Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 13

There is much to be said about these matters, but a full examination will be reserved for the appropriate time later on. Valentinus, however, writes word for word in a certain homily: "From the beginning you are immortal, and you are children of eternal life; and you wanted to divide death among yourselves so that you might spend it and use it up, and death might die in you and through you." For when you destroy the world but are not destroyed yourselves, you rule over creation and all corruption. He assumes a race that is saved by nature, making him akin to the Basilidians; but he claims that this distinct race has come from above for the abolition of death, and that the origin of death is the work of the one who created the world. Therefore he interprets that scripture in this way: "No one will see the face of God and live," taking it to refer to the cause of death. (Exodus 33:20) He hints at these things concerning that God, writing in those very words: "How much lesser the image of the living face is, so much weaker is the world than the living age." What, then, is the cause of the image? The greatness of the face that provided the model to the painter, so that the image might be honored by its name; for the form was not found authentically, but the name supplied what was lacking in the formation. The invisible God also cooperates for the faith of the one who has been formed. For he calls the Creator, who is named God and Father, the image of the true God and a prophet; and he says Wisdom is the painter, whose creation is the image, for the glory of the invisible One; since whatever proceeds from a pair are fulfillments, but whatever proceeds from a single source are images. And since the visible aspect of the Creator is not the soul from the middle, the distinction arises, and this is the inspiration of the distinct Spirit, and whatever is breathed into the soul is the image of the Spirit. In general, they say that what is spoken of the Creator, who came to be according to the image, was prophesied in the visible portion of the image in Genesis concerning the creation of humanity. And they transfer the likeness to themselves, granting that the Creator was ignorant of the inspiration of the distinct Spirit. When, therefore, we discuss that God is one, who is proclaimed through the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel—and we will discuss this, for the discourse is primary—we must respond to what is urgent. If the distinct race comes to abolish death, then Christ did not abolish death unless he is also said to be of the same essence as they; but if he abolished it so that it would not touch the distinct race, then do those who are the imitators of the Creator abolish death? They possess the soul from the middle as their own image, and they breathe the life from above into it, according to the choice of their doctrine, even if they say this happens through the Mother. But even if they say they wage war against death alongside Christ, they confess the hidden doctrine: they dare to surpass the divine power of the Creator, correcting his creation as if they are stronger, trying to save the psychic image which he himself could not rescue from corruption. The Lord would then be better than the Creator God; for the Son would never contend with the Father, and certainly not among gods. But that this Creator is the Father of the Son, the Creator of all things, the Almighty Lord—we have deferred that demonstration to the section where we promised to discuss the heresies, showing that he alone is the one proclaimed by him. Meanwhile, the Apostle writes to us for endurance in afflictions, and he says this from God: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me." (Philippians 1:29-30) "If there is any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." (Philippians 2:2) If he rejoices in the sacrifice and the service of faith, and calls the Philippians—those to whom he speaks—partakers of grace, how does he call them "psychic" and "soul-like"? Similarly, writing about Timothy and himself, he says: "I have no one like-minded who will genuinely care for your affairs; for all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 2:20-21) Let us not, then, be reproached as "psychic" by those previously mentioned, nor by the Phrygians; for they too call those who do not heed the new prophecy "psychic." We will discuss this in 'On Prophecy.' Therefore the perfect person must practice love and hasten toward divine friendship through love, fulfilling the commandments through love. To love one's enemies does not mean to love evil, impiety, adultery, or theft, but to love the thief, the impious, and the adulterer—not insofar as they sin and pollute the human name with their evil activity, but insofar as they are human and a work of God. For sinning lies in activity, not in essence; therefore it is not a work of God. Those who sin are called enemies of God—enemies of the commandments which they have not obeyed—having become such, just as those who have obeyed are called friends, some through kinship, others through alienation that comes from choice; for there is neither enmity nor sin without an enemy and a sinner. And to desire nothing does not teach that one should have no longing for desirable things as if they were alien, as those who dogmatize that the Creator is another besides the first God have supposed, nor as if creation were detestable and evil; for these opinions are atheistic. But we say the things of the world are alien, not because they are useless, nor because they are not of God the Lord of all, but because we do not remain in them for all eternity; they are possessions that exist in succession, and the use of each belongs to us—through whom they also came to be—except insofar as it is necessary to coexist with them. Therefore we must use the things not forbidden to us according to natural desire, renouncing all excess and indulgence.