Translation:1 Clement

by Clement I

For other English-language translations of this work, see First Epistle of Clement.

Chapter 0

¹The church of God sojourning^[1] in Rome^[2], to the church of God sojourning in Corinth, to those called, having been made holy,

Notes

1. While decreasing in modern usage, 'sojourn' and its derivatives are likely the most appropriate single-word English translations of πάροικος and its cognates in this and related contexts (e.g., cf. LXX Gen 12:10 παροικῆσαι as a translation of HB Gen 12:10 לָג֣וּר, which the Vulgate Gen 12:10 translates as ut peregrinaretur). See Liddell, Scott & Jones 1996 s.v. πάροικος and Danker et al. 2000 s.v. παροικέω.
2. The preposition 'in' is lacking and 'Rome' is in the accusative (i.e., not locative; e.g., see Brooks & Winbery 1979, pp. 37-38). It is possible simply to interpret the form as an accusative of respect/reference (Porter 1999, pp. 90); however, more specifically, note the following:
   • Compare the spatial usage (Wallace 1996, pp. 369) of the prepositional phrase εἰς Ῥώμην (e.g., Acts 23:11).
   • παροικέω is able to take its objects directly in the accusative, where the meaning is 'sojourn* in...' (e.g., WH Luke 24:18; however, it is interesting to note that the modern, Greek Orthodox version of Luke 24:18 adds ἐν, effectively changing Ἰερουσαλὴμ to dative; also, note the Vulgate's Luke 24:18 translation peregrinus es in Hierusalem; finally, Heb 11:9 offers a similar usage of the Greek verb, although, in this occurrence, it is accompanied by an εἰς prepositional phrase).
   • Given the traditional provenance of 1 Clement, it is interesting to note the similarity in Latin with the 'accusative of place to which' (note the Romam example!), used without a preposition, for verbs that typically take a locative (also see Greenough et al. 1903 § 427).
   Provided the above (in addition to the context at the beginning of a letter noting the sender and the sender's location), 'in Rome' seems like a reasonable translation in English.

References

• Brooks, James A. & Winbery, Carlton L. (1979), Syntax of New Testament Greek, Maryland: University Press of America, ISBN 0-8191-0473-6. 
• Danker, Frederick W.; Bauer, Walter & Arndt, William F. et al. (2000), Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (3rd ed.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226039336. 
• Greenough, J.B.; Kitteredge, G.L. & Howard, A.A. et al. (1903), Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, Boston: Ginn & Company, <http://dcc.dickinson.edu/allen-greenough/>. Retrieved on January 2, 2019. 
• Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert & Jones, Henry Stuart (1996), A Greek-English Lexicon with a Revised Supplement, (9th ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-864226-8. 
• Porter, Stanley E. (1999), Idioms of the Greek New Testament, (2nd ed.), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, ISBN 978-1850753797. 
• Wallace, Daniel B. (1996), Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament with Scripture, Subject, and Greek Word Indexes, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, ISBN 978-0310218951.