𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐕.𝟔: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐄 — 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲
Covering the topics of: V.3 V.4 V.5
Having now examined Clement’s references to Adam, Abraham, and Jacob, we can turn to the language itself. Rather than assuming what Clement means when he calls these figures “our father,” we should examine the Greek construction he uses and compare it with the same familial language found throughout the New Testament. Clement repeatedly employs the expression:
ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν – “our father.”
The construction is simply put when diagnosing the script which the epistle was original written. πατήρ (patēr) means “father,” while ἡμῶν (hēmōn) is the first-person plural possessive pronoun, “our.” Together, the expression literally carries the sense of “the father of us” or “our father.”
Clement applies this designation to multiple figures within the biblical ancestral history as we discussed previously:
By reason of jealousy our father Jacob ran away from the face of Esau his brother.
— Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians 4.8, trans. J. B. Lightfoot
The Greek reads:
ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰακὼβ
ὁ — the
πατήρ — father
ἡμῶν — of us / our
Ἰακώβ — Jacob
Later
Wherefore was
our father Abraham
blessed? was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith?
— Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians 31.2, trans. J. B. Lightfoot
Again, the Greek construction is:
ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ
ὁ — the
πατήρ — father
ἡμῶν — of us / our
Ἀβραάμ — Abraham
And earlier
Jealousy hath estranged wives from their husbands and changed the saying of
our father Adam
, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
— Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians 6.3, trans. J. B. Lightfoot
ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἀδάμ
the father of us — Adam.
The pattern is therefore not limited to one patriarch. Clement applies the same familial designation to Adam, Abraham, and Jacob.
The lexical is consequently more precise than simply asking whether πατήρ can mean “father.” In a spiritual sense as the universalists declare; that all anthropoids are grafted into the covenant as they so heretically proclaim. The Greek word possesses a broader semantic range and can refer not only to a literal parent but also to an ancestor or forefather. When Clement applies it to Adam, Abraham, and Jacob, we must therefore examine the relationship being expressed rather than automatically reducing the designation to a spiritual metaphor.
The possessive ἡμῶν — “our” is equally important. Clement does not merely speak of “father Jacob” or “father Abraham.” He says “our father.” The relationship is being expressed collectively: he is father in relation to “us.” And Clement’s surrounding material tells us what these fathers represent. Abraham is followed by Isaac and Jacob; Jacob is connected to the twelve tribes of Israel; and Adam is explicitly identified as the father whose descendants constitute the ancestral beginning of the biblical narrative; Clement is using Adamic language to the people of Corinth because they are Adamic.
Therefore, before examining other terminology such as σπέρμα, γένος, φυλή, within his epistle; we first have to establish what Clement is doing with this repeated familial formula.
This becomes important when we compare Clement with the New Testament within the next discussion, where the patriarchs are described using familial language. Such as Paul, Stephen, James and Peter use similar familial language to express the descent from which those authors and audience come themselves. The same linguistic formation therefore appears across the apostolic writings: a biblical patriarch is identified as “our father” in relation to a collective group—who pertain the adoption, service of the Most High and for why Joshua the Anointed came who is blessed forever. Amen.
Ad fontes.
