Saints Gone Before

With a cup of kindness yet, Saints Gone Before is kicking off 2018 with a reading of The First Epistle of Clement, or The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, translated by Joseph B. Lightfoot in 1890. The purpose of the letter was to address the Corinthian church after several elders were charged and removed for what the Corinthians thought was especially grievous sin. Clement thought the disciplinary action they used was not exactly appropriate. This letter was written in the first or second century AD, probably somewhere between the years 80 and 140. Some even date it to the same period in which John wrote The Book of Revelation. This letter is unsigned and, therefore, anonymous, but scholarship is largely agreed that it is likely it was written by Clement of Rome, the bishop of Rome in that period in history. It is one of the earliest Christian documents written outside of the New Testament. Because of what is found within, not only was it well-received in many congregations across the ancient chu