dost

Hi.

A question. I read:

"Take up the epistle of the blessed apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached? Truly, he wrote to you UNDER THE INSPIRATION OF THE SPIRIT." Clement of Rome 96 A.D. (David W. Bercot, A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs [Hendrickson Publishers, Massachusetts, 1998], p. 601)

According to this, Clement believed Paul's writings were "scripture" since he wrote under inspiration.

But then I came across other translations of this passage:

Lightfoot translation:

1Clem 47:1 Take up the epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle.

1Clem 47:2 What wrote he first unto you in the beginning of the Gospel?

1Clem 47:3 Of a truth he charged you in the Spirit concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because that even then ye had made parties.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.co...lightfoot.html

Hoole translation:

47:1 Take into your hands the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul.

47:2 What did he first write unto you in the beginning of his gospel?

47:3 Of a truth, he warned you spiritually, in a letter, concerning himself, and concerning Cephas and Apollos, because even then there were factions among you;

47:4 but the faction of that time brought less sin upon you; for ye inclined unto Apostles of good repute, and unto a man approved among them.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.co...ent-hoole.html

According to these, Clement did not refer to Paul's writings as being written through "inspiration" and thus being "scripture".

Which translation is accurate?

CJD

The word translated alternately "spiritually," "of the spirit," and "in the spirit" is pneumatikô. The Hendrickson translation simply adds, by way of commentary, "under the inspiration," for the text literally reads, "alêtheia_ pneumatikô epeisteilen ", or "of the truth he warned you from the spirit (or spiritually)." Pneumatikô, in the genetive here, expresses the idea of source ("he warned you by/in/from the spirit"). This, of course, is not a reference to "inspiration" in the modern, "inerrant" sense of the word. But still, Clement is clearly saying that the spirit had something to do with the apostle Paul's testimony. (He is clearly not saying that the apostle had bad gas on the day he was writing his letter.)

CJD

dost

Thanks for your reply CJD.

So if I understand correctly, Clement does not refer to the status of any Pauline letter in the passage in question but only states that the witness and warning delivered by Paul came from the spirit, or that it was spiritual in nature. Therefore, this does not mean that his actual letters and their words were "scripture" or "holy" like the Jewish Bible.

CJD

You are welcome, dost.

The question you are now asking is a little harder to answer. I'm not sure if we can parse Clement's statement between Paul's warning on the one hand and the actual letter in which the warning was contained on the other. Probably he considered both the warning and the letter as "from the spirit" in the same way that the author of 2 Peter 3:14–16 did: that Paul wrote with "kata tên dotheisan autôi sophian," that is, "according to the wisdom given to him." Note too that untaught and unstable people, according to this author, twisted his letters, as they do "loipas graphas" ("the other [or remaining] writings"). That same word there (graphas) is used elsewhere throughout the writings of the NT to denote the Scriptures, namely, the TNK.

This may not shed any light on Clement's words, though — unless he was following the lead of the author of 2 Peter.