Texts in Conversation
In the Greek version of Isaiah 52, God says the nations dishonor his name. Paul quotes this against disobedient Jewish teachers in Romans 2 and in 2 Clement, the preacher applies it to Christian disobedience, likely drawing directly on Isaiah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Isaiah 52:5
Septuagint
3 Because this is what the Lord says: You were sold for nothing, and not with money you shall be redeemed. 4 Thus says the Lord: Formerly, my people went down into Egypt to sojourn there, and they were led by force to the Assyrians. 5 And now, why are you here? This is what the Lord says, Because my people were taken for nothing, you marvel and howl. This is what the Lord says, Because of you, my name is continually blasphemed among the nations. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name in that day, because I myself am the one who speaks: I am here, 7 like season upon the mountains, like the feet of one bringing glad tidings of a report of peace, like one bringing glad tidings of good things, because I will make your salvation heard, saying to Sion, “Your God shall reign,”
Romans 2:24
New Testament
19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth— 21 therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
2 Clement 13:2
Early Christian
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us repent at once. Let us be sober to what is good: for we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us wipe away our former sins from ourselves, and let us not be people-pleasers. Neither let us desire only to please each other, but also those who are outside, by our righteousness, so that the Name is not blasphemed because of us. 2 For the Lord says, “Every way My Name is blasphemed among all the Gentiles;” and again, “Woe to the one by whom My Name is blasphemed.” How is it blasphemed? Because you do not do the things I desire.
Date: 130-160 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... Five potential parallels may be noted. In two instances they may be explained by the independent use of a passage in the Jewish Scriptures. [...] This parallel was not recorded by the Oxford Committee, and may be explained by ‘Clement’ citing Isaiah without direct recourse to Paul. The same passage appears to be used also in Ign., Trall. 8. 2; Poly. Phil. 10. 3; and Ap Const, 1. 10. 1 and 3. 5. 6) The source of the second quotation is unknown. ...”
Gregory, Andrew F.
The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers
(pp. 280-281) Oxford University Press, 2005
* 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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