Second Epistle of Clement

Lake, Loeb 1912

Chapter 3

Our duty to Christ

Seeing, then, that he has shewn such mercy towards us, first that we who are living do not sacrifice to the dead gods, and do not worship them, but through him know the father of truth, what is the true knowledge concerning him¹ except that we should not deny him through whom we knew him?

And he himself also says, “Whosoever confessed me before men, I will confess him before my Father”;

this then is our reward, if we confess him through whom we were saved.

But how do we confess him? By doing what he says, and not disregarding his commandments, and honouring him not only with our lips, but “with all our heart and all our mind.”

And he says also in Isaiah, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Notes

The Greek is as ambiguous as the English, but this “him” no doubt refers to the “father of truth.”