you did not keep what is small, who will give you what is great? For I tell you, the one who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much." This, then, is what he means: keep the flesh pure and the seal spotless, so that we may receive back eternal life.

9Let none of you say that this flesh is not judged and does not rise.

Understand this: in what were you saved? In what did you receive sight? Was it not while you were in this flesh?

So we must guard the flesh as God's temple.

For just as you were called in the flesh, you will also come in the flesh.

If Christ, the Lord who saved us, was first spirit and became flesh, and in this way called us, so also we will receive the reward in this flesh.

Let us love one another, then, so that we may all enter the kingdom of God.

While we have time to be healed, let us give ourselves to God who heals, giving recompense to him.

What recompense? To repent from a sincere heart.

For he is the foreknower of all things and knows what is in our heart.

Let us give him praise, then, not from the mouth only but also from the heart, so that he may receive us as sons.

For the Lord also said: "My brothers are these who do the will of my Father" (Matthew 12:50).

10So then, my brothers, let us do the will of the Father who called us, so that we may live. Let us pursue virtue instead, and abandon evil as the forerunner of our sins. Let us flee from ungodliness, so that no evil overtakes us.

For if we are eager to do good, peace will pursue us.

For this reason no one can be found who is free from human fears, since they have chosen the pleasure here rather than the coming promise.

They do not know how much torment the pleasure here holds, and what delight the coming promise holds.

If they alone were doing these things, it would be bearable. But now they persist in leading blameless souls astray by their teaching, not knowing that they will have a twofold judgment, both themselves and those who listen to them.

11So let us serve God with a pure heart, and we will be righteous. But if we do not serve him because we do not believe God's promise, we will be wretched.

For the prophetic word also says: 'Wretched are the double-minded, those who doubt in their heart, those who say, "We heard these things long ago, even in the time of our fathers, and though we have waited day after day, we have seen none of them."'

Fools, compare yourselves to a tree. Take a vine: first it puts forth leaves, then a shoot appears, then an unripe grape, then a ripe grape stands ready.

So also my people has had turmoil and afflictions; afterward it will receive the good things.

Therefore, my brothers, let us not be double-minded, but let us hope and endure, so that we may also receive the reward.

For the one who promised to give recompense to each according to his works is faithful.

If then we practice righteousness before God, we will enter his kingdom and receive the promises, which no ear has heard and no eye has seen, nor has it entered the heart of any person (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9).

12Since we do not know the day of God's appearing, let us await the kingdom of God hour by hour in love and righteousness.

For when the Lord himself was asked by someone when his kingdom would come, he said: "When the two will be one, and the outside as the inside, and the male with the female neither male nor female."

Now the two are one when we speak truth to one another, and in two bodies there may be one soul without hypocrisy.

And "the outside as the inside" means this: the inside is the soul, and the outside is the body. So just as your body is visible, let your soul be evident in good works.

And "the male with the female, neither male nor female" means this: that a brother who sees a sister should think nothing female about her, nor should he think anything male about himself.

When you do these things, the Lord says, the kingdom of my Father will come.

13So then, brothers, let us repent at last. Let us be clear-minded for what is good, because we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us wipe away our former sins, and let us be saved by repenting from the soul. Let us not become people-pleasers, and let us not want to please only ourselves. Let us also please outsiders in righteousness, so that the name may not be blasphemed because of us.

For the Lord says: "My name is blasphemed continually among all the nations" (Isaiah 52:5), and again: "Woe to the one through whom my name is blasphemed" (cf. Isaiah 52:5; Romans 2:24). In what way is it blasphemed? In your not doing what I want.

For when the nations hear from our mouth the oracles of God, they marvel at them as beautiful and great. Then, when they observe that our deeds are not worthy of the words we speak, they turn from this to blasphemy, saying that it is some myth and delusion.

For when they hear from us that God says: "There is no credit to you if you love those who love you, but there is credit to you if you love your enemies and those who hate you" (Luke 6:32, 35), when they hear these things, they marvel at the excess of his goodness. But when they see that we not only fail to love those who hate us, but that we do not even love those who love us, they laugh at us, and the name is blasphemed.

14So then, brothers and sisters, if we do the will of God our Father, we will belong to the first church, the spiritual church, the church created before the sun and the moon. But if we do not do the will of the Lord, we will belong to what the scripture says: "My house has become a den of robbers" (Jeremiah 7:11). Let us therefore choose to belong to the church of life, so that we may be saved.

I do not think you are unaware that the living church is the body of Christ. For the scripture says, "God made the human being male and female" (Genesis 1:27). The male is Christ, and the female is the church. And further, the books of the prophets and the apostles say that the church is not from now but from above. For the church was spiritual, as was our Jesus, but it was revealed in the last days so that it might save us.

The church, being spiritual, was revealed in the flesh of Christ, and in this it shows us that if any of us guards the church in his own flesh and does not corrupt it, he will receive the church back in the Holy Spirit. For this flesh is a copy of the spirit. No one, then, who corrupts the copy will share in the original. This, then, is what it means, brothers and sisters: keep the flesh pure, so that you may share in the spirit.

