Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 39.2

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

Summary: The Father gladly receives every truly repentant son; true repentance means uprooting the sins one has condemned in oneself.

Greek text · Stählin 3:185

παντὶ γὰρ τῷ μετʼ ἀληθείας ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας ἐπιστρέψαντι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀνεῴγασιν αἱ θύραι καὶ δέχεται τρισάσμενος πατὴρ υἱὸν ἀληθῶς μετανοοῦντα· ἡ δʼ ἀληθινὴ μετάνοια τὸ μηκέτι τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἔνοχον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ ἄρδην ἐκριζῶσαι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐφʼ οἷς ἑαυτοῦ κατέγνω θάνατον ἁμαρτήμασιν· τούτων γὰρ ἀναιρεθέντων αὖθις εἰς σὲ θεὸς εἰσοικισθήσεται.

English · Claude translation

For to everyone who turns to God in truth with his whole heart the doors are open, and the thrice-glad Father receives a son who truly repents. True repentance is to be no longer liable for the same things, but to root out utterly from the soul the sins for which one condemned oneself to death; when these are removed, God will again come to dwell in you.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:185 · 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 Father receiving the son recalls the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 39.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/39/2/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 39.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/39/2/).

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