Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament (43 page)

have heard in my presence, so hold fast

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

and work in the fear of God, and eternal

3
I thank Christ in all my prayer that

life will be yours.
11
For it is God who

you continue in him and persevere in his

works in you.
12
And do without hesiworks, in expectation of the promise at tation what you do.
13
And for the rest,

the day of judgement.
4
And may you

beloved, rejoice in Christ and beware of

not be deceived by the vain talk of some

those who are out for sordid gain.

people who tell tales that they may lead

14
May all your requests be manifest beyou away from the truth of the gospel fore God, and be steadfast in the mind of

which is proclaimed by me.
5
And now

Christ.
15
And do what is pure, true,

may God grant that those who come from

proper, just, and lovely.
16
And what you

me for the furtherance of the truth of the

have heard and received, hold in your

gospel ( . . . ) may be able to serve and

heart, and peace will be with you.

to do good works for the well-being of

17
3
Salute all the brethren with the

eternal life.

holy kiss.
18
The saints salute you.

6
And now my bonds are manifest,

19
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be

which I suffer in Christ, on account of

with your spirit.
20
And see that (this

which I am glad and rejoice.
7
This to

epistle) is read to the Colossians4 and that

me leads to eternal salvation, which itself

of the Colossians to you.

is brought about through your prayers

and by the help of the Holy Spirit,

whether it be through life or through

death.
8
For my life is in Christ and to

3V. 17 is absent in some manuscripts. 4Some MSS

die is joy.

omit “to the Colossians.”

The Letter of 1 Clement

The letter of 1 Clement was an important document in the early church.1

Some proto-orthodox Christians quoted it as canonical Scripture; it was included in several manuscripts, including the famous fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus, as one of the books of the New Testament. Eventually, though, the book fell into disuse and was lost from view until rediscovered in the seventeenth century.

The letter was sent from “the church of God that temporarily resides in Rome” to “the church of God that temporarily resides in Corinth” (1:1).

Although traditionally ascribed to Clement, thought to have been the third bishop of Rome, the letter itself never names its author or mentions Clement.

The purpose of the writing, in any event, is perfectly clear. There has been a division in the church in Corinth, a “vile and profane faction” (1:1) in which the elders of the church were forcibly deposed from their office and others took their place (3:2–4). For the Roman Christians, this is an altogether unacceptable arrangement: “It is shameful, loved ones, exceedingly shameful and unworthy of your conduct in Christ, that the most secure and ancient church of the Corinthians is reported to have created a faction against its presbyters, at the instigation of one or two persons” (47:6). The letter urges the congregation to do something about the situation: they are to remove the new leaders and reinstate the old.

At the core of the letter’s argument against the Corinthian usurpers lies one of the earliest expressions of the notion of “apostolic succession,” which came to play such a significant role in theological controversies of the second century. According to this view, the original leaders of the Christian churches had been appointed by the apostles, who were themselves chosen by Christ, who was sent from God. Anyone who deposes these leaders, therefore, is in direct rebellion against God himself (chaps. 42–44).

Much of the argument revolves around the history of the people of God as known from the Jewish Scriptures. According to 1 Clement, from the time of Cain and Abel onwards, envy and strife have always been 1For further discussion, see Ehrman,
Lost
Christianities
, 141–43.

Translation by Bart D. Ehrman, in
The
Apostolic
Fathers
, vol. 1 (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003); used with permission.

167

168

NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS

promoted by sinners opposed to the righteous. The new leaders of the Corinthian congregation stand within this nefarious line: they have swindled their way into power out of jealousy and rivalry. But for this author, God opposes those who exalt themselves over the ones he has himself chosen.

This is shown not only from writings of the Jewish prophets, but also from the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the apostles (e.g., chaps. 12 and 46).

The letter is generally recognized as having been written near the end of the first century, possibly around 95 ce during the reign of Domitian—before, that is, some of the books of the New Testament itself had been produced (e.g., 2 Peter).

The church of God that temporarily

to the ordinances of God, submitting

resides in Rome, to the church of God

yourselves to your leaders and rendering

that temporarily resides in Corinth, to

all due honor to those who were oldera

those who have been called and made

among you. You instructed your young

holy by the will of God through our Lord

people to think moderate and respectful

Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be

thoughts. You directed women to accomincreased among you, from the all-plish all things with a blameless, respectpowerful God, through Jesus Christ.

ful, and pure conscience, dutifully loving

their husbands. And you taught them to

1 Because of the sudden and re run their households respectfully, living peated misfortunes and setbacks

under the rule of submission, practicing

we have experienced, we realize that we

discretion in every way.

have been slow to turn our attention to

the matters causing disputes among you,

And all of you used to be humble

2

loved ones, involving that vile and proin mind, not arrogant in the least, fane faction that is alien and foreign to

being submissive rather than forcing sub

God’s chosen people—a faction stoked

mission, giving more gladly than receiv-

by a few reckless and headstrong persons

ing,2 being satisfied with the provisions

to such a pitch of madness that your

supplied by Christ. You heeded his

venerable and renowned reputation, worwords, carefully storing them up in your thy of everyone’s love, has been greatly

inner selves. And his sufferings were

slandered.

present before your eyes.

