Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
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Translated by John Patrick, D.D.
Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and
first published by T&T Clark in Edinburgh in 1867. Additional
introductionary material and notes provided for the American
edition by A. Cleveland Coxe, 1886.
Introduction.
According to Eusebius (H. E. vi. 36) the Commentaries on the Gospel of
Matthew were written about the same time as the Contra Celsum, when
Origen was over sixty years of age, and may therefore be probably
assigned to the period 246-248. This statement is confirmed by
internal evidence. In the portion here translated, books x.-xiv., he
passes by the verses Matt. xviii. 12, 13, and refers for the
exposition of them to his Homilies on Luke (book xiii. 29).
Elsewhere, he refers his readers for a fuller discussion on certain
points to his Commentaries on John (book xvi. 20), and on Romans (book
xvii. 32). Of the twenty-five books into which the work was divided,
the first nine, with the exception of two fragments, are lost; books
x.-xvii., covering the portion from Matt. xiii. 36 to xxii. 33, are
extant in the Greek, and the greater part of the remaining books
survives in a Latin version, which is co-extensive with the Greek from
book xii. 9 to book xvii. 36, and contains further the exposition from
Matt. xxii. 34 to xxvii. 66. The passages in Cramer's Catena do not
seem to be taken from the Commentaries. Of the numerous quotations
from Matthew only one (Matt. xxi. 35) can be definitely traced to this
section of the writings of Origen; and as this differs greatly from
our present text, and is moreover purely narrative, it is probably
taken like the others either from the Scholia (commaticum
interpretationis genus), or from the Homilies to which reference is
made by Jerome (Prol. in Matt. I. iv). The majority of them may be
ascribed to the Scholia.
In addition to the mss. already referred to (p. 292) the old Latin
version is often useful for determining the text, though it contains
some interpolations and has many omissions. The omissions (cf. book
xiii. 28, book xiv. 1, 3, book xiv. 19-22) are not due to any dogmatic
bias, but have been made by the translator or some subsequent
transcriber on the ground that the passages were uninteresting or
unimportant. The version is otherwise for the most part literal, and
has in some cases preserved the correct reading, though it often fails
just when it would have been of most service. For an estimate of the
work and method of Origen as an exegete, see pp. 290-292; and for a
fuller statement on some of the points here touched upon, see
Westcott's article on Origen in Smith's Dictionary of Christian
Biography (vol. iv.).
From the First Book of the Commentary on Matthew. [5150]
Concerning the four Gospels which alone are uncontroverted in the
Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the
Gospel according to Matthew, who was at one time a publican and
afterwards an Apostle of Jesus Christ, was written first; and that he
composed it in the Hebrew tongue and published it for the converts
from Judaism. The second written was that according to Mark, who
wrote it according to the instruction of Peter, who, in his General
Epistle, acknowledged him as a son, saying, "The church that is in
Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Mark my
son." [5151]And third, was that according to Luke, the Gospel
commended by [5152] Paul, which he composed for the converts from the
Gentiles. Last of all, that according to John.
Footnotes
[5150] This fragment is found in Eusebius, H.E. vi. 25.
[5151] 1 Pet. v. 13.
[5152] Or, who is commended by Paul.
.
From the Second Book of the Commentary on the Gospel According to
Matthew.
.
Book II. [5153]
The Unity and Harmony of Scripture.
"Blessed are the peacemakers...." [5154]To the man who is a
peacemaker in either sense there is in the Divine oracles nothing
crooked or perverse, for they are all plain to those who understand.
[5155]And because to such an one there is nothing crooked or
perverse, he sees therefore abundance of peace [5156] in all the
Scriptures, even in those which seem to be at conflict, and in
contradiction with one another. And likewise he becomes a third
peacemaker as he demonstrates that that which appears to others to be
a conflict in the Scriptures is no conflict, and exhibits their
concord and peace, whether of the Old Scriptures with the New, or of
the Law with the Prophets, or of the Gospels with the Apostolic
Scriptures, or of the Apostolic Scriptures with each other. For,
also, according to the Preacher, all the Scriptures are "words of the
wise like goads, and as nails firmly fixed which were given by
agreement from one shepherd;" [5157] and there is nothing superfluous
in them. But the Word is the one Shepherd of things rational which
may have an appearance of discord to those who have not ears to hear,
but are truly at perfect concord. For as the different chords of the
psalter or the lyre, each of which gives forth a certain sound of its
own which seems unlike the sound of another chord, are thought by a
man who is not musical and ignorant of the principle of musical
harmony, to be inharmonious, because of the dissimilarity of the
sounds, so those who are not skilled in hearing the harmony of God in
the sacred Scriptures think that the Old is not in harmony with the
New, or the Prophets with the Law, or the Gospels with one another, or
the Apostle with the Gospel, or with himself, or with the other
Apostles. But he who comes instructed in the music of God, being a
man wise in word and deed, and, on this account, like another
David--which is, by interpretation, skilful with the hand--will bring
out the sound of the music of God, having learned from this at the
right time to strike the chords, now the chords of the Law, now the
Gospel chords in harmony with them, and again the Prophetic chords,
and, when reason demands it, the Apostolic chords which are in harmony
with the Prophetic, and likewise the Apostolic with those of the
Gospels. For he knows that all the Scripture is the one perfect and
harmonised [5158] instrument of God, which from different sounds gives
forth one saving voice to those willing to learn, which stops and
restrains every working of an evil spirit, just as the music of David
laid to rest the evil spirit in Saul, which also was choking him.
[5159]You see, then, that he is in the third place a peacemaker,
who sees in accordance with the Scripture the peace of it all, and
implants this peace in those who rightly seek and make nice
distinctions in a genuine spirit.
Footnotes
[5153] This fragment, which is preserved in the Philocalia, c. vi., is
all that is extant of Book II.
[5154] Matt. v. 9.
[5155] Prov. viii. 8, 9.
[5156] Ps. lxxii. 7.
[5157] Ecc. xii. 11.
[5158] Or, fitted.
[5159] 1 Sam. xvi. 14.
.
Book X.
1. The Parable of the Tares: the House of Jesus.
"Then He left the multitudes and went into His house, and His
disciples came unto Him saying, Declare to us the parable of the tares
of the field." [5160]When Jesus then is with the multitudes, He is
not in His house, for the multitudes are outside of the house, and it
is an act which springs from His love of men to leave the house and to
go away to those who are not able to come to Him. Now, having
discoursed sufficiently to the multitudes in parables, He sends them
away and goes to His own house, where His disciples, who did not abide
with those whom He had sent away, come to Him. And as many as are
more genuine hearers of Jesus first follow Him, then having inquired
about His abode, are permitted to see it, and, having come, see and
abide with Him, all for that day, and perhaps some of them even
longer. And, in my opinion, such things are indicated in the Gospel
according to John in these words, "On the morrow again John was
standing and two of his disciples." [5161]And in order to explain
the fact that of those who were permitted to go with Jesus and see His
abode, the one who was more eminent becomes also an Apostle, these
words are added: "One of the two that heard John speak and followed
him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." [5162]And if then, unlike
the multitudes whom He sends away, we wish to hear Jesus and go to the
house and receive something better than the multitudes, let us become
friends of Jesus, so that as His disciples we may come to Him when He
goes into the house, and having come may inquire about the explanation
of the parable, whether of the tares of the field, or of any other.
And in order that it may be more accurately understood what is
represented by the house of Jesus, let some one collect from the
Gospels whatsoever things are spoken about the house of Jesus, and
what things were spoken or done by Him in it; for all the passages
collected together will convince any one who applies himself to this
reading that the letters of the Gospel are not absolutely simple as
some suppose, but have become simple to the simple by a divine
concession; [5163] but for those who have the will and the power to
hear them more acutely there are concealed things wise and worthy of
the Word of God.
Footnotes
[5160] Matt. xiii. 36.
[5161] John i. 35.
[5162] John i. 40.
[5163] Or, by a dispensation.
