1 Clement

About this text

A letter from the church in Rome to the church in Corinth, addressing internal conflicts and calling for unity and humility. Attributed to Clement of Rome.

Significance

One of the earliest examples of one church exercising authority over another. Nearly made it into some canons.

How to Read This Historical Text

1 Clement is included here as a historical and educational resource, not as Scripture and not as a replacement for the biblical canon. Readers may find it useful for understanding the ideas, debates, devotional language, and literary settings that surrounded Jewish and Christian communities in different periods.

Read this text with context in mind. Notice its era, category, and relationship to canonical passages, then compare its themes with the Bible itself. Some library works preserve valuable historical background, while others represent viewpoints that many Christian traditions rejected. Inclusion in this library does not mean endorsement of every claim or doctrine in the text.

For more about how The Bible Companion handles public-domain writings, Bible translations, attribution, and devotional material, see the Sources & Editorial Policy.

Key excerpts

"Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is to his Father, because being poured out for our salvation, it brought the grace of repentance to the whole world."

Scripture cross-references

• 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 — Paul addressing divisions in Corinth — Clement writes about the same problem
• Hebrews 12:2 — "Fix our eyes on Jesus" — similar language

Continue exploring

This text is one of 19 in the Early Christian Writings (Non-Canonical) category, and one of 62 across the entire library.