Introduction: Why Clement Matters

Hi Friends,

Today’s article continues my exploration of the Jewish foundations of the body of Christ. I’m not certain I’m ready to commit to a full series on the Apostolic Fathers, but Clement’s writings are particularly important for anyone interested in biblical Zionism and Jewish apocalypticism. While his work has often been used to promote and justify later ecclesiastical hierarchies, a careful analysis shows that Clement was sometimes a poor interpreter of Scripture and represents one of the church’s earliest “baby steps” into anti-Jewish ecclesiology and eschatology.

1 Clement, written around 95–97 CE, is often cited as evidence for an early hierarchy of bishops and deacons. Yet a closer look shows Clement using Scripture, rhetoric, and the concept of an “ancient church”, essentially gaslighting the Corinthians—portraying the young church as older than it was, thus ascribing more authority to an emerging novel church polity than either history or biblical fidelity warrant. By framing the Corinthian action as rebellion against history itself, Clement lays the foundation to permanently reshape the church’s structure toward Roman-style hierarchy.

The Crisis Behind 1 Clement

Clement writes to the church in Corinth, which had removed some elders/presbyters. He wants to restore order:

“It is shameful, beloved, exceedingly shameful… that it should be reported that the very steadfast and ancient church of the Corinthians, on account of one or two persons, makes sedition against its presbyters.” (1 Clem. 47.6)

Here, Clement calls the church “ancient.” In reality, the Corinthian church was only about 45 years old. Some founding members were still alive. He is aging the church rhetorically to lend weight to his call for obedience. The effect: even a young church is treated as if it has long-standing authority, making resistance to presbyters seem not just wrong, but against history itself. This positions Clement’s understanding of Church hierarchy as both authoritative according to the Holy Scriptures, as well as historically superior. But how did Clement use Scripture?

Clement’s Use of Scripture

Clement claims that Scripture supports the offices of bishops and deacons:

“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 bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.”” (1 Clem. 42.5-6) — Public-Domain edition of the Ante-Nicean Father’s Series

And I will set thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers (elders/bishops) in righteousness.” (Isaiah 60:17) — Brenton’s English Translation of the Septuagint (public domain)

He appeals to Isaiah 60:17, relying on the Greek translation (LXX), where the word episkopos appears. The LXX, also known as the Septuagint, was the standard Greek translation of Scripture and the version commonly used in Clement’s time, so use of this translation is expected. Here, Clement reads Roman civic structure back into the text, turning it into a justification for his employed church structure. This is eisegesis, reading his own organizational ideas into Scripture rather than deriving them from the original meaning. In Hebrew, the text of Isaiah refers to civic officials within eschatological restoration of Israel, not church leadership. While the LXX also preserves this context, Clement uses these LXX terms—familiar to the early church—to impose a reading not supported by his source material.

In essence, when faced with a crisis of authority, Clement employs a novel hermeneutic that is inconsistent with how the apostles interpreted Scripture. To pressure the Corinthians, he establishes his position as both biblically authoritative and historically superior. While we cannot truly deduce Clement’s motive from the text, he employs a method of consolidating authority long observed in Roman political and administrative practice—one that naturally leads to systemic authoritarianism.

*See Appendix II for full public domain translations of 1 Clement 42 and Isaiah 60.

Leadership Then and Now

In the New Testament, leadership is:

• Charismatic (spirit-empowered) and functional (1 Cor 12; Rom 12:6–8)
• Plural and local (Acts 14:23; Phil 1:1)
• Relational rather than hereditary (2 Cor 3:1–3)

Clement shifts this model:

• Authority becomes tied to ecclesiastical office
• Legitimacy becomes tied to succession from the apostles
• Unity is maintained through submission, not communal discernment

This mirrors Roman civic administration more than the earlier Jewish or apostolic models.

Manufacturing Antiquity

Clement repeatedly emphasizes the church’s “antiquity” and connection to the apostles. This is rhetorical, not literal. By portraying a 45-year-old church as ancient, he:

• Suggests continuity and moral authority
• Encourages obedience by framing resistance as rebellion against tradition
• Connects the present leadership to divine and historical precedent

In other words, he is manufacturing legitimacy for emerging offices.