2. Exposition of the Parable.
"After these things He answered and said to them, He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of man." [5164]Though we have already, in
previous sections, according to our ability discussed these matters,
none the less shall we now say what is in harmony with them, even if
there is reasonable ground for another explanation. And consider now,
if in addition to what we have already recounted, you can otherwise
take the good seed to be the children of the kingdom, because
whatsoever good things are sown in the human soul, these are the
offspring of the kingdom of God and have been sown by God the Word who
was in the beginning with God, [5165] so that wholesome words about
anything are children of the kingdom. But while men are asleep who do
not act according to the command of Jesus, "Watch and pray that ye
enter not into temptation," [5166] the devil on the watch sows what
are called tares--that is, evil opinions--over and among what are
called by some natural conceptions, even the good seeds which are from
the Word. And according to this the whole world might be called a
field, and not the Church of God only, for in the whole world the Son
of man sowed the good seed, but the wicked one tares,--that is, evil
words,--which, springing from wickedness, are children of the evil
one. And at the end of things, which is called "the consummation of
the age," [5167] there will of necessity be a harvest, in order that
the angels of God who have been appointed for this work may gather up
the bad opinions that have grown upon the soul, and overturning them
may give them over to fire which is said to burn, that they may be
consumed. And so the angels and servants of the Word will gather from
all the kingdom of Christ all things that cause a stumbling-block to
souls and reasonings that create iniquity, which they will scatter and
cast into the burning furnace of fire. Then those who become
conscious that they have received the seeds of the evil one in
themselves, because of their having been asleep, shall wail and, as it
were, be angry against themselves; for this is the "gnashing of
teeth." [5168]Wherefore, also, in the Psalms it is said, "They
gnashed upon me with their teeth." [5169]Then above all "shall the
righteous shine," no longer differently as at the first, but all "as
one sun in the kingdom of their Father." [5170]Then, as if to
indicate that there was indeed a hidden meaning, perhaps, in all that
is concerned with the explanation of the parable, perhaps most of all
in the saying, "Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father," the Saviour adds, "He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear," [5171] thereby teaching those who think that in
the exposition, the parable has been set forth with such perfect
clearness that it can be understood by the vulgar, [5172] that even
the things connected with the interpretation of the parable stand in
need of explanation.
Footnotes
[5164] Matt. xiii. 37.
[5165] John i. 2.
[5166] Matt. xxvi. 41.
[5167] Matt. xiii. 39. Or, reading hos kaleitai for ho, and at the
end of things, there will of necessity be a harvest, which is called
the consummation of the age.
[5168] Matt. xiii. 42.
[5169] Ps. xxxv. 16.
[5170] Matt. xiii. 43.
[5171] Matt. xiii. 43.
[5172] Or, in little details.
3. The Shining of the Righteous. Its Interpretation.
But as we said above in reference to the words, "Then shall the
righteous shine as the sun," that the righteous will shine not
differently as formerly, but as one sun, we will, of necessity, set
forth what appears to us on the point. Daniel, knowing that the
intelligent are the light of the world, and that the multitudes of the
righteous differ in glory, seems to have said this, "And the
intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and from
among the multitudes of the righteous as the stars for ever and ever."
[5173]And in the passage, "There is one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one
star differeth from another star in glory: so also is the
resurrection of the dead," [5174] the Apostle says the same thing as
Daniel, taking this thought from his prophecy. Some one may inquire
how some speak about the difference of light among the righteous,
while the Saviour on the contrary says, "They shall shine as one
sun." I think, then, that at the beginning of the blessedness enjoyed
by those who are being saved (because those who are not such are not
yet purified), the difference connected with the light of the saved
takes place: but when, as we have indicated, he gathers from the
whole kingdom of Christ all things that make men stumble, and the
reasonings that work iniquity are cast into the furnace of fire, and
the worse elements utterly consumed, and, when this takes place, those
who received the words which are the children of the evil one come to
self-consciousness, then shall the righteous having become one light
of the sun shine in the kingdom of their Father. For whom will they
shine? For those below them who will enjoy their light, after the
analogy of the sun which now shines for those upon the earth? For, of
course, they will not shine for themselves. But perhaps the saying,
"Let your light shine before men," [5175] can be written "upon the
table of the heart," [5176] according to what is said by Solomon, in a
threefold way; so that even now the light of the disciples of Jesus
shines before the rest of men, and after death before the
resurrection, and after the resurrection "until all shall attain unto
a full-grown man," [5177] and all become one sun. Then shall they
shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Footnotes
[5173] Dan. xii. 3.
[5174] 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42.
[5175] Matt. v. 16.
[5176] Prov. vii. 3. Or, on the breadth of the heart.
[5177] Eph. iv. 13.
4. Concerning the Parable of the Treasure Hidden in the Field. The
Parable Distinguished from the Similitude.
"Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the
field, which a man found and hid." [5178]The former parables He
spoke to the multitudes; but this and the two which follow it, which
are not parables but similitudes in relation to the kingdom of heaven,
He seems to have spoken to the disciples when in the house. In regard
to this and the next two, let him who "gives heed to reading" [5179]
inquire whether they are parables at all. In the case of the latter
the Scripture does not hesitate to attach in each case the name of
parable; but in the present case it has not done so; and that
naturally. For if He spoke to the multitudes in parables, and "spake
all these things in parables, and without a parable spake nothing to
them," [5180] but on going to the house He discourses not to the
multitudes but to the disciples who came to Him there, manifestly the
things spoken in the house were not parables: for, to them that are
without, even to those to whom "it is not given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven," [5181] He speaks in parables. Some one
will then say, If they are not really parables, what are they? Shall
we then say in keeping with the diction of the Scripture that they are
similitudes (comparisons)? Now a similitude differs from a parable;
for it is written in Mark, "To what shall we compare the kingdom of
God, or in what parable shall we set it forth?" [5182]From this it
is plain that there is a difference between a similitude and a
parable. The similitude seems to be generic, and the parable
specific. And perhaps also as the similitude, which is the highest
genus of the parable, contains the parable as one of its species, so
it contains that particular form of similitude which has the same name
as the genus. This is the case with other words as those skilled in
the giving of many names have observed; who say that "impulse" [5183]
is the highest genus of many species, as, for example, of
"disinclination" [5184] and "inclination," and say that, in the case
of the species which has the same name as the genus, "inclination" is
taken in opposition to and in distinction from "disinclination."
Footnotes
[5178] Matt. xiii. 44.
[5179] 1 Tim. iv. 13.
[5180] Matt. xiii. 34.
[5181] Matt. xiii. 11.
[5182] Mark iv. 30.
[5183] horme; also inclination.
[5184] aphorme.
5. The Field and the Treasure Interpreted.
And here we must inquire separately as to the field, and separately as
to the treasure hidden in it, and in what way the man who has found
this hidden treasure goes away with joy and sells all that he has in
order to buy that field; and we must also inquire--what are the things
which he sells. The field, indeed, seems to me according to these
things to be the Scripture, which was planted with what is manifest in
the words of the history, and the law, and the prophets, and the rest
of the thoughts; for great and varied is the planting of the words in
the whole Scripture; but the treasure hidden in the field is the
thoughts concealed and lying under that which is manifest, "of wisdom
hidden in a mystery," "even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge hidden." [5185]But another might say that the
field is that which is verily full, which the Lord blessed, the Christ
of God; but the treasure hidden in it is the things said to have been
"hidden in Christ" by Paul, who says about Christ, "in whom are the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden." The heavenly things,
therefore, even the kingdom of heaven, as in a figure it is written in
the Scriptures--which are the kingdom of heaven, or Christ--Himself
the king of the ages, are the kingdom of heaven which is likened to a
treasure hidden in the field.
Footnotes
[5185] Col. ii. 3.
6. The Exposition Continued.
And at this point you will inquire, whether the kingdom of heaven is
likened only to the treasure hidden in the field, so that we are to
think of the field as different from the kingdom, or is likened to the
whole of this treasure hidden in the field, so that the kingdom of
heaven contains according to the similitude both the field and the
treasure hidden in the field. Now a man who comes to the field,
whether to the Scriptures or to the Christ who is constituted both
from things manifest and from things hidden, finds the hidden treasure
of wisdom whether in Christ or in the Scriptures. For, going round to
visit the field and searching the Scriptures and seeking to understand
the Christ, he finds the treasure in it; and, having found it, he
hides it, thinking that it is not without danger to reveal to
everybody the secret meanings of the Scriptures, or the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge in Christ. And, having hidden it, he goes away,
working and devising how he shall buy the field, or the Scriptures,
that he may make them his own possession, receiving from the people of
God the oracles of God with which the Jews were first entrusted.
[5186]And when the man taught by Christ has bought the field, the
kingdom of God which, according to another parable, is a vineyard, "is
taken from them and is given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof," [5187] --to him who in faith has bought the field, as the
fruit of his having sold all that he had, and no longer keeping by him
anything that was formerly his; for they were a source of evil to
him. And you will give the same application, if the field containing
the hidden treasure be Christ, for those who give up all things and
follow Him, have, as it were in another way, sold their possessions,
in order that, by having sold and surrendered them, and having
received in their place from God--their helper--a noble resolution,
they may purchase, at great cost worthy of the field, the field
containing the treasure hidden in itself.
Footnotes
[5186] Rom. iii. 2.
[5187] Matt. xxi. 43.
7. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. The Formation and
Difference of Pearls.
"Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant
seeking goodly pearls." [5188]There are many merchants engaged in
many forms of merchandise, but not to any one of these is the kingdom
of heaven like, but only to him who is seeking goodly pearls, and has
found one equal in value to many, a very costly pearl which he has
bought in place of many. I consider it reasonable, then, to make some
inquiry into the nature of the pearl. [5189]Be careful however to
note, that Christ did not say, "He sold all the pearls that he had,"
for he sold not only those which one seeking goodly pearls had bought,
but also everything which he had, in order to buy that goodly pearl.
