Christ the Educator

Chapter 12

86 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA who is alone reliable, just, good, Jesus, the Son of the Father as His image and likeness,4 the Word of God, is our Educator. It is to Him that God has entrusted us, as a loving Father delivering His children to a true Educator, for He expressly commanded us: 'This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'5 Our divine Educator is trustworthy, for He is endowed with three excellent qualities: intelligence, good will and authority to speak. With intelligence, because He is the Wisdom of the Father: 'All wisdom is from the Lord and hath been always with Him.'6 With authority to speak, because He is God and Creator: 'All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing.'7 With good will, because He is the only one who has given Himself as a sacrifice for us: 'The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep"g and in fact He did lay it down. Surely, good will is nothing else than willing what is good for the neighbor for his own sake. Chapter 12 (98) From the subjects that we have already discussed it must be concluded that Jesus, our Educator, has outlined for us the true life, and that He educates the man who abides in Christ. His character is not excessively fear-inspiring, yet neither is it overindulgent in its kindness. He imposes commands , but at the same time expresses them in such a way that we can fullfill them. It seems to me that the reason that He formed man from dust with His own hands, gave him a second birth through 4 Cf. Col. 1.15. 5 Matt. 17.5. 6 Ecc1i. 1.1. 7 John 1.3. 8 John !O.ll. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 87 water, increase through the Spirit, education by the Word, thereby guiding him surely to the adoption of sons and to salvation with holy precepts, was precisely that He might transform an earth-born man into a holy and heavenly creature by His coming, and accomplish the original divine command: 'Let us make mankind in our image and likeness .'l It is Christ, in fact, who is, in all its perfection, what God then commanded; other men are so only by a certain image. As for us, 0 children of a good Father, flock of a good Educator, let us fulfill the will of the Father, let us obey the Word, and let us be truly molded by the saving life of the Saviour. Then, since we shall already be living the life of heaven which makes us divine, let us anoint ourselves with the never-failing oil of gladness, the incorruptible oil of good odor. We possess an unmistakable model of incorruptibility in the life of the Lord and are following in the footsteps of God. His main concern is to consider the way and the means by which the life of man might be made more conformable to salvation. He does truly make this His concern. He seeks to train us to the condition of a wayfarer, that is, to make us well girded and unimpeded by provisions, that we might be self-sufficient of life2 and practise a moderate frugality in our journey toward the good life of eternity, telling us that each one of us is to be his own storehouse: 'Do not be anxious about tomorrow.'3 He means to say that he who has dedicated himself to Christ ought to be self-sufficient and his own servant and, besides, live his life from day to day. (99) Weare educated not for war but for peace. In I Gen. 1.26. 2 aU/arlie/a, a virtue the Stoics emphasized. l! Matt. 6.M. 88 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA war, there is need for much equipment, just as self-indulgence craves an abundance. But peace and love, simple and plain blood sisters, do not need arms nor abundant supplies. Their nourishment is the Word, the Word whose leadership enlightens and educates, from whom we learn poverty and humility and all that goes with love of freedom and of mankind and of the good. In a word, through Him we become like God by a likeness of virtue. Labor, then, and do not grow weary; you will become what you dare not hope or cannot imagine.4 As there is one sort of training for...