| Clement passage | Greek cited / alluded to | Synoptic locus | Markan corridor location | Gospel profile | Effect on Secret Mark / Canon thesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strom. 4.25.160.3 | ἐὰν μὴ στραφέντες γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία | Matt 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17 | Inside corridor (Mark 10) | Shared Synoptic saying, Matthean formulation with Markan locus | Mildly supportive (corridor compatibility, non-narrative use) |
In Stromateis 4.25.160.3 Clement explicitly invokes the dominical saying concerning becoming “like children,” introduced with the formula τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ εἰρημένον, followed by the conditional clause ἐὰν μὴ στραφέντες γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία. The wording reflects most closely Matthew 18:3, where conversion (στραφῆτε) and childlikeness are foregrounded, rather than Mark 10:15, which lacks the language of “turning” and frames the saying as a reception of the kingdom.
Nevertheless, the synoptic locus of the saying in Mark places it squarely within the discipleship corridor, immediately following Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples and his declaration that the kingdom belongs to those who receive it as a child. Clement’s usage therefore aligns with a saying that, in Mark, participates in the same instructional sequence on humility, renunciation, and reorientation of status that culminates in the rich man episode.
Clement significantly expands and moralizes the saying. Childlikeness is interpreted not psychologically or socially, but ethically and ascetically: purity of the flesh, holiness of the soul, abstention from evil works, and rebirth “from the womb of water.” The dominical logion thus becomes a vehicle for Clement’s broader sacramental and ethical theology, integrating baptismal regeneration with moral purity. The saying is detached from narrative context and redeployed as a theological axiom.
From a gospel-profile perspective, this passage is not a strict reproduction of Matthew, nor is it purely Markan. It represents a harmonized, Alexandrian reformulation, combining Matthean diction (στραφέντες) with a saying whose Markan placement anchors it within the corridor. Clement shows no interest in preserving synoptic distinctions; his concern is conceptual coherence rather than textual fidelity.
With respect to the Secret Mark / Canon thesis, the passage is mildly supportive but non-probative. It does not demonstrate narrative dependence on Mark, nor does it suggest access to a distinctive Markan recension. However, it once again confirms that Clement repeatedly draws on sayings that, in Mark, belong to the central discipleship sequence, and that these sayings are integrated into a consistent ethical and initiatory framework.
As elsewhere in Stromateis, the evidence is cumulative rather than decisive. Strom. 4.25.160.3 neither advances nor undermines the claim that Clement elsewhere worked from a Mark-shaped gospel tradition. It remains fully compatible with the observation that Mark functions, at least conceptually, as a privileged axis in Clement’s dominical material—even when the surface diction is Matthean.
