Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 21.3

Greek text · Stählin 3:173

οὐδὲ τῶν καθευδόντων καὶ βλακευόντων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλʼ οἱ »βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν«· αὕτη γὰρ μόνη βία καλή, θεὸν βιάσασθαι καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ ζωὴν ἁρπάσαι, ὁ δὲ γνοὺς τοὺς βιαίως, μᾶλλον δὲ βεβαίως ἀντεχομένους [συνεχώρησεν] εἶξεν· χαίρει γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἡττώμενος. τοιγάρτοι τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος.

English · Claude translation

Nor does the kingdom of God belong to those who sleep and are lazy, but “the violent seize it.” For this is the only good violence: to do violence to God and seize life from God. And he, knowing those who hold on violently, or rather steadfastly, yields; for God rejoices to be defeated in such things. So, hearing these things, the blessed Peter,

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:173 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Matt 11:12 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is Matt 11:12. Clement plays on βιαίως (“violently”) and βεβαίως (“steadfastly”). The bracketed word in the Greek is the editor's deletion.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/21/3/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/21/3/).