Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? · §18 · Clement of Alexandria

Salvation depends on the soul's virtue, not on external things

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Clement is explaining that the rich who enter the kingdom with difficulty are to be understood spiritually, because salvation depends on the soul's disposition, not on outward circumstances.

So then, the rich persons who will enter the kingdom of heaven with difficulty must be understood with exact discernment—not clumsily, not boorishly, not fleshly. For that is not how the saying was spoken. Nor does salvation depend on external things: not on whether they are many or few, small or great, honored or dishonored, esteemed or unesteemed. It depends on the virtue of the soul—on faith, hope, love, brotherly love, knowledge, gentleness, freedom from pride, and truth, whose prize is salvation. For no one will live because of bodily beauty, nor will anyone perish for the opposite reason. Rather, the one who uses the body he has been given purely and according to God will live, but the one who destroys the temple of God will be destroyed. A person who is ugly can act licentiously, and a person who is beautiful can be self-controlled. Neither bodily strength nor size gives life, nor does the lack of any bodily member destroy. It is the soul that uses these things that provides the cause in either direction. "Endure," he says, "when you are struck on the face." A person who is strong and vigorous can obey this, and again a person who is weak can transgress it through lack of self-control in judgment. So also a person who is without resources and without livelihood may be found drunk on desires, while a person rich in money may be sober, poor in pleasures, persuaded, intelligent, pure, and disciplined. If, then, the soul is what will live above all and first, and virtue growing in it saves while wickedness kills, it is now clearly evident that the soul which is poor in the things by which a person is corrupted through wealth is saved, and the soul which is rich in the things that wealth wears down is put to death. And let us no longer seek the cause of the end anywhere else except in the soul's condition and disposition toward obedience to God and purity, and toward transgression of the commandments and the collection of wickedness.

Greek

Ὥστε τοὺς πλουσίους μαθηματικῶς ἀκουστέον, τοὺς δυσκόλως εἰσελευσομένους εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν, μὴ σκαιῶς μηδὲ ἀγροίκως μηδὲ σαρκίνως· οὐ γὰρ οὕτως λέλεκται. οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς ἡ σωτηρία. οὔτε εἰ πολλὰ οὔτε εἰ ὀλίγα ταῦτα ἢ μικρὰ ἢ μεγάλα ἢ ἔνδοξα ἢ ἄδοξα ἢ εὐδόκιμα ἢ ἀδόκιμα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετῇ. πίστει καὶ ἐλπίδι καὶ ἀγάπῃ καὶ φιλαδελφίᾳ καὶ γνώσει καὶ πραότητι καὶ ἀτυφίᾳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, ὧν ἆθλον ἡ σωτηρία. οὐδὲ γὰρ διὰ κάλλος σώματος ζήσεταί τις ἢ τοὐναντίον ἀπολεῖται· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μὲν τῷ δοθέντι σώματι ἁγνῶς καὶ κατὰ θεὸν χρώμενος ζήσεται. ὁ δὲ φθείρων τὸν ναὸν θεοῦ φθαρήσεται. δύναται δέ τις καὶ αἰσχρὸς ἀσελγαίνειν καὶ κατὰ κάλλος σωφρονεῖν· οὐδὲ ἰσχὺς καὶ μέγεθος σώματος ζωοποιεῖ οὐδὲ τῶν μελῶν οὐδενία ἀπολλύει. ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τούτοις ψυχὴ χρωμένη τὴν αἰτίαν ἐφ᾿ ἑκάτερα παρέχεται. ὑπόφερε γοῦν. φησί. παιόμενος τὸ πρόσωπον. ὅπερ δύναται καὶ ἰσχυρός τις ὢν καὶ εὐεκτῶν ὑπακοῦσαι καὶ πάλιν ἀσθενικός τις ὢν ἀκρασίᾳ γνώμης παραβῆναι. οὕτως καὶ ἄπορός τις ὢν καὶ ἄβιος εὑρεθείη ποτ᾿ ἂν μεθύων ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις. καὶ χρήμασι πλούσιος νήφων καὶ πτωχεύων ἡδονῶν. πεπεισμένος. συνετός, καθαρός, κεκολασμένος. εἰ τοίνυν ἐστὶ τὸ ζησόμενον μάλιστα καὶ πρῶτον ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ περὶ ταύτην ἀρετὴ μὲν φυομένη σῴζει, κακία δὲ θανατοῖ, δῆλον ἤδη σαφῶς ὅτι αὕτη καὶ πτωχεύουσα ὧν ἄν τις ὑπὸ πλούτου διαφθείρηται σῴζεται, καὶ πλουτοῦσα τούτων ὧν ἐπιτρίβει πλοῦτος θανατοῦται· καὶ μηκέτι ζητῶμεν ἀλλαχοῦ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ τέλους πλὴν ἐν τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς καταστάσει καὶ διαθέσει πρός τε ὑπακοὴν θεοῦ καὶ καθαρότητα πρός τε παράβασιν· ἐντολῶν καὶ κακίας συλλογήν.

About this text

Clement explains Jesus' saying about the camel and the needle's eye, and shows how a rich person may be saved.

This homily was written by Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215), a Greek Christian teacher who led the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He addressed it to fellow Christians who were troubled by Jesus' saying about the camel and the needle's eye, and who either despaired of rich believers being saved or flattered the wealthy. Clement wrote to remove that false despair and to show how a rich person may be saved.

The occasion is a controversy over the moral danger of wealth and the question of who can be saved. Clement argues that Jesus' command to sell one's possessions is not a command to become outwardly poor, but to renounce the passions and attachments of the soul that wealth can excite. The rich man in the Gospel is not condemned for having wealth, but for loving it more than eternal life. Salvation depends on the soul's disposition, not on external possessions, and wealth can be used rightly for love of neighbor.

A reader will meet Jesus, whose words from the Gospels are quoted and interpreted throughout, along with Peter, Martha, Mary, Zacchaeus, Levi, Matthew, and Paul. Clement also cites the pagan philosophers Anaxagoras, Democritus, and Crates as examples of people who gave up wealth for the wrong reasons. The work closes with the story of the apostle John and a young robber, offered as proof that no sinner is beyond hope. To follow the argument, know that Clement uses 'passions' for the disordered attachments of the soul, 'freedom from passions' for the state required for salvation, and 'worldly wealth' for what the Gospels call mammon of unrighteousness. Bible books follow the Septuagint names and Psalm numbering, so Gospel passages correspond to Mark 10:17-31, Matthew 19:16-30, and Luke 18:18-30 in modern Bibles.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Clement of Alexandria Otto Stählin Stromata, Buch VII-VIII. Excerpta ex Theodoto. Eclogae prophetica. Hinrichs Leipzig 1909 Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.