Once again, since he never remotely gets tired of doing good, he does not hesitate to add, "The Law of the Spirit has freed me from the Law of sin and death," since through his Son "God has pronounced judgment upon sin in the flesh so that the Law’s ordinance might find fulfillment in us, whose lives are governed by the Spirit not by the flesh." [Rom 8:2 - 4] In addition to all this, he makes what he has already said even clearer by asserting at the top of his voice, "The body is a dead thing because of sin," [Rom 8;10] showing that if it is not the soul’s temple it remains the soul’s tomb. When it is consecrated to God, he is going to continue, "the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lodges in you, and he will give life even to your mortal bodies through his indwelling Spirit." [Rom 8.11] So again he attacks the hedonists and adds, "The object of the flesh is death,[Rom 8:6] since those whose lives are governed by the flesh follow the flesh in their objectives [cf. Rom 8:5]; and the object of the flesh is hostility to God, for it is not subject to God’s Law [Rom 8:7]. Those who live on the level of flesh cannot please God [Rom 8:8]" should not be understood as some people lay down, but as I have already argued. Then in distinction from these people, he addresses the Church. "You are not living by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is dwelling in you. Anyone without Christ’s Spirit is not of him. But if Christ is in you, then your body is a dead thing because of sin, but the Spirit is life through righteousness. So, brothers, we are in debt. Not to the flesh, to follow it in our lives; for if you follow the flesh in the way you live, you are on the way to death. But if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. For all who are guided by God’s Spirit are sons of God." [cf. Rom 8:9 - 14] He goes on to speak against the high birth and freedom which the heretics adduce so abominably as they vaunt their licentiousness. "You have not received a spirit of slavery to drive you once again towards fear. You have received a Spirit that makes us sons and enables us to cry out, ‘Abba,’ ‘Father.’" [Rom 8:15] What is so amazing about this is that when you put it all together the order of the material now is completely transformed.
The section begins with verse two of chapter eight: The Law of the Spirit has freed me from the Law of sin and death," since through his Son "God has pronounced judgment upon sin in the flesh so that the Law’s ordinance might find fulfillment in us, whose lives are governed by the Spirit not by the flesh Of course Clement deliberately glosses over the part the heretical tradition took especial interest in:
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful fleshThe rest of the saying "to be a sin offering" is never cited in any early source. Thus I propose that Clement is deliberately avoiding the docetic implications of the word likeness (which was of especial interest to the Marcionites). With this one small emendation I think we can tentatively reconstruct Clement's version of chapter 8 as:
The Law of the Spirit has freed me from the Law of sin and death. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh has pronounced judgment upon sin in the flesh so that the Law’s ordinance might find fulfillment in us, whose lives are governed by the Spirit not by the flesh For the carnal mind is enmity against God. The object of the flesh is death, since those whose lives are governed by the flesh follow the flesh in their objectives; and the object of the flesh is hostility to God, for it is not subject to God’s Law. Those who live on the level of flesh cannot please God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed, can be. And they that are in the flesh cannot please God but you are not living by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is dwelling in you. Anyone without Christ’s Spirit is not of him. But if Christ is in you, then your body is a dead thing because of sin, but the Spirit is life through righteousness. So, brothers, we are in debt. Not to the flesh, to follow it in our lives; for if you follow the flesh in the way you live, you are on the way to death. But if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. For all who are guided by God’s Spirit are sons of God." You have not received a spirit of slavery to drive you once again towards fear. You have received a Spirit that makes us sons and enables us to cry out, ‘Abba,’ ‘Father.’ For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. If we suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together as joint-heirs of Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to the purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. And whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified
I have to run off to work and this is rather preliminary but it is important to notice that most - if not all of chapter 9 does not appear in what follows (likely only 9:14) and then it begins again to follow the existing material at the beginning of chapter 10. This was certainly shared by the Marcionite Epistle. This is not the only place we see huge differences between the Marcionite and orthodox versions of canonical scripture.
