Intro"Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ, as of God, as of the Judge of quick and dead.” 2 Clem 1:1
Another Epistle of Clement. This time of more dubious origin.
2 Clement may represent the oldest Christian sermon we have from outwith the New Testament.
Name
Most of the names are variations on the same theme although there most people doubt Clement himself wrote this letter, see below:
* 2 Clement, II Clement, Second Clement etc
* Second Epistle of Clement, Second Letter of Clement
* Clement to Corinthians (Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους - as with the First), Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians.
* II Clemens etc (the Latin title)
I use the abbreviation "2 Clem." here.
Audiobook
17 minutes approximately
Canonicity
The book has no canonicity among modern churches, but was included in some ancient canons. The Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), one of the earliest near-complete Bibles contains most of the LDS canonical works, plus all four books of Maccabees, Psalm 151 & the Book of Odes (still accepted by the Orthodox church), the Epistle to Marcellinus, 1 & 2 Clement, and the Psalms of Solomon.
Eusebius, Rufinus and Jerome all considered this letter to be spurious. Modern scholars have determined a different writing style from 1 Clement so it probably had a different author. On the other side of the fence, Timothy of Alexandria and Severus of Antioch quoted the letter; both of them were of the monophysite tendency in the sixth century... the nearest modern equivalents would be the Copts in Egypt.
Eusebius wrote in his History of the Church (iii 38)
Some people have attributed it to the Pope Soter, but it appears to be an early work, no later than 140. As I said in the 1 Clement post, there were people alive at that point in time who had met people who had met Jesus Christ in the flesh... so within the second generation.We must know that there is also a second Epistle of Clement. But we do not regard it as being equally notable with the former, since we know of none of the ancients that have made use of it.
The letter is written in Greek. A Syriac translation is known and as stated previously, it seems to have been known in Egypt.
Summary
As some have noticed, 2 Clement is a homily rather than an epistle. It is also much shorter than its (adopted?) brother 1 Clement.
The Handbook of Patrology breaks down the contents as follows:
* "After affirming the divinity of Christ, the author dwells at length on the value of the salvation He has brought us and on the care with which we should observe the commandments (i-iv)." (Chapters 1-4)
* "We can work out our salvation only by waging a continual warfare against the world. Let us then embark for this heavenly battle (v-vii)" (Chapters 5-7)
* "and strive to practice the Christian virtues of penance, purity, mutual love, trust in God, and devotion to the Church (viii-xvii)." (Chapters 8-17)
* "Conclusion: Let us work for our salvation, come what may: Glory be to God! (xviii-xx)." (Chapters 18-20)
The book is addressed to converted Christians rather than potential converts and has a number of sporting references... since Corinth was a centre for sports this is to be expected. The audience are treated as converted pagans, rather than people of a Jewish background.
The book seems to have some kind of link to the Shepherd of Hermas (see links below). The book may refer to the Gospel to the Egyptians, now completely lost. Also the Gospel of Peter and Gospel of Thomas. Unlike 1 Clement which does not refer to the canonical gospels, it appears 2 Clement may do so.
2 Clem 2:4 "Again another scripture saith, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
Board mentionsMark 2:17 "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, 'They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'"
Some have picked up a gnostic flavour from this book or at least an interaction with it.
Here is a quote from the archives.
viewtopic.php?f=10&p=218077#p218077
This is part of my ongoing series on Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical works:SempiternalHarbinger wrote: ↑August 2nd, 2011, 9:50 pm Clement of Rome, whom Barnabas converted, tells us that "cujus interna species est antiquior," that the Earth was created and prepared for man, whose real nature, though he came last of all, is older than any of it. And Clement's Second Epistle to the Corinthians tells us of "the first church, the spiritual [one, (spiritum) which] was created before sun and moon." He says he got the doctrine from "The Book of the Apostles."120 Man existed before the creation of the world—a doctrine that Peter taught him.
1 Esdras inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343974
2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?) inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1344302
1 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69454
2 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69468
3 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69496
4 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69515
Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?t=69433
Book of Tobit inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1341501
Apocryphal additions to Esther inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343414
Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV; inc audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69261
Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children (quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?p=1341611
Book of Judith and the Book of Mormon, inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69402
Book of Susanna inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69386
Wisdom of Solomon
viewtopic.php?t=69469
Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
viewtopic.php?t=69412
Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69263
Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875
Four Apocryphal Psalms - 152, 153, 154, 155
viewtopic.php?t=69985
Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025
The Book of Odes - this is an Eastern Orthodox work of limited interest, but included for the sake of completeness.
viewtopic.php?t=69470
The Gospel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate, as tested on Mennonites
viewtopic.php?t=69760
Outside the Western and Eastern Orthodox Canon...
The Ethiopian canon. This includes brief info on the books of Sinodos, Ethiopian Clement, Ethiopian Covenant, and Didascalia as well as a list of other works in the canon.
viewtopic.php?t=69540
The Book of Enoch
viewtopic.php?t=69577
Book of Jubilees (Apocrypha) aka the Little Genesis or Leptogenesis - Cain, Moses, Enoch, Nephilim
viewtopic.php?t=69548
1 Meqabyan (Ethiopian canon), another lost book?
viewtopic.php?t=69855
2 Meqabyan (Ethiopian canon), - the return of Tsirutsaydan
viewtopic.php?t=69971
3 Meqabyan (Ethiopian canon) a Question of Satan, another lost work?
viewtopic.php?t=70277
3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)
viewtopic.php?t=69567
Other works
The Shepherd of Hermas - inspired literature or pagan trash?
viewtopic.php?t=69650
The Epistle of Barnabas (NT Apocrypha) - link between OT and NT, or not?
viewtopic.php?t=69679
1 Clement: Papist propaganda or a window into the early church?
viewtopic.php?p=1368842
The Didache or Teachings of the Apostles
viewtopic.php?t=69698
And
Antilegomena: the books which barely made it into the Bible - Revelation, Esther, Song of Songs, James etc
viewtopic.php?p=1350652
Is Q canonical? How about the Gospel of Thomas? The answer's more complicated than you think.
viewtopic.php?t=69715
The LDS Bible Dictionary on Lost Books and non-canonical works referred to in the Bible.
viewtopic.php?t=69805
Other interrelated religions
The Samaritans, their canon and its significance
viewtopic.php?t=69905
My thread about the Koran, and its use of figures from the Bible, the Apocrypha and extracanonical material. How useful a source is the Koran itself? Does it have any real extra information on Biblical figures? This is something of work in progress.
viewtopic.php?t=70169
Was Zoroaster/Zarathustra a lost prophet of God? Some surprising links between this largely forgotten figure and Judaism, plus the Gathas.
viewtopic.php?t=65938
