Quis dives salvetur

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Quis dives salvetur ( ancient Greek τίς ὁ σωζόμενος πλούσιος tís ho sōzómenos ploúsios ) “Which kingdom will be saved?” Is a text written by Clement of Alexandria around the year 200 AD . Written in Greek, it is usually quoted by its Latin title. This text is important as an early contribution to the development of Christian social ethics.

Clemens presented an interpretation of the pericope of the rich young man , interestingly not in the wording of the most favored Gospel of Matthew , but of the Gospel of Mark ( Mk 10.17–31  EU ). He dealt with a Christian piety as it is z. B. the Shepherd of Hermas represented. It was recommended by the Shepherd of Hermas that a rich man should repent and give away his property upon entering the Christian community. Rich and poor could support each other, one through prayer, the other through alms .

It is not known what prompted Clemens to systematically pursue the question of wealth among Christians. Perhaps Quis dives salvetur is some kind of consolation for troubled rich Christians. Clemens expressly reflected how unjust it would be of God to exclude someone who was born into a rich family from eternal life for that reason alone. However, the writing as a whole does not give the impression of being addressed to a specific readership.

Clemens showed a perspective of how wealthy people could nonetheless be Christians:

“For whoever possesses property and gold and silver and houses as God's gifts and God who gave them to serve for the good of men and is aware that he possesses all this more for his brothers than for himself, and is Lord of his Property, is not a slave to his property and does not carry it in his heart and does not make it the goal and content of his life, but always seeks to accomplish a noble and divine work and is capable if he should be robbed of his goods, to endure their loss with peace of mind as well as the abundance of them: he who has all these qualities is blessed by the Lord and called poor in spirit, worthy of becoming an heir of the kingdom of heaven. "

Christ does not ask that his possessions be thrown away, but that they are like a tool that can be used right or wrong.

Quis dives salvetur would be misunderstood as an alms theory , because Clemens demands from the wealthy that he continually strives for his poor fellow Christian: “Hurry up, use all your strength, be afraid that he will not want to know anything about you! Because not he received the order to accept something, but you received the order to give something. Meanwhile, the Lord did not say: Give! or grant! or do favors! or help! but rather: make yourself a friend! But a friend does not become a friend as a result of a single gift, but as a result of complete help and long-term intercourse. "

Work edition

literature

  • Adolf Martin Ritter : Christianity and property with Clement of Alexandria on the background of early Christian "piety" and the ethics of the imperial stoa . In: Charisma and Caritas: Essays on the history of the old church . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, pp. 283-308.
  • Andreas Lindemann : Property and Kingdom of God. The story "Jesus and the Rich" in the New Testament and in Clement of Alexandria . In: Faith, Action, Understanding: Studies on the Interpretation of the New Testament (= Scientific Studies on the New Testament.) Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2011, pp. 312–341.
  • Jörg Ulrich : Clemens Alexandrinus' "Quis dives salvetur" as a paradigm for assessing wealth and money in the old church . In: Jahrbuch für Biblische Theologie 21 (2006), pp. 213-238.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Quis dives salvetur , 3.2–4.1.
  2. ↑ Quis dives salvetur , 26.
  3. ^ Andreas Lindemann: Property and Kingdom of God , Tübingen 2011, p. 327.
  4. ↑ Quis dives salvetur , 16.
  5. ↑ Quis dives salvetur , 14.
  6. ↑ Adolf Martin Ritter: Christianity and property with Clement of Alexandria on the background of the early Christian “piety” and the ethics of the imperial stoa , Göttingen 1993, p. 302
  7. ↑ Lk 16.9  EU
  8. ↑ Quis dives salvetur , 32.