Clement of Alexandria — Commentary on Scripture

Jeremiah 2:12

Reproof is the bringing forward of sin, laying it before one. This form of instruction God employs as necessary in the highest degree by reason of the feebleness of the faith of many. For he says by Isaiah, “You have forsaken the Lord and have provoked the holy One of Israel to anger.” He says also by Jeremiah: “Heaven was astonished at this, and the earth shuddered exceedingly. My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns that will not be able to hold water.”

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 2:27

It is adultery, if you abandon the ecclesiastical and true knowledge and the opinion about God, and consent to false and incompatible opinion, either by deifying any created object or by making an idol of anything that does not exist, so as to overstep, or rather step away from, knowledge.… For this reason, the noble apostle calls one of the kinds of fornication, idolatry. In following the prophet says, “My people have committed fornication with wood and stone. They have said to the wood, ‘you are my father’ and to the stone, ‘you have begotten me.’ ”

The Stromata Book 6

Jeremiah 3:3-5

Accusation is censure of wrongdoers.… Of this help the divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, “You have a prostitute’s forehead. You were shameless toward all. You did not call me to the house, I who am your father, and Lord of your virginity.” “And a fair and graceful harlot skilled in enchanted potions.” With consummate art, after applying to the virgin the disgraceful name of whoredom, he at once calls her back to an honorable life by filling her with shame.

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 3:6-9

Admonition, then, is loving care’s censure and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, “How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not!” And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, “And they committed adultery with stock and stone and burned incense to Baal.” For it is a very great proof of God’s love that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people who had kicked and bounded away, he nevertheless exhorts them to repentance. He says by Ezekiel, “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of scorpions. Nevertheless, speak to them, if by chance they will hear.” Further, to Moses he says, “Go and tell Pharaoh to send my people forth, but I know that he will not send them forth.”

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 3:9

Let us now proceed to consider the mode of his loving discipline, with the aid of the prophetic testimony. Admonition, then, is loving care’s censure and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, “How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you did not allow it!” And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, “And they committed adultery with wood and stone and burned incense to Baal.” For it is a very great proof of his love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people who had kicked and bounded away, he notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance and says by Ezekiel, “Son of man, you live in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if perhaps they will hear.”

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 4:30

And if Plutus is blind, are not those women who are crazy about him and have an attraction with him blind too? Having, then, no limit to their lust, they push on to shamelessness. For the theater, and pageants, and many spectators, and strolling in the temples and loitering in the streets, that they may be seen conspicuously by all, are necessary to them. For those who glory in their looks, not in heart, dress to please others. For as the brand shows the slave, so do gaudy colors the adulteress. “For though you clothe yourself in scarlet, and deck yourself with ornaments of gold and anoint your eyes with paint, in vain is your beauty,” says the Word by Jeremiah. Is it not monstrous that while horses, birds and the rest of the animals spring and bound from the grass and meadows, rejoicing in ornament that is their own, in mane and natural color and varied plumage, woman, as if inferior to the brute creation, should think herself so unlovely as to need foreign, bought and painted beauty?

The Instructor Book 3

Jeremiah 5:8

At another time, he speaks of us under the figure of a colt. He means by that that we are unyoked to evil, unsubdued by wickedness, unaffected and high-spirited only with him our Father. We are colts, not stallions “who whinny lustfully for their neighbor’s wife,” beasts of burden unrestrained in their lust. Rather, we are free and newly born, joyous in our faith, and hold fast to the course of truth. We are swift in seeking salvation, and we spurn and trample on worldliness.

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 5:8

Rebuking censures what is base and highlights what is noble. This is shown by Jeremiah: “They were horses mad for females. Each one neighed for his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not visit them for these things? says the Lord. Should not I avenge my soul against such a nation as this?” He everywhere interweaves fear, because “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of reason.”

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 5:8

If birth is an evil, then the blasphemers must place the Lord who went through birth and the virgin who gave him birth in the category of evil. Abominable people! In attacking birth they are maligning the will of God and the mystery of creation. This is the basis of Cassian’s docetism, Marcion’s too, yes, and Valentinus’s “semi-spiritual body.” It leads them to say, “Humanity became like cattle in coming to sexual intercourse.” But it is when a man, swollen with lust, really and truly wants to go to bed with a woman not his own, that that sort of man actually becomes a wild beast. “They turned into stallions crazed for mares; each was whinnying for his neighbor’s wife.”

The Stromata Book 3

Jeremiah 5:11-12

Accusation is the censure of wrongdoers. This mode of instruction God employs by David, when he says, “The people whom I did not know served me, and when their ears heard they obeyed me. Sons of strangers came to me, and halted from their ways.” And by Jeremiah: “And I gave her a divorce decree, but covenant-breaking Judah did not fear.” And again: “And the house of Israel disregarded me. The house of Judah lied to the Lord.”

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 6:6-9

God invites us to knowledge also, when he says by Jeremiah, “If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelled forever in peace.” … God grants pardon to those who have erred. He says, “Turn, turn, as a grape gatherer returns to his basket.” Do you see the goodness of justice in that it advises us to repent? And through Jeremiah, he provides further enlightenment in the truth for those who have erred” “Thus says the Lord, stand in the roads, and look. Ask for the eternal paths of the Lord. Look for the good path, and walk in it, and you shall find purification for your souls.” He leads us to repentance in order to promote our salvation.

