The writings of the Apostolic FathersClement I, Pope
General
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers
Clement I, Pope
Apostolic Fathers; Christian literature, Early
Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed on from this to you,
having false doctrine, whom ye did not suffer to sow among you, but
stopped your ears, that ye might not receive those things which were
sown by them, as being stones[799] of the temple of the Father, prepared
for the building of God the Father, and drawn up on high by the
instrument of Jesus Christ, which is the cross,[800] making use of the
Holy Spirit as a rope, while your faith was the means by which you
ascended, and your love the way which led up to God. Ye, therefore, as
well as all your fellow-travellers, are God-bearers, temple-bearers,
Christ-bearers, bearers of holiness, adorned in all respects with the
commandments of Jesus Christ, in whom also I exult that I have been
thought worthy, by means of this epistle, to converse and rejoice with
you, because with respect to your Christian life[801] ye love nothing
but God only.
LONGER.
Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed in among you, holding
the wicked doctrine of the strange and evil spirit; to whom ye did not
allow entrance to sow their tares, but stopped your ears that ye might
not receive that error which was proclaimed by them, as being persuaded
that that spirit which deceives the people does not speak the things of
Christ, but his own, for he is a lying spirit. But the Holy Spirit does
not speak His own things, but those of Christ, and that not from
himself, but from the Lord; even as the Lord also announced to us the
things that He received from the Father. For, says He, “the word which
ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s, who sent me.”[802] And says He of
the Holy Spirit, “He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever things
He shall hear from me.”[803] And He says of Himself to the Father, “I
have,” says He, “glorified Thee upon the earth; I have finished the work
which Thou gavest me; I have manifested Thy name to men.”[804] And of
the Holy Ghost, “He shall glorify me, for He receives of mine.”[805] But
the spirit of deceit preaches himself, and speaks his own things, for he
seeks to please himself. He glorifies himself, for he is full of
arrogance. He is lying, fraudulent, soothing, flattering, treacherous,
rhapsodical, trifling, inharmonious, verbose, sordid, and timorous. From
his power Jesus Christ will deliver you, who has founded you upon the
rock, as being chosen stones, well fitted for the divine edifice of the
Father, and who are raised up on high by Christ, who was crucified for
you, making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope, and being borne up by
faith, while exalted by love from earth to heaven, walking in company
with those that are undefiled. For, says [the Scripture], “Blessed are
the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”[806] Now the
way is unerring, namely, Jesus Christ. For, says He, “I am the way and
the life”[807] And this way leads to the Father. For “no man,” says He,
“cometh to the Father but by me.”[808] Blessed, then, are ye who are
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