How, then, is the law still said to be not good by certain heresies that clamorously appeal to the apostle, who says, “For by the law is the knowledge of sin?” To whom we say, The law did not cause, but showed sin. For, enjoining what is to be done, it reprehended what ought not to be done. And it is the part of the good to teach what is salutary, and to point out what is deleterious; and to counsel the practice of the one, and to command to shun the other. Now the apostle, whom they do not comprehend, said that by the law the knowledge of sin was manifested, not that from it it derived its existence. And how can the law be not good, which trains, which is given as the instructor (παιδαγωγός) to Christ, that being corrected by fear, in the way of discipline, in order to the attainment of the perfection which is by Christ? ...
For had not ignorance preceded, the minister would not have come down, nor would have amazement seized on “the Prince,” as they say; nor would he have attained to a beginning of wisdom from fear, in order to discrimination between the elect and those that are mundane. And if the fear of the pre-existent man made the angels conspire against their own handiwork, under the idea that an invisible germ of the supernal essence was lodged within that creation, or through unfounded suspicion excited envy, which is incredible, the angels became murderers of the creature which had been entrusted to them, as a child might be, they being thus convicted of the grossest ignorance. ...
To these, then, and certain others, especially the Marcionites, the Scripture cries, though they listen not, “He that heareth me shall rest with confidence in peace, and shall be tranquil, fearless of all evil.” What, then, will they have the law to be? They will not call it evil (κακὸν), but just (δίκαιον); distinguishing what is good from what is just (τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ δικαίου).
The παιδαγωγός reference goes back to Galatians 3:24-25, 4:2.
3:23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
4:1 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Secret Alias wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 4:25 pm
That's a Marcionite argument Origen is making.
Can I pick your brain?
Origen writes (Commentary on John 1.37):
(37) We must not fail to remark, however, that Christ came spiritually even before he came in a body. He came to the more perfect and to those who were not still infants or under pedagogues and tutors, [Gal 3.25; 4.2.] in whom the spiritual "fullness of the time" [Gal 4.4] was present, as, for example, the patriarchs, and Moses the servant, and the prophets who contemplated the glory of Christ.
Do you think some interpretation (maybe not Origen's) of παιδαγωγός in Galatians goes back to Marcionites?
"How then do you dare to say that the beasts— for the senses are beasts, since sensation is irrational and beast-like—speak of themselves? Overlooking, tell me, always disregarding, those sweet juices which are sometimes salty and at other times considering the bitter ones sweet, and in every sensation more accustomed to erring than succeeding, are you not ashamed? But you behave as if you are infallible with all the powers and activities concerning the soul. But if you change and are allotted a share of reason, you will say that all are God’s possessions, not your own: the thoughts, the sciences, the arts, the theories, the logical reasonings, the senses, the activities of the soul through these and without these. But if you allow yourself to remain completely uneducated and untaught, you will serve harsh mistresses for life: opinions, desires, pleasures, injustices, foolishness, and false beliefs."
"When, therefore, the genesis is introduced to both, let Cain take the lead; but when a comparison of pursuits is examined, let Abel prevail. For the animal, from the moment it is born, immediately from the swaddling clothes, until the age of youthful vigor extinguishes the blazing flame of the passions, has as companions foolishness, intemperance, injustice, fear, cowardice, and other related fates, each of which is nourished and grown by nurses and educators and the customs and laws drive out piety but introduce superstition, a thing akin to impiety. But when the person has aged and the tempestuous disease of the passions has subsided, as if calm has set in, one begins to lead a calm life late and with difficulty established in the stability of virtue, which soothes the overlapping and continuous turmoil, the heaviest evil of the soul."
"If you wish to live with me, I will provide the most abundant use and enjoyment of the treasures laid out before us. I want to tell you about the multitude of good things stored up, so that you may gladly consent if you agree, and not refuse out of ignorance if you decline. There is among me ease and freedom, skillful handling and neglect of toils, a variety of colors and the most melodious breaking of voice, luxurious food and drinks, the richest diversity of the sweetest scents, continuous loves, untaught behaviors, unexamined mixtures, unadvised words, unaccountable actions, an untroubled life, the softest sleep, and insatiable satiety. Therefore, if you wish to spend time with me, having arranged everything suitable for you, I will give it as a gift, watching over what you might enjoy eating or drinking, or what, seeing with the eyes or hearing with the ears, or smelling with the nose, would please you."