We find then in those who write on the subject of stones, with regard
to the nature of the pearl, that some pearls are found by land, and
some in the sea. The land pearls are produced among the Indians only,
being fitted for signet-rings and collets and necklaces; and the sea
pearls, which are superior, are found among the same Indians, the best
being produced in the Red Sea. The next best pearls are those taken
from the sea at Britain; and those of the third quality, which are
inferior not only to the first but to the second, are those found at
Bosporus off Scythia. Concerning the Indian pearl these things
further are said. They are found in mussels, like in nature to very
large spiral snail-shells; and these are described as in troops making
the sea their pasture-ground, as if under the guidance of some leader,
conspicuous in colour and size, and different from those under him, so
that he has an analogous position to what is called the queen of the
bees. And likewise, in regard to the fishing for the best--that is,
those in India--the following is told. The natives surround with nets
a large circle of the shore, and dive down, exerting themselves to
seize that one of them all which is the leader; for they say that,
when this one is captured, the catching of the troop subject to it
costs no trouble, as not one of those in the troop remains stationary,
but as if bound by a thong follows the leader of the troop. It is
said also that the formation of the pearls in India requires periods
of time, the creature undergoing many changes and alterations until it
is perfected. And it is further reported that the shell--I mean, the
shell of the animal which bears the pearl--opens and gapes, as it
were, and being opened receives into itself the dew of heaven; when it
is filled with dew pure and untroubled, it becomes illumined and
brings forth a large and well-formed pearl; but if at any time it
receives dew darkened, or uneven, or in winter, it conceives a pearl
cloudy and disfigured with spots. And this we also find that if it be
intercepted by lightning when it is on the way towards the completion
of the stone with which it is pregnant, it closes, and, as it were in
terror, scatters and pours forth its offspring, so as to form what are
called "physemata." And sometimes, as if premature, they are born
small, and are somewhat cloudy though well-formed. As compared with
the others the Indian pearl has these features. It is white in
colour, like to silver in transparency, and shines through as with a
radiance somewhat greenish yellow, and as a rule is round in form; it
is also of tender skin, and more delicate than it is the nature of a
stone to be; so it is delightful to behold, worthy to be celebrated
among the more notable, as he who wrote on the subject of stones used
to say. And this is also a mark of the best pearl, to be rounded off
on the outer surface, very white in colour, very translucent, and very
large in size. So much about the Indian pearl. But that found in
Britain, they say, is of a golden tinge, but somewhat cloudy, and
duller in sparkle. And that which is found in the strait of Bosporus
is darker than that of Britain, and livid, and perfectly dim, soft and
small. And that which is produced in the strait of Bosporus is not
found in the "pinna" which is the pearl-bearing species of shells. but
in what are called mussels; and their habitat--I mean those at
Bosporus--is in the marshes. There is also said to be a fourth class
of pearls in Acarnania in the "pinnĉ" of oysters. These are not
greatly sought after, but are irregular in form, and perfectly dark
and foul in colour; and there are others also different from these in
the same Acarnania which are cast away on every ground.
Footnotes
[5188] Matt. xiii. 45.
[5189] Cf.Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 54, etc.
8. The Parable Interpreted is the Light of These Views.
Now, having collected these things out of dissertations about stones,
I say that the Saviour with a knowledge of the difference of pearls,
of which some are in kind goodly and others worthless, said, "The
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly
pearls;" [5190] for, if some of the pearls had not been worthless, it
would not have been said, "to a man seeking goodly pearls." Now among
the words of all kinds which profess to announce truth, and among
those who report them, he seeks pearls. And let the prophets be, so
to speak, the mussels which conceive the dew of heaven, and become
pregnant with the word of truth from heaven, the goodly pearls which,
according to the phrase here set forth, the merchantman seeks. And
the leader of the pearls, on the finding of which the rest are found
with it, is the very costly pearl, the Christ of God, the Word which
is superior to the precious letters and thoughts in the law and the
prophets, on the finding of which also all the rest are easily taken.
And the Saviour holds converse with all the disciples, as merchant-men
who are not only seeking the goodly pearls but who have found them and
possess them, when He says, "Cast not your pearls before swine."
[5191]Now it is manifest that these things were said to the
disciples from that which is prefixed to His words, "And seeing the
multitudes He went up into the mountain, and when He had sat down His
disciples came unto Him;" [5192] for, in the course of those words, He
said, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your
pearls before the swine." [5193]Perhaps, then, he is not a disciple
of Christ, who does not possess pearls or the very costly pearl, the
pearls, I mean, which are goodly; not the cloudy, nor the darkened,
such as the words of the heterodox, which are brought forth not at the
sunrise, but at the sunset or in the north, if it is necessary to take
also into the comparison those things on account of which we found a
difference in the pearls which are produced in different places. And
perhaps the muddy words and the heresies which are bound up with works
of the flesh, are the darkened pearls, and those which are produced in
the marshes, not goodly pearls.
Footnotes
[5190] Matt. xiii. 45.
[5191] Matt. vii. 6.
[5192] Matt. v. 1.
[5193] Matt. vii. 6.
9. Christ the Pearl of Great Price.
Now you will connect with the man seeking goodly pearls the saying,
"Seek and ye shall find," [5194] and this--"Every one that seeketh
findeth." [5195]For what seek ye? Or what does every one that
seeketh find? I venture to answer, pearls and the pearl which he
possesses, who has given up all things, and counted them as loss; "for
which," says Paul, "I have counted all things but loss that I may win
Christ;" [5196] by "all things" meaning the goodly pearls, "that I may
win Christ," the one very precious pearl. Precious, then, is a lamp
to men in darkness, and there is need of a lamp until the sun rise;
and precious also is the glory in the face of Moses, and of the
prophets also, I think, and a beautiful sight, by which we are
introduced so as to be able to see the glory of Christ, to which the
Father bears witness, saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am
well-pleased." [5197]But "that which hath been made glorious hath
not been made glorious in this respect by reason of the glory that
surpasseth;" [5198] and there is need to us first of the glory which
admits of being done away, for the sake of the glory which surpasseth;
as there is need of the knowledge which is in part, which will be done
away when that which is perfect comes. [5199]Every soul, therefore,
which comes to childhood, and is on the way to full growth, until the
fulness of time is at hand, needs a tutor and stewards and guardians,
in order that, after all these things, he who formerly differed
nothing from a bond-servant, though he is lord of all, [5200] may
receive, when freed from a tutor and stewards and guardians, the
patrimony corresponding to the very costly pearl, and to that which is
perfect, which on its coming does away with that which is in part,
when one is able to receive "the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ," [5201] having been previously exercised, so to speak, in
those forms of knowledge which are surpassed by the knowledge of
Christ. But the multitude, not perceiving the beauty of the many
pearls of the law, and all the knowledge, "in part," though it be, of
the prophets, suppose that they can, without a clear exposition and
apprehension of these, find in whole [5202] the one precious pearl,
and behold "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ," in comparison
with which all things that came before such and so great knowledge,
although they were not refuse in their own nature, appear to be
refuse. This refuse is perhaps the "dung" thrown down beside the fig
tree by the keeper of the vineyard, which is the cause of its bearing
fruit. [5203]
Footnotes
[5194] Matt. vii. 7.
[5195] Matt. vii. 8.
[5196] Phil. iii. 8.
[5197] Matt. iii. 17.
[5198] 2 Cor. iii. 10.
[5199] 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10.
[5200] Cf. Gal. iv. 1, 2.
[5201] Phil. iii. 8.
[5202] Or, absolutely.
[5203] Luke xiii. 8.
10. The Pearl of the Gospel in Relation to the Old Testament.
"To everything then is its season, and a time for everything under
heaven," [5204] a time to gather the goodly pearls, and a time after
their gathering to find the one precious pearl, when it is fitting for
a man to go away and sell all that he has in order that he may buy
that pearl. For as every man who is going to be wise in the words of
truth must first be taught the rudiments, and further pass through the
elementary instruction, and appreciate it highly but not abide in it,
as one who, having honoured it at the beginning but passed over
towards perfection, is grateful for the introduction because it was
useful at the first; so the perfect apprehension of the law and the
prophets is an elementary discipline for the perfect apprehension of
the Gospel, and all the meaning in the words and deeds of Christ.
[5204] Eccles. iii. 1.
