The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: Rise and Spread of Neoplatonic Restorationism

I. Clement of Alexandria—Reverses Position in Transition Hour

Let us now search into the beginnings of Restorationism. By the close of the second century the church had spread from Britain to the Ganges. It was flourishing in Gaul and in other regions of the West, and had established itself firmly in the Delta of the Nile. At Alexandria the Catechetical School had gathered a group of intellectuals, both teachers and students, somewhat on the order of a Christian university. CFF1 978.1

We are now in that transition hour in the expanding church, when some begin to change over from their former Conditionalist views to the developing Innate-Immortality concept that was creeping in as a result of attempting to syncretize the Christian faith with Platonic philosophy. And this development had, as noted, its focal point chiefly in Alexandria and its famous school. CFF1 978.2

One of the first to shift his views in this way was CLEMENT of ALEXANDRIA (c. 150-c. 220), brilliant contemporary of Irenaeus of Gaul, the noted Conditionalist. He was born of non-Christian parents, probably in Athens or Alexandria. On becoming a Christian, Clement traveled widely in Greece, Italy, Palestine, Egypt, and the East, seeking truth at the feet of masters of thought representing sundry religious and philosophical views. (For chronological placement see Chart F, page 758.) CFF1 978.3

Returning to Egypt, Clement felt that under Pantaenus, devout Gnostic head of the Catechetical School in Alexandria, he found what he had been searching for. Clement was already deeply versed in pagan Greek philosophy and literature when he came in touch with philosophical Christianity under Pantaenus. Accepting this form of Christianity, he was ordained a presbyter. Then he succeeded Pantaenus as head of the school about A.D. 190. He continued as such until A.D. 202, when he was driven from his post by persecution under Septimius Severus, and fled to Palestine and Asia Minor. And he was in turn succeeded by his brilliant pupil Origen. CFF1 978.4

Clement agreed with the Gnostics in making gnosis (religious knowledge or illumination) the chief element in Christian perfection. At the same time he sought to supplement Christianity with Greek philosophy, which he regarded as likewise a divine gift to mankind. But he still held that true gnosis presupposes the apostolic faith and divine revelation as its core. To him, Christ became man in order to give a supreme revelation, and in order “that through Him men might partake of immortality.” ¹ CFF1 979.1

Clement made no formal statement like Justin Martyr, no elaborate exposition of principle like Irenaeus, no strict argument like Athenagoras. But all the way through his earlier writings he taught immortality in the sense of endless existence for the saved. In these initial treatises he held that immortality is not the common property of humanity. It is the special addition of something distinct from one’s self, or nature. There is nothing eternal, he maintained, except what God gives. And contrariwise, there is no getting of what is eternal, and no continuance of any, but only death to the disobedient. CFF1 979.2

1. DEVELOPS INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHIC CHRISTIANITY

Clement was considered one of the most accomplished Christian scholars prior to Origen. He had mastered Greek, as well as Gnostic and Christian literature, and was an elegant writer in Greek. He wrote the treatises upon which his fame rests while teaching in Alexandria. Profoundly speculative, he sought “the true, the beautiful, and the good” wherever they were to be found, seeking to blend them into a harmonious “Christian” system. So the noble is sometimes intermingled with the fantastic and the puerile. CFF1 979.3

As noted, it was in Alexandria that the influence of Greek philosophy upon Christianity reached its height, tinged with a fatal blend of Gnostic elements. According to Harnack, Clement’s impress was epoch making. He increasingly introduced Stoic, Platonic, and Philonic ingredients not in harmony with Christianity but which in time gained the ascendancy. His chosen objective was to develop a suitable introduction to philosophic Christianity to appeal to the intelligentsia. He even came to regard ignorance and error as more evil than sin, and developed an “optimistic view of the ultimate destiny of even the most erring.” ² In other words, in his last great work he planted the seed thought of ultimate Restorationism that bore such baleful fruit under Origen. CFF1 980.1

2. MEETING POINT OF TWO CONVERGING LINES

Clement’s three greatest works, forming a trilogy, are Exhortation to the Heathen (the Protrepticus), The Instructor (or Paedagogus), and the Miscellanies (or Stromata). This latter work was filled with a vast number of quotations from authors of all kinds and from all countries, and could only have been composed near an extensive library such as that of Alexandria. CFF1 980.2

There also his Outlines of Scripture Interpretation (or Hypotyposes) was brought forth. This constituted the boldest literary undertaking in the history of the Early Church. It sought to put Christianity into the form of profane world literature. In Clement’s view the gospel is not so much a new departure as the meeting point of two converging lines of progress—Hellenism and Judaism. To Clement, history is one because “truth is one.” CFF1 980.3

His Exhortation to the Heathen (c. 194) was a defense of Christian truth designed to prove the superiority of Christianity and to win the pagan to the philosophic gospel. It contains a withering exposure of pagan abominations. The Instructor, as its name indicates, was to guide new converts in daily living. The later Miscellanies dealt with the various points of Christian theology. Its full title is significant—” Titus Flavius Clement’s Miscellaneous Collections of Speculative (Gnostic) Notes Bearing on the True Philosophy.” The Outlines are comments on the Old and New Testaments. And among his numerous lost works, of which “we have no trace,” other than reference by Clement himself, were two, On the Soul and On the Resurrection. ³ It is regrettable that these are not available. CFF1 981.1

3. SWINGS TO IMMORTAL-SOLILISM IN LATEST TREATISE

To Clement, God the Father is the “Remoter Cause,” whereas the Son embodies the timeless and unoriginated Principle of Existence, and was the agent in creating and governing the universe. Clement stressed man’s free will. But to him the temptation and Fall were but allegory, yet with Christ coming to deliver man from sin and death. Tertullian, of Carthage, with his asceticism and repression of human nature, was the very opposite of Clement of Alexandria, with his humanitarianism for attaining exaltation of character. CFF1 981.2

It is to be particularly noted that in his earlier writings Clement did not speak of the soul as immortal. That was still a Gnostic and Platonic expression not yet held or employed by Christians. But by the time of his later and major treatise he had definitely switched over to Immortal-Soulism, as will be seen in section V, page 991. CFF1 981.3

Although he held that true Christian knowledge is derived principally from Scripture, he believed it was also received from Plato and from Hellenic philosophy. Philosophy, he maintained, was the divinely ordained preparation of the Greeks for faith in Christ, just as the law had been for the Hebrews. Hence Clement contended for the value of Greek literature and philosophic culture against those who regarded such learning as useless and dangerous. He proclaimed himself an eclectic, ⁴ believing in the existence of fragments of truth in all systems, but which must be separated from error. However, Clement still held theoretically that truth in its greatest purity and completeness is found supremely in Christ. Such is the highly complex setting of Clement’s witness. CFF1 981.4