Clement of Alexandria: STROMATA (MISCELLANIES), Part V, Complete

Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson.

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Page 30

The First Commandment.

The first commandment of the Decalogue shows that there is one only Sovereign God; [3451] who led the people from the land of Egypt through the desert to their fatherland; that they might apprehend His power, as they were able, by means of the divine works, and withdraw from the idolatry of created things, putting all their hope in the true God.

The Second Commandment.

The second word [3452] intimated that men ought not to take and confer the august power of God (which is the name, for this alone were many even yet capable of learning), and transfer His title to things created and vain, which human artificers have made, among which "He that is" is not ranked. For in His uncreated identity, "He that is" is absolutely alone.

The Fourth Commandment.

And the fourth [3453] word is that which intimates that the world was created by God, and that He gave us the seventh day as a rest, on account of the trouble that there is in life. For God is incapable of weariness, and suffering, and want. But we who bear flesh need rest. The seventh day, therefore, is proclaimed a rest--abstraction from ills--preparing for the Primal Day, [3454] our true rest; which, in truth, is the first creation of light, in which all things are viewed and possessed. From this day the first wisdom and knowledge illuminate us. For the light of truth--a light true, casting no shadow, is the Spirit of God indivisibly divided to all, who are sanctified by faith, holding the place of a luminary, in order to the knowledge of real existences. By following Him, therefore, through our whole life, we become impassible; and this is to rest. [3455]

[3451] Ex. xx. 2, 3.

[3452] i.e., commandment. The Decalogue is in Hebrew called "the ten words."

[3453] The text has tritos, but Sylburgius reads tetartos, the third being either omitted, or embraced in what is said of the second. The next mentioned is the fifth.

[3454] i.e., Christ. [And the first day, or the Christian Sabbath.]

[3455] [Barnabas, vol. i. chap. xv. p. 146, this series.]

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