Quotes From the Early Christians
Clement of Alexandria:
“He, then, who from among the Gentiles and from that old life has come to faith, has obtained forgiveness of sins once. But he who has sinned after this should fear, even though he may obtain pardon because of his repentance, for he is as one no longer washed to the forgiveness of sins. . . . The frequent asking of forgiveness, then, for those things in which we often transgress is only the imitation of repentance. It is not repentance itself.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“True repentance means to be no longer bound in the same sins for which He denounced death against Himself. Rather, it is to eradicate them completely from the soul. For on their extirpation, God takes up His abode again in you.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“God gives forgiveness of past sins. However, as to future sins, each one procures this for himself. He does this by repenting, by condemning the past deeds, and by begging the Father to blot them out. For only the Father is the one who is able to undo what is done.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“When we hear, ‘Your faith has saved you,’ we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have believed in any way whatever will be saved. For works must also follow. But it was to the Jews alone that He spoke this utterance. Those persons were Jews who kept the Law and lived blamelessly. All they lacked was faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“To those who were righteous according to the Law, faith was lacking. For that reason, the Lord, in healing them, said, ‘Your faith has saved you.’”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Rightly, then, to those who have believed and obey, grace will abound beyond measure.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“We have discovered faith to be the first movement towards salvation. After faith, fear, hope, and repentance (accompanied by temperance and patience) lead us to love and knowledge.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“‘For by grace we are saved’ – but not, indeed, without good works. Rather, we must be saved by being molded for what is good, acquiring an inclination for it. And we must possess the healthy mind that is fixed on the pursuit of the good.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Those who glory in their looks – not in their hearts – dress to please others.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“He who hopes for everlasting rest knows also that the entrance to it is toilsome and narrow. So let him who has once received the Gospel not turn back, like Lot’s wife, as is said – even in the very hour in which he has come to the knowledge of salvation. And let him not go back either to his former life . . . or to heresies.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“The teachings of both the Old and the New Testaments are unnecessary if a person is saved by nature (as Valentinus [a Gnostic heretic] would have it) and is a believer and an elect man by nature (as Basilides thinks).”
Clement of Alexandria:
“I wonder how some dare to call themselves ‘perfect’ and ‘Gnostics.’ They are inflated and boastful, viewing themselves above the apostle. For Paul himself acknowledged about himself: ‘Not that I have already attained or am already perfect.’”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Neither praises nor censures, neither rewards nor punishments, are right if the soul does not have the power of inclination and disinclination and if evil is involuntary. . . . In no respect is God the author of evil. But since free choice and inclination originate sins, . . . punishments are justly inflicted.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“The Lord clearly shows sins and transgressions to be in our own power, by prescribing modes of cure corresponding to the maladies.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Choice depended on the man as being free. But the gift depended on God as the Lord. And He gives to those who are willing, are exceedingly earnest, and who ask. So their salvation becomes their own. For God does not compel.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Nothing happens without the will of the Lord of the universe. It remains to say that such things happen without the prevention of God. For this alone saves both the providence and the goodness of God. We must not, therefore, think that He actively produces afflictions. . . . Rather, we must be persuaded that He does not prevent those beings who cause them. Yet, He overrules for good the crimes of His enemies.”
Clement of Rome:
“On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture.”
Clement of Rome:
“For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he worked righteousness and truth through faith?”
Commodianus:
“If you wish to live, surrender yourselves to the second law. . . . Turn yourselves to Christ, and you will be co-workers with God.”
Cyprian:
“We are philosophers – not in words – but in deeds. We do not speak great things; we live them.”