Footnotes
11. The Parable of the Drag-Net.
"Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the
sea." [5205]As in the case of images and statues, the likenesses
are not likenesses in every respect of those things in relation to
which they are made; but, for example, the image painted with wax on
the plane surface of wood has the likeness of the surface along with
the colour, but does not further preserve the hollows and prominences,
but only their outward appearance; and in the moulding of statues an
endeavour is made to preserve the likeness in respect of the hollows
and the prominences, but not in respect of the colour; and, if the
cast be formed of wax, it endeavours to preserve both, I mean both the
colour and also the hollows and the prominences, but is not indeed an
image of the things in the respect of depth; so conceive with me also
that, in the case of the similitudes in the Gospel, when the kingdom
of heaven is likened unto anything, the comparison does not extend to
all the features of that to which the kingdom is compared, but only to
those features which are required by the argument in hand. And here,
accordingly, the kingdom of heaven is "like unto a net that was cast
into the sea," not (as supposed by some, [5206] who represent that by
this word the different natures of those who have come into the net,
to-wit, the evil and the righteous, are treated of), as if it is to be
thought that, because of the phrase "which gathered of every kind,"
there are many different natures of the righteous and likewise also of
the evil; for to such an interpretation all the Scriptures are
opposed, which emphasise the freedom of the will, and censure those
who sin and approve those who do right; or otherwise blame could not
rightly attach to those of the kinds that were such by nature, nor
praise to those of a better kind. For the reason why fishes are good
or bad lies not in the souls of the fishes, but is based on that which
the Word said with knowledge, "Let the waters bring forth creeping
things with living souls," [5207] when, also, "God made great
sea-monsters and every soul of creeping creatures which the waters
brought forth according to their kinds." [5208]There, accordingly,
"The waters brought forth every soul of creeping animals according to
their kinds," the cause not being in it; but here we are responsible
for our being good kinds and worthy of what are called "vessels," or
bad and worthy of being cast outside. For it is not the nature in us
which is the cause of the evil, but it is the voluntary choice which
worketh evil; and so our nature is not the cause of righteousness, as
if it were incapable of admitting unrighteousness, but it is the
principle which we have admitted that makes men righteous; for also
you never see the kinds of things in the water changing from the bad
kinds of fishes into the good, or from the better kind to the worse;
but you can always behold the righteous or evil among men either
coming from wickedness to virtue, or returning from progress towards
virtue to the flood of wickedness. Wherefore also in Ezekiel,
concerning the man who turns away from unrighteousness to the keeping
of the divine commandments, it is thus written: "But if the wicked
man turn away from all his wickednesses which he hath done," etc.,
down to the words, "that he turn from his wicked way and live;" [5209]
but concerning the man who returns from the advance towards virtue
unto the flood of wickedness it is said, "But in the case of the
righteous man turning away from his righteousness and committing
iniquity," etc., down to the words, "in his sins which he hath sinned
in them shall he die." [5210]Let those who, from the parable of the
drag-net, introduce the doctrine of different natures, tell us in
regard to the wicked man who afterwards turned aside from all the
wickednesses which he committed and keeps all the commandments of God,
and does that which is righteous and merciful, of what nature was he
when he was wicked? Clearly not of a nature to be praised. If verily
of a nature to be censured, of what kind of nature can he reasonably
be described, when he turns away from all his sins which he did? For
if he were of the bad class of natures, because of his former deeds,
how did he change to that which was better? Or if because of his
subsequent deeds you would say that he was of the good class, how
being good by nature did he become wicked? And you will also meet
with a like dilemma in regard to the righteous man turning away from
his righteousness and committing unrighteousness in all manner of
sins. For before he turned away from righteousness, being occupied
with righteous deeds he was not of a bad nature, for a bad nature
could not be in righteousness, since a bad tree--that is
wickedness--cannot produce good fruits,--the fruits that spring from
virtue. Again, on the other hand, if he had been of a good and
unchangeable nature he would not have turned away from the good after
being called righteous, so as to commit unrighteousness in all his
sins which he committed.
Footnotes
[5205] Matt. xiii. 47.
[5206] Valentinus and his followers.
[5207] Gen. i. 20.
[5208] Gen. i. 21.
[5209] Ezek. xviii. 20-23.
[5210] Ezek. xviii. 24.
12. The Divine Scriptures Compared to a Net.
Now, these things being said, we must hold that "the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every
kind, [5211] " in order to set forth the varied character of the
principles of action among men, which are as different as possible
from each other, so that the expression "gathered from every kind"
embraces both those worthy of praise and those worthy of blame in
respect of their proclivities towards the forms of virtues or of
vices. And the kingdom of heaven is likened unto the variegated
texture of a net, with reference to the Old and the New Scripture
which is woven of thoughts of all kinds and greatly varied. As in the
case of the fishes that fall into the net, some are found in one part
of the net and some in another part, and each at the part at which it
was caught, so in the case of those who have come into the net of the
Scriptures you would find some caught in the prophetic net; for
example, of Isaiah, according to this expression, or of Jeremiah or of
Daniel; and others in the net of the law, and others in the Gospel
net, and some in the apostolic net; for when one is first captured by
the Word or seems to be captured, he is taken from some part of the
whole net. And it is nothing strange if some of the fishes caught are
encompassed by the whole texture of the net in the Scriptures, and are
pressed in on every side and caught, so that they are unable to escape
but are, as it were, absolutely enslaved, and not permitted to escape
from the net. And this net has been cast into the sea--the
wave--tossed life of men in every part of the world, and which swims
in the bitter affairs of life. And before our Saviour Jesus Christ
this net was not wholly filled; for the net of the law and the
prophets had to be completed by Him who says, "Think not that I came
to destroy the law and the prophets, I came not to destroy but to
fulfil." [5212]And the texture of the net has been completed in the
Gospels, and in the words of Christ through the Apostles. On this
account, therefore, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was
cast into the sea and gathered of every kind." And, apart from what
has been said, the expression, "gathered from every kind," may show
forth the calling of the Gentiles from every race. And those who
attended to the net which was cast into the sea are Jesus Christ, the
master of the net, and "the angels who came and ministered unto Him,"
[5213] who do not draw up the net from the sea, nor carry it to the
shore beyond the sea,--namely, to things beyond this life, unless the
net be filled full, that is, unless the "fulness of the Gentiles" has
come into it. But when it has come, then they draw it up from things
here below, and carry it to what is figuratively called the shore,
where it will be the work of those who have drawn it up, both to sit
by the shore, and there to settle themselves, in order that they may
place each of the good in the net into its own order, according to
what are here called "vessels," but cast without and away those that
are of an opposite character and are called bad. By "without" is
meant the furnace of fire as the Saviour interpreted, saying, "So
shall it be at the consummation of the age. The angels shall come
forth and sever the wicked from among the righteous and shall cast
them into the furnace of fire." [5214]Only it must be observed,
that we are already taught by the parable of the tares and the
similitude set forth, that the angels are to be entrusted with the
power to distinguish and separate the evil from the righteous; for it
is said above, "The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and
them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire:
there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth." [5215]But here
it is said, "The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the righteous and shall cast them into the furnace of fire."
Footnotes
[5211] Matt. xiii. 47.
[5212] Matt. v. 17.
[5213] Matt. iv. 11.
[5214] Matt. xiii. 49, 50.
[5215] Matt. xiii. 42.
13. Relation of Men to Angels.
From this it does not follow, as some suppose, that the men who are
saved in Christ are superior even to the holy angels; for how can
those who are cast by the holy angels into vessels be compared with
those who cast them into vessels, seeing that they have been put under
the authority of the angels? While we say this, we are not ignorant
that the men who will be saved in Christ surpass some angels--namely,
those who have not been entrusted with this office--but not all of
them. For we read, "Which things angels desire to look into," [5216]
where it is not said "all" angels. And we know also this--"We shall
judge angels" [5217] where it is not said "all" angels. Now since
these things are written about the net and about those in the net, we
say that he who desires that, before the consummation of the age, and
before the coming of the angels to sever the wicked from among the
righteous, there should be no evil persons "of every kind" in the net,
seems not to have understood the Scripture, and to desire the
impossible. Wherefore let us not be surprised if, before the severing
of the wicked from among the righteous by the angels who are sent
forth for this purpose, we see our gatherings also filled with wicked
persons. And would that those who will be cast into the furnace of
fire may not be greater in number than the righteous! But since we
said in the beginning, that the parables and similitudes are not to be
accepted in respect of all the things to which they are likened or
compared, but only in respect of some things, we must further
establish from the things to be said, that in the case of the fishes,
so far as their life is concerned, an evil thing happens to them when
they are found in the net. For they are deprived of the life which is
theirs by nature, and whether they are cast into vessels or cast away,
they suffer nothing more than the loss of the life as it is in fishes;
but, in the case of those to whom the parable refers, the evil thing
is to be in the sea and not to come into the net, in order to be cast
along with the good into vessels. And in like manner the bad fishes
are cast without and thrown away; but the bad in the similitude before
us are cast into "the furnace of fire," that what is said in Ezekiel
about the furnace of fire may also overtake them--"And the Word of the
Lord came unto me saying, Son of man behold the house of Israel is
become to me all mixed with brass and iron," etc., down to the words,
"And ye shall know that I the Lord have poured My fury upon you."