"I admire also the law-keeper Moses, who considered shepherding a great and splendid task and took it upon himself; for he supervises and narrates the teachings of Jethro, which are superfluous, leading them from the busy pursuits of the state to the solitude of not committing injustice. He led the sheep under the desert (Exodus 3:1). It is also followed that to be a shepherd of sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians (Genesis 46:34); for every person who loves suffering despises the wise leader and guide, just as the most foolish of children despise their teachers and tutors and any adviser and admonisher. But Moses says that the abominations of Egypt are to be sacrificed to God (Exodus 8:26), the virtues, blameless and most fitting sacrifices, which every fool detests. Thus, it is fitting that Abel, who offers the best to God, is called a shepherd, while Cain, who focuses on himself and his own mind, is a worker of the earth."
"Are they not wholly rejected when wisdom dismisses them? And when are the licentious or the unjust rejected? Is it not when temperance and justice decide upon their eternal banishment? And when are the impious rejected? Is it not when piety is repelled by their own excesses? Therefore, it seems to me that those not completely incorrigible would rather pray to be punished than forgiven; for forgiveness would turn them over like unballasted and rudderless ships, easily capsized, whereas punishment will correct them. Are not those corrected by tutors in their faults better than those unrebuked, and those reproached by teachers in their arts in which they do not excel better than those not admonished? And are those who have attained a natural authority and leadership, which their parents have bequeathed to their children, or at least those who have taken the place of secondary leaders, whom the mercy of orphanhood is accustomed to appoint as guardians over all that is beneficial, more fortunate and better than unsupervised youths? Therefore, let us pray to God, those of us who are convicted by our conscience of our own wrongdoings, to punish us rather than to overlook us."
"For God did not allow Balaam to curse you, but turned the curses into blessings (Deuteronomy 23:5), even though all that he said was filled with much praise. But the overseer of what is stored in the soul, who alone is capable of seeing the unseen, delivered the condemning verdict based on these things, being the most truthful witness and an unchallengeable judge at the same time; for it is also possible to blaspheme and accuse what seems praiseworthy by voice but to bless and speak well by intention. This appears to be the custom of correctors, tutors, teachers, parents, elders, rulers, laws; for by reproaching, and sometimes even by punishing, each of these makes the souls of those being educated better. And no one is an enemy to anyone, but all are friends to all; and using the genuine and unfeigned favor of friends, this is the task: to speak freely without ill intent."
"For what seems to be written is obliterated by moisture when smeared. The first is as if a generation of the soul; the second, which begins to live with evils after childhood, both produces from itself and gladly accepts from others what the soul generates. Indeed, there are countless teachers of errors: nurses, educators, parents, those inscribed and unwritten laws in cities, marveling at what should be laughed at, and without those who taught her, she herself is self-taught towards the underlying causes, as if always burdened by a proliferation of evils. For Moses says that the intent of man is carefully upon evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). This is the most wayward generation symbolically, and literally the age during which both the body matures and the soul has been inflated, of the swirling passions thrown up, hail and chaff and fields (Exodus 22:6) and whatever may cause burning. This sickly generation or age ought to be nursed by some third, like by medical philosophy, having been soothed by healthy and salvific words, through which it will accept the emptying of the immeasurable fullness of errors, and the filling of the hungry emptiness of corrections and dreadful desolation."
"What then is the cause of hatred? For you may perhaps wish to learn this. There are those who fabricate the inert, ignorant, and shapeless substance, the moving cause neither knowing nor having endeavored to learn from those who know, using ignorance and lack of learning from the most beautiful of teachings, which first and alone it was necessary to thoroughly understand. Laban belongs to this group; for the oracles assign to him the unremarkable flock (Genesis 30:42); the unremarkable in all is the inert matter, but among humans, it is the uneducated and untrained soul. Others are of a better part, who declared that the mind, having come, arranged everything, turning the disorder from mob rule among beings into the order of legitimate rule, kingdom, and structure. Jacob is a dancer of this troupe, who oversees the notable, diverse flock; notable and diverse again in all is the appearance, and among humans, the well-educated and studious mind. The notable, being naturally sociable and a companion of true monarchy, approaches the unremarkable, fabricating, as I have already said, the ruling of material things, but outside of these, considering no activity worth mentioning, will teach that one does not judge correctly."
