Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 21.1

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

Summary: What is impossible for man is possible with God: by one's own effort alone freedom from passion is unattainable,

Greek text · Stählin 3:173

Ὁ δὲ κύριος ἀποκρίνεται διότι »τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατον δυνατὸν θεῷ«. πάλιν καὶ τοῦτο μεγάλης σοφίας μεστόν ἐστιν. ὅτι καθʼ αὑτὸν μὲν ἀσκῶν καὶ διαπονούμενος ἀπάθειαν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐδὲν ἀνύει, ἐὰν δὲ γένηται δῆλος ὑπερεπιθυμῶν τούτου καὶ διεσπουδακώς.

English · Claude translation

But the Lord answers that “what is impossible with men is possible with God.” This too is full of great wisdom: that a man exercising and laboring for freedom from passion by himself achieves nothing; but if he shows himself very eager and earnest for it,

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:173 · 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 Mark 10:27 (Luke 18:27). The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (missing accent): ἀσκῶν και διαπονούμενος → ἀσκῶν καὶ διαπονούμενος.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 21.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/21/1/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 21.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/21/1/).

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