[5218]
Footnotes
[5216] 1 Pet. i. 12.
[5217] 1 Cor. vi. 3.
[5218] Ezek. xviii. 17-22.
14. The Disciples as Scribes.
"Have ye understood all these things? They say, Yea." [5219]Christ
Jesus, who knows the things in the hearts of men, [5220] as John also
taught concerning Him in the Gospel, puts the question not as one
ignorant, but having once for all taken upon Him the nature of man, He
uses also all the characteristics of a man of which "asking" is one.
And there is nothing to be wondered at in the Saviour doing this,
since indeed the God of the universe, bearing with the manners of men
as a man beareth with the manners of his son, makes inquiry,
as--"Adam, where art thou?" [5221] and, "Where is Abel thy brother?"
[5222]But some one with a forced interpretation will say here that
the words "have understood" are not to be taken interrogatively but
affirmatively; and he will say that the disciples bearing testimony to
His affirmation, say, "Yea." Only, whether he is putting a question
or making an affirmation, it is necessarily said not "these things"
only,--which is demonstrative,--not "all things" only, but "all these
things." And here He seems to represent the disciples as having been
scribes before the kingdom of heaven; [5223] but to this is opposed
what is said in the Acts of the Apostles thus, "Now when they beheld
the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned
and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that
they had been with Jesus." [5224]Some one may inquire in regard to
these things--if they were scribes, how are they spoken of in the Acts
as unlearned and ignorant men? Or if they were unlearned and ignorant
men, how are they very plainly called scribes by the Saviour? And it
might be answered to these inquiries that, as a matter of fact, not
all the disciples but only Peter and John are described in the Acts as
unlearned and ignorant, but that there were more disciples in regard
to whom, because they understood all things, it is said, "Every
scribe," etc. Or it might be said that every one who has been
instructed in the teaching according to the letter of the law is
called a scribe, so that those who were unlearned and ignorant and led
captive by the letter of the law are spoken of as scribes in a
particular sense. And it is very specially the characteristic of
ignorant men, who are unskilled in figurative interpretation and do
not understand what is concerned with the mystical [5225] exposition
of the Scriptures, but believe the bare letter, and, vindicate it,
that they call themselves scribes. And so one will interpret the
words, "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," [5226] as
having been said to every one that knows nothing but the letter. Here
you will inquire if the scribe of the Gospel be as the scribe of the
law, and if the former deals with the Gospel, as the latter with the
law, reading and hearing and telling "those things which contain an
allegory," [5227] so as, while preserving the historic truth of the
events, to understand the unerring principle of mystic interpretation
applied to things spiritual, so that the things learned may not be
"spiritual things whose characteristic is wickedness," [5228] but may
be entirely opposite to such, namely, spiritual things whose
characteristic is goodness. And one is a scribe "made a disciple to
the kingdom of heaven" in the simpler sense, when he comes from
Judaism and receives the teaching of Jesus Christ as defined by the
Church; but he is a scribe in a deeper sense, when having received
elementary knowledge through the letter of the Scriptures he ascends
to things spiritual, which are called the kingdom of the heavens. And
according as each thought is attained, and grasped abstractly [5229]
and proved by example and absolute demonstration, can one understand
the kingdom of heaven, so that he who abounds in knowledge free from
error is in the kingdom of the multitude of what are here represented
as "heavens." So, too, you will allegorise the word, "Repent, for the
kingdom of the heavens is at hand," [5230] as meaning that the
scribes--that is, those who rest satisfied in the bare letter--may
repent of this method of interpretation and be instructed in the
spiritual teaching which is called the kingdom of the heavens through
Jesus Christ the living Word. Wherefore, also, so far as Jesus
Christ, "who was in the beginning with God, God the word," [5231] has
not His home in a soul, the kingdom of heaven is not in it, but when
any one becomes nigh to admission of the Word, to him the kingdom of
heaven is nigh. But if the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God
are the same thing in reality, [5232] if not in idea, manifestly to
those to whom it is said, "The kingdom of God is within you," [5233]
to them also it might be said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you;"
and most of all because of the repentance from the letter unto the
spirit; since "When one turn to the Lord, the veil over the letter is
taken away. But the Lord is the Spirit." [5234]And he who is truly
a householder is both free and rich; rich because from the office of
the scribe he has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven, in
every word of the Old Testament, and in all knowledge concerning the
new teaching of Christ Jesus, and has this riches laid up in his own
treasure-house--in heaven, in which he stores his treasure as one who
has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven,--where neither moth
doth consume, nor thieves break through. [5235]And in regard to
him, who, as we have said, lays up treasure in heaven, we may truly
lay down that not one moth of the passions can touch his spiritual and
heavenly possessions. "A moth of the passions," I said, taking the
suggestion from the "Proverbs" in which it is written, "a worm in
wood, so pain woundeth the heart of man." [5236]For pain is a worm
and a moth, which wounds the heart which has not its treasures in
heaven and spiritual things, for if a man has his treasure in
these--"for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also,"
[5237] --he has his heart in heaven, and on account of it he says,
"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear."
[5238]And so neither can thieves in regard to whom the Saviour
said, "All that came before Me are thieves and robbers," [5239] break
through those things which are treasured up in heaven, and through the
heart which is in heaven and therefore says, "He raised us up with
Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ,"
[5240] and, "Our citizenship is in heaven." [5241]
Footnotes
[5219] Matt. xiii. 51.
[5220] John ii. 25.
[5221] Gen. iii. 9.
[5222] Gen. iv. 9.
[5223] Matt. xiii. 52.
[5224] Acts iv. 13.
[5225] Or, anagogical.
[5226] Matt. xxiii. 13.
[5227] Gal. iv. 24.
[5228] Eph. vi. 12.
[5229] Or, in an exalted sense.
[5230] Matt. iii. 2.
[5231] John i. 1, 2.
[5232] Or, substance.
[5233] Luke xvii. 21.
[5234] 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17.
[5235] Matt. vi. 20.
[5236] Prov. xxv. 20.
[5237] Matt. vi. 21.
[5238] Ps. xxvii. 3.
[5239] John x. 8.
[5240] Eph. ii. 6.
[5241] Phil. iii. 20.
15. The Householder and His Treasury.
Now since "every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is a householder who bringeth forth out
of his treasury things new and old," [5242] it clearly follows, by
"conversion of the proposition," as it is called, that every one who
does not bring forth out of his treasury things new and old, is not a
scribe who has been made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven. We
must endeavour, therefore, in every way to gather in our heart, "by
giving heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching," [5243] and by
"meditating in the law of the Lord day and night," [5244] not only the
new oracles of the Gospels and of the Apostles and their Revelation,
but also the old things in the law "which has the shadow of the good
things to come," [5245] and in the prophets who prophesied in
accordance with them. And these things will be gathered together,
when we also read and know, and remembering them, compare at a fitting
time things spiritual with spiritual, not comparing things that cannot
be compared with one another, but things which admit of comparison,
and which have a certain likeness of diction signifying the same
thing, and of thoughts and of opinions, so that by the mouth of two or
three or more witnesses [5246] from the Scripture, we may establish
and confirm every word of God. By means of them also we must refute
those who, as far as in them lies, cleave in twain the Godhead and cut
off the New from the Old, [5247] so that they are far removed from
likeness to the householder who brings forth out of his treasury
things new and old. And since he who is likened to any one is
different from the one to whom he is likened, the scribe "who is made
a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven" will be the one who is likened,
but different from him is the householder "who brings out of his
treasury things new and old." But he who is likened to him, as in
imitation of him, wishes to do that which is like. Perhaps, then, the
man who is a householder is Jesus Himself, who brings forth out of His
treasury, according to the time of the teaching, things new, things
spiritual, which also are always being renewed by Him in the "inner
man" of the righteous, who are themselves always being renewed day by
day, [5248] and old things, things "written and engraven on stones,"
[5249] and in the stony hearts of the old man, so that by comparison
of the letter and by exhibition of the spirit He may enrich the scribe
who is made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven, and make him like
unto Himself; until the disciple shall be as the Master, imitating
first the imitator of Christ, and after him Christ Himself, according
to that which is said by Paul, "Be ye imitators of me even as I also
of Christ." [5250]And likewise, Jesus the householder may in the
simpler sense bring forth out of His treasury things new,--that is,
the evangelic teaching--and things old,--that is, the comparison of
the sayings which are taken from the law and the prophets, of which we
may find examples in the Gospels. And with regard to these things new
and old, we must attend also to the spiritual law which says in
Leviticus, "And ye shall eat old things, and the old things of the
old, and ye shall bring forth the old from before the new; and I will
set my tabernacle among you." [5251]For we eat with blessing the
old things,--the prophetic words,--and the old things of the old
things,--the words of the law; and, when the new and evangelical words
came, living according to the Gospel we bring forth the old things of
the letter from before the new, and He sets His tabernacle in us,
fulfilling the promise which He spoke, "I will dwell among them and
walk in them." [5252]
Footnotes
[5242] Matt. xiii. 52.
