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Clement of Rome

1 Clement

First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 15

1 Therefore let us be loyal to those who practice peace with godliness, and not to those who desire peace with hypocrisy. 2 For He says somewhere “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”⁠ 3 and again, “they blessed with their mouth, but they cursed with their heart.” 4 And again He says, “They loved Him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to Him;⁠ and their heart was not upright with Him, nor were they steadfast in His covenant.” 5 For this reason “let the deceitful lips that speak iniquity against the righteous be made silent.” And again, “May the Lord utterly destroy all the deceitful lips, the tongue that speaks proud things, those who say, ‘Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’” 6 “For the misery of the needy and for the groaning of the poor I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will set him in safety; I will deal boldly with him.”

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Isaiah 29:13 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 15:2 and 2 Clement 3:5

Septuagint · Early Christian

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Summary

In the Greek version of Isaiah 29, God condemns praise from lips but not the heart. The author of 1 Clement quotes only this contrast. The preacher in 2 Clement repeats that form to stress obedience, perhaps using a common interpretation of Isaiah.

Passages

LXX Isaiah 29:13

Septuagint
11 And all these things shall be to you as the words of this sealed book, which if they shall give to a learned man, saying, Read this, he shall then say, I can’t read it, for it is sealed. 12 And this book shall be given into the hands of a man that is unlearned, and one shall say to him, Read this; and he shall say, I am not learned. 13 And the Lord has said, This people draw near to me, they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me: but they worship me in vain, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men. 14 Therefore look, I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove them: and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the understanding of the prudent.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 15:2

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
1 Therefore let us be loyal to those who practice peace with godliness, and not to those who desire peace with hypocrisy. 2 For He says somewhere “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” 3 and again, “they blessed with their mouth, but they cursed with their heart.” 4 And again He says, “They loved Him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to Him; and their heart was not upright with Him, nor were they steadfast in His covenant.” 5 For this reason “let the deceitful lips that speak iniquity against the righteous be made silent.” And again, “May the Lord utterly destroy all the deceitful lips, the tongue that speaks proud things, those who say, ‘Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’”
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

2 Clement 3:5

Early Christian
1 Seeing then that He bestowed such great mercy on us; first of all, that we, who are living, do not sacrifice to these dead gods or worship them, but through Him have known the Father of truth. What else is this knowledge of Him but not to deny Him through whom we have known the Father? 2 Yes, He Himself says, “Whoever confesses Me, him will I confess before the Father.” 3 This then is our reward, if truly we shall confess Him through whom we were saved. 4 But how do we confess Him? When we do what He says and are not disobedient to His commandments, and do not merely honor Him with our lips, but with our whole heart and our whole mind. 5 Now He says also in Isaiah, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”
130–160 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Clement

References

“... The text of 2 Clement here shares some features with Matthew’s/Mark’s citation of Isa. 29. 13 over against the LXX version of Isa. 29. 13 itself: e.g., in omitting the reference to ‘drawing near’ [...]. However, equally noteworthy is the existence of another citation of the same text in 1 Clem. 15. 1, which agrees with the version in 2 Clement almost verbatim [...]. It would appear then that 2 Clement attests a version of the verse which was also known to the author of 1 Clement and which in turn was independent of the synoptic evangelists. Further, 2 Clement (unlike 1 Clement) explicitly cites this as a verse from Isaiah, not a saying of ‘the Lord’ or of a Christian gospel text. It thus seems most likely that, although a slight influence from the text of Matthew/Mark might be implied, the primary source for ‘Clement’s’ citation here is the book of Isaiah itself, perhaps in a Greek version differing slightly from the LXX version. ...”
Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett, eds., The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 273.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Isaiah 29:13 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 15:2 and 2 Clement 3:5

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