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Like 1 Clement, the Second Epistle of Clement has an anonymous author and is ascribed to Clement of Rome by tradition, but unlike 1 Clement, the ascription of 2 Clement to Clement of Rome is more dubious. It was considered for canonization early on and is in fact included in some Coptic Bibles. It was likely written in the late 1st century or early 2nd century.
Brothers, we should so think of our Lord Jesus Christ as of God, as of the Judge of quick and dead, and we should not think lightly concerning our salvation; for if we think little concerning Him, we also expect that we will receive little; and if we listen to it as though it were a small thing, we err, not knowing from where we are called, nor by whom, nor to what place, nor what great things Jesus Christ has endured to suffer on our behalf. What repayment, therefore, will we give to Him, or what fruit worthy of that which He has given to us? How many things that help to holiness has He given to us? For He has given us the light, He has called us sons as though He were our father, He has saved us when we were ready to perish. What praise, therefore, will we give to Him, or what repayment of reward for the things that we have received? For we were maimed in our understanding, worshiping stocks and stones, and gold, and silver, and iron, the work of men, and our whole life was nothing but death. We, therefore, who were surrounded with darkness, and who had our sight filled with such gloom, have recovered our sight, having, according to His will, laid aside the cloud that was around us. For He has had compassion on us, and, pitying us, has saved us, having beheld in us much wandering and destruction, when we had no hope of salvation except that which is from Him. For He has called us when as yet we were not, and has willed us to be when we were nothing.
“Rejoice, you barren that do not bear; break forth and shout, you that do not travail, for the desolate has many more children than she that has a husband.” In that He said, “Rejoice, you barren that do not bear,” He has spoken of us, for our assembly was barren before that children were given to her. But in that He said, “Shout, you that do not travail,” He means that we should offer our prayers to God with simplicity, that we do not faint like women in travail. But in that He said, “The children of the desolate are many more than they of her that has a husband,” He means that our people seemed to be deserted of God, and now, after that we have believed, we have become more in number than they which seemed to have God. And another Writing says, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” He means this, that it is necessary to save them that are perishing. For this is great and wonderful—not to establish the things that are standing, but the things that are falling; thus Christ willed to save the things that were perishing, and He saved many, having come and called us who were already perishing.
Therefore, since He has showed such compassion to us—first, that He has caused that we who live should not sacrifice to gods that are dead, neither worship them, but know through Him the Father of truth—what is this knowledge of Him except the not denying Him through whom we know Him? For He Himself says, “Whoever has confessed Me before men, I will confess Him before My Father.” This, therefore, is our reward if we confess Him through whom we have been saved. But whereby will we confess Him? Even by doing what He commands, and not disobeying His commands, and honoring Him not only with our lips but with our whole heart and whole understanding. For He says in Isaiah, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”
Therefore, let us not only call Him Lord, for that will not save us. For He says, “It is not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, that will be saved, but he that does righteousness.” For what reason, brothers, let us confess Him in our deeds, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, and not speaking ill of each other, neither being envious, but by being continent, compassionate, kind. We should also sympathize with one another, and to abstain from covetousness; it is by these works that we acknowledge Him, and not by the contrary; and we should not fear men but rather God. For what reason, if we do these things, the Lord has said, “Though you have been gathered together with Me in My bosom and do not do My commands, I will cast you from Me, and I will say to you, Depart from Me; I do not know from where you are, you workers of iniquity.”
For what reason, brothers, having left our sojourning in this world, let us do the will of Him who called us, and let us not fear to depart from this world. For the Lord says, “You will be as lambs in the midst of wolves.” But Peter answered and says to Him, “What, then, if the wolves tear the sheep?” Jesus says to Peter, “Do not let the lambs after that they are dead fear the wolves; and do not fear them that kill you but can do nothing more to you, but fear Him who, after you are dead, has authority over body and soul, even to cast them into the Gehenna of fire.” And you know, brothers, that the sojourning of our flesh in this world is but short and for a little while, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom which is to come, and of continuous life. What, therefore, will we do that we may attain to them, except to lead a holy and just life, and to deem the things of this world to be alien to us, and not to desire them? For while we desire to obtain these things, we fall from the right way.