2
For who has ever visited you and not

2
For this reason a deep and rich peace

approved your highly virtuous and stable

was given to all, along with an insatiable

faith? And not been astonished by your

desire for doing good; and a full outtemperate and gentle piety in Christ? And pouring of the Holy Spirit came upon

not proclaimed the magnificent character

everyone.

of your hospitality? And not uttered a

blessing for your perfect and unwavering

knowledge?

aOr:
presbyters

3
For you used to act impartially in all

that you did, and you walked according

2Acts 20:35.

THE LETTER OF 1 CLEMENT

169

3
And being filled with his holy will,

each one walks according to the desires

you used to stretch out your hands to the

of his evil heart, which have aroused unall-powerful God, zealous for the good, righteous

and

impious

jealousy—

with pious confidence, begging him to be

through which also death entered the

gracious if you inadvertently committed

world.8

any sin.

4
Day and night you struggled on be

For so it is written, “It came about

half of the entire brotherhood, that the

4 that after some days, Cain brought

total number of his chosen ones might

an offering to God from the fruits of the

be saved, with mortal fear and self-

earth; and for his part, Abel brought from

awareness.b

the first born of the sheep and their fat.

5
You were sincere and innocent and

2
And God looked favorably upon

bore no grudges against one another.

Abel and his gifts but paid no regard to

6
Every faction and schism was loath

Cain and his offerings.

some to you. You used to grieve over

3
And Cain was extremely upset and

the unlawful acts of your neighbors

became downcast.

and considered their shortcomings your

4
And God said to Cain, ‘Why have

own.

you become so upset and downcast? If

7
You had no regrets when doing good;

you brought the proper sacrifice but did-

you were prepared for every good deed.3

not exercise proper discernment, have

8
You were adorned with a highly viryou not sinned?d

tuous and honorable way of life, and you

5
Be calm. He will return to you and

accomplished all things in reverential

you will rule over him.’e

awe of him. The commandments and

6
And Cain said to his brother Abel,

righteous demands of the Lord were in

‘Let us go into the field.’ And it came

scribed upon the tablets of your heart.4

about that when they were in the field,

Cain rose up against his brother Abel and

All glory and enlargement was

3

murdered him.”9

given to you, and that which was

7
You see, brothers, jealousy and envy

written was fulfilled: “My loved one ate

brought about the murder of a brother.

and drank and became large and grew fat

8
Because of jealousy our father Jacob

and kicked out with his heels.”5

fled from the presence of Esau, his

2
From this came jealousy and envy,

brother.10

strife and faction, persecution and disor

9
Jealousy caused Joseph to be persederliness, war and captivity.

3
And so the dishonorable rose up

against the honorable, the disreputable

against the reputable, the senseless

bOr:
conscientiously;
meaning obscure cOr:
the
pres-

against the sensible, the young against

byters
. dOr:
If
you
brought
the
proper
sacrifice
but
the old.6, c

did
not
divide
it
up
properly,
have
you
not
sinned?
Or,
If
you
have
rightly
brought
an
offering
but
have
not
4
For this reason, righteousness and

brought
the
right
portion,
have
you
not
sinned?
Or
If
peace are far removed,7 since each has

you
have
brought,
as
was
right,
an
offering
but
have
not
correctly
discerned
which
one
to
bring,
have
you
abandoned the reverential awe of God

not
sinned?
Meaning obscure, both in the Hebrew of and become dim-sighted in faith, failing

Genesis and in this Greek translation. eOr:
It
will
turn
to
you
and
you
will
rule
over
it;
meaning obscure to proceed in the ordinances of his commandments and not living according to 3Titus 3:1. 4Prov 7:3. 5Deut 32:15. 6Isa 3:5. 7Isa

what is appropriate in Christ. Instead,

59:14. 8Wis 2:24. 9Gen 4:3–8. 10Gen 27:41ff.

170

NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS

cuted to the point of death and to enter

bearing his witness before the rulers. And

into slavery.11

so he was set free from this world and

10
Jealousy forced Moses to flee from

transported up to the holy place, having

the presence of Pharoah, king of Egypt,

become the greatest example of endurwhen he heard from his fellow countryance.

men, “Who made you an arbitrator or