Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 31.6

Summary: Wealth kept only for oneself is unrighteous, but it can be used righteously by relieving those destined for the Father's eternal dwellings.

Greek text · Stählin 3:180

ἵνα ὅταν ἐκλίπῃ, δέξωνται ὑμᾶς εἰς τὰς αἰωνίους σκηνάς.« φύσει μὲν ἅπασαν κτῆσιν, ἣν αὐτός τις ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κέκτηται ὡς ἰδίαν οὖσαν καὶ οὐκ εἰς κοινὸν τοῖς δεομένοις κατατίθησιν, ἄδικον οὖσαν ἀποφαίνων, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τῆς ἀδικίας ἐνὸν καὶ πρᾶγμα δίκαιον ἐργάσασθαι καὶ σωτήριον, ἀναπαῦσαί τινα τῶν ἐχόντων αἰώνιον σκηνὴν παρὰ τῷ πατρί.

English · Claude translation

so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” He shows that by nature all property that someone possesses for himself as his own, and does not put into the common stock for those in need, is unrighteous; but that from this unrighteousness it is possible to do something righteous and saving: to refresh one of those who have an eternal dwelling with the Father.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:180 · 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

Luke 16:9 · quotation, high confidence
John 14:2 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 31.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/31/6/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 31.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/31/6/).