"[295] Indeed, Jacob says not so much to Joseph as the sacred word to everyone who cultivates the body well, but examines the materials of abundance in relation to wealth, and commits to none of these: 'for you still live' (Gen. 46:30). Having uttered a marvelous statement and having outstripped our life, those of us who, having taken a slight breeze towards fortune, have shaken off all that is beautiful, blowing brightly and strongly, are driven close to the pleasures of passions and do not restrain our unbridled and relaxed desires until, having swelled, we wholly wreck the vessel of the soul. Therefore, he rightly wishes this Ishmael to live. He thus adds in the presence of God 'may he live' (Gen. 17:18), setting the end of happiness as being deemed worthy of the understanding of the best overseer and guardian of what exists. For if a guide is present, the one being led will not err, and a close leader benefits the learner, and a present elder adorns the youth with respect and temperance; and a father or mother having seen their son about to commit injustice have prevented it by merely being present in tranquility. In some great excesses of goods, do we suppose that the one who assumes is always considered by God? For the fear and trembling at the presence and gaze prevent wrongdoing in power."
"It is necessary to understand that wine does not affect all users in the same way, but often has opposite effects, revealing the better or worse aspects of their characters. For some, it lifts the mind and dispels worries, soothes anger and grief, guides behaviors towards gentleness, and makes souls gracious to themselves; for others, however, it suppresses tempers, tightens pains, stirs desires, raises rusticity, leaves the mouth unguarded and the tongue unrestrained, and the senses unbridled, and leads to unrestrained and wild passions, startling every mind. It seems that the former state resembles either a calm weather in the air, a smooth sea, or the most stable peace in the cities, while the latter resembles a violent and intense wind, a stormy and surging sea, or unrest, an undeclared and unheralded war of greater disturbance. Indeed, in two types of symposia, one is filled with laughter, playfulness, promises, hopeful goodness, granting favors, cheerfulness, good speech, joviality, joy, and security; the other with understanding, gloom, collisions, insults, injuries, fury, suspicious glances, barking, distress, overpowering, and mutilating ears and noses and whatever happens to parts of the body, displaying the drunkenness and unruliness of the entire life in an unholy contest with all kinds of indecency."
"For this reason, it is permissible for fathers to rebuke their children and to admonish them more sternly, and, if they do not comply with the threats made through words, to beat, revile, and bind them. However, if they continue to indulge in the disease of intractable mischief, the law also permits punishment unto death, but not by the father or mother alone due to the severity of the punishment, which is not just to be judged by one but by both. For it is unlikely that either parent would agree to the execution of their child, without weighing down and pulling the crimes with some definite force that overcomes the naturally embedded fond affection. But parents are not only the beginning and the leaders over their children but also hold dominion, possessing the highest ideas of servants' acquisition, both in domestic management and in financial matters; for they place multiple times the worth of value both on and for their children and for the nurses and tutors and teachers, aside from spending on clothes, food, and other care, healthy or sick, from early age until maturity; those who were not only born in a household but also those whom the masters of the house have contributed the necessary natural constitution by laws. Therefore, with so much being provided, nothing they do is worthy of praise for those who honor their parents since even one of the mentioned suffices to call them to reverence, but criticism, accusation, and the highest judgment are for those who neither respect them as elders nor accept them as guides nor value them as benefactors nor obey them as rulers nor fear them as masters. Therefore, he says, honor your father after God and your mother with secondary honors, which nature has bestowed upon them as a prize."
"For he could not bear in the seventh year to let his own fields lie fallow without yield, for the sake of recovering the land that had been worked, and to burden it and press it with double loads. Therefore, I have necessarily declared that such estates must be left alone and the produce of the harvest and the fruit of the sowing untouched, because it strains and constricts the living breath in a flourishing land, and because the owner dissolves and exhausts the gifts of God, breaking through his own unjust desires, not containing them within bounds. Is it not worthy to be admired for such guidance, which from afar restricts and cuts off the madness of greed among men? For one who has learned from plants how improper gain is, if taking on greater matters were to become king, would use the custom towards both men and women not to reimpose double taxes nor to throttle the subjects with double tolls; for the nurturing custom is sufficient to soften harsh manners and in a way to educate and reshape towards better forms; and better are the forms which justice impresses upon the soul."
