Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? · §9 · Clement of Alexandria

Jesus loves the law-keeping rich man but calls him incomplete

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Clement is explaining Jesus' response to the rich man who said he had kept the commandments from his youth.

So Jesus does not rebuke him for failing to fulfill everything in the law. On the contrary, he loves him and defends him for his obedience in what he has learned. But he says he is incomplete with respect to eternal life, because he has not fulfilled the perfect things. He is a worker of the law, but idle in true life. Those things are good—who would deny it? For “the commandment is holy”—but only as a kind of child-leading with fear and preliminary teaching for the one advancing toward the supreme legislation and grace of Jesus. “Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). He does not make them slaves, as a slave would, but sons and brothers and co-heirs—those who accomplish the will of the Father.

Greek

Ὁ γοῦν Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἐλέγχει μὲν αὐτὸν ὡς πάντα τὰ ἐκ νόμου μὴ πεπληρωκότα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγαπᾷ καὶ ὑπερασπάζεται τῆς ἐν οἷς ἔμαθεν εὐπειθείας, ἀτελῆ δὲ εἶναί φησιν ὡς πρὸς τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν, ὡς οὐ τέλεια πεπληρωκότα καὶ νόμου μὲν ἐργάτην, ἀργὸν δὲ ζωῆς ἀληθινῆς. καλὰ μὲν οὖν κἀκεῖνα (τίς δ᾿ οὔ φησιν; ἡ γὰρ »ἐντολὴ ἁγία«) ἄχρι παιδαγωγίας τινὸς μετὰ φόβου καὶ προπαιδείας ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ νομοθεσίαν τὴν ἄκραν καὶ χάριν προχωροῦντα. πλήρωμα δὲ »νόμου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι«, οὐχὶ δὲ δούλους ποιῶν ὡς δοῦλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ υἱοὺς καὶ ἀδελφοὺς καὶ συγκληρονόμους τοὺς ἐπιτελοῦντας τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός.

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.