I was reading through Clement's epistle this morning and came across this; I'd read the epistle before, and somehow forgotten this quote.
Quote:
1Clem 32:1
If any man will consider them one by one in sincerity, he shall
understand the magnificence of the gifts that are given by Him.
1Clem 32:2
For of Jacob are all the priests and Levites who minister unto the
altar of God; of him is the Lord Jesus as concerning the flesh; of
him are kings and rulers and governors in the line of Judah; yea and
the rest of his tribes are held in no small honor, seeing that God
promised saying, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven.
1Clem 32:3
They all therefore were glorified and magnified, not through
themselves or their own works or the righteous doing which they
wrought, but through His will.
1Clem 32:4
And so we, having been called through His will in Christ Jesus, are
not justified through ourselves or through our own wisdom or
understanding or piety or works which we wrought in holiness of
heart, but through faith, whereby the Almighty God justified all men
that have been from the beginning; to whom be the glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
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I found this portion to be especially interesting:
"we... are
not justified through ourselves or through our own wisdom or
understanding or piety or works which
we wrought in holiness of
heart, but through faith"
Namely, because he also excludes post-conversion "works" done under the influence of the Spirit from justification, and not just pre-conversion "works."
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