[5243] 1 Tim. iv. 13.
[5244] Ps. i. 2.
[5245] Heb. x. 1.
[5246] Matt. xviii. 16.
[5247] Marcion and his school.
[5248] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
[5249] 2 Cor. iii. 7.
[5250] 1 Cor. xi. 1.
[5251] Lev. xxvi. 10, 11.
[5252] Lev. xxvi. 12; 2 Cor. vi. 16.
16. Parables in Relation to Similitudes. Jesus in His Own Country.
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, He
departed thence. And coming into His own country." [5253]Since we
inquired above whether the things spoken to the multitude were
parables, and those spoken to the disciples were similitudes, and set
forth observations bearing on this in my judgment not contemptible,
you must know that the sentence which is subjoined, "And it came to
pass when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence," will
appear to be in opposition to all these arguments, as applying not
only to the parables, but also to the similitudes as we have
expounded. We inquire therefore whether all these things are to be
rejected, or whether we must speak of two kinds of parables, those
spoken to the multitudes, and those announced to the disciples; or
whether we are to think of the name of parable as equi-vocal; or
whether the saying, "And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these
parables," is to be referred only to the parables above, which come
before the similitudes. For, because of the saying, "To you it is
given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the rest
in parables," [5254] it was not possible to say to the disciples,
inasmuch as they were not of those without, that the Saviour spoke to
them in parables. And it follows from this, that the saying, "And it
came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed
thence," is to be referred to the parables spoken above, or that the
name parable is equivocal, or that there are two kinds of parables, or
that these which we have named similitudes were not parables at all.
And observe that it was outside of His own country He speaks the
parables "which, when He had finished, He departed thence; and coming
into His own country He taught them in their synagogue." And Mark
says, "And He came into His own country and His disciples follow Him."
[5255]We must therefore inquire whether, by the expression, "His
own country," is meant Nazareth or Bethlehem,--Nazareth, because of
the saying, "He shall be called a Nazarene," [5256] or Bethlehem,
since in it He was born. And further I reflect whether the
Evangelists could have said, "coming to Bethlehem," or, "coming to
Nazareth." They have not done so, but have named it "His country,"
because of something being declared in a mystic sense in the passage
about His country,--namely, the whole of Judĉa,--in which He was
dishonoured according to the saying, "A prophet is not without honour,
save in his own country." [5257]And if anyone thinks of Jesus
Christ, "a stumbling-block to the Jews," [5258] among whom He is
persecuted even until now, but proclaimed among the Gentiles and
believed in,--for His word has run over the whole world,--he will see
that in His own country Jesus had no honour, but that among those who
were "strangers from the covenants," [5259] the Gentiles, He is held
in honour. But what things He taught and spake in their synagogue the
Evangelists have not recorded, but only that they were so great and of
such a nature that all were astonished. And probably the things
spoken were too high to be written down. Only be it noted, He taught
in their synagogue, not separating from it, nor disregarding it.
Footnotes
[5253] Matt. xiii. 53, 54.
[5254] Matt. xiii. 11.
[5255] Mark vi. 1.
[5256] Matt. ii. 23.
[5257] Matt. xiii. 57.
[5258] 1 Cor. i. 23.
[5259] Eph. ii. 12.
17. The Brethren of Jesus.
And the saying, "Whence hath this man this wisdom," [5260] indicates
clearly that there was a great and surpassing wisdom in the words of
Jesus worthy of the saying, "lo, a greater than Solomon is here."
[5261]And He was wont to do greater miracles than those wrought
through Elijah and Elisha, and at a still earlier date through Moses
and Joshua the son of Nun. And they spoke, wondering, (not knowing
that He was the son of a virgin, or not believing it even if it was
told to them, but supposing that He was the son of Joseph the
carpenter,) "is not this the carpenter's son?" [5262]And
depreciating the whole of what appeared to be His nearest kindred,
they said, "Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James
and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all
with us?" [5263]They thought, then, that He was the son of Joseph
and Mary. But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel
according to Peter, [5264] as it is entitled, or "The Book of James,"
[5265] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former
wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to
preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body
of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee," [5266] might not know intercourse with a man after
that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high
overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus
was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in
chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to
any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity. And James is he
whom Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians that he saw, "But other
of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." [5267]
And to so great a reputation among the people for righteousness did
this James rise, that Flavius Josephus, who wrote the "Antiquities of
the Jews" in twenty books, when wishing to exhibit the cause why the
people suffered so great misfortunes that even the temple was razed to
the ground, said, that these things happened to them in accordance
with the wrath of God in consequence of the things which they had
dared to do against James the brother of Jesus who is called Christ.
[5268]And the wonderful thing is, that, though he did not accept
Jesus as Christ, he yet gave testimony that the righteousness of James
was so great; and he says that the people thought that they had
suffered these things because of James. And Jude, who wrote a letter
of few lines, it is true, but filled with the healthful words of
heavenly grace, said in the preface, "Jude, the servant of Jesus
Christ and the brother of James." [5269]With regard to Joseph and
Simon we have nothing to tell; but the saying, "And His sisters are
they not all with us," [5270] seems to me to signify something of this
nature--they mind our things, not those of Jesus, and have no unusual
portion of surpassing wisdom as Jesus has. And perhaps by these
things is indicated a new doubt concerning Him, that Jesus was not a
man but something diviner, inasmuch as He was, as they supposed, the
son of Joseph and Mary, and the brother of four, and of the
others--the women--as well, and yet had nothing like to any one of His
kindred, and had not from education and teaching come to such a height
of wisdom and power. For they also say elsewhere, "How knoweth this
man letters having never learned?" [5271] which is similar to what is
here said. Only, though they say these things and are so perplexed
and astonished, they did not believe, but were offended in Him; as if
they had been mastered in the eyes of their mind by the powers which,
in the time of the passion, He was about to lead in triumph on the
cross.
Footnotes
[5260] Matt. xiii. 54.
[5261] Matt. xii. 42.
[5262] Matt. xiii. 55.
[5263] Matt. xiii. 55, 56.
[5264] The Gospel of Peter, of which a fragment was recovered in 1886
and published in 1892.
[5265] Protevangelium Jacobi, c. 9.
[5266] Luke i. 35.
[5267] Gal. i. 19.
[5268] Jos. Ant. xviii. 4.
[5269] Jude 1.
[5270] Matt. xiii. 56.
[5271] John vii. 15.
18. Prophets in Their Country.
"But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in
his own country." [5272]We must inquire whether the expression has
the same force when applied universally to every prophet (as if each
one of the prophets was dishonoured in his own country only, but not
as if every one who was dishonoured was dishonoured in his country);
or, because of the expression being singular, these things were said
about one. If, then, these words are spoken about one, these things
which have been said suffice, if we refer that which is written to the
Saviour. But if it is general, it is not historically true; for
Elijah did not suffer dishonour in Tishbeth of Gilead, nor Elisha in
Abelmeholah, nor Samuel in Ramathaim, nor Jeremiah in Anathoth. But,
figuratively interpreted, it is absolutely true; for we must think of
Judĉa as their country, and that famous Israel as their kindred, and
perhaps of the body as the house. For all suffered dishonour in Judĉa
from the Israel which is according to the flesh, while they were yet
in the body, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, as having
been spoken in censure to the people, "Which of the prophets did not
your fathers persecute, who showed before of the coming of the
Righteous one?" [5273]And by Paul in the First Epistle to the
Thessalonians like things are said: "For ye brethren became imitators
of the churches of God which are in Judĉa in Christ Jesus, for ye also
suffered the same things of your own countrymen even as they did of
the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave
out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men." [5274]A
prophet, then, is not without honour among the Gentiles; for either
they do not know him at all, or, having learned and received him as a
prophet, they honour him. And such are those who are of the Church.
Prophets suffer dishonour, first, when they are persecuted, according
to historical fact, by the people, and, secondly, when their prophecy
is not believed by the people. For if they had believed Moses and the
prophets they would have believed Christ, who showed that when men
believed Moses and the prophets, belief in Christ logically followed,
and that when men did not believe Christ they did not believe Moses.
[5275]Moreover, as by the transgression of the law he who sins is
said to dishonour God, so by not believing in that which is prophesied
the prophet is dishonoured by the man who disbelieves the prophecies.
