Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 10.1

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

Summary: “If you wish” shows that the man was not yet perfect and that he was free to choose; the choice is man's, the gift is God's.

Greek text · Stählin 3:165

»Εἰ θέλεις τέλειος γενέσθαι.« οὐκ ἄρα πω τέλειος ἦν· οὐδὲν γὰρ τελείου τελειότερον. καὶ θείως τὸ »εἰ θέλεις« τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τῆς προσδιαλεγομένης αὐτῷ ψυχῆς ἐδήλωσεν. ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γὰρ ἦν ἡ αἵρεσις ὡς ἐλευθέρῳ, ἐπὶ θεῷ δὲ ἡ δόσις ὡς κυρίῳ.

English · Claude translation

“If you wish to be perfect.” So he was not yet perfect, for nothing is more perfect than the perfect. And divinely the words “if you wish” showed the free will of the soul conversing with him. For the choice lay with the man, as free, but the gift with God, as Lord.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:165 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Matt 19:21.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent on εἰ): »Εἴ θέλεις τέλειος → »Εἰ θέλεις τέλειος.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 10.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/10/1/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 10.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/10/1/).

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