How to Live

Wealth and Alms

40 passages, 6 quoted here · Broad agreement in this library

Money, the danger of greed, and giving to the poor.

Where they stood

Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.

4 of the 5 writers here teach: “Wealth is for alms and the poor.”

teaches it partly rejects it later writer, summary only

Wealth is for alms and the poor4 teach

Barnabas Tertullian Clement Cyprian

Do not pile up lands as if this city were home1 teach

Hermas

Rich and poor help one another1 teach

Hermas

What each writer said, earliest first

Barnabas Teaches: Wealth is for alms and the poor

fl. c. 100 AD · Epistle of Barnabas 19

Here is the way of light: if you want to travel the road to the appointed destination, press on with your deeds. This is the knowledge given to us for walking in that way. Love the One who made you; fear the One who formed you; glorify the One who redeemed you from death.

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Greek

Ἡ οὖν ὁδὸς τοῦ φωτός ἐστιν αὕτη: ἐάν τις θέλων ὁδὸν ὁδεύειν ἐπὶ τὸν ὡρισμένον τόπον, σπεύσῃ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ. ἔστιν οὖν ἡ δοθεῖσα ἡμῖν γνῶσις τοῦ περιπατεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ τοιαύτη.

Hermas Teaches: Do not pile up lands as if this city were home

fl. c. 140 AD · Shepherd, Parable 1

He tells me, "You know that you are living here as foreigners, you servants of God, because your true city is far from this one. Since you know the city where you are going to live, why are you preparing fields, expensive arrays, buildings, and useless houses here?

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Greek

Λέγει μοι: Οἴδατε, φησίν, ὅτι ἐπὶ ξένης κατοικεῖτε ὑμεῖς οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ: ἡ γὰρ πόλις ὑμῶν μακράν ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης: εἰ οὖν οἴδατε, φησί, τὴν πόλιν ὑμῶν, ἐν ᾗ μέλλετε κατοικεῖν, τί ὧδε ὑμεῖς ἑτοιμάζετε ἀγροὺς καὶ παρατάξεις πολυτελεῖς καὶ οἰκοδομὰς καὶ οἰκήματα…

Hermas Teaches: Rich and poor help one another

fl. c. 140 AD · Shepherd, Parable 2

I was walking through the field, looking at an elm and a vine and thinking about them and their fruit, when the Shepherd appeared to me. He asked, "What are you debating within yourself about the elm and the vine?" I replied, "Lord, I am discussing it because they are remarkably suited to each other." He said, "These…

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Greek

Περιπατοῦντός μου εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν καὶ κατανοοῦντος πτελέαν καὶ ἄμπελον καὶ διακρίνοντος περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν, φανεροῦταί μοι ὁ ποιμὴν καὶ λέγει: Τί σὺ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ζητεῖς περὶ τῆς πτελέας καὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου; Συζητῶ, φημί, κύριε, ὅτι εὐπρεπέσταταί εἰσιν ἀλλήλαις.

Tertullian Teaches: Wealth is for alms and the poor

c. 155–c. 220 AD · Apology 39

I will now take up the affairs of the Christian sect, so that after refuting the charges against us I may display what is good. We are a body knit together by conscience, religion, divine discipline, and the covenant of our hope.

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Clement of Alexandria Teaches: Wealth is for alms and the poor

c. 150–c. 215 AD · The Instructor 6

Wealth, therefore, must be accepted in a worthy manner and shared generously, not in a mercenary or boastful spirit. We must not let the love of beauty turn into self-love and ignorance, or someone may say of us: his horse is worth fifteen talents, or his estate, or his servant, or his gold, yet he himself is valued at…

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Greek

Πλούτου τοίνυν μεταληπτέον ἀξιολόγως καὶ μεταδοτέον φιλανθρώπως, οὐ βαναύσως οὐδὲ ἀλαζονικῶς, οὐδὲ ἐκτρεπτέον τὸ φιλόκαλον εἰς φιλαυτίαν καὶ ἀπειροκαλίαν, μή πῃ ἄρα καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς φήσῃ τις· ὁ ἵππος αὐτοῦ πεντεκαίδεκα ταλάντων ἐστὶν ἄξιος ἢ τὸ χωρίον ἢ ὁ οἰκέτης ἢ τὸ χρυσίον, αὐτὸς…

Cyprian of Carthage Teaches: Wealth is for alms and the poor

c. 200–258 AD · On Works and Alms

God the Father and Christ have worked and continue to work countless, great divine benefits for our salvation. The Father sent the Son to preserve us and give us life, and the Son willingly was sent and became the son of man so that he might make us sons of God.

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Other passages filed here (34)