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Clement of Rome

1 Clement

First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

About this book

In Praise of Love

Chapter 49

1 Let the one who has love in Christ fulfill the commandments of Christ. 2 Who can declare the bond of the love of God? 3 Who is able to describe the majesty of its beauty? 4 The height to which love lifts us is beyond words. 5 Love joins us to God; love covers a multitude of sins; love endures all things, is patient in all things. There is nothing coarse, nothing arrogant in love. Love has no divisions, love does not rebel, love does all things in harmony.⁠ In love all the elect of God were made perfect; without love nothing is pleasing to God.⁠ 6 in love the Master took us to Himself; because of the love He had for us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God, and His flesh for our flesh and His life for our lives.

Texts in conversation

Compare Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 49:5 and Gospel of Philip 11:14

Early Christian · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

1 Clement and the Gospel of Philip join Paul's account of love with the claim that love covers sins. The same combination supports unity in Clement and healing in Philip, so forgiving sins helps other people live together and recover from harm.

Passages

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 49:5

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
4 The height to which love lifts us is beyond words. 5 Love joins us to God; love covers a multitude of sins; love endures all things, is patient in all things. There is nothing coarse, nothing arrogant in love. Love has no divisions, love does not rebel, love does all things in harmony. In love all the elect of God were made perfect; without love nothing is pleasing to God. 6 in love the Master took us to Himself; because of the love He had for us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God, and His flesh for our flesh and His life for our lives.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

Gospel of Philip 11:14

Nag Hammadi
Love [never says it owns] anything, yet [everything] is owned by it. It does not [say “That is mine,”] or, “This is mine,” but instead, [“Everything that is mine] is yours.” Spiritual love is wine as well as fragrance. All who anoint themselves with it [derive good from] it. Those who stand near them also derive good, as do those anointed ones who are standing there. If those who are anointed with ointment leave them and go away, those who are not anointed, who only stand near them, they return to being stuck in their stench. The Samaritan gave nothing to the injured man but wine and oil. It was nothing other than the ointment, and it cured the injuries, because “love covers a multitude of sins.”
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... The quotation of 1 Cor 8:1 in §110 leads into a further discussion of love in §111, with a paraphrase of 1 Cor 13:4–8 (which is logical based on the connection of love ...), followed by an allusion to the Samaritan (Luke 10:34), and a quotation of 1 Pet 4:8. While the author appears to string together quotations, paraphrases, and allusions in a unique way, the combination of 1 Cor 13:4–8 and 1 Pet 4:8 is evident in other early Christian literature (1 Clem. 49.5; Clement, Strom. 4.18; Quis div. 38). ...”
Lorne R. Zelyck, John among the Other Gospels: The Reception of the Fourth Gospel in the Extra-Canonical Gospels (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 111.

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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Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 49:5 and Gospel of Philip 11:14

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