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Clement of Rome

First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

Chapter 42

The order of ministers in the church.

The apostles have preached the gospel to us from1 the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from2 God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments,3 then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God. Having therefore received their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established4 in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit,5 to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place, “I will appoint their bishops6 in righteousness, and their deacons7 in faith.”8

Notes

  1. Or, “by the command of.”↩
  2. Or, “by the command of.”↩
  3. Literally, “both things were done.”↩
  4. Or, “confirmed by.”↩
  5. Or, “having tested them in spirit.”↩
  6. Or, “overseers.”↩
  7. Or, “servants.”↩
  8. Isa. lx. 17, Sept.; but the text is here altered by Clement. The LXX. have, “I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers in righteousness.”↩

Translation by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and Frederick Crombie: The Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. 1: The Apostolic Fathers (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1870).
Text from Project Gutenberg eBook #77576, proofread by Distributed Proofreaders from Internet Archive scans. Public domain.