Clement of Alexandria

In his own words on 1 John

• 1 John 1:1

  "That which was from the beginning; which we have seen with our eyes; which we have heard." Following the Gospel according to John, and in accordance with it, this Epistle also contains the spiritual principle. What therefore he says, "from the beginning," the Presbyter explained to this effect, that the beginning of generation is not separated from the beginning of the Creator. For when he says, "That which was from the beginning," he touches upon the generation without beginning of the Son, who is co-existent with the Father. There was; then, a Word importing an unbeginning eternity; as also the Word itself, that is, the Son of God, who being, by equality of substance, one with the Father, is eternal and uncreate. That He was always the Word, is signified by saying, "In the beginning was the Word." But by the expression, "we have seen with our eyes," he signifies the Lord's presence in the flesh, "and our hands have handled," he says, "of the Word of life." He means not only His flesh, but the virtues of the Son, like the sunbeam which penetrates to the lowest places,-this sunbeam coming in the flesh became palpable to the disciples. It is accordingly related in traditions, that John, touching the outward body itself, sent his hand deep down into it, and that the solidity of the flesh offered no obstacle, but gave way to the hand of the disciple. "And our hands have handled of the Word of life; "that is, He who came in the flesh became capable of being touched.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 1:2

  "The life was manifested." For in the Gospel he thus speaks: "And what was made, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men." "And we show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto you." He signifies by the appellation of Father, that the Son also existed always, without beginning.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 1:5

  "For God," he says, "is light." He does not express the divine essence, but wishing to declare the majesty of God, he has applied to the Divinity what is best and most excellent in the view of men. Thus also Paul, when he speaks of "light inaccessible." [1 Timothy 6:16] But John himself also in this same Epistle says, "God is love:" [1 John 4:16] pointing out the excellences of God, that He is kind and merciful; and because He is light, makes men righteous, according to the advancement of the soul, through charity. God, then, who is ineffable in respect of His substance, is light. "And in Him is no darkness at all," - that is, no passion, no keeping up of evil respecting any one, [He] destroys no one, but gives salvation to all. Light moreover signifies, either the precepts of the Law, or faith, or doctrine. Darkness is the opposite of these things. Not as if there were another way; since there is only one way according to the divine precepts. For the work of God is unity. Duality and all else that exists, except unity, arises from perversity of life.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 1:6

  And how can they say that they alone know God when they do the same things as those who are loathed by the heathen because they do not do what the laws direct, that is, as the wicked and incontinent and covetous and adulterous? They ought to live good lives even while they are dwelling in an alien country, to manifest their truly kingly nature. But because they have chosen to disobey the laws, they make themselves objects of hatred both to human lawgivers and to the law of God. At any rate in Numbers the man who thrust his spear into the fornicator is evidently blessed by God. And John says in his epistle: "If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with him, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from sin." How then are they who do these things superior to worldly men when they behave like the very worst men of this world? Those whose actions are alike are in my opinion of like nature.

  The Stromata Book 3

• 1 John 1:7

  "And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son," he says, "cleanses us." For the doctrine of the Lord, which is very powerful, is called His blood.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 1:10

  "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." His doctrine, that is, or word is truth.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:1

  "And if any man sin," he says, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ." For so the Lord is an advocate with the Father for us. So also is there, an advocate, whom, after His assumption, He vouchsafed to send. For these primitive and first-created virtues are unchangeable as to substance, and along with subordinate angels and archangels, whose names they share, effect divine operations. Thus also Moses names the virtue of the angel Michael, by an angel near to himself and of lowest grade. The like also we find in the holy prophets; but to Moses an angel appeared near and at hand. Moses heard him and spoke to him manifestly, face to face. On the other prophets, through the agency of angels, an impression was made, as of beings hearing and seeing. On this account also, they alone heard, and they alone saw; as also is seen in the case of Samuel. Elisaeus also alone heard the voice by which he was called. If the voice had been open and common, it would have been heard by all. In this instance it was heard by him alone in whom the impression made by the angel worked.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:2

  "And not only for our sins,"-that is for those of the faithful,-is the Lord the propitiator, does he say, "but also for the whole world." He, indeed, saves all; but some [He saves], converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily [He saves] with dignity of honour; so "that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" that is, angels, men, and souls that before His advent have departed from this temporal life.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:3

  "And by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." For the Gnostic also does the Works which pertain to the province of virtue. But he who performs the works is not necessarily also a Gnostic. For a man may be a doer of right works, and yet not a knower of the mysteries of science. Finally, knowing that some works are performed from fear of punishment, and some on account of the promise of reward, he shows the perfection of the man gifted with knowledge, who fulfils his works by love.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:4

  It is the manner of life which shows up those who know the commandments; for as a man's word is, so is his life. The tree is known by its fruit, not by its blossom and leaves. Knowledge, then, comes from the fruit and from behaviour, not from talk and from blossom. We say that knowledge is not mere talk, but a certain divine knowledge, that light which is kindled in the soul as a result of obedience to the commandments, and which reveals all that is in a state of becoming, enables man to know himself and teaches him to become possessed of God. What the eye is in the body, knowledge is in the mind. Let them not call bondage to pleasure freedom, as if bitterness were sweet. We have learnt to recognize as freedom that which the Lord alone confers on us when he liberates us from lusts and desires and the other passions. "He who says, I know the Lord, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him," says John.

