Texts in Conversation
In 1 Clement, the author quotes the Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32, where Israel prospers and then abandons God, to describe how the church in Corinth fell from its earlier good reputation into pride, rivalry and rebellion.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Deuteronomy 32:15
Septuagint
13 He made them go up on the strength of the land; he nursed them with the produce of the field; they suckled honey from a rock and olive oil from a solid rock, 14 butter of a cow, and milk of a sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of the sons of bulls and of he-goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and to drink wine, the blood of grapes. 15 And Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat; he grew thick; he became large. And he forsook the God who made him, and he drew away from God his Savior.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 3:1
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
1 All glory and abundance were given to you, and what was written was fulfilled: ‘My beloved ate and drank, grew strong, and became proud and rebellious.’ 2 From this came jealousy and envy, strife and rebellion, persecution and chaos, war and captivity. 3 So people were stirred up—the lowly against the honorable, the disrespected against the esteemed, the foolish against the wise, the young against the elder. 4 Because of this, righteousness and peace have withdrawn, while each person has forgotten the fear of the Lord and become blind in faith, no longer walking in the ordinances of His commandments or living in a way that honors Christ. Instead, each follows the desires of their corrupt heart, having embraced an unrighteous and ungodly jealousy—through which death entered the world.
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Notes and References
“... Countryman's main evidence for this hypothesis is 1 Clem 3.1-3 which he takes as implying 'that Clement blames the rebellion on the increased prosperity of the Corinthian church'. However, since the terms which suggest this arise from the quotation of Deut 32.15 (LXX) in 1 Clem 3.1, it is surely unwise to assume that this is a 'veiled' reference to increased prosperity among the rebels. It seems more likely that Clement uses the LXX citation, from a story about Jacob's pride, simply to describe the 'fall' of the Corinthian church from its previously praiseworthy state (1.2-2.7), a fall perhaps attributed in a vague way to pride and complacency and interpreted in the light of the cautionary and paradigmatic stories from Israel's history. It is most probably an example of Clement's use of biblical citations and allusions wherever they seem to fit or illustrate his line of thought (cf. esp. 42.5). ...”
Horrell, David G.
The Social Ethos of the Corinthian Correspondence: Interests and Ideology from 1 Corinthians to 1 Clement
(pp. 246-247) T&T Clark, 1996
* 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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