Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 5.4

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

Summary: Sayings that seem simple but bear on salvation itself, like this one, must be read with the mind fixed on the Savior's spirit and hidden meaning.

Greek text · Stählin 3:163

ὅπου δὲ καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διοῖχθαι τοῖς ἔσω καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς τῆς βασιλείας τέκνοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καλουμένοις ἔτι χρῄζει φροντίδος πλείονος, ἦ πού γε τὰ δόξαντα μὲν ἁπλῶς ἐξενηνέχθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδὲ διηρωτημένα πρὸς τῶν ἀκουσάντων, εἰς ὅλον δὲ τὸ τέλος αὐτὸ τῆς σωτηρίας διαφέροντα. ἐσκεπασμένα δὲ θαυμαστῷ καὶ ὑπερουρανίῳ διανοίας βάθει, οὐκ ἐπιπολαίως δέχεσθαι ταῖς ἀκοαῖς προσῆκεν, ἀλλὰ καθιέντας τὸν νοῦν ἐπʼ αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ τὸ τῆς γνώμης ἀπόρρητον.

English · Claude translation

And where even the things thought to have been opened up by him to those within, those whom he himself calls children of the kingdom, still need further thought, surely the things that seem to have been spoken simply, and for that reason were not even questioned by those who heard them, but which bear on the whole goal of salvation itself, and are covered with a wonderful and supercelestial depth of meaning, should not be received superficially by the ears, but by directing the mind to the very spirit of the Savior and the secret of his thought.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:163 · 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
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Those within” and “children of the kingdom” recall Mark 4:10–11 and Matt 13:38.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/5/4/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/5/4/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage