The First Epistle of Clement Modern English Edition

Written near the close of the first century (ca. A.D. 95-96), The First Epistle of Clement is one of the earliest surviving Christian writings outside the New Testament. Composed from the church in Rome to the church in Corinth, this remarkable letter addresses division, leadership, humility, repentance, and the ordered life of the church with clarity and pastoral conviction. Standing within living memory of the apostles, Clement's exhortation reveals how the earliest post-apostolic church understood authority, unity, and faithfulness. His argument is deeply rooted in the Scriptures of Israel, drawing extensively from the Septuagint, and reflects a community shaped by apostolic teaching and reverent worship. This edition presents a complete and uncondensed modern-English translation based primarily on the Greek text preserved in Codex Alexandrinus and compared with other major witnesses. Clement's rhetorical repetition and scriptural texture have been carefully preserved, while the language has been rendered clear for today's reader. Designed for pastors, teachers, seminarians, and serious students of early Christianity, this volume provides a historically grounded and textually responsible presentation of one of the most important voices from the close of the first century. Encounter the church as it stood only decades after the apostles, earnest, ordered, and calling believers to humility and peace.