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Of Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome, Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Chapter 1. Brothers, we must think of Jesus Christ as we think of God, as of the judge of the living and the dead; and we must not think meanly of our salvation. For if we think meanly of him, we also hope to receive mean things; and those who hear of him as of mean things sin, and we sin unknowing from where we were called and by whom and to what place, and how much Jesus Christ endured to suffer for our sake. What recompense then shall we give him, or what fruit worthy of what he gave us? How much do we owe him in piety? For he bestowed light upon us, he addressed us as a father his sons, he saved us when we were perishing. What praise then shall we give him or reward of recompense for what we received? Being blind in mind, worshipping stones and wood and gold and silver and bronze, works of men; and our whole life was nothing but death. Therefore, being surrounded by darkness and filled with such mist in our sight, we recovered our sight, putting aside that cloud which we wore, by his will. For he pitied us and, being compassionate, saved us, seeing in us great error and destruction, and having no hope of salvation except from him. For he called us when we were not, and he willed that we should be from not being. Chapter 2.

Rejoice, barren one who does not give birth; break forth and cry out, you who do not labor in childbirth, because the children of the desert are many, more than those of the woman who has a husband. He who said, “Rejoice, barren one who does not give birth,” spoke of us; for our church was barren before children were given to her. And he who said, “Cry out, you who do not labor in childbirth,” means this: that we should simply offer up our prayers to God, and not grow weary as those who labor in childbirth do. And he who said, “Because the children of the desert are many, more than those of the woman who has a husband,” since our people seemed to be deserted by God, but now, having 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.” This means that it is necessary to save those who are perishing. For that is great and marvelous, not to support what stands, but what falls. Thus also Christ wished to save what was perishing, and he saved many, coming and calling us when we were already perishing. Chapter 3. Since he has shown such mercy to us, first of all, that we who are living do not sacrifice to dead gods and do not worship them, but we have come to know through

his father of truth. What is the knowledge that is toward him, except not to deny him through whom we have known him? And he himself says: "The one who confesses me before men, I will confess him before my father." This, then, is our reward, if we confess him through whom we were saved. And in what do we confess him? In doing what he says and not disobeying his commandments, and not honoring him only with our lips, but from the whole heart and from the whole mind. And he says also in Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." CHAPTER 4. Let us not, therefore, call him only Lord; for this will not save us. For he says: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will be saved, but the one who does righteousness." So then, brothers, let us confess him in our works, in loving one another, in not committing adultery nor slandering each other nor being envious, but in being self-controlled, merciful, good; and we ought to sympathize with one another, and not to be lovers of money. In these works we confess him, and not in the opposite ones; and we ought not to fear men more, but God. For this reason, when you do these things, the Lord said: "If you are gathered together with me in my bosom and do not keep my commandments, I will cast you out and say to you: 'Go away from me, I do not know you, nor where you are from, workers of lawlessness.'" CHAPTER 5.

Therefore, brothers, let us abandon the sojourn of this world and do the will of the one who has called us, and let us not fear to depart from this world. For the Lord says: "You will be as lambs in the midst of wolves." And Peter answered him, saying: "Then if the wolves tear the lambs apart?" Jesus said to Peter: "Let the lambs not fear the wolves after they have died; and you, do not fear those who kill you and can do nothing to you, but fear the one who, after you die, has power over soul and body to cast into the gehenna of fire." And know, brothers, that the sojourn in this world of this flesh is small and short-lived, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, and there is rest in the coming kingdom and eternal life. What then must one do to attain these things, except to live holily and justly, to regard these worldly things as alien, and not to desire them? For in desiring to acquire them, we fall away from the righteous path.

Chapter 6 The Lord says: "No servant can serve two masters." If we wish to serve both God and mammon, it is unprofitable for us. For what benefit is it if someone gains the whole world but loses the soul? This present age and the age to come are two enemies. This one advocates adultery, corruption, love of money, and deceit; that one renounces these things. Therefore we cannot be friends of both; we must renounce this one and cleave to that one. We think it is better to hate the things here, because they are small, short-lived, and perishable, and to love those things, the good things that are imperishable. For if we do the will of Christ, we will find rest; but if not, nothing will save us from eternal punishment if we disobey his commandments. And Scripture also says in Ezekiel that if Noah, Job, and Daniel were to rise up, they would not save their children from captivity. If even such righteous men cannot save their own children by their righteousness, then if we do not keep our baptism pure and undefiled, with what confidence shall we enter the kingdom of God? Or who will be our advocate if we are not found to have holy and righteous works? Chapter 7

Therefore, my brothers, let us contend, knowing that the contest is at hand and that many sail into the perishable contests, but not all are crowned, except those who have labored much and contended well. Let us therefore contend, so that we may all be crowned. So let us run the straight path, the imperishable contest, and 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 know that he who contends in the perishable contest, if he is found corrupting, is scourged, taken up, and cast out of the stadium. What do you think? He who corrupts the contest of imperishability, what will he suffer? For of those who have not kept the seal, it is said, their worm will not cease and their fire will not be extinguished, and they will be a spectacle for all flesh. Chapter 8. Therefore, while we are on earth, let us repent. For we are clay in the hand of the craftsman. For just as the potter, if he makes a vessel and it is twisted or broken in his hands, he molds it again; but if he has already cast it into the kiln of fire, he can no longer help it. So also we, while we are in this world, let us repent with our whole heart for the evil things we have done in the flesh, so that we may be saved by the Lord, while we still have time for repentance. For after we have departed from the world, we can no longer confess or repent there.