The Instructor Book 1

Jeremiah 6:16

Since the soul became too enfeebled for the apprehension of realities, we needed a divine teacher. The Savior is sent down—a teacher and leader in the acquisition of the good, as the secret and sacred token of the great Providence. “Where, then, is the scribe? Where is the searcher of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” it is said. And again, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent,” speaks plainly of those who are wise in their own eyes and contentious. Excellently, therefore, Jeremiah says, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the ways, and ask for the eternal paths, what is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find expiation for your souls.’ ”

The Stromata Book 5

Jeremiah 8:18-22

Let no one, then, run down the law, as if, on account of the penalty, it were not beautiful and good. Shouldn’t he who drives away bodily disease appear as a benefactor? Shouldn’t he who attempts to deliver the soul from iniquity even more appear as a friend since the soul is a more precious thing than the body? Besides, for the sake of bodily health we submit to incisions, cauterization and medicinal draughts. He who administers them is called savior and healer. He is called this even though he amputates parts, but he works not from a grudge or ill will toward the patient. He instead acts according to the principles that the art prescribes so that the sound parts may not perish along with them. No one accuses the physician’s art of wickedness. In the same way, shouldn’t we submit, for the soul’s sake, to either banishment, or punishment or bonds, as long as from unrighteousness we shall obtain righteousness?

The Stromata Book 1

Jeremiah 9:23-24

What is the philosophy that the apostle bids us shun? This, then, “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” Let no one therefore glory on account of pre-eminence in human thought. For it is written well in Jeremiah, “Let not the wise person glory in his wisdom, and let not the mighty person glory in his might, and let not the rich person glory in his riches. But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord, that executes mercy and judgment and righteousness on the earth: for in these things is my delight, say the Lord.”

The Stromata Book 1

Jeremiah 13:1-2

The blessed John disdained sheep’s wool because it savored of luxury; he preferred camel’s hair and clothed himself in it, giving us an example of simple, frugal living. Incidentally, he also ate only honey and locusts, food that is sweet and with a spiritual significance. So it was that he prepared the way of the Lord and kept it humble and chaste. He fled from the false pretenses of the city and led a peaceful life in the desert with God, away from all vanity, boasting and servitude. How could he possibly have worn a purple mantle? Elijah used a sheepskin for his garment and girded it tight with a belt made of leather. Isaiah, another historic prophet, went “naked and without sandals” and often put on sackcloth as a garment of humility. If you protest and make mention of Jeremiah, he wore only a loincloth made of linen.

The Instructor Book 2

Jeremiah 13:1-2

Furthermore, this Paul said strongly that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking”—or abstinence from wine or meat—“but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Which of them goes around like Elijah wearing a sheepskin and a leather belt? Which of them wears no shoes and nothing but a piece of sackcloth like Isaiah? Or with nothing on but a linen loincloth, like Jeremiah?

The Stromata Book 3

Jeremiah 20:12

For God does not hold out against his children when they beg his pity. And for you he will pray purely, held in high honor as an angel of God, and grieved not by you but for you. This is sincere repentance. “God is not mocked,” nor does he give heed to vain words. For he alone searches the innermost recesses of the heart, and hears those that are in the fire, and listens to those who supplicate in the whale’s belly and is near to all who believe, and far from the ungodly if they do not repent.

Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?

Jeremiah 22:29-30

Someone who is in a state of ignorance is sinful and considered “earth and ashes.” Someone who is in a state of knowledge, being assimilated as far as possible to God, is already spiritual and thus is considered elect. Scripture calls the senseless and disobedient by the term “dirt,” which is clear from what Jeremiah the prophet says in reference to Joachim and his brothers: “Earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Inscribe this man as an outcast.”

The Stromata Book 4

Jeremiah 23:23-24

Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. "Am I a God at hand," he says, "and not a God afar off? Shall a man do ought in secret, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord." For "the Lord who created the earth by His power," as Jeremiah says, "has raised up the world by His wisdom;" for wisdom, which is His word, raises us up to the truth, who have fallen prostrate before idols, and is itself the first resurrection from our fall.

Exhortation to the Heathen

Jeremiah 23:24

“I have known all that is hidden and all that is open to view. I was a pupil of Wisdom, who formed them all.” There, in brief, you have the profession of our philosophy. The process of learning about these, if practiced under good supervision, leads upward via Wisdom, who formed the whole universe, to the ruler of the universe, a being hard to catch, hard to track down, who always distances himself in retreat from his pursuer. But this same ruler, distant as he is, has—truth be told!—drawn near. “I am God who is near at hand, declares the Lord.” In his essential being he is distant—how could a creature subject to birth ever draw near to the unborn and the uncreated?—but very close by the exercise of that power that had enfolded all things in its embrace. It is written, “Can anyone act in secret without my seeing him?” Yes, the power of God is always present, touching us with a power that sees, is good and instructs.

The Stromata Book 2