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In 2 Clement, giving to the poor is described as effective as repentance and delivering from death, based on Tobit’s instructions about giving to the poor. 2 Clement shows how Jewish traditions like Tobit became a part of Christian teaching and theology.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 4:10
Deuterocanon
8 As your substance is, give alms of it according to your abundance: if you have much, according to the abundance of it, give alms; if you have little bestow it, and do not be afraid to give alms according to that little: 9 for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity: 10 because alms delivers from death, and does not allow one to come into darkness. 11 Alms is a good offering in the sight of the Most High for all that give it. 12 Beware, my child, of all whoredom, and take first a wife of the seed of your fathers, do not take a strange wife, which is not of your father’s tribe; for we are the sons of the prophets. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, our fathers of old time, remember, my child, that they all took wives of their kinsmen, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
2 Clement 16:4
Early Christian
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have found no small chance for repentance, seeing that we still have time, let us turn again to God who called us, while we still have One who will receive us. 2 For if we let go of these pleasures and subdue our soul by refusing to follow its evil desires, we shall share in the mercy of Jesus. 3 But you know that the day of judgment comes even now like a burning oven, and the powers of the heavens shall melt, and all the earth like lead melting in the fire, and then shall appear the hidden and the open works of humanity. 4 Giving to the poor, therefore, is good, just like repentance from sin. Fasting is better than prayer, but giving to the poor is better than both. And love covers a multitude of sins, while prayer from a good conscience delivers from death. Blessed is everyone found full of these virtues. For giving to the poor lifts the burden of sin.
Date: 130–160 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Tobit also seems to have been known very early in the Christian communities, even if the citation in the letter of Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna to the church in Philippi (eleemosyna de morte libérât [10:2], comes from Tobit 4:10/12:9) need not depend on the reading of the book of Tobit, being a basic moral injunction. The exhortation in 2 Clement 16:4 may be more likely to presuppose the text of Tobit 12:8-9 since parallels are quite numerous. It seems relatively likely that 2 Clement is a Roman sermon from the first half of the second century ..."
Martin Hengel, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 116.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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