Wealth itself does not bar the rich from salvation
Clement is concluding his argument that the Savior has not shut out the rich because of their wealth, and is now explaining that no one is wronged by being born rich, since what matters is the soul's disposition toward God.
"But in the age that is coming there is eternal life."
"The first will be last and the last first" (Mark 10:31). This saying is rich in meaning, both in its hidden sense and in its clear explanation, but it does not need to be examined right now. It applies not only to those who possess much, but simply to all human beings who give themselves over to faith once for all. So let us set this matter aside for the present.
What we have set before us, I think, has been shown to be in no way inferior to the promise. The Savior has in no way shut out the rich because of wealth itself or the surrounding of possessions, nor has he cut off salvation from them by a trench—if they are able and willing to bow under the commandments of God, to prefer their own life to temporary things, and to look toward the Lord with a fixed gaze, like sailors watching the signal of a good helmsman to see what he wants, what he commands, what he signals, what sign he gives to his own sailors, and where and from what direction he promises the harbor.
For what wrong does someone do if, by paying attention to his judgment and being sparing before faith, he collected a sufficient livelihood? Or is his case even more blameless if God, who allots fortune, settled him immediately into the house of such people, into a family abounding in money and prevailing in wealth? If someone is driven away from life because of an involuntary birth into wealth, then he is wronged by the very God who begot him—deemed worthy of temporary pleasure but deprived of eternal life. And why should wealth ever have sprung up from the earth at all, if it is the supplier and agent of death?
But if someone is able to bend the power of his possessions inward, to think moderate thoughts, to be self-controlled, to seek God alone, to breathe God, and to live as a citizen with God, then this man stands before the commandments as a poor person—free, unconquered, without sickness, unwounded by money. But if not, a camel will enter through a needle's eye more quickly than such a rich person will pass into the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25).
Greek
»ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐρχομένῳ ζωή[ν] ἐστιν αἰώνιος.«
»Εσονται οἱ πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι.« τοῦτο πολύχουν μέν ἐστι κατὰ τὴν ὑπόνοιαν καὶ τὸν σαφηνισμόν, οὐ μὴν ἔν γε τῷ παρόντι τὴν ζήτησιν ἀπαιτεῖ· οὐ γὰρ μόνον ῥέπει πρὸς τοὺς πολυκτήμονας, ἀλλ᾿ ἁπλῶς πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους τοὺς πίστει καθάπαξ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδιδόντας. ὥστε τοῦτο μὲν ἀνακείσθω τὰ νῦν. τὸ δέ γε προκείμενον ἡμῖν οἶμαι μηδέν τι ἐνδεέστερον τῆς ἐπαγγελίας δεδεῖχθαι, ὅτι τοὺς πλουσίους οὐδένα τρόπον ὁ σωτὴρ κατ᾿ αὐτόν γε τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν περιβολὴν τῆς κτήσεως ἀποκέκλεικεν οὐδ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀποτετάφρευκεν τὴν σωτηρίαν, εἴ γε δύναιντο καὶ βούλοιντο ὑποκύπτειν τοῦ θεοῦ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς καὶ τῶν προσκαίρων προτιμῷεν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ζωὴν καὶ βλέποιεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον ἀτενεῖ τῷ βλέμματι, καθάπερ εἰς ἀγαθοῦ κυβερνήτου νεῦμα δεδορκότες, τί βούλεται, τί προστάσσει, τί σημαίνει, τί δίδωσι τοῖς αὑτοῦ ναύταις [τὸ] σύνθημα, ποῦ καὶ πόθεν τὸν ὅρμον ἐπαγγέλλεται. τί γὰρ ἀδικεῖ τις, εἰ προσέχων τὴν γνώμην καὶ φειδόμενος πρὸ τῆς πίστεως βίον ἱκανὸν συνελέξατο; ἢ καὶ τὸ τούτου μᾶλλον ἀνέγκλητον, εἰ εὐθὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τὴν τύχην νέμοντος εἰς οἶκον τοιούτων ἀνθρώπων εἰσῳκίσθη καὶ γένος ἀμφιλαφὲς τοῖς χρήμασιν [ἰσχῦον] καὶ τῷ πλούτῳ κρατοῦν; εἰ γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀκούσιον ἐν πλούτῳ γένεσιν ἀπελήλαται ζωῆς, ἀδικεῖται μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τοῦ γειναμένου θεοῦ, προσκαίρου μὲν ἡδυπαθείας κατηξιωμένος, ἀιδίου δὲ ζωῆς ἀπεστερημένος, τί δ᾿ ὅλως πλοῦτον ἐχρῆν ἐκ γῆς ἀνατεῖλαί ποτε, εἰ χορηγὸς καὶ πρόξενός ἐστι θανάτου; ἀλλ᾿ εἰ δύναταί τις ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ὑπαρχόντων κάμπτειν τῆς ἐξουσίας καὶ μέτρια φρονεῖν καὶ σωφρονεῖν καὶ θεὸν μόνον ζητεῖν καὶ θεὸν ἀναπνεῖν καὶ θεῷ συμπολιτεύεσθαι. πτωχὸς οὗτος παρέστηκε ταῖς ἐντολαῖς, ἐλεύθερος, ἀήττητος, ἄνοσος, ἄτρωτος ὑπὸ χρημάτων· εἰ δὲ μή, θᾶττον κάμηλος διὰ βελόνης εἰσελεύσεται ἢ ὁ τοιοῦτος πλούσιος ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ παρελεύσεται.