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CLEMENT*, Epistle of
Letter written by Clement of Rome to the church at Corinth around AD 96. This letter is probably the earliest extant Christian epistle outside the NT. Around AD 170, Dionysius of Corinth recorded the earliest claim that Clement was the author of this letter. Origen and Eusebius also identified Clement as the epistle’s author.
Clement’s epistle to the Corinthians admonishes several younger believers who led a revolt and ousted the leading elders of the Corinthian church. These young men may have wanted a more flexible system of ministry and recognition of their spiritual gifts. They were ascetics and claimed a secret knowledge (gnosis) of the faith that was revealed only to the elite.
This letter was sent from the entire Roman church rather than from a single individual. The early churches did not consider themselves to be isolated loners. They knew they were a part of the universal church and were not immune to the events and conditions of their sister congregations. They felt responsible to warn and advise each other.
The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) is cited often in this letter. The heroes of the OT are held up as patterns for Christian conduct, thereby mingling NT and OT themes. The apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians is the pattern for Clement’s letter to the same church. Clement closely imitates 1 Corinthians 13 in chapters 49 and 50, and he grounds many of his beliefs in Paul’s writings regarding the resurrection and schisms. But Clement’s writing is moralistic and ethical and often more akin to Hellenistic Judaism and Stoicism than to Pauline theology. Clement also describes a hierarchical form of ministry and endorses the doctrine of apostolic succession.
Clement quoted extensively from the words of Jesus, using sayings found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He also quoted Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews. Thus, Clement provides important evidence that books that later became part of the NT canon were circulating among the churches by the end of the first century. Clement’s letter also provides important evidence for the martyrdom of the apostles Peter and Paul and for Paul’s mission to the “western boundary” (Spain?).