  The Stromata Book 3

• 1 John 2:5

  "But whoever keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him," - by faith and love.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:7

  "I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning,"-through the Law, that is, and the prophets; where it is said, God is one. Accordingly, also, he infers, "For the old commandment is the word which ye have heard."

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:8

  "This is the commandment; for the darkness" of perversion, that is, "has passed away, and, lo, the true light has already shone," - that is, through faith, through knowledge, through the Covenant working in men, through prepared judgments.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:9-10

  "He that saith he is in the light,"-in the light, he means in the truth,-"and hateth," he says, "his brother." By his brother, he means not only his neighbour, but also the Lord. For unbelievers hate Him and do not keep His commandments. Therefore also he infers: "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light; and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:12

  He then indicates the stages of advancement and progress of souls that are still located in the flesh; and calls those whose sins have been forgiven, for the Lord's name's sake, "little children," for many believe on account of the name only.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:12

  "Little children" means those whose sins have been forgiven.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:13

  He styles "fathers" the perfect, "who have known what was from the beginning," and received with understanding - the Son, that is, of whom he said above, "that which was from the beginning." "I write," says he, "to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one." Young man strong in despising pleasures. "The wicked one" points out the eminence of the devil. "The children," moreover, know the Father; having fled from idols and gathered together to the one God.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:13

  By "fathers" John means those perfect people who understood everything from the very beginning and readily perceived that the Son had always existed.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:14

  By strong "young men" John means those who have overcome their lusts.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:15-16

  "For the world," he says, "is in the wicked one." Is not the world, and all that is in the world, called God's creation and very good? Yes. But, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world," which arise from the perversion of life, "are not of the Father, but of the world," and of you.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:18

  To those, on the other hand, who under a pious cloak blaspheme by their continence both the creation and the holy Creator, the almighty, only God, and teach that one must reject marriage and begetting of children, and should not bring others in their place to live in this wretched world, nor give any sustenance to death, our reply is as follows. We may first quote the word of the apostle John: "And now are many antichrists come, whence we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us."

  The Stromata Book 3

• 1 John 2:19

  "They went out from us; but they were not of us"-neither the apostate angels, nor men falling away;-"but that they may be manifested that they are not of us." With sufficient clearness he distinguishes the class of the elect and that of the lost, and that which remaining in faith "has an unction from the Holy One," which comes through faith. He that abideth not in faith.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:22

  "A liar" and "an antichrist, who denies that Jesus is the Christ." For Jesus, Saviour and Redeemer, is also Christ the King.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:23

  "He who denies the Son," by ignoring Him, "has not the Father, nor does he know Him." But he who knows the Son and the Father, knows according to knowledge, and when the Lord shall be manifested at His second advent, shall have confidence and not be confounded. Which confusion is heavy punishment.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 2:29

  "Every one," he says, "who does righteousness is born of God;" being regenerated, that is, according to faith.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:1

  "For the world knows us not, as it knew Him not." He means by the world those who live a worldly life in pleasures.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:2

  "Beloved," says he, "now are we the sons of God," not by natural affection, but because we have God as our Father. For it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons. "And it has not yet appeared what we shall be;" that is, to what kind of glory we shall attain. "For if He shall be manifested,"— that is, if we are made perfect, — "we shall be like Him," as reposing and justified, pure in virtue, "so that we may see Him" (His countenance) "as He is," by comprehension.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:3

  And by following the divine scripture, the path by which believers travel, we are to be made like unto the Lord as far as possible. We must not live as if there were no difference between right and wrong, but, to the best of our power, must purify ourselves from indulgence and lust and take care for our soul which must continually be devoted to the Deity alone. For when it is pure and set free from all evil the mind is somehow capable of receiving the power of God and the divine image is set up in it. "And everyone who has this hope in the Lord purifies himself," says the Scripture, "even as he is pure." To attain the knowledge of God is impossible for those who are still under the control of their passions. Therefore they cannot attain the salvation they hope for as they have not obtained any knowledge of God.

