Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 26.2

Clement of Alexandria · Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? · ca. 190–210 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Christ does not exclude the rich because of their wealth, if they obey God's commands and look to him like sailors to a good helmsman.

Greek text · Stählin 3:177

τὸ δέ γε προκείμενον ἡμῖν οἶμαι μηδέν τι ἐνδεέστερον τῆς ἐπαγγελίας δεδεῖχθαι, ὅτι τοὺς πλουσίους οὐδένα τρόπον ὁ σωτὴρ κατʼ αὐτόν γε τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν περιβολὴν τῆς κτήσεως ἀποκέκλεικεν οὐδʼ αὐτοῖς ἀποτετάφρευκεν τὴν σωτηρίαν, εἴ γε δύναιντο καὶ βούλοιντο ὑποκύπτειν τοῦ θεοῦ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς καὶ τῶν προσκαίρων προτιμῷεν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ζωὴν καὶ βλέποιεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον ἀτενεῖ τῷ βλέμματι, καθάπερ εἰς ἀγαθοῦ κυβερνήτου νεῦμα δεδορκότες, τί βούλεται, τί προστάσσει, τί σημαίνει, τί δίδωσι τοῖς αὑτοῦ ναύταις [τὸ] σύνθημα, ποῦ καὶ πόθεν τὸν ὅρμον ἐπαγγέλλεται.

English · Claude translation

But I think our subject has been shown no less than was promised: that the Savior has in no way shut out the rich on account of their wealth itself and the possession of property, nor has he fenced off salvation from them, if only they are able and willing to bow beneath God's commandments, to value their own life above temporary things, and to look to the Lord with steady gaze, as men watching the nod of a good helmsman, to see what he wishes, what he commands, what he signals, what watchword he gives his sailors, where and from where he announces the harbor.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:177 · 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)
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The bracketed word in the Greek is the editor's deletion.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/26/2/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/26/2/).

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