I have not seen any commentaries for 1 Clement, although I know this is his (early Church Father) letter to the church in Corinth (possibly as early as AD 70 or more likely after AD 96). My studies on Paul’s Corinthian letters date the two letters to AD 53-57, with evidence there was at least a third letter, with some suggesting Paul may have written up to 14 letters to the Corinthian church.

What struck me years ago was that after all Paul did to point the church in the right direction, nearly half a century later the Bishop of Alexandria (Clement) had to write yet another letter that is 65 chapters long to deal with the same issues Paul addressed earlier.

Within 1 Clement he addresses the topics of repentance, obedience, being humble minded and sincere, being peaceable, peace and harmony, the Christian virtues, the privileges of Christians, the duties of their privileges of Christians, the need to continue good works, the rewards of good works, the necessity for subordination to authority and what is necessary for those who act otherwise, to observe order in religious services, the need for diversity in functions within the church, the Apostolic foundation of church organization (the Corinthians wrongly “removed some from the ministry which they fulfilled blamelessly” XLIV), contentiousness, schisms, remembering Paul, reconciliation, love, confession of sin and forgiveness, as it applies to the church in Corinth, examples of self-sacrifice, warning from scripture, application and exhortation to the Corinthian dissidents, a call for mercy, and a call for peace.

And no later than AD 140 Clement’s second letter to the Corinthians, only 20 chapters long that starts with identifying the need to think highly of Christ, prizing our salvation, and reminding the church the state of the unconverted. He had to tell them again about the prophecies of the church and their interpretation, our duty to Christ, the necessity for good works, the need to abandon the world, to “strive well in the context of life”, repentance and purity, a call to repentance, strive for godliness and warns against vice and doubt. He interprets a saying attributed to Jesus not found in canonical scripture (possibly the gospel of Thomas), summarizing: “And by ‘the outside as the inside’ he means this, that the inside is the soul, and the outside is the body. Therefore, just as your body is visible, so let your soul be apparent in your good works” (2 Clement XII). Clement then goes back to the subject of repentance, identifying the need, exhorting the Corinthians to holiness and prayer, the profit of repentance and the danger of Judgement, the need for “almsgiving”, another exhortation to repentance, to live at home in the same way you behave in front of the church Elders, warning of “the Judgement”, the need to continually strive after righteousness, pay attention to the Scriptures, and contrasting the wealth of the unrighteous to the training, patience in pursuing godliness that “we may gain the drown in that which is to come” (2 Clement XX).

Clement’s final sentence before he closes with his Doxology reads:

“For this reason divine judgment punishes a spirit which is not righteous and loads it with chains.”

Although Clement’s letters to the Corinthian church is not canon today, it was considered scripture by some within the early church. With the evidence of the letters from Paul and Clement, we see the need and duty for believers to continually strive for godliness. It may be that the Corinthian church was never a spiritually healthy church at any time in history, or, the Corinthian church had momentary periods of spiritual health that quickly succumbed to the “old ways” governed by their sinful nature.

I believe there are important lessons we can learn today from Clement, and to heed those exhortations Clement makes to the Corinthians.

Pope Clement I et al., The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Kirsopp Lake, vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge MA; London: Harvard University Press, 1912–1913).