Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (Clement)

Authorship, Date, and Context

Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (historically designated by its Latin title Quis Dives Salvetur? and Greek Tis ho sozomenos plousios) is an exegetical and moral homily authored by Titus Flavius Clemens, universally recognized in church history as Saint Clement of Alexandria, presiding scholar of the renowned Catechetical School of Alexandria. The authenticity of the treatise is unquestioned in both ancient and modern scholarship, explicitly affirmed by early historians such as Eusebius of Caesarea in Church History (III.23; VI.13) and Jerome in De Viris Illustribus (chapter 38).

Clement composed the homily in Alexandria between 190 and 202 CE, during his mature academic tenure and prior to his departure to Cappadocia occasioned by the persecution of Emperor Septimius Severus. The social context reflected the expanding Christian community of cosmopolitan Alexandria, which increasingly attracted affluent converts, merchant aristocrats, and Hellenistic scholars. Troubled by literalist readings of Mark 10 declaring it easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter God's Kingdom, many wealthy believers fell into despair. Clement addressed the treatise to counter both base sycophancy and spiritual hopelessness, formulating a sophisticated theological framework for the stewardship of wealth.

Structure

The work comprises 42 numbered chapters established in the critical editions of P. M. Barnard and Otto Stählin, organized into five cohesive thematic movements.

The discourse progresses systematically: an introduction (chapters 1–3) reproving obsequious flatterers and the despair of wealthy converts, portraying the Christian disciple as a spiritual athlete under the training of the Logos; an exposition of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10:17–31 (chapters 4–10), showing that Jesus calls the legalist beyond Mosaic compliance to spiritual perfection; an ontological analysis of material goods (chapters 11–26), arguing that Christ commands the extirpation of soul-passions rather than the outward abandonment of economic property; a pastoral theology of almsgiving and social solidarity (chapters 27–41), utilizing the parable of the Good Samaritan; and a dramatic hagiographical conclusion (chapter 42), narrating the recovery of the apostate youth by the Apostle John.

Key Themes and Passages

Central themes include the moral neutrality of material possessions (adiaphora), wealth understood as an instrument (organon) that takes its moral quality from the user's voluntary choice, and the Hellenistic Christian ideal of apatheia (freedom from debilitating passions). Clement argues that casting away external riches while retaining internal avarice produces double misery, whereas maintaining economic competence enables the Christian to practice charity and make friends with the unrighteous mammon (Luke 16:9).

In chapter fourteen, Clement articulates his defining thesis on the instrumental nature of wealth with philosophical rigor: 'Such an instrument is wealth. Are you able to make a right use of it? It is subservient to righteousness. Does one make a wrong use of it? It is, on the other hand, a minister of wrong.'

Summary by Parts

Flattery, despair, and the spiritual stadium (chapters 1–3): Clement denounces parasitic flatterers who puff up wealthy individuals with false praise; he exhorts rich believers not to abandon hope of the heavenly kingdom, urging them to enter the spiritual arena under the athletic training of Christ and the commandments.

The Rich Young Ruler in Mark (chapters 4–10): Clement examines Christ's dialogue in Mark 10; observing that the young man observed the Law from childhood, he notes that Mosaic obedience merely prepared the soul for true life; Christ invites him to abandon reliance on possessions to lay hold of divine grace.

Inner passions and wealth as an instrument (chapters 11–26): Clement criticizes pagan philosophers like Crates and Democritus who discarded riches for vainglory; he argues that selling possessions figuratively means expelling lust, greed, and anxiety from the heart; a rich believer who views goods as God's gift and ministers to the poor is truly 'poor in spirit'.

Almsgiving and the Good Samaritan (chapters 27–41): The homily urges energetic charity toward the destitute; Clement portrays Jesus as the compassionate Good Samaritan who binds the soul's wounds with wine and oil; he affirms that the prayers of the poor whom the rich relieve ascend as efficacious intercession before God.

The Apostle John and the young bandit (chapter 42): Clement relates how the Apostle John entrusted a promising young convert to a local bishop; neglected by his mentor, the youth joined a criminal gang and became their ruthless captain; learning of this, aged John rode alone into the mountain wilderness, confronted the armed outlaws, chased the weeping robber on foot, kissed his hand, and reconciled him through tears and penance to the Church.

Reception

Clement's homily stands as the foundational patristic work on Christian economic ethics, private property, and corporate philanthropy. Extensively excerpted by Eusebius of Caesarea in Church History (Book III, 23) and praised by Saint Jerome, it shaped subsequent fourth-century reflections on social justice by Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Augustine of Hippo.

The complete Greek text was preserved primarily in an eleventh-century El Escorial manuscript (Escorialensis Ω.III.19) and a Vatican witness (Vat. gr. 1302), with chapter 42 circulating widely in medieval monastic collections. The treatise was published in 1623 by Jesuit scholar Michael Ghislerius and edited critically by P. M. Barnard in Cambridge Texts and Studies (1897) and Otto Stählin in the Berlin Academy series (GCS 12, 1908). An English translation was published in volume two of The Ante-Nicene Fathers (1885).

Sources

• Francis Havey, Clement of Alexandria (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4) (1908).
• Alexander Roberts; James Donaldson; A. Cleveland Coxe, Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2) (1885).