And so far as the literal truth is concerned, it is useful to recount
what things Jeremiah suffered among the people in relation to which he
said, "And I said, I will not speak, nor will I call upon the name of
the Lord." [5276]And again, elsewhere, "I was continually being
mocked." [5277]And how great sufferings he endured from the then
king of Israel are written in his prophecy. And it is also written
that some of the people often came to stone Moses to death; for his
fatherland was not the stones of any place, but the people who
followed him, among whom also he was dishonoured. And Isaiah is
reported to have been sawn asunder by the people; and if any one does
not accept the statement because of its being found in the Apocryphal
Isaiah, [5278] let him believe what is written thus in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were
tempted;" [5279] for the expression, "They were sawn asunder," refers
to Isaiah, just as the words, "They were slain with the sword," refer
to Zacharias, who was slain "between the sanctuary and the altar,"
[5280] as the Saviour taught, bearing testimony, as I think, to a
Scripture, though not extant in the common and widely circulated
books, but perhaps in apocryphal books. And they, too, were
dishonoured in their own country among the Jews who went about "in
sheep-skins, in goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted," and so on;
[5281] "For all that will to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution." [5282]And probably because Paul knew this, "That a
prophet has no honour in his own country," though he preached the Word
in many places he did not preach it in Tarsus. And the Apostles on
this account left Israel and did that which had been enjoined on them
by the Saviour, "Make disciples of all the nations," [5283] and, "Ye
shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judĉa and Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth." [5284]For they did that
which had been commanded them in Judĉa and Jerusalem; but, since a
prophet has no honour in his own country, when the Jews did not
receive the Word, they went away to the Gentiles. Consider, too, if,
because of the fact that the saying, "I will pour forth of My Spirit
upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy," [5285] has been fulfilled in
the churches from the Gentiles, you can say that those formerly of the
world and who by believing became no longer of the world, having
received the Holy Spirit in their own country--that is, the world--and
prophesying, have not honour, but are dishonoured. Wherefore blessed
are they who suffer the same things as the prophets, according to what
was said by the Saviour, "For in the same manner did their fathers
unto the prophets." [5286]Now if any one who attends carefully to
these things be hated and attacked, because of his living with
rigorous austerity, and his reproof of sinners, as a man who is
persecuted and reproached for the sake of righteousness, he will not
only not be grieved, but will rejoice and be exceeding glad, being
assured that, because of these things, he has great reward in heaven
from Him who likened him to the prophets on the ground of his having
suffered the same things. Therefore, he who zealously imitates the
prophetic life, and attains to the spirit which was in them, must be
dishonoured in the world, and in the eyes of sinners, to whom the life
of the righteous man is a burden.
Footnotes
[5272] Matt. xiii. 57.
[5273] Acts vii. 52.
[5274] 1 Thess. ii. 14, 15.
[5275] John v. 46.
[5276] Jer. xx. 9.
[5277] Jer. xx. 7.
[5278] Probably the Ascensio Isaiĉ. Cf. Orig. Ep. ad Afric. c. 9.
[5279] Heb. xi. 37.
[5280] Matt. xxiii. 35. Cf. Orig. Ep. ad Afric. c. 9.
[5281] Heb. xi. 37.
[5282] 2 Tim. iii. 12.
[5283] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[5284] Acts i. 8.
[5285] Joel ii. 28.
[5286] Luke vi. 23.
19. Relation of Faith and Unbelief to the Supernatural Powers of
Jesus.
Following this you may see, "He did not there many mighty works
because of their unbelief." [5287]We are taught by these things
that powers were found in those who believed, since "to every one that
hath shall be given and he shall have abundance," [5288] but among
unbelievers not only did the powers not work, but as Mark wrote, "They
could not work." [5289]For attend to the words, "He could not there
do any mighty works," for it is not said, "He would not," but "He
could not; "as if there came to the power when working co-operation
from the faith of him on whom the power was working, but this
co-operation was hindered in its exercise by unbelief. See, then,
that to those who said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said,
"Because of your little faith." [5290]And to Peter, when he began
to sink, it was said, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou
doubt?" [5291]But, moreover, she who had the issue of blood, who
did not ask for the cure, but only reasoned that if she were to touch
the hem of His garment she would be healed, was healed on the spot.
And the Saviour, acknowledging the method of healing, says, "Who
touched Me? For I perceived that power went forth from Me." [5292]
And perhaps, as in the case of material things there exists in some
things a natural attraction towards some other thing, as in the magnet
for iron, and in what is called naphtha for fire, so there is an
attraction in such faith towards the divine power, according to what
is said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say
unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall
remove." [5293]And Matthew and Mark, wishing to set forth the
excellency of the divine power, that it has power even in unbelief,
but not so great power as it has in the faith of those who are being
benefited, seem to me to have said with accuracy, not that He did not
"any" mighty works because of their unbelief, but that He did not
"many" there. [5294]And Mark also does not say, that He could not
do any mighty work there, and stop at that point, but added, "Save
that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them," [5295]
the power in Him thus overcoming the unbelief. Now it seems to me
that, as in the case of material things, tillage is not sufficient in
itself for the gathering in of the fruits, unless the air cooperates
to this end, nay, rather, He who forms the air with whatever quality
He wills and makes it whatever He wills; nor the air apart from
tillage, but rather He who by His providence has enacted that the
things which spring up from the earth could not spring up apart from
tillage; for this He has done once for all in the law, "Let the earth
put forth grass sowing seed after its kind and after its likeness;"
[5296] so also neither do the operations of the powers, apart from the
faith of those who are being healed, exhibit the absolute work of
healing, nor faith, however great it may be, apart from the divine
power. And that which is written about wisdom, you may apply also to
faith, and to the virtues specifically, so as to make a precept of
this kind, "If any one be perfect in wisdom among the sons of men, and
the power that comes from Thee be wanting, he will be reckoned as
nothing;" [5297] or, "If any one be perfect in self-control, so far as
is possible for the sons of men, and the control that is from Thee be
wanting, he will be reckoned as nothing;" or, "If any one be perfect
in righteousness, and in the rest of virtues, and the righteousness
and the rest of the virtues that are from Thee be wanting to him, he
will be reckoned as nothing." Wherefore, "Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength," [5298] for that
which is fit matter for glorying is not ours, but is the gift of God;
the wisdom is from Him, and the strength is from Him; and so with the
rest.
Footnotes
[5287] Matt. xiii. 58.
[5288] Matt. xiii. 12.
[5289] Matt. xvii. 19, 20.
[5290] Matt. xiv. 31.
[5291] Luke viii. 45, 46.
[5292] Matt. xvii. 20.
[5293] Matt. xiii. 58.
[5294] Mark vi. 5.
[5295] Mark vi. 5.
[5296] Gen. i. 11.
[5297] Wisdom of Solomon ix. 6.
[5298] Jer. ix. 23.
20. Different Conceptions of John the Baptist.
"At that season Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus
and said unto his own servants, This is John the Baptist." [5299]In
Mark [5300] it is the same, and also in Luke. [5301]The Jews had
different opinions, some false, such as the Sadducees held about the
resurrection of the dead, that they do not rise, and in regard to
angels that they do not exist, but that those things which were
written about them were only to be interpreted figuratively, but had
no reality in point of fact; and some true opinions, such as were
taught by the Pharisees about the resurrection of the dead that they
rise. We must therefore here inquire, whether the opinion regarding
the soul, mistakenly held by Herod and some from among the people, was
somewhat like this--that John, who a little before had been slain by
him, had risen from the dead after he had been beheaded, and was the
same person under a different name, and being now called Jesus was
possessed of the same powers which formerly wrought in John. For what
credibility is there in the idea that One, who was so widely known to
the whole people, and whose name was noised abroad in the whole of
Judĉa, whom they declared to be the son of the carpenter and Mary, and
to have such and such for brothers and sisters, was thought to be not
different from [5302] John whose father was Zacharias, and whose
mother was Elisabeth, who were themselves not undistinguished among
the people? But it is probable that the fact of his being the Son of
Zacharias was not unknown to the people, who thought with regard to
John that he was truly a prophet, and were so numerous that the
Pharisees, in order to avoid the appearance of saying that which was
displeasing to the people, were afraid to answer the question, "Was
his baptism from heaven or from men?" [5303]And perhaps, also, to
some of them had come the knowledge of the incident of the vision
which was seen in the temple, when Gabriel appeared to Zacharias.