For the Lord says, “No servant can serve two masters.” If, therefore, we wish to serve both God and wealth, it is inexpedient for us; for what advantage is it if a man gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Now this life and the life to come are two enemies. This life preaches adultery, corruption, covetousness, and deceit; but the life that is to come renounces these things. We cannot, therefore, be friends to both; it is necessary for us then to renounce the one and to use the other. Therefore, let us consider that it is better to hate the things that are here, as being small, and short-lived, and corruptible, but to love the things that are there, as being good and incorruptible. If, therefore, we do the will of Christ, we will find rest; but if not, nothing will deliver us from continuous punishment, if we do not obey His commands. For the Writing says in Ezekiel: “If Noah, and Job, and Daniel should rise up, they will not deliver their children in the captivity.” If, therefore, such righteous men as these cannot by their righteousness deliver their children, with what confidence will we, if we do not keep our immersion pure and undefiled, come to the Kingdom of God? or who will be our advocate unless we are found having the works that are holy and just?
For what reason, my brothers, let us strive, knowing that the contest is at hand. We know, too, that many put in for corruptible contests, but all are not crowned, but they only who have labored much and fought a good fight. Therefore, let us contend that we may all be crowned. Let us run in the straight course, in the incorruptible contest; and let us be many that put into it; and let us so contend that we may also be crowned. And if we cannot all be crowned, let us at least come near to the crown. It is necessary for us to know that he who contends in a corruptible contest, if he is found acting unfairly is flogged, and taken away, and cast out of the course. What do you think? what will he suffer that acts unfairly in an incorruptible contest? For of them who have not kept their seal he says, “Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be for a spectacle to all flesh.”
Therefore, while we are on the earth, let us convert. For we are as clay in the hands of the workman. In like manner as the potter, if while he is making a vessel, it turns wrongly in his hands, or is crushed, can mould it again, but if he has once cast it into the fiery furnace he can no longer amend it; so let us, so long as we are in this world, convert with all our hearts of the wickedness that we have committed in the flesh, that we may be saved of the Lord while as yet we have time for conversion. For after we have departed out of this world, we are no longer able there to confess or convert. For what reason, brothers, if we have done the will of the Father, and preserved our flesh pure, and kept the commands of the Lord, we will receive continuous life. For the Lord says in the Gospel, “If you have not kept that which is little, who will give you that which is great? for I say to you, he that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in much.” Does he not, therefore, say this, “Keep your flesh pure and your seal unspotted, that you may inherit continuous life?”
And do not let any one of you say that this flesh of ours is not judged nor raised again. Consider this: in what were you saved, in what did you recover your sight, if not in this flesh? We should, therefore, guard our flesh as the temple of God; for in the same manner as you were called in the flesh, in the flesh you will also come. There is one Christ, our Lord who saved us, who being spirit at the first, was made flesh, and thus called us. So we will also receive the reward in this flesh. Therefore, let us love one another, that we may all come to the Kingdom of God. While we have opportunity to be healed, let us give ourselves up to God who heals, giving a repayment to Him. And of what kind? conversion from a sincere heart. For He foreknows all things and knows the things that are in our hearts. Therefore, let us give Him praise, not from the mouth alone, but also from the heart, that He may receive us as sons. For of a truth the Lord has said, “My brothers are they who do the will of My Father.”
For what reason, my brothers, let us do the will of the Father who has called us, that we may live; and let us rather pursue virtue, and abandon vice which leads us into sins, and let us fly from ungodliness lest evil seize us; for if we are zealous to do good, peace will pursue us. For this reason it is not possible that a man should find peace. For they introduce the fear of men, choosing rather the present enjoyment that is here than the future promise. For they are ignorant of how great a torment the enjoyment of this world brings, and what delight the future promise has. And if they themselves alone did these things, it would be endurable; but now they continue to instruct innocent souls in evil, not knowing that they will have a twofold condemnation—both themselves and they that listen to them.
