God's power completes human effort; Peter's claim to have left all
Clement is explaining Jesus' answer to the disciples' astonishment, showing that salvation requires both human desire and God's enabling power, and then turns to Peter's claim that the disciples have left everything.
And the Lord answers: “What is impossible among humans is possible for God” (Mark 10:27). This too is full of great wisdom. For a person who practices and labors at freedom from passions on his own accomplishes nothing; but if he becomes clearly one who desires this exceedingly and has set his whole heart on it, he prevails through the addition of power from God. For God breathes together with willing souls—but if they abandon their eagerness, the Spirit given by God is also withdrawn. To save the unwilling is the act of one using force; to give grace to those who choose it is the act of one who gives freely. Nor does the kingdom of God belong to those who sleep and are idle, but “the violent seize it” (Matthew 11:12). For this alone is a noble violence: to force God, and to seize life from God. And God, knowing those who cling violently—or rather, steadfastly—yields to them. For God rejoices to be defeated in such contests.
When blessed Peter heard these things—Peter the chosen, the exceptional, the first of the disciples, for whom alone and for himself the Savior pays the tax—he quickly seized and grasped the meaning. And what does he say? “Look, we have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). Now if by “everything” he means his own possessions, leaving perhaps four obols, so to speak, he exalts himself and, by valuing the kingdom of heaven at the level of these, would forget the kingdom of heaven. But if—as we have just now been saying—they have thrown away the old mental possessions and psychic diseases and follow in the footsteps of the teacher, this would already belong to those who are about to be enrolled in heaven. For this is truly to follow the Savior: to pursue his sinlessness and perfection, and to adorn and order one's soul as a mirror toward him, and to dispose all things alike in all respects.
Greek
Ὁ δὲ κύριος ἀποκρίνεται διότι »τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατον δυνατὸν θεῷ«. πάλιν καὶ τοῦτο μεγάλης σοφίας μεστόν ἐστιν. ὅτι καθ᾿ αὑτὸν μὲν ἀσκῶν και διαπονούμενος ἀπάθειαν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐδὲν ἀνύει, ἐὰν δὲ γένηται δῆλος ὑπερεπιθυμῶν τούτου καὶ διεσπουδακώς. τῇ προσθήκῃ τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ δυνάμεως περιγίνεται· βουλομέναις μὲν γὰρ ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὁ θεὸς συνεπιπνεῖ, εἰ δὲ ἀποσταῖεν τῆς προθυμίας. καὶ τὸ δοθὲν ἐκ θεοῦ πνεῦμα συνεστάλη· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄκοντας σῴζειν ἐστὶ βιαζομένου, τὸ δὲ αἱρουμένους χαριζομένου. οὐδὲ τῶν καθευδόντων καὶ βλακευόντων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ »βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν«· αὕτη γὰρ μόνη βία καλή, θεὸν βιάσασθαι καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ ζωὴν ἁρπάσαι, ὁ δὲ γνοὺς τοὺς βιαίως, μᾶλλον δὲ βεβαίως ἀντεχομένους [συνεχώρησεν] εἶξεν· χαίρει γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἡττώμενος. τοιγάρτοι τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος. ὁ ἐκλεκτός. ὁ ἐξαίρετος, ὁ πρῶτος τῶν μαθητῶν. ὑπὲρ οὗ μόνου καὶ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν. φόρον ὁ σωτὴρ ἐκτελεῖ, ταχέως ἥρπασε καὶ συνέβαλε τὸν λόγον. καὶ τί φησιν; »ἴδε ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν πάντα καὶ ἠκολουθήσαμέν σοι.« τὰ δὲ »πάντα« εἰ μὲν τὰ κτήματα τὰ ἑαυτοῦ λέγει. τέσσαρας ὀβολοὺς ἴσως. τὸ τοῦ λόγου, καταλιπὼν μεγαλύνεται καὶ τούτων ἀνταξίαν ἀποφαίνων ἂν λάθοι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν· εἰ δέ, ἅπερ ἄρτι νῦν λέγομεν, τὰ παλαιὰ νοητὰ κτήματα καὶ ψυχικὰ νοσήματα ἀπορρίψαντες ἕπονται κατ᾿ ἴχνος τοῦ διδασκάλου, τοῦτ᾿ ἂν ἀνάπτοιτο ἤδη τοῖς ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐγγραφησομένοις. τοῦτο γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖν ὄντως τῷ σωτῆρι. ἀναμαρτησίαν καὶ τελειότητα τὴν ἐκείνου μετερχόμενον καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὥσπερ κάτοπτρον κοσμοῦντα καὶ ῥυθμίζοντα τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ πάντα διὰ πάντων ὁμοίως διατιθέντα.