"For to sin not at all is characteristic of God, and perhaps of a divine man, but to change from sinning to a blameless life is wise and advantageous for all who are not ignorant. Hence, he invites such people, gathering them as initiates, and extends compatible and friendly guidances, which advise practicing truthfulness and casting off arrogance, embracing truth and humility as the most essential and causes of happiness, having risen above mythical fabrications, which from an early age parents, nurses, educators, and countless others of the familiar have deeply ingrained with an inescapable error concerning the knowledge of what is best. And what could be the best of all beings if not God? To whom they attributed honors to those not gods, venerating them excessively beyond measure, while the empty-minded forgot Him in everything. Therefore, all those who have deemed it worthy to reverence the Creator and Father of all, even if not from the beginning but later embraced monarchy instead of polyarchy, should be considered most beloved and closely related, offering the greatest friendship and familiarity through a god-loving character, with whom one should also rejoice, as if those who were once blind now see the brightest light emerging from the deepest darkness."
"By whom, being deceived, he unwittingly made an irreconcilable enemy of himself, his son, his family, and his advocate, Makron, and left all people [behind]. For when Makron saw him living unruly and unrestrained in his impulses, doing whatever and however he happened to, he admonished and consoled him, thinking him to be Gaius, who, when Tiberius still lived, was considerate and disciplined. The unfortunate man gave excessively to his own wife and children the highest punishments, eliminating them as a superfluous burden and annoyance. For whenever he saw him coming from afar, he would proceed with such [remarks] to those present: Let us not smile, let us look down; the adviser is approaching, the self-appointed, the man who started as a complete ruler and now claims to be an educator, when the time has long since driven away and separated those from his early life."
"Gaius believed he could escape the slander that came from violating what was just towards his partner by strategizing. The sophistry was such: having gathered those in power, he claimed to want to collaborate in the autocratic power with his cousin by birth but brother by favor, following the opinion of the deceased Tiberius, sharing the burdens of sovereign authority. But see for yourselves, he is still a child, truly needing guardians, teachers, and educators. For what greater good could there be than not to load the burdens of leadership on one soul or one body, but to have someone capable of lightening and sharing the load? But I declare, surpassing tutors and teachers and guardians, I now consider myself as a father, and that boy as my son. By deceiving those present and the young man — for the position was a bait not of expected leadership, but of dispossession he already held — he plotted with the co-heir and just partner with much impunity, no longer caring for anyone. For the son's complete authority lies with the father, according to Roman laws, apart from also being an unquestionable sovereign authority, with no one daring or able to demand an account of whatever actions were taken."
"Such were the hardships faced by the unfortunate man, aimed at improving Gaius. However, Gaius, being fond of strife and contentious by nature, would turn his mind towards the opposite direction, as if he were encouraged in that direction, and dared to intimidate the disciplinarian face to face. Sometimes, even from a distance upon seeing him approach, he would say to those nearby: ‘The teacher of one who no longer needs to learn is present, the educator of one who is no longer a child, the advisor to one wiser, the one who demands the emperor to obey his subject is here, claiming expertise in governance and considering himself a teacher, though from whom he learned the basics I certainly do not know. For from my swaddling clothes, countless teachers have existed for me—fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, ancestors up to the founders, all from my bloodline on both paternal and maternal sides, having secured autocratic authority, apart from those who from the very first contributions of the seeds were deemed to possess royal powers of governance."
"Have we indeed learned from these events that Gaius should not be compared to any of the gods, nor even the demigods, neither in nature nor in substance, nor having made the same choices? Blind, it seems, is desire, especially when it is combined with vanity and contentiousness along with the greatest authority, under which we who were once fortunate are now being destroyed. [115] For he looked down only upon the Jews, as if they alone had chosen the opposite path and were instructed from their swaddling clothes by their parents, educators, and leaders, and much earlier by the sacred laws and even the unwritten customs, to recognize only one God, the father and creator of the universe. [116] All the others, men, women, cities, nations, regions, climates of the earth, I must say, the whole world, although groaning under what was happening, none the less flattered him excessively and increased his arrogance."
1. Philo divides the Godhead into three - Yahweh, Elohim and the Most High
2. Clement is known to have divided his works into three - the Paedagogue, Stromata and something else (I am doing something else).
My guess is that Yahweh the so-called "Jewish god" = the paedaogue. We get fouled up because we thing teachers are supposed to be nice. The ancient teachers hit their students. It's Yahweh. Philo says Yahweh is the god of badmen and Jacob. Philo passed on to Clement the understanding that Jacob used to be devoted to Yahweh when he was a "bad man." Then at Peniel he changed allegiance to Elohim sang a song. The orthodox found this horrible. It's Marcionism. Clement wrote the Paedogue as the beginning of the instruction for the initiates into Christianity. Had to come through Yahweh then on to the better gods.