Therefore, let us serve God with a pure heart, and we will be righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we do not believe the promise of God, we will be wretched. For the prophetic word says, “Wretched are the double-minded who doubt in their heart, and say, We have heard these things of old, even in the time of our fathers, but we have seen none of them, though we expect them from day to day. You fools, compare yourselves to a tree; take for an example the vine: in the first place it sheds its leaves, then there comes a shoot, after that the unripe grape, then the mature cluster. In like manner My people, in time past, has had disorder and trouble, but afterward it will receive the things that are good.” For what reason, my brothers, let us not be double-minded, but let us abide in hope, that we may obtain our reward. Faithful is He that has promised that He will give to each the repayment of his works. If, therefore, we do righteousness before God, we will enter into His Kingdom, and receive the promises which “ear has not heard nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man.”
Let us, therefore, in love and righteousness expect the Kingdom of God every hour, since we do not know the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, when He was asked by a certain man when His Kingdom should come, replied, “When two will be one, and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female neither male nor female.” Now two are one when we speak the truth to one another, and there is, without hypocrisy, one soul in two bodies. And by that which is without being as that which is within, He means this: He calls the soul that which is within, and the body that which is without; in like manner, therefore, as your body is visible, let your soul be made manifest by good deeds. And by the male with the female neither male nor female, He means this: When a brother seeing a sister does not in any way regard her as a female, nor does she regard him as a male; “when you do these things,” He says, “the Kingdom of My Father will come.”
My brothers, therefore let us convert immediately; let us be sober and followers of what is good, for we are burdened with much folly and wickedness. Let us wipe out from among us our former sins and convert sincerely and be saved. And let us not be pleasers of men, nor let us wish to please one another alone, but let us also please them that are outside by our righteous conduct, that the Name may not be blasphemed on our account. For the Lord says, “My Name is continually blasphemed among all the nations”; and again, “Why is My Name blasphemed, whereby it is blasphemed? in that you do not do the things that I will.” For the nations, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of God, admire them as beautiful and weighty; but afterward perceiving our deeds, that they are not worthy of the words that we say, they turn thereafter to blasphemy, saying that the matter is but fable and deceit. For when they hear from us that God says, “There is no thanks for you if you love them that love you, but there is thanks for you if you love your enemies and them that hate you”; when they hear these things, they wonder at the excess of the goodness. But when they see that we do not only not love those that hate us, but do not even love those that love us, they turn us to ridicule, and the Name is blasphemed.
For what reason, my brothers, by doing the will of our Father, God, we will be of the first, the spiritual Assembly, which was founded before the sun and moon were made; but if we do not do the will of the Lord, we will be of the Writing that says, “My house has become a den of thieves.” Therefore, let us choose to be of the Assembly of life that we may be saved. But I do not think that you are ignorant that the living Assembly is the body of Christ. For the Writing says: “God made man, male and female.” Now, the male signifies Christ, the female the Assembly. You also know that both the Scrolls and the apostles say that the Assembly is not new, but was from the beginning; for it was of a spiritual kind, as was also our Jesus, but was made manifest in the last days that it might save us. But the Assembly, though spiritual, was manifested in the flesh of Christ, showing to us that if anyone keep it in his flesh, and does not corrupt it, he will receive it in the Holy Spirit; for this flesh is the counterpart of the Spirit; no one, therefore, who corrupts the copy will receive the original in exchange. He therefore means this, my brothers: “Keep the flesh pure, that you may partake of the Spirit.” But if we say that the flesh is the Assembly, and the spirit, Christ, he then who does injury to the flesh does injury to the Assembly. Such a one therefore will not partake of the spirit, which is Christ. Such life and immortality is this flesh able to partake of by the union of the Holy Spirit with it. Nor can any say or declare what the Lord has prepared for His chosen ones.
Now, I do not think that I have given advice of little importance concerning temperance, which, if a man practices, he will not regret it, but will save both himself and me who advise him. For it is no small service to convert a wandering and perishing soul to salvation. For we are able to give this repayment in return to God who created us, if he who speaks and hears both speaks and hears with faith and love. Therefore, let us remain with righteousness and holiness in the things in which we have believed, that we may with boldness ask of God, who says, “While you are still speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here.” For this saying is the token of a great promise. For the Lord says of Himself that He is more ready to give than him that asks. Therefore, since we partake in so much goodness, let us not grudge ourselves the attaining of so many good things; for by so much as His words bring pleasure to those who do them, by so much do they bring condemnation to those who disobey them.
