Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 40.3

Summary: The end is decisive: a good life that ends in vice is wasted, while a bad life can be redeemed by later repentance.

Greek text · Stählin 3:186

καὶ παρʼ ἕκαστα βοᾷ τὸ τέλος πάντων· ὥστε καὶ τῷ τὰ μέγιστα εὖ πεποιηκότι κατὰ τὸν βίον, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ τέλους ἐξοκείλαντι πρὸς κακίαν, ἀνόνητοι πάντες οἱ πρόσθεν πόνοι, ἐπὶ τῆς καταστροφῆς τοῦ δράματος ἐξάθλῳ γενομένῳ, τῷ τε χεῖρον καὶ ἐπισεσυρμένως βιώσαντι πρότερον ἔστιν ὕστερον μετανοήσαντι πολλοῦ χρόνου πολιτείαν πονηρὰν ἐκνικῆσαι τῷ μετὰ τὴν μετάνοιαν χρόνῳ·

English · Claude translation

And at every point the end of all things cries out: so that for one who has done the greatest good in his life, but at the end has run aground on vice, all his previous labors are useless, since at the catastrophe of the drama he has been put out of the contest; while one who lived worse and carelessly before can, repenting later, overcome a long evil way of life by the time after repentance.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:186 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Scripture

Ezek 18:24 · echo, medium confidence
Ezek 18:27 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics, Eschatology

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/40/3/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/40/3/).