Can the wealthy be saved?

In his contemplation of the parable of the foolish rich man and poor Lazarus, St. Augustine points out that while Lazarus who was poor was carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham who was said to have been very rich (Gen. 13:2), the miserly rich man went down to Hades. It was not poverty that fitted Lazarus to rest in the bosom of Abraham, nor was it wealth that destroyed the rich man; rather, the godliness and acceptance of the former and the greed, hardness of heart, and stinginess of the latter. Otherwise, the bosom of the very rich Abraham (Luke 16:22) would not have been used as a symbol of the kingdom of God.

St. Augustine says, “Although the haughty rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day, died and was tormented in hell, nevertheless, if he

1120 Cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians 7 (ANF 1:62).

1121 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 2.13 (ANF 2:268).

1122 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 3.6 (ANF 2:279–280).

had shown mercy to the poor many covered with sores who lay at his door and was treated with scorn, he himself would have deserved mercy. And if the poor man’s merit had been his poverty, not his goodness, he surely would not have been carried by angels into the bosom of Abraham who had been rich in this life. This is intended to show us that on the one hand it was not poverty in itself that was divinely honored, nor, on the other, riches that were condemned, but that the godliness of the one and the ungodliness of the other had their own consequences, and, as the torment of fire was the lot of the ungodly rich man, so the bosom of the rich Abraham received the godly poor man.”¹¹²³

St. Clement of Alexandria says that we ought not to allow our domestic matters to become a burden for ourselves. Like a clever and wise traveler, we should keep things in their true perspective. A wife who loves her husband does not pack any more for the journey than what is needed. Asceticism and contentment are both treasures for a traveler on his journey towards heaven. Just as the foot determines the size of the shoe, it is also the body that governs what a person needs to acquire and possess.¹¹²⁴

St. Clement says, “If he is rich, he will be saved by distributing it. For as gushing wells, when pumped out, rise again to their former measure, so giving away, being the benignant spring of love, by communicating of its drink to the thirsty, again increases and is replenished, just as the milk is wont to flow into the breasts that are sucked or milked. For he who has the almighty God, the Word, is in want of nothing, and never is in straits for what he needs. For the Word is a possession that wants nothing.”¹¹²⁵ He also says that we should approach wealth with reason and wisdom; and when we give, it must be with love and not to show off.¹¹²⁶

“This best of maxims, then, ought to be perpetually repeated, ‘That the good man, being temperate and just,’ treasures up his wealth in heaven. He who has sold his worldly goods, and given them to the poor, finds the imperishable treasure.”¹¹²⁷ It seems to me that wealth is like a snake that wraps itself around a person and bites him, if the person does not handle it with caution or does not know how to snare the snake in a manner that protects him from its danger and constrains the movements of its tail.