Love admits of no schisms
First Clement speaks about love within a letter concerned for the life of a divided congregation. Its forty-ninth chapter praises love that is patient, free from arrogance and opposed to faction. The description concerns how Christians belong to one another before God. Love has consequences for the community’s life. 1 Clement, chapter 49
The passage also directs the reader toward Christ’s self-giving love. Christian concord receives its deepest setting there. The letter does not merely advise people to get along for convenience; it recalls the Lord who gave Himself for us and asks the community to live in the love it has received. 1 Clement, chapter 49
Paul’s description of love likewise includes patience, kindness, freedom from envy and self-seeking, and joy in truth. Love does not make every claim equally true. It does govern the way we treat the people involved when disagreement or injury threatens the common life. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7
A present application is to examine conduct that feeds a faction: enjoying another member’s disgrace, speaking from arrogance or treating a preference as a reason to despise someone. Paul’s words require a different manner. Truthful correction can remain, while envy and delight in injury are relinquished. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7
Bring the particular division before the Lord and consider what faithful love asks of your own conduct. The first task may be a truthful word spoken kindly or a refusal to repeat a contemptuous story. First Clement calls the community toward harmony in Christ; Paul names the virtues by which our participation can begin. 1 Clement, chapter 49
For prayer, use the Lord’s Prayer given by Christ in Matthew 6:9–13.
Sources and edition notes
- 1 Clement. Source. Translated by John Keith. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9. Edited by Allan Menzies. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm.
Scripture references link to these comparison editions: NKJV. Biblical passages are paraphrased. Biblical language within a patristic quotation follows the identified historical English translation.