For what reason, brothers, since we have received no small opportunity for conversion, let us, while we have time, turn to the God who has called us, while we still have one who will receive us. For if we bid farewell to the luxuries of this world and conquer our soul so that we do not fulfill evil lusts, we will partake of the mercy of Jesus. But know that the Day of Judgment is already coming as a burning furnace, and certain of the heavens will be melted, and the whole earth will be as lead melting on the fire; and then both the secret and open deeds of men will be made manifest. Therefore, kindness is good, as showing conversion from sin; better is fasting than prayer, and kindness than both; for love covers a multitude of sins, and prayer that goes forth from a good conscience saves from death. Happy is everyone who is found full of these things, for kindness becomes a lightening of sin.
Therefore, let us convert with our whole heart lest any of us perish by the way. For if we have received commands and make this our business—to tear men away from idols and instruct them—how much more should a soul not perish that has already come to a knowledge of God? Therefore, let us endeavor to elevate with regard to what is good them that are weak, to the end that we may all be saved; and let us convert one another and reprove one another. And let us not seem to attend and believe now only, while we are being admonished by the elders, but also when we have departed to our homes, let us remember the commands of the Lord; and let us not, on the other hand, be drawn aside by the lusts of the world, but let us endeavor, by coming more frequently, to make progress in the commands of the Lord, to the end that we all being of one mind may be gathered together to life. For the Lord has said, “I come to gather together all the nations, tribes, and tongues.” And He says this of the day of His appearing, when He will come and repay each of us according to his works. And the unbelieving will behold His glory and strength, and will be astonished when they see the kingdom of the world in the hands of Jesus, and will say, “Woe to us, for You were and we did not know it, and did not believe, nor did we obey the elders who preached to us concerning our salvation.” And their worm will not die, nor their fire be quenched, and they will be for a spectacle to all flesh. He speaks of that Day of Judgment when they will see punished those among us who have lived ungodly and set at nothing the commands of Jesus Christ. But the just, who have done well, and have abided the tests, and have hated the luxuries of the soul, when they behold those who have missed the way and have denied Jesus either by words or deeds, how they are punished with dreadful tortures in unquenchable fire, will give glory to their God, saying that there will be a hope for him who has served God with his whole heart.
Therefore, let us be of those who give thanks, of those who have served God, and not of the ungodly who are judged. For I myself, being in all respects a sinner, and not having yet escaped temptation, but being still in the midst of the snares of the Devil, yet endeavor to follow after righteousness, that I may be able, at any rate, to be near it, fearing the judgment to come.
For what reason, my brothers and sisters, after the reading of the words of the God of truth, I also read an exhortation to you, to the end that you should attend to what has been written, that you may both save yourselves and him who preaches among you; for I ask of you, as my reward, that you should convert with your whole heart, gaining for yourselves salvation and life. For by so doing, we will offer an aim to all the young, who are willing to labor cheerfully for the worship and goodness of God. And do not let those of us who are unlearned be vexed or offended when one exhorts us and turns us from sin to righteousness. For we at times when doing what is wrong, do not know it, from the doubt and unbelief that is in our hearts, and are blinded in our understanding by vain lusts. Therefore, let us practice righteousness, that we may be saved at the last. Blessed are they who obey these commands, for if for a short time they suffer in the world that now is, they will gather hereafter the immortal fruit of the resurrection. Therefore, do not let the pious man be vexed if he is afflicted in the times that now are—a blessed time awaits him. He will live above again with the fathers and will rejoice without sorrow continuously.
1 And do not let even that trouble your mind, that we see the unjust prosperous and the servants of God in misery. 2 Let us have faith, my brothers and sisters. We are making trial of the living God and contending in the present life that we may be crowned in the life to come. 3 For none of the just receive a speedy reward, but wait for it. 4 For if God gave speedily the reward of the righteous, we should immediately practice gain and not godliness; for we should seem to be righteous, not on account of what is pious, but on account of what is profitable. And on this account the divine judgment has overtaken a spirit that is not righteous, and has burdened it with chains. 5 Now to the only God, the invisible, the Father of truth, who has sent to us the Savior and leader of immortality, through whom He has made known to us the truth and the heavenly life—to Him be the glory through the ages of the ages. Amen.