But if we say that the flesh is the church and the spirit is Christ, then the one who has insulted the flesh has insulted the church. Such a person, then, will not share in the spirit, which is Christ.

This flesh can share in such great life and immortality when the Holy Spirit has been joined to it, that no one can declare or speak what the Lord has prepared for his chosen ones.

15I do not think I have given you small counsel about self-control. The one who follows it will not regret it. He will save himself, and he will save me as well, the one who gave the counsel. For it is no small reward to turn back a wandering and perishing soul so that it may be saved.

This is the recompense we are able to give to the God who created us: that the one who speaks and the one who hears should both speak and hear with faith and love.

Let us then remain in what we believed, righteous and holy, so that we may ask God with boldness. For he says, "While you are still speaking, I will say: Here I am" (Isaiah 65:24).

This word is a sign of a great promise, for the Lord says that he is readier to give than the one who asks is to ask.

Since we share in such great kindness, let us not begrudge ourselves the chance to obtain such great good things. For as much pleasure as these words hold for those who do them, so much condemnation do they hold for those who refuse to listen.

16So then, brothers and sisters, we have received no small opportunity to repent. Since we still have time, let us turn to the God who called us, while the one who accepts us is still available to us.

For if we renounce these pleasures and master our soul by refusing to carry out its evil desires, we will share in the mercy of Jesus.

You know that the day of judgment is already coming like a burning oven. Some of the heavens will melt, and all the earth will melt like lead in a fire. Then the hidden and visible deeds of human beings will be exposed.

Almsgiving is good, then, as repentance for sin. Fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving is better than both. Love covers a multitude of sins, and prayer from a good conscience rescues from death. Blessed is everyone who is found full of these things, for almsgiving becomes a relief from sin.

17So let us repent with our whole heart, so that none of us may be lost. For if we have commandments to do this very thing, to pull people away from idols and instruct them, how much more must a soul that already knows God not be destroyed?

Let us take hold for ourselves, then, and lead the weak up toward the good, so that we may all be saved and may turn one another back and warn one another.

And let us not only seem to believe and pay attention while the elders are warning us. When we have gone home, let us remember the commandments of the Lord and not be dragged away by worldly desires. Instead, let us come together more often and try to make progress in the commandments of the Lord, so that all of us, thinking the same thing, may be gathered together for life.

For the Lord said: "I am coming to gather all the nations, tribes, and languages." This he says about the day of his appearing, when he comes and redeems us, each one according to his works.

And the faithless will see his glory and his power, and they will be astonished when they see the kingdom of the world in Jesus, saying: "Woe to us, because it was you, and we did not know it, and we did not believe, and we did not obey the elders who announced to us about our salvation." And their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be for a spectacle to all flesh.

This refers to that day of judgment, when they will see those among us who acted impiously and falsified the commandments of Jesus Christ.

But the righteous, who did good and endured torments and hated the pleasures of the soul, when they see those who missed the mark and denied Jesus by words or by deeds being punished with terrible torments in unquenchable fire, will give glory to their God, saying: "There will be hope for the one who has served God with his whole heart."

18So let us also take our place among those who give thanks, who have served God, and not among the wicked who are judged.

For I myself am altogether sinful. I have not yet escaped temptation, but I am still in the midst of the devil's instruments. Yet I am eager to pursue righteousness, so that I may at least have strength to come near to it, because I fear the judgment that is about to come.

19So then, brothers and sisters, I read you an appeal in the presence of the God of truth. Pay attention to what is written, so that you may save both yourselves and the one who reads among you. For the reward I ask of you is this: repent with your whole heart, and so give yourselves salvation and life. If we do this, we will set a goal for all the young who wish to labor diligently in devotion and in the kindness of God.

And let us not be displeased and resentful in our foolishness when someone admonishes us and turns us from unrighteousness to righteousness. For sometimes when we are doing evil we do not recognize it, because of the double-mindedness and unbelief that dwell in our breasts, and our understanding is darkened by empty desires.

Let us therefore practice righteousness, so that we may be saved in the end. Blessed are those who obey these commandments. Even if they suffer hardship for a little while in this world, they will harvest the immortal fruit of the resurrection.

So let the devout person not grieve if he suffers misery in the present time. A blessed time awaits him. Coming to life again in the world above with the fathers, he will rejoice in the griefless age.

20Do not let this trouble your minds either: we see the unrighteous growing rich while God's servants are afflicted.

So let us believe, brothers and sisters. We are undergoing a trial of the living God, and we are being trained in the present life so that we may be crowned in the life to come.

None of the righteous has received a quick harvest; he waits for it.

For if God paid the righteous their wages at once, we would immediately be practicing commerce and not godliness. We would seem to be righteous while pursuing not what is devout but what is profitable. And for this reason divine judgment struck down a spirit that was not righteous and weighed it down with chains.

To the only invisible God, Father of the truth, who sent us the Savior and founder of immortality, through whom he also revealed to us the truth and the heavenly life, to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Second Clement to the Corinthians.