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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Ante-Nicene Fathers - 1st Clement - Your Sedition Continues




I have been packing these books with me for the last few years as I’ve moved from place to place.  I have ‘consulted’ them occasionally as I’ve prepared for sermons or bible studies.  I’ve double checked quotes and context of quotes from them as I’ve encountered them in other books I’ve read.  But, to date, I haven’t read these volumes.  And I’ve decided to change that.  I’ve made it my goal to read through the 10 volumes of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (that is, the writings of the Church Fathers before the council of Nicea.)

The first writing within volume one is The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

Clement is listed as either the second or third bishop of Rome after Peter and his letter to the Corinthians is among the oldest Christian writings outside of the cannon of scripture.  Tradition since the third or forth century has identified him as the Clement mentioned in Philippians 4: 3.  Clement is said to have died a martyr’s death – having an anchor tied around his neck and thrown from a boat into the Black Sea.

His letter to the Corinthian congregation was sent in response to reports about the scandals and infighting occurring within the Christian community. Apparently the factions and divisions within the church addressed by Paul in his letter (1 Corinthians) had not diminished.  Several of the presbyters had been removed from office – without any charge of moral offense, but out of envy and spite. 

“Blessed are those presbyters who, having finished their course before now, have obtained a fruitful and perfect departure [from this world]; for they have no fear lest any one deprive them of the place now appointed them.  But we see that ye have removed some men of excellent behavior from the ministry, which they fulfilled blamelessly and with honor.” [i]

This has brought the Church (and not just the Christians in Corinth) into disrepute and danger.  Clement refers to “sudden and successive calamitous events”[ii] (probably the persecutions of Christians initiated by the Emperor Domitian) that the Church in Rome had recently endured.  And now these bad reports from Corinth were making things worse.

“It is disgraceful, beloved, yea, highly disgraceful, and unworthy of your Christian profession, that such a thing should be heard of as that the most steadfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians should, on account of one or two persons, engage in sedition against its presbyters.  And this rumor has reached not only us, but those also who are unconnected with us; so that, through your infatuation, the name of the Lord is blasphemed, while danger is brought upon yourselves.”[iii]

Clement, though writing in love, pulls no punches in his condemnation of this divisive “sedition” within the Corinthian church.

“Why are there strifes, and tumults, and divisions, and schisms, and wars among you?  Have we not one God and one Christ?  Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us? And have we not one calling in Christ?  Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body, and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that ‘we are members one of another?’  Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, ‘ Woe to that man [by whom offences come]! It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my elect.  Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, thank that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my little ones.  Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all.  And still your sedition continueth.[iv]

Clement encourages the members of the church at Corinth to repent, to live in love and humility and in mutual submission to each other.  How can there be a pride of place or schisms among those who love greatly and who submit to each other?  He calls upon them to be so filled with this kind of love and submission that they would say “If on my account sedition and disagreement and schisms have arisen, I will depart, I will go away whithersoever ye desire, and I will do whatever the majority commands; only let the flock of Christ live on terms of peace with the presbyters set over it.”[v]

Wow.  I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone – Christian or otherwise – who would voluntarily submit in this way. But what would the church be like if we who profess to be followers of the Christ could say in any argument, “I’ll leave if I’ve caused division, only let there be peace,”?  Could we so value the peace and health of the body of Christ as to voluntarily remove ourselves?  That would be something to see.




[i] Chap. XLIV
[ii] Chap. I
[iii] Chap. XLVII
[iv] Chap. XLVI
[v] Chap. LIV

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