| Clement passage | Greek cited / alluded to | Synoptic locus | Markan corridor location | Gospel profile | Effect on Secret Mark / Canon thesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strom. 26.1–2 | Ἔσονται οἱ πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι | Mark 10:31; Matt 19:30; Matt 20:16 | Inside corridor (Mark 10) | Markan maxim, non-Matthean narrative use | Supportive (corridor-confirming) |
In Stromateis 26.1–2 Clement explicitly cites the dominical aphorism “οἱ πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι,” a saying shared by Matthew and Mark, but whose narrative force and placement are distinctly Markan. In Mark 10:31 the saying functions as the concluding seal on the discipleship corridor: it follows immediately upon the rich man episode, the discussion of renunciation, persecution, recompense, and Peter’s claim to have left “all.” The saying is thus not free-floating, but programmatic, summing up the paradox of reversal that governs the entire corridor.
Clement’s treatment aligns precisely with this Markan function. He does not pursue the Matthean development found in Matthew 20:1–16 (the parable of the workers in the vineyard), nor does he interpret the saying through Matthean labor imagery or reward-equality logic. Instead, he treats the saying as a generalized eschatological inversion applicable to all believers who have “once and for all handed themselves over in faith.” This abstraction corresponds to Mark’s usage, where the saying closes a discourse on discipleship cost rather than introducing a new parabolic unit.
Moreover, Clement explicitly situates the saying within the same argumentative flow he has been developing throughout the immediately preceding sections: the salvation of the rich, the non-exclusion of wealth per se, and the decisive factor of obedience, willingness, and orientation toward the Lord’s command. The nautical imagery that follows (the pilot, the harbor, the signal) presupposes guidance and submission rather than contractual reward, again resonating with Mark’s emphasis on following rather than earning.
From the standpoint of the Secret Mark / Canon thesis, Stromateis 26.1–2 is positively corroborative. It demonstrates that Clement not only knows the Markan formulation of the saying, but deploys it in the same structural role it occupies in Mark—as a capstone to the discipleship corridor logic. The absence of Matthean narrative elaboration is decisive: Matthew’s vineyard parable is neither cited nor alluded to, even though it would have served Clement’s ethical aims had Matthew been the governing axis.
Accordingly, this passage strengthens the cumulative case that, in this entire complex of material, Clement’s operative gospel framework is Mark-shaped. The saying functions not as an isolated maxim but as part of a sustained Markan sequence extending from renunciation to reversal, entirely consistent with what is observed in Quis Dives Salvetur and with the broader hypothesis that Clement possessed and reasoned from a Mark-based gospel tradition.
