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Clement of Alexandria
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Introductory Note to Clement of Alexandria
[3674] [Opposition to the Scriptures is the self-refutation of false dogma.]
[3675] [See, e.g., Epochs of the Papacy, p. 469. New York, 1883.]
[3676] [See, e.g., Epochs of the Papacy, p. 469. New York, 1883.]
[3677] An apocryphal Scripture probably.
[3678] [At every point in this chapter, the student may recognise the primitive rule of faith clearly established.]
[3679] [Strong as this language is, it is based on 2 Pet. i. 4.]
[3680] [The divine tradition is here identified with “things delivered by the blessed apostles.”]
[3681] 1 Cor. x. 1, 3, 4.
[3682] Luke vi. 46, combined with Matt. vii. 21.
[3683] εἔ τις instead of ἥτις.
[3686] [When we reach The Commonitory of Vincent of Lerins (a.d. 450), we shall find a strict adherence to what is taught by Clement.]
Chapter XVII.—The Tradition of the Church Prior to that of the Heresies.
[3687] Those who initiate into the mysteries.
[3688] [See the quotation from Milman, p. 166, supra.]
[3689] Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν διδασκαλία, ἀπὸ Αὐγούστου καὶ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ἀρξαμένη, μεσούντων τῶν Αὐγούστου χρόνων τελειοῦται. In the translation, the change recommended, on high authority, of Αὐγούστου into Τιβερίου in the last clause, is adopted, as on the whole the best way of solving the unquestionable difficulty here. If we retain Αὐγούστου, the clause must then be made parenthetical, and the sense would be: “For the teaching of the Lord on His advent, beginning with Augustus and Tiberius (in the middle of the times of Augustus), was completed.” The objection to this (not by any means conclusive) is, that it does not specify the end of the period.
The first 15 years of the life of our Lord were the last 15 of the reign of Augustus; and in the 15th year of the reign of his successor Tiberius our Lord was baptized. Clement elsewhere broaches the singular opinion, that our Lord’s ministry lasted only a year, and, consequently that He died in the year in which He was baptized. As Augustus reigned, according to one of the chronologies of Clement, 43, and according to the other 46 years 4 months 1 day, and Tiberius 22 or 26 years 6 months 19 days, the period of the teacing of the Gospel specified above began during the reign of Augustus, and ended during the reign of Tiberius.
[3690] Θεοδάδι ἀκηκοέναι is the reading, which eminent authorities (Bentley, Grabe, etc.) have changed into Θεοδᾶ (or Θευδᾶ) διακηκοέναι.
[3691] Much learning and ingenuity have been expended on this sentence, which, read as it stands in the text, appears to state that Marcion was an old man while Baslides and Valentinus were young men; and that Simon (Magus) was posterior to them in time. Marcion was certainly not an old man when Valentinus and Basilides were young men, as they flourished in the first half of the second century, and he was born about the beginning of it. The difficulty in regard to Simon is really best got over by supposing the Clement, speaking of these heresiarchs in ascending order, describes Marcion as further back in time; which sense μεθ᾽ ὄν of course will bear, although it does seem somewhat harsh, as “after” thus means “before.”
[3692] [This chapter illustrates what the Nicene Fathers understood by their language about the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”]
[3693] [I restore this important word of the Greek text, enfeebled by the translator, who renders it by the word “universal”, which, though not wrong, disguises the force of the argument.]
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