Romanization and Institutional Shift

By combining Scripture with rhetoric and succession claims, Clement sets the stage for a Roman-style church hierarchy. His interventions:

• Replace charismatic authority with structured offices
• Ensure continuity through presbyter succession
• Make obedience to leaders the standard for unity

The message of Jesus is preserved, but the structure of the church is permanently altered. Christianity begins to survive not just through faithfulness but through institutional design. He is essentially setting up the church to scale its institutions within the Roman Empire, which history would prove to require a separation from its Jewish foundations.

While effective, the question I have to ask is: Did Clement’s work lay the foundation for a new religion? I believe history would say, “yes”. The church that developed over the next few hundred years would preserve theological fidelity to the nature of God, but within an ecclesiastical and eschatological system that does not stand the test of proper exegesis.

Conclusion

Was Clement twisting Scripture to fit his goals, or did he simply interpret Isaiah incorrectly without ill motive? We cannot determine this from his writing alone. He was a crisis manager attempting to stabilize a young church, yet he also stood at a historical hinge. His use of Scripture, rhetoric, and the concept of the “ancient church” created a hierarchy that distanced the body of Christ from its Jewish foundations. The irony is clear: the very mechanisms meant to preserve faith also redefined it, laying the foundation for an institutional religion just one generation removed from the apostles.

– J. S. Marek

Appendix I: Historical Method and Hermeneutical Commitments

This study proceeds from a historical-critical and restorative posture, rather than a confessional or institutionally protective one. While it employs historical-descriptive tools, its broader aim is to critically evaluate and, where warranted, delegitimize later Christian theological developments and ecclesial structures that diverged from the Jewish foundations of the Jesus movement. The purpose is not historical neutrality, but historical clarity: to examine how authority, leadership, and continuity were argued for in the late first century, and to assess whether those arguments faithfully represent the apostolic and Jewish context from which Christianity emerged, using the tools of historical-critical inquiry.

1. Description Before Prescription

This article intentionally distinguishes between what occurred historically and what later traditions may affirm normatively. Describing a development or rhetorical strategy in early Christian texts does not imply theological error, bad faith, or illegitimacy. Historical explanation is not equivalent to doctrinal adjudication.

2. Historical-Grammatical Hermeneutic

Scriptural analysis in this study follows a historical-grammatical approach:

• Priority is given to the original linguistic context (Hebrew and Greek semantics).
• Texts are interpreted within their historical, literary, and social setting.
• Later theological meanings are not read back into earlier texts without explicit textual warrant.

Accordingly, prophetic, poetic, and eschatological passages (e.g., Isaiah 60:17) are evaluated according to their original horizon of meaning rather than subsequent ecclesial usage.

3. Anachronism Avoidance

Care has been taken to avoid projecting:

• Later episcopal systems into the first century
• Post-Nicene categories of orthodoxy and heresy
• Medieval or modern notions of institutional permanence

Where modern terminology is employed (e.g., rhetorical framing described as “gaslighting”), it functions as analytic shorthand for observable rhetorical effects, not as a claim about psychological intent or moral culpability.

4. Rhetoric and Crisis Context

1 Clement is treated as an occasional document, written to address a specific crisis in Corinth. Its arguments are therefore analyzed as rhetorical strategies aimed at restoring order, not as neutral descriptions of universally accepted structures. Appeals to antiquity, succession, and Scripture are examined in light of their persuasive function within that context.

5. Continuity and Discontinuity

This study deliberately separates:

• The message of Jesus and the apostolic proclamation from
• The administrative and institutional forms that emerged in subsequent generations

Recognizing structural development does not entail theological discontinuity. The preservation of Christian belief can coexist with significant transformation in ecclesial organization.

Appendix II: Public Domain Translations of 1 Clement 42 and Isaiah 60

1 Clement 42: Public‑domain edition of the Ante‑Nicene Fathers series, translated in the 19th century.

The apostles have preached the gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, 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 established 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, 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 bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.”

Isaiah 60: World English Bible

1 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you.

2 For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.

3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.

5 Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

6 The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Yahweh.

7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar; and I will glorify the house of my glory.

8 “Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

9 Surely the islands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.

10 “Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.

11 Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.

12 For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

13 “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

14 The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

16 You shall also drink the milk of the nations, and shall nurse from royal breasts; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver; and for wood, bronze, and for stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and righteousness your ruler.

18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor shall the brightness of the moon give light to you; but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

20 Your sun shall not go down any more, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end.

21 Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

22 The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Yahweh, will do this quickly in its time.”