Therefore, brothers, having done the will of the Father and kept the flesh pure and guarded the commandments of the Lord, we shall receive eternal life. For the Lord says in the Gospel: If you did not keep the small, who will give you the great? For I tell you, that the one who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much. So then this is what he says: keep the flesh pure and the seal unstained, so that we may receive eternal life. CHAPTER 9. And let none of you say that this flesh is neither judged nor raised. Know: in what were you saved, in what did you recover your sight, if not while being in this flesh? Therefore we must guard the flesh as a temple of God. For just as you were called in the flesh, so also you will come in the flesh. If Christ the Lord who saved us, being at first spirit, became flesh and thus called us, so also we in this flesh will receive the reward. Let us therefore love one another, so that we may all come into the kingdom of God. While we have time to be healed, let us give ourselves to the healing God, offering him recompense.

what? Repentance from a sincere heart. For he is the foreknower of all things and knows what is in our heart. Let us therefore give him praise, not only from the mouth but also from the heart, that he may receive us as sons. For the Lord said: These are my brothers who do the will of my father. Chapter 10. Therefore, 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 abandon wickedness as the forerunner of our sins, and let us flee impiety, lest evils overtake us. For if we are eager to do good, peace will pursue us. For this reason it is not possible to find a man who, preferring the enjoyment here rather than the future promise, introduces human fears. For they do not know how great a torment the enjoyment here has, and what delight the future promise has. And if they alone did these things, it would be bearable; but now they persist in teaching evil to innocent souls, not knowing that they will have a double judgment, both they themselves and those who hear them.

Chapter 11 Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be righteous; but if we do not serve him because we do not believe in the promise of God, we shall be wretched. For the prophetic word also says: Wretched are the double-minded, those who waver in heart, those who say: We heard these things long ago and in the time of our fathers, but we, waiting day after day, have seen none of them. Fools, compare yourselves to a tree: take a vine; first it sheds its leaves, then a shoot appears, after that an unripe grape, then a ripe cluster. So also my people have had disorders and afflictions; then they 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 obtain the reward. For the one who promised to give the recompense to each according to his works is faithful. If then we do what is righteous before God, we shall enter into his kingdom and receive the promises, which no ear has heard nor eye seen, nor has entered into the heart of man.

Chapter 12 Let us therefore await the kingdom of God hour by hour in love and righteousness, since we do not know the day of God’s manifestation. For when the Lord himself was asked by someone when his kingdom would come, he said: “When the two are 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 is one soul without hypocrisy. And “the outside as the inside” means this: it calls the soul the inside, and the outside it calls the body. Therefore, just as your body appears, so let your soul be manifest in good works. And “the male with the female, neither male nor female” means this: that a brother, seeing a sister, should think nothing female about her, nor should he think anything male about him. When you do these things, he says, the kingdom of my father will come. Therefore, brothers, let us at last repent, let us be sober for the good; for we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us wipe away from ourselves our former sins and, having repented from the soul, be saved, and let us not become people-pleasers nor wish to please only ourselves, but also those outside 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,” and again: “Woe because of whom my name is blasphemed.” In what is it blasphemed? In your not doing what I desire. For the nations, hearing from our mouth the oracles of God as good and great, marvel; then, observing our deeds, that they are not worthy of the words we speak, they turn from there to blasphemy, saying that it is some myth and error. For when they hear from us that God says: “It is not grace to you if you love those who love you, but grace to you if you love your enemies and those who hate you”—when they hear these things, they marvel at the excess of goodness; but when they see that not only do we not love those who hate us, but that we do not even love those who love us, they mock us, and the name is blasphemed. Therefore, brothers, by doing the will of our father God we shall be from the first church, the spiritual one, which was created before the sun and moon; but if we do not do the will of the Lord, we shall be from the scripture that says: “My house became a den of robbers.” So then let us choose to be from the church of life, that we may be saved.

I do not think you are ignorant that the living church is the body of Christ; for the Scripture says: God made man male and female; the male is Christ, the female is the church; and further, the books and the apostles say that the church is not now, but from above. For it was spiritual, as also our Jesus was, but it was manifested in the last days, that it might save us. The church, being spiritual, was manifested in the flesh of Christ, showing us that if any of us preserves it in the flesh and does not corrupt it, he will receive it in the Holy Spirit; for this flesh is the antitype of the spirit; therefore no one who corrupts the antitype will receive the authentic. So then this says, brothers: preserve the flesh, that you may receive the spirit. But if we say that the flesh is the church and the spirit is Christ, then he who has insulted the flesh has insulted the church. Such a one therefore will not receive the spirit, which is Christ. So great a life and incorruptibility can this flesh receive when the Holy Spirit is joined to it, that no one can either express or speak of what the Lord has prepared for his elect.