  The Stromata Book 3

• 1 John 3:8

  "He that does unrighteousness is of the devil," that is, of the devil as his father, following and choosing the same things. "The devil sins from the beginning," he says. From the beginning from which he began to sin, incorrigibly persevering in sinning.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:9

  He says, "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him;" that is, His word in him who is born again through faith.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:10

  "Thus we know the children of God, as likewise the children of the devil," who choose things like the devil; for so also they are said to be of the wicked one.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:15

  "Every one who hates his brother is a murderer." For in him through unbelief Christ dies. Rightly, therefore, he continues, "And you know that no murderer and unbeliever has eternal life abiding in him." For the living Christ abides in the believing soul.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:15

  And if we owe our lives to the brethren, and have made such a mutual compact with the Saviour, why should we any more hoard and shut up worldly goods, which are beggarly, foreign to us and transitory? Shall we shut up from each other what after a little shall be the property of the fire? Divinely and weightily John says, "He that loveth not his brother is a murderer," the seed of Cain, a nursling of the devil. He has not God's compassion. He has no hope of better things. He is sterile; he is barren; he is not a branch of the ever-living supercelestial vine. He is cut off; he waits the perpetual fire.

  Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?

• 1 John 3:16

  "For He Himself laid down His life for us;" that is, for those who believe; that is, for the apostles. If then He laid down His life for the apostles, he means His apostles themselves: us if he said, We, I say, the apostles, for whom He laid down His life, "ought to lay down our lives for the brethren;" for the salvation of their neighbours was the glory of the apostles.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:18

  "Little children, let us not love in word, or in tongue," says John, teaching them to be perfect, "but in deed and in truth; hereby shall we know that we are of the truth." And if "God be love," piety also is love: "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." And again, to him who desires to become a Gnostic, it is written, "But be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in purity." For perfection in faith differs, I think, from ordinary faith.

  The Stromata Book 4

• 1 John 3:20

  He says, "For God is greater than our heart;" that is, the virtue of God [is greater] than conscience, which will follow the soul. Wherefore he continues, and says, "and knoweth all things."

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 3:24

  "And hereby we know that He dwells in us by His Spirit, which He has given us;" that is, by superintendence and foresight of future events.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 4:8

  "God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. Whose "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," neither injuring nor revenging ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. "Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" like as Christ, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching of, and discipline according to Christ. By love, then, the commands not to commit adultery, and not to covet one's neighbour's wife, are fulfilled.

  The Stromata Book 4

• 1 John 4:16

  He does not express the divine essence, but wishing to declare the majesty of God, he has applied to the Divinity what is best and most excellent in the view of men. Thus also Paul, when he speaks of "light inaccessible." [1 Timothy 6:16] But John himself also in this same Epistle says, "God is love:" [1 John 4:16] pointing out the excellences of God, that He is kind and merciful; and because He is light, makes men righteous, according to the advancement of the soul, through charity. God, then, who is ineffable in respect of His substance, is light.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 4:16

  It is not, then, without reason that we commanded boys to kiss their relations, holding them by the ears; indicating this, that the feeling of love is engendered by hearing. And "God," who is known to those who love, "is love," as "God," who by instruction is communicated to the faithful, "is faithful;" and we must be allied to Him by divine love: so that by like we may see like, hearing the word of truth guilelessly and purely, as children who obey us.

  The Stromata Book 5

• 1 John 4:18

  He says, "Perfect love casteth out fear." For the perfection of a believing man is love.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 5:3

  And if we are called to the kingdom of God, let us walk worthy of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbour. But love is not proved by a kiss, but by kindly feeling. But there are those, that do nothing but make the churches resound with a kiss, not having love itself within. For this very thing, the shameless use of a kiss, which ought to be mystic, occasions foul suspicions and evil reports. The apostle calls the kiss holy. When the kingdom is worthily tested, we dispense the affection of the soul by a chaste and closed mouth, by which chiefly gentle manners are expressed. But there is another unholy kiss, full of poison, counterfeiting sanctity. Do you not know that spiders, merely by touching the mouth, afflict men with pain? And often kisses inject the poison of licentiousness. It is then very manifest to us, that a kiss is not love. For the love meant is the love of God. "And this is the love of God," says John, "that we keep His commandments;" not that we stroke each other on the mouth. "And His commandments are not grievous."

  The Instructor Book 3

• 1 John 5:6-8

  He says, "This is He who came by water and blood;" and again - "For there are three that bear witness, the spirit," which is life, "and the water," which is regeneration and faith, "and the blood," which is knowledge; "and these three are one." For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 5:14

  "And this is the confidence which we have towards Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He will hear us." He does not say absolutely what we shall ask, but what we ought to ask.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 5:16

  John, too, manifestly teaches the differences of sins, in his larger Epistle, in these words: "If any man see his brother sin a sin that is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life: for these that sin not unto death," he says. For "there is a sin unto death: I do not say that one is to pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death."

  The Stromata Book 2

• 1 John 5:19

  "And the whole word lies in the wicked one;" not the creation, but worldly men, and those who live according to their lusts.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus

• 1 John 5:20

  "And the Son of God has come and given us understanding," which comes to us, that is, by faith, and is also called the Holy Spirit.

  From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus