Everything that is contrary to right reason is sin. Accordingly, therefore, the philosophers think fit to define the most generic passions thus: lust, as desire disobedient to reason; fear, as weakness disobedient to reason; pleasure, as an elation of the spirit disobedient to reason. If, then, disobedience in reference to reason is the generating cause of sin, how shall we escape the conclusion, that obedience to reason\u2014the Word\u2014which we call faith, will of necessity be the efficacious cause of duty? For virtue itself is a state of the soul rendered harmonious by reason in respect to the whole life. Nay, to crown all, philosophy itself is pronounced to be the cultivation of right reason; so that, necessarily, whatever is done through error of reason is transgression, and is rightly called, (\u1f01\u03bc\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1) sin. Since, then, the first man sinned and disobeyed God, it is said, \u201cAnd man became like to the beasts”.
\n— The Instructor I.XIII<\/p>\n
\u201cNow my just one shall live by faith,\u201d the prophet said. \u201cExcept ye believe, neither shall ye understand.\u201d For how ever could the soul admit the transcendental contemplation of such themes, while unbelief respecting what was to be learned struggled within? But faith, which the Greeks disparage, deeming it futile and barbarous, is a voluntary preconception, the assent of piety\u2014\u201cthe subject of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,\u201d according to the divine apostle. \u201cFor hereby,\u201d preeminently, \u201cthe elders obtained a good report. But without faith it is impossible to please God.\u201d Others have defined faith to be a uniting assent to an unseen object, as certainly the proof of an unknown thing is an evident assent. If then it be choice, being desirous of something, the desire is in this instance intellectual. And since choice is the beginning of action, faith is discovered to be the beginning of action, being the foundation of rational choice in the case of any one who exhibits to himself the previous demonstration through faith. Voluntarily to follow what is useful, is the first principle of understanding. Unswerving choice, then, gives considerable momentum in the direction of knowledge. The exercise of faith directly becomes knowledge, reposing on a sure foundation. Knowledge, accordingly, is defined by the sons of the philosophers as a habit, which cannot be overthrown by reason. Is there any other true condition such as this, except piety, of which alone the Word is teacher? I think not. Theophrastus says that sensation is the root of faith. For from it the rudimentary principles extend to the reason that is in us, and the understanding. He who believeth then the divine Scriptures with sure judgment, receives in the voice of God, who bestowed the Scripture, a demonstration that cannot be impugned. Faith, then, is not established by demonstration. \u201cBlessed therefore those who, not having seen, yet have believed.\u201d
\n— The Stromata II.II<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Everything that is contrary to right reason is sin. Accordingly, therefore, the philosophers think fit to define the most generic passions thus: lust, as desire disobedient to reason; fear, as weakness disobedient to reason; pleasure, as an elation of the spirit disobedient to reason. If, then, disobedience in reference to reason is the generating cause of sin, how shall we escape the conclusion, that obedience to reason\u2014the Word\u2014which we call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clement-of-alexandria"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-commentary-fragments\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":0},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: Commentary Fragments","author":"Nemo","date":"January 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Nakedness of Man Man alone is born in all respects naked, without a weapon or clothing born with him; not as being inferior to the other animals, but that nakedness and your bringing nothing with you may produce thought; and that thought may bring out dexterity, expel sloth, introduce the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":667,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-iv\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":1},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata Book IV","author":"Nemo","date":"January 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Golden Race \u201cFor those who seek for gold,\u201d says Heraclitus, \u201cdig much earth and find little gold.\u201d But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to understand it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":370,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-eucharist\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":2},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: The Eucharist","author":"Nemo","date":"February 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The natural, temperate, and necessary beverage, for the thirsty is water. This was the simple drink of sobriety, which, flowing from the smitten rock, was supplied by the Lord to the ancient Hebrews. For the blood of the grape\u2014that is, the Word\u2014desired to be mixed with water, as His blood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":744,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-vii\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":3},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata Book VII","author":"Nemo","date":"January 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvest of the Gnostic The Gnostic himself ministers to God, and exhibits to men the scheme of improvement, in the way in which he has been appointed to discipline men for their amendment. For he is alone pious that serves God rightly and unblameably in human affairs. For as that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":687,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-vi\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":4},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata, Book VI","author":"Nemo","date":"January 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lord is Our Garden, He is Our Knowledge In a meadow the flowers blooming variously, and in a park the plantations of fruit trees, are not separated according to their species from those of other kinds. .. the form of the Miscellanies is promiscuously variegated like a meadow. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":369,"position":5},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Faith","author":"Nemo","date":"March 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Faith and Knowledge In order to believe truly in the Son, we must believe that He is the Son, and that He came, and how, and for what, and respecting His passion; and we must know who is the Son of God. Now neither is knowledge without faith, nor faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peqR9l-5X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}