Saturday, February 24, 2018

Cyril Richardson on the occasion of 1 Clement

Commenting on the occasion for the writing of 1 Clement, Cyril Richardson wrote the following which refutes the popular claim that Clement of Rome used his papal authority and primacy to intervene in the dispute at Corinth:

[T]here is no evidence that Corinth applied to Rome for a judgment in the matter. Rome's intervention is to be explained from other factors. It was nothing extraordinary for leaders of one church to send a letter of advice and warning to another congregation. The apostolic prerogative exercised by Paul had set a wide precedent which was followed by the author of the seven letters in the Revelation, by Ignatius, Polycarp, by Dionysius of Corinth, by Serapion, and by many others. Each Christian community seems to have felt a sufficient sense of responsibility for the others so that is leaders could admonish them with solicitude . . . Corinth, moreover, by being a natural halt on the route between Rome and the East would be in constant touch with the imperial city. (Early Church Fathers, ed. Cyril C. Richardson [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006], 35-36, emphasis added)

This would agree even with Roman Catholic apologists who, while abusing 1 Clement to support papal primacy, that “There is no evidence of an appeal by the Corinthian Church to Rom for help” (Stephen K. Ray, Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999], p. 125 n. 23). Such also agrees with the following from Michael Kruger:

[T]here are no indications that any one bishop/church was in a position of authority over another bishop/church in a different locale. For example, while the author of 1 Clement makes his appeal to the church at Corinth regarding the improper removal of presbyters, there is no indication that the church has any jurisdictional authority over the latter. 1 Clement is not crafted as a directive but instead is designed to persuade—a common reason why letters were written between churches in this period. As Chadwick observes: ‘while each local church felt itself to be self-sufficient . . . yet the independence and autonomy of this local community is limited by the mutual care of the local churches must have for each other’ (H. Chadwick, ‘The Role of the Christian Bishop in Ancient Society’, Protocol of the Colloquy of the Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture 35 [1980], 1-14, at 1). (Michael J. Kruger, Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church [London: SPCK, 2017], 92)


It is not just Catholics who are guilty of abusing 1 Clement; many Protestants (e.g., James White; William Webster; Matthew Paulson) abuse it to support Sola Fide. For a refutation, see, for example: