Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
It is now time for us to show the Greeks that it is truly the gnostic alone who is god-fearing, so that the philosophers, once they have learned properly what the man who is really a Christian is like, may condemn their own ignorance — they who pursue the name at random and haphazardly, and vainly call atheists those who have come to know the God who truly is. It is fitting, I think, to employ with the philosophers more evident arguments, such as men already trained by their own education are able to follow, even if they have not yet proven themselves fit to receive the strength that belief brings. For the present we shall make no mention of the prophetic sayings, since we shall later make use of the scriptures at the appropriate places; but we shall indicate summarily what is signified by them, sketching out Christianity in outline, so that we may not break the continuity of the discourse by bringing in the scriptures alongside it, especially for those who do not yet understand their wording. And when we have set forth the things signified, then, once they have come to believe out of abundance, the testimonies too will be made plain to them. (And if what we say appears to some of the many to differ from the Lord's scriptures, they should know that it breathes and lives from that very source, and that in taking its starting-points from them it professes to present only the sense, not the wording.) For excessive elaboration, when not done at the fitting time, would reasonably seem superfluous, while to have given no consideration at all to what is urgent is altogether slothful and deficient. Truly blessed are "they who search out the testimonies of the Lord; with their whole heart shall they seek him out"; and the law and the prophets bear witness concerning the Lord.
It lies before us, then, to show that only the gnostic is pious and holy, worshiping in a manner befitting God the God who truly is; and upon what befits God follows what is dear to God and loving toward God. He holds honorable, then, everything that is superior, in proportion to its worth: among sensible things one must honor rulers and parents and every elder; among things taught, the most ancient philosophy and the most venerable prophecy; and among things intelligible, that which is eldest in coming-to-be — the timeless, beginningless beginning and first-fruit of the things that are, the Son. From him it is possible to learn of the cause beyond, the Father of all things, the most venerable and most beneficent of all, no longer handed down in speech, but honored and revered, in the most proper sense, with reverence and silence accompanied by holy awe — spoken of by the Lord insofar as it was possible for those learning to comprehend it, but understood only by those chosen by the Lord for knowledge, "those," as the apostle says, "whose senses have been trained by exercise."
The service of God, then, for the gnostic, is the unceasing care of the soul and his occupation with the divine according to unbroken love. Of the service rendered to men, one kind improves, the other assists: medicine improves the body, philosophy the soul; from children toward parents, and from subjects toward their rulers, comes an assisting benefit. Likewise also in the church, the elders preserve the image of that which improves, the deacons that of what assists. In both these ministries angels too serve God, according to the administration of earthly affairs, and so does the gnostic himself, ministering to God while displaying to men the contemplation that improves, so that he may be appointed also to teach, for the correction of mankind. For he alone is truly god-fearing who ministers to God well and blamelessly in matters concerning men. For just as the best tending of plants, by which fruits come to be and are gathered in through agricultural knowledge and experience, provides to men the benefit that comes from them, so the god-fearingness of the gnostic, receiving into itself the fruits of the men who have come to believe through him — as more of them come into full knowledge and are thereby saved — accomplishes through experience the best harvest. And if propriety toward God is a settled disposition that preserves what befits God, then he alone who is befitting to God is dear to God; and this would be the one who knows what is fitting both in knowledge and in life, in the manner in which one who is to become — and indeed already is becoming — like God ought to live.
In this way, then, he is a lover of God [in the first place]. For just as a son who honors his own father thereby loves that father, so one who honors God thereby loves God. And on this point I would count three marks of gnostic power: first, to grasp the things that exist; second, to perform whatever reason commands; and third, to be capable of transmitting, in a way suited to God, the things that lie concealed within truth. Such a man, convinced that God holds power over all, and instructed in the divine mysteries by God's only Son, how could he possibly be called an atheist? For an atheist is one who does not consider that God exists, and superstitious is he who fears the spirits; but he who deifies everything, both wood and stone and spirit, is a man enslaved, not living according to reason.
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