Clement of Alexandria — Stromata 15
The Gnostic , then, is impressed with the closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples and to the prudent . Comprehending this, as He who taught wished, and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily on the housetops Matthew 10:27 ; Luke 12:3 those capable of being built to a lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance with the example of life. For He enjoined what is possible. And, in truth , the kingly man and Christian ought to be ruler and leader. For we are commanded to be lords over not only the wild beasts without us, but also over the wild passions within ourselves. Through the knowledge , then, as appears, of a bad and good life is the Gnostic saved, understanding and executing more than the scribes and Pharisees .
Matthew 5:20 Exert yourself, and prosper, and reign writes David, because of truth , and meekness, and righteousness; and your right hand shall guide you marvellously, that is, the Lord. Who then is the wise? And he shall understand these things. Prudent? And he shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, Hosea 14:9 says the prophet , showing that the Gnostic alone is able to understand and explain the things spoken by the Spirit obscurely. And he who understands in that time shall hold his peace, Amos 5:13 says the Scripture , plainly in the way of declaring them to the unworthy. For the Lord says, He that has ears to hear, let him hear, Matthew 11:15 declaring that hearing and understanding belong not to all. To the point David writes: Dark water is in the clouds of the skies.
At the gleam before Him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire; showing that the holy words are hidden. He intimates that transparent and resplendent to the Gnostics , like the innocuous hail, they are sent down from God ; but that they are dark to the multitude, like extinguished coals out of the fire, which, unless kindled and set on fire, will not give forth fire or light. The Lord, therefore, it is said, gives me the tongue of instruction, so as to know in season when it is requisite to speak a word; Isaiah 50:4 not in the way of testimony alone, but also in the way of question and answer. And the instruction of the Lord opens my mouth. Isaiah 50:5 It is the prerogative of the Gnostic , then, to know how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom.
And already the apostle, by saying, After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, Colossians 2:8 makes the asseveration that the Hellenic teaching is elementary, and that of Christ perfect, as we have already intimated before. Now the wild olive is inserted into the fatness of the olive, Romans 12:17 and is indeed of the same species as the cultivated olives. For the graft uses as soil the tree in which it is engrafted. Now all the plants sprouted forth simultaneously in consequence of the divine order. Wherefore also, though the wild olive be wild, it crowns the Olympic victors. And the elm teaches the vine to be fruitful, by leading it up to a height. Now we see that wild trees attract more nutriment, because they cannot ripen. The wild trees, therefore, have less power of secretion than those that are cultivated.