Nor do I think that I have given a small counsel concerning self-control, which, if one follows, he will not regret, but will both save himself and me who gave the counsel. For the reward is not small for turning back a wandering and perishing soul to be saved. For this is the recompense we have to pay back to God who created us, if the speaker and the hearer both speak and hear with faith and love. Let us therefore abide in what we have believed, righteous and holy, so that we may with confidence ask God, who says: "While you are still speaking, I will say, 'Behold, I am here.'" For this saying is a sign of a great promise; for the Lord declares himself more ready to give than the one who asks. Partaking, then, of such great kindness, let us not begrudge ourselves the attainment of such great goods. For as much pleasure as these words have for those who have done them, so much condemnation do they have for those who have disobeyed them. Therefore, brothers, having taken no small opportunity for repentance, and having time, let us turn back to God who has called us, while we still have him who receives us.

For if we renounce these pleasures and conquer our soul by not carrying out its evil desires, we will partake of the mercy of Jesus. Know that the day of judgment is already coming like a burning furnace, and some of the heavens and the whole earth will melt like lead melting on fire; and then the hidden and manifest works of men will be revealed. Good, then, is almsgiving as repentance for sin; better is fasting than prayer, but almsgiving is better than both; love covers a multitude of sins, and prayer from a good conscience delivers from death. Blessed is everyone found full in these things; for almsgiving becomes a lightening of sin. Let us therefore repent with our whole heart, so that none of us may perish. For if we have commandments to do even this—to draw away from idols and to instruct—how much more must a soul that already knows God not be allowed to perish? Let us therefore help one another and lead the weak toward the good, so that we may all be saved and turn one another back and admonish one another. And let us not only now seem to believe and pay attention when we are admonished by the presbyters, but also when we depart to our homes, let us remember the commandments of the Lord and not be drawn away by worldly desires, but by coming together more frequently let us try to advance in the commandments of the Lord, so that all, being of one mind, we may be gathered together for life.

For the Lord said, “I am coming to gather together all the nations, tribes, and tongues.” And this he speaks of the day of his epiphany, when, having come, he will redeem us, each according to his works. And the unbelievers will see his glory and his power, and will be astonished when they behold the kingdom of the world in Jesus, saying, “Woe to us, for you were, and we did not know, and we did not believe, and we did not obey the presbyters who announced to us concerning our salvation.” And their worm will not cease, and their fire will not be extinguished, and they will be a spectacle for all flesh. That day he speaks of as the day of judgment, when they will see those among us who have been impious and have transgressed the commandments of Jesus Christ. But the righteous, who have done well and endured the torments and hated the pleasures of the soul, when they behold those who have failed and denied Jesus through words or through deeds, how they are punished with terrible torments in unquenchable fire, will give glory to their God, saying that there will be hope for the one who has served God with all his heart.

Let us therefore be among those who are grateful, among those who have served God, and not among the impious who are condemned. For I myself, being wholly sinful and not yet having fled from temptation, but still being in the midst of the instruments of the devil, am eager to pursue righteousness, so that I may be able, even if only to come near it, fearing the coming judgment. Therefore, brothers and sisters, after the God of truth, I read to you an exhortation to pay attention to what is written, that you may save both yourselves and the one who reads among you; for I ask of you as a reward that you repent from the whole heart, giving salvation and life to yourselves. For by doing this we will set a goal for all the young who wish to labor diligently in piety and in the goodness of God. And let us not, being unwise, be displeased and indignant when someone admonishes us and turns us from injustice to righteousness. For sometimes, when we do evil things, we do not know it because of the duplicity and unbelief that dwell in our breasts, and our understanding is darkened by vain desires. Let us therefore do righteousness, that we may be saved in the end. Blessed are those who obey these commandments; even if they suffer for a short time in this world, they will reap the immortal fruit of the resurrection. Therefore let the pious man not be grieved if he is afflicted in the present times; a blessed time awaits him; there, having come to life again above with the fathers, he will rejoice in the age without sorrow.

But let not that disturb your mind, that we see the unjust wealthy and the servants of God in distress. Let us therefore believe, brothers and sisters; we are undergoing a trial and training of the living God in the present life, so that we may be crowned in the life to come. No one among the righteous has received a swift reward, but awaits it. For if God were to pay out the reward of the righteous immediately, we would at once practice commerce and not piety; for we would seem to be righteous, pursuing not what is pious but what is profitable. And for this reason divine judgment has struck a spirit that is not righteous, and has weighed it down with bonds. To the only invisible God, father of truth, who sent to us the savior and leader of incorruptibility, through whom he also revealed to us the truth and the heavenly life, to him be glory for the ages of ages. Amen.