As there are these three things in the case of man, habits, actions, and passions; habits are the department appropriated by hortatory discourse the guide to piety, which, like the ship's keel, is laid beneath for the building up of faith; in which, rejoicing exceedingly, and abjuring our old opinions, through salvation we renew our youth, singing with the hymning prophecy, How good is God to Israel, to such as are upright in heart! All actions, again, are the province of preceptive discourse; while persuasive discourse applies itself to heal the passions. It is, however, one and the self-same word which rescues man from the custom of this world in which he has been reared, and trains him up in the one salvation of faith in God.
Clement thus argues for the unity of the Paedagogus and the Didaskalos, instead of their division into two.
But now, being at once curative and preceptive, following in His own steps, He makes what had been prescribed the subject of persuasion, promising the cure of the passions within us. Let us then designate this Word appropriately by the one name Tutor (or Paedagogue, or instructor).
"Before the Lord's coming, philosophy was necessary for the Greeks to achieve righteousness, but now it becomes useful for piety, being a kind of preliminary education for those who reap the fruits of faith through demonstration. It says, 'your foot will not stumble,' referring to good things in providence, whether they are Greek or our own. Indeed, God is the cause of all good things, but some are according to what came before, as with the old and new covenants, and others follow later, like philosophy. Perhaps it was even previously given to the Greeks before the Lord called them; for it also educated the Greek world as the Law educated the Hebrews towards Christ. Therefore, philosophy prepares the way, advancing the one being perfected by Christ. Immediately Solomon says, 'surround wisdom and it will exalt you; it will shield you with a crown of delight, for you have fortified it with philosophy and perfect virtue, keeping it inaccessible to the sophists.' Indeed, the path of truth is singular, but like into an ever-flowing river, streams pour in from various places. Therefore, it is rightly said: 'Listen, my son, and accept my words, that many paths of life may be yours; for I teach you the ways of wisdom, so that the springs, which gush from the same earth, do not fail you. Not only the paths of a certain just man are declared to be numerous and salvific, but it also mentions many paths of many just men, indicating thus: and the ways of the just similarly shine with light. And the commandments and the teachings may well be paths and avenues of life. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I wished to gather your children as a bird gathers its nestlings. And Jerusalem translates as a vision of peace, thus prophetically signifying those who have peacefully observed the call to be educated in many ways.
"Thus, it is rightly said that the law was given through Moses, serving as a standard for both the just and the unjust, and this can principally be called an ordinance given by God through Moses. It indeed leads to the divine. And Paul says: 'The law was given because of transgressions, until the seed to whom the promise referred had come.' And then, as if explaining the meaning, he adds: 'Before faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.' Therefore, the law was our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. The legislative [aspect of the law] assigns what is appropriate to each part of the soul and to the actions deriving from these, and Moses, to put it concisely, was a living law governed by good reason, and indeed he served a good polity, which is the nourishment of humans in accordance with community."
For if the endeavor was merely human, as the Greeks supposed, it would have faded away; but it grows and there is no place where it does not exist. I therefore say that faith, whether founded on love or even on fear as the accusers claim, is something divine, neither shattered by any worldly affection nor dissolved by the presence of fear. Indeed, love makes believers through its affinity for faith, and faith in turn serves as a foundation of love that reciprocates goodness, even as the fear that tutors under the law is believed from what is believed, and is believed to be fear. For if being is demonstrated in action, and the one who threatens and intends but does not act is believed, it is not he himself who generates faith but he is deemed trustworthy in relation to it when tested.
The law did not create sin; rather, it revealed sin. By commanding what should be done, it condemned what should not be done. It is the mark of a good thing to instruct on what is salvific and to indicate what is harmful, advising to use the former and to avoid the latter. The apostle, whom they do not understand, said that the knowledge of sin came through the law, not that sin was created by it. How could the instructive law, which serves as a tutor leading to Christ, not be good, as it corrects us through fear and guides us towards perfection through Christ? "I do not desire the death of the sinner," he says, "but rather his repentance." Repentance becomes a commandment that prevents wrong actions and encourages good deeds. By death, I believe, he means ignorance.
Does it not already appear that the law is philanthropic and good, serving as a guide to Christ, and that God Himself is good and just, having been used for salvation from the beginning to the end for every race? "Be merciful," says the Lord, "so that you may be shown mercy; forgive, so that you may be forgiven; as you do, so it will be done to you; as you give, so it will be given to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; as you are kind, so kindness will be shown to you; the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Furthermore, it forbids dishonoring those who work for food, and offers relief to those enslaved by debts every seventh year, and it also prohibits delivering suppliants to punishment.
