Second Epistle of Clement

Lake, Loeb 1912

Chapter 4

The necessity for good works

Let us, then, not merely call him Lord, for this will not save us.

For he says, “Not everyone that saith to me Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he that doeth righteousness.”

So then, brethren, let us confess him in our deeds, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, nor speaking one against another, nor being jealous, but by being self-controlled, merciful, good; and we ought to sympathise with each other, and not to be lovers of money. By these deeds we confess him, and not by the opposite kind.

And we must not fear men rather than God.

For this reason, if you do these things, the Lord said, “If ye be gathered together with me in my bosom, and do not my commandments, I will cast you out, and will say to you, Depart from me, I know not whence ye are, ye workers of iniquity.”¹

Notes

The source of this and the quotation in v. 2-4 is unknown: it is often supposed to have been the Gospel of the Egyptians, but there is no clear evidence of this.