Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
One who has no place in the heavens, and who by what manner of dealing with existing things might escape both the reproach of wealth and its harshness in the way of life, and be able to enjoy the eternal goods—should he have fallen, either through ignorance or through weakness or through some involuntary circumstance, after the seal and the redemption, into certain sins or transgressions, so as to be swept away completely—let him not suppose that he has therefore been condemned utterly by God. For to everyone who turns to God in truth, with his whole heart, the doors stand open, and the Father receives with the greatest joy a son who repents in truth; and true repentance is no longer to be held liable to the same sins, but to root them out utterly from the soul, the sins on account of which he condemned himself to death; for once these have been removed, God will again come to dwell in you. For great, He says, and unsurpassable is the joy and festival in the heavens, for the Father and the angels, over one sinner who turns and repents. Therefore also He cries out: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice; I do not wish the death of the sinner, but his repentance; and though your sins be as scarlet wool, I will make them white as snow, and though they be blacker than darkness, I will wash them and make them as white wool." For it is God alone who is able to grant forgiveness of sins and not reckon transgressions, seeing that even to us the Lord bids, every day, to forgive our brothers when they repent. But if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more "the Father of mercies," the good Father "of all comfort," who, being full of compassion and full of mercy, is by nature long-suffering; he awaits those who turn back; and truly to turn back is to cease from one's sins and no longer look behind.
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