Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 14.1

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

Summary: Possessions and money are prepared by God as material and tools for good use.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:168

κτήματα γάρ ἐστι κτητὰ ὄντα καὶ χρήματα χρήσιμα ὄντα καὶ εἰς χρῆσιν ἀνθρώπων ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ παρεσκευασμένα, ἃ δὴ παράκειται καὶ ὑποβέβληται καθάπερ ὕλη τις καὶ ὄργανα πρὸς χρῆσιν ἀγαθὴν τοῖς εἰδόσι.

English · Claude translation

for they are possessions because they are possessed, and goods because they are useful and prepared by God for the use of human beings. They lie at hand and are placed under us like material and instruments for good use by those who know how.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:168 · 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

Clement plays on κτήματα / κτητά (“possessions” / “possessable”) and χρήματα / χρήσιμα (“goods” / “useful”).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 14.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/14/1/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 14.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/14/1/).

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