Second Clement. William Varner
we may also be crowned. And if we all cannot receive the crown, let us at least come close to it.
4.We must remember that if someone taking part in the contest for a corruptible prize is found cheating, he is flogged, disqualified, and thrown out of the stadium.
5.What do you think? What will he suffer who cheats in the contest for what is incorruptible?
6.Concerning those who have not kept the seal he says: “Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be a spectacle for all flesh.”45
Chapter 8
1.Therefore, while we are still on earth, let us repent.
2.For we are clay in the hand of the craftsman. For in the same way as the potter, if he makes a vessel, and it becomes misshapen or breaks while it is in his hand, he reshapes it; but if he has put it into the kiln, he no longer is able to mend it. So also, as long as we are in this world, let us repent from all our heart from the wicked things we have done in the flesh, so that we may be saved by the Lord while we still have time to repent.
3.For after we have departed the world, we are no longer able there to confess or to repent anymore.
4.So, brothers, if we have done the will of the Father and have kept the flesh pure and have obeyed the commandments of the Lord, we will receive eternal life.
5.For the Lord says in the Gospel, “If you have not observed what is small, who will give you what is great? For I tell you that whoever is faithful in what is little is faithful also in what is much.”46
6.He means this then: keep the flesh pure and the seal unstained so that we may receive life.
Chapter 9
1.And let none of you say that this flesh is not judged nor rises again.
2.Understand this. In what condition were you saved? In what condition did you receive your sight, if not while you were in this flesh?
3.We must therefore guard the flesh as a temple of God.
4.For just as you were called in the flesh, you will also come in the flesh.
5.If Christ the Lord who saved us, although he was originally spirit, became flesh and called us, so we will also receive our reward in this flesh.
6.Therefore, let us love one another, so that we all may come into the kingdom of God.
7.While we have time to be healed, let us give ourselves to God, who heals us, making a payback to him.
8.What sort? Repentance from a sincere heart.
9.For he is the one who knows all things beforehand and knows what is in our heart.
10.Therefore, let us then give him eternal praise, not only from the mouth, but also from the heart, so that he may receive us as sons.
11.For the Lord also said: “My brothers are these who do the will of my Father.”47
Chapter 10
1.So, my brothers, let us do the will of the Father who called us, that we may live, and let us rather pursue virtue, and let us give up malice as the forerunner of our sins, and let us flee ungodliness so that evil things not overtake us.
2.For if we are eager to do good, peace will pursue us.
3.For this reason it is not possible for a person to find peace when they bring in human fears and prefer the present pleasure to the coming promise.
4.For they do not know what great torment the present pleasure brings, and what delight the coming promise brings.
5.And if they alone were doing these things it could be endured, but now they continue teaching evil to innocent souls, not realizing that both themselves and their hearers will receive a double punishment.
Chapter 11
1.Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we will be righteous; but if we do not serve him because we do not believe the promise of God, we will be miserable.
2.For the prophetic word also says: “Miserable are the double-minded who doubt in their heart, saying, ‘We heard all these things long ago and in the time of our fathers, but waiting day to day, we have seen none of them’.”
3.O foolish ones! Compare yourselves to a tree; consider a vine; first it sheds its leaves, then comes a bud, after these things a sour grape, then the full bunch.
4.So also my people have had turmoils and troubles, but then they will receive the good things.”48
5.Therefore, my brothers, let us not be double-minded, but let us endure in hope, so that we may also receive the reward.
6.For faithful is the one who promised to pay to each person the reward of his deeds.
7.Therefore if we do what is right before God, we will enter into his kingdom, and we will receive the promises “that ear has not heard, nor eye seen, nor has it entered the human heart.”49
Chapter 12
1.Therefore, let us wait hourly for the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we do not know the day of God’s appearing.
2.For when the Lord himself was asked by someone when his kingdom will come, he said: “When the two will be one, and the outside is like the inside, and the male with the female is neither male nor female.”50
3.Now “the two are one” when we speak to each other in truth, and there is one soul in two bodies with no hypocrisy.
4.And by “the outside is like the inside” he means this: “the inside” is the soul and “the outside” is the body. Therefore, just as your body is visible, so let your soul be evident by your good deeds.
5.And by “the male with the female is neither male nor female” he means this: that when a brother sees a sister he should not think of her as a female, nor she of him as a male.
6.When you do these things, he says, the kingdom of my Father will come.
Chapter 13
1.Therefore, brothers, let us at once repent. Let us exercise self-control for our good, for we are full of much foolishness and wickedness. Let us wipe off from ourselves our former sins and let us repent with all our soul so we may be saved. Let us not be people-pleasers, and let us not desire to please ourselves alone by our righteousness, but also those who are outside, so that the Name not be blasphemed because of us.
2.For the Lord says, “My name is always blasphemed among all the Gentiles,”51 and again, “Woe to him on whose account my name is blasphemed.”52 Why is it blasphemed? Because you do not do what I desire.
3.For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the sayings of God, they are amazed at their beauty and greatness. Then, when they find out that our deeds are not worthy of the words we speak, they turn from then on to blasphemy, saying that it is a myth and a delusion.
4.For when they hear from us that God says: “It is no credit to you if you love those who love you, but it is a credit to you if you love your enemies and those who hate you.” When they hear these things, they are amazed at such extraordinary goodness. But whenever they see that we not only do not love those who hate us but do not even love those who love us, they laugh scornfully at us, and thus the Name is blasphemed.
Chapter 14
1.So then, brothers, if we do the will of God our Father, we will belong to the first church, the spiritual one which was created before the sun and moon. But if we do not obey the will of the Lord, we will be among those of whom the scripture says, “My house has become a den of bandits.”53 So let us choose, therefore, to belong to the church of life, so that we may be saved.
2.Now I do not imagine that you are ignorant that the living church is the body of Christ. For the Scripture says, “God made mankind male and female.”54 The male is Christ, the female is the Church. Also the scrolls and