Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.6.55

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Scripture presupposes givers and receivers, as the world consists of opposites; Christ's call to the rich young man exposed his failure to love his neighbor and taught him to share out of love.

Greek text · Stählin 2:221

καὶ πάλιν ἐλεημοσύναι καὶ πίστεις μὴ ἐκλιπέτωσάν σε εἶπεν. πενία δὲ ἄνδρα ταπεινοῖ· χεῖρες δὲ ἀνδρείων πλουτίζουσιν. ἐπιφέρει δέ· ἰδοὺ ἀνήρ, ὃς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἐπὶ τόκῳ τὸ ἀργύριον αὐτοῦ, ἀποδεκτὸς γίνεται· καὶ λύτρον ψυχῆς ἀνδρὸς ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος κρίνεται. οὐχὶ διασαφεῖ ἄντικρυς; ὡς οὖν ἐξ ἐναντίων ὁ κόσμος σύγκειται ὥσπερ ἐκ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ ξηροῦ τε καὶ ὑγροῦ, οὕτω κἀκ τῶν διδόντων κἀκ τῶν λαμβανόντων. πάλιν τε αὖ ὅταν εἴπῃ· εἰ θέλεις τέλειος γενέσθαι, πωλήσας τὰ ὑπάρχοντα δὸς πτωχοῖς, ἐλέγχει τὸν καυχώμενον ἐπὶ τῷ πάσας τὰς ἐντολὰς ἐκ νεότητος τετηρηκέναι· οὐ γὰρ πεπληρώκει τὸ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς ἑαυτόν. τότε δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου συντελειούμενος ἐδιδάσκετο διʼ ἀγάπην μεταδιδόναι.

English · Claude translation

And again he said: “Let not acts of mercy and faithfulness fail you.” “Poverty humbles a man, but the hands of the vigorous make rich.” And he adds: “Behold a man who did not give his money at interest: he is acceptable.” And “a man's own wealth is judged the ransom of his soul.” Does he not make it plain? As, then, the world consists of opposites, as of hot and cold, dry and wet, so too of those who give and those who receive. And again, when he says, “If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor,” he convicts the one who boasted of having kept all the commandments from his youth; for he had not fulfilled “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Then, being perfected by the Lord, he was taught to share out of love.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:221 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 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 (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics, Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Prov 3:3, Prov 10:4, Ps 15:5 (14:5 LXX; a free form), Prov 13:8, and Matt 19:21, 20, 19.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/55/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/55/).

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