What credibility, forsooth, has the erroneous opinion, whether of
Herod or of some of the people, that John and Jesus were not two
persons, but that it was one and the same person John who rose from
the dead after that he had been beheaded and was called Jesus? Some
one might say, however, that Herod and some of those of the people
held the false dogma of the transmigration of souls into bodies, in
consequence of which they thought that the former John had appeared
again by a fresh birth, and had come from the dead into life as
Jesus. But the time between the birth of John and the birth of Jesus,
which was not more than six months, does not permit this false opinion
to be considered credible. And perhaps rather some such idea as this
was in the mind of Herod, that the powers which wrought in John had
passed over to Jesus, in consequence of which He was thought by the
people to be John the Baptist. And one might use the following line
of argument. Just as because of the spirit and the power of Elijah,
and not because of his soul, it is said about John, "This is Elijah
which is to come," [5304] the spirit in Elijah and the power in him
having gone over to John--so Herod thought that the powers in John
wrought in his case works of baptism and teaching,--for John did not
one miracle, [5305] but in Jesus miraculous portents. It may be said
that something of this kind was the thought of those who said that
Elijah had appeared in Jesus, or that one of the old prophets had
risen. [5306]But the opinion of those who said that Jesus was "a
prophet even as one of the prophets," [5307] has no bearing on the
question. False, then, is the saying concerning Jesus, whether that
recorded to have been the view of Herod, or that spoken by others.
Only, the saying, "That John went before in the spirit and power of
Elijah," [5308] which corresponds to the thoughts which they were now
cherishing concerning John and Jesus, seems to me more credible. But
since we learned, in the first place, that when the Saviour after the
temptation heard that John was given up, He retreated into Galilee,
and in the second place, that when John was in prison and heard the
things about Jesus he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Art
thou He that cometh, or look we for another?" [5309] and in the third
place, generally that Herod said about Jesus, "It is John the Baptist,
he is risen from the dead," [5310] but we have not previously learned
from any quarter the manner in which the Baptist was killed, therefore
Matthew has now recorded it, and Mark almost like unto him; but Luke
passed over in silence the greater part of the narrative as it is
found in them." [5311]
Footnotes
[5299] Matt. xiv. 1.
[5300] Mark vi. 14.
[5301] Luke ix. 7.
[5302] Or, none other than.
[5303] Matt. xxi. 25.
[5304] Matt. xi. 14.
[5305] John x. 41.
[5306] Luke ix. 8.
[5307] Mark vi. 15.
[5308] Luke i. 17.
[5309] Matt. xi. 2, 3.
[5310] Matt. xiv. 2.
[5311] The question of John's relation to Jesus and of the supposed
transcorporation, is more fully discussed by Origen in his Commentary
on John, book vi. 7, p. 353, sqq.
21. Herod and the Baptist.
The narrative of Matthew is as follows,--"for Herod had laid hold on
John and bound him in the prison." [5312]In reference to these
things, it seems to me, that as the law and the prophets were until
John, [5313] after whom the grace of prophecy ceased from among the
Jews; so the authority of those who had rule among the people, which
included the power to kill those whom they thought worthy of death,
existed until John; and when the last of the prophets was unlawfully
killed by Herod, the king of the Jews was deprived of the power of
putting to death; for, if Herod had not been deprived of it, Pilate
would not have condemned Jesus to death; but for this Herod would have
sufficed along with the council of the chief priests and elders of the
people, met for the purpose. And then I think was fulfilled that
which was spoken as follows by Jacob to Judah: "A ruler shall not
depart from Judah, nor a leader from Israel, until that come which is
laid up in store, and he is the expectation of the Gentiles." [5314]
And perhaps also the Jews were deprived of this power, the Providence
of God arranging for the spread of the teaching of Christ among the
people, so that even if this were hindered by the Jews, the opposition
might not go so far as the slaying of believers, which seemed to be
according to law. "But Herod laid hold on John and bound him in
prison and put him away," [5315] by this act signifying that, so far
as it depended on his power and on the wickedness of the people, he
bound and imprisoned the prophetic word, and prevented him from
continuing to abide a herald the truth in freedom as formerly. But
this Herod did for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother
Philip. For John said unto him, "It is not lawful for thee to have
her." [5316]Now this Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturĉa
and of Trachonitis. Some, then, suppose that, when Philip died
leaving a daughter, Herodias, Herod married his brother's wife, though
the law permitted marriage only when there were no children. But, as
we find nowhere clear evidence that Philip was dead, we conclude that
a yet greater transgression was done by Herod, namely, that he had
induced his brother's wife to revolt from her husband while he was
still living.
Footnotes
[5312] Matt. xiv. 3.
[5313] Luke xvi. 16.
[5314] Gen. xlix. 10.
[5315] Matt. xiv. 3.
[5316] Matt. xiv. 3, 4.
22. The Dancing of Herodias. The Keeping of Oaths
Wherefore John, endued with prophetic boldness and not terrified at
the royal dignity of Herod, nor through fear of death keeping silence
in regard to so flagrant a sin, filled with a divine spirit said to
Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have her; for it is not lawful
for thee to have the wife of thy brother." For Herod having laid hold
on John bound him and put him in prison, not daring to slay him
outright and to take away the prophetic word from the people; but the
wife of the king of Trachonitis--which is a kind of evil opinion and
wicked teaching--gave birth to a daughter of the same name, whose
movements, seemingly harmonious, pleasing Herod, who was fond of
matters connected with birthdays, came the cause of there being no
longer a prophetic head among the people. And up to this point I
think that the movements of the people of the Jews, which seem to be
according to the law, were nothing else than the movements of the
daughter of Herodias; but the dancing of Herodias was opposed to that
holy dancing with which those who have not danced will be reproached
when they hear the words, "We piped unto you, and ye did not dance."
[5317]And on birthdays, when the lawless word reigns over them,
they dance so that their movements please that word. Some one of
those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the
birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves
things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking
this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was
kept by a righteous man. For Herod was more unjust than that famous
Pharaoh; for by the latter on his birthday feast a chief baker is
killed; [5318] but by the former, John, "than whom no one greater hath
risen among those born of women," [5319] in regard to whom the Saviour
says, "But for what purpose did ye go out? To see a prophet? Yea, I
say unto you, and more than a prophet." [5320]But thanks be unto
God, that, even if the grace of prophecy was taken from the people, a
grace greater than all that was poured forth among the Gentiles by our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who became "free among the dead;" [5321] for
"though He were crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the
power of God." [5322]Consider also the word in which pure and
impure meats are inquired into; but prophecy is despised when it is
brought forward in a charger instead of meat. But the Jews have not
the head of prophecy, inasmuch as they disown the crown of all
prophecy, Christ Jesus; and the prophet is beheaded, because of an
oath in a case where the duty was rather to break the oath than to
keep the oath; for the charge of rashness in taking an oath and of
breaking it because of the rashness is not the same in guilt as the
death of a prophet. And not on this account alone is he beheaded, but
because "of those who sat at meat with him," who preferred that the
prophet should be killed rather than live. And they recline at the
same table and also feast along with the evil word which reigns over
the Jews, who make merry over his birth. At times you may make a
graceful application of the passage to those who swear rashly and wish
to hold fast oaths which are taken with a view to unlawful deeds, by
saying that not every keeping of oaths is seemly, just as the keeping
of the oath of Herod was not. And mark, further, that not openly but
secretly and in prison does Herod put John to death. For even the
present word of the Jews does not openly deny the prophecies, but
virtually and in secret denies them, and is convicted of disbelieving
them. For as "if they believed Moses they would have believed Jesus,"
[5323] so if they had believed the prophets they would have received
Him who had been the subject of prophecy. But disbelieving Him they
also disbelieve them, and cut off and confine in prison the prophetic
word, and hold it dead and divided, and in no way wholesome, since
they do not understand it. But we have the whole Jesus, the prophecy
concerning Him being fulfilled which said, "A bone shall not be
broken." [5324]
Footnotes
[5317] Matt. xi. 17; Luke vii. 32.
[5318] Gen. xl. 20.
[5319] Matt. xi. 11.
[5320] Luke vii. 26.
[5321] Ps. lxxxviii. 6.
[5322] 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
[5323] John v. 46.
[5324] Ex. xii. 46; John xix. 36.
23. The Withdrawal of Jesus.
And the disciples of John having come bury his remains, and "they went
and told Jesus." [5325]And He withdrew to a desert place,--that is,
the Gentiles--and after the killing of the prophet multitudes followed
Him from the cities everywhere; seeing which to be great He had
compassion on them, and healed their sick; and afterwards with the
loaves which were blessed and multiplied from a few loaves He feeds
those who followed Him. "Now when Jesus heard it He withdrew thence
in a boat to a desert place apart." [5326]The letter teaches us to
withdraw as far as it is in our power from those who persecute us, and
from expected conspiracies through words; for this would be to act
according to prudence; and, when one can keep outside of critical
positions, to go to meet them is rash and headstrong. For who would
still hesitate about avoiding such things, when not only did Jesus
retreat in view of what happened to John, but also taught and said,
"If they persecute you in this city, flee ye into the other"? [5327]
When a temptation comes which is not in our power to avoid, we must
endure it with exceeding nobleness and courage; but, when it is in our
power to avoid it, not to do so is rash. But since after the letter
we must also investigate the place according to the mystical meaning,
we must say that, when prophecy was plotted against among the Jews and
destroyed, because of their giving honour to matters of birthdays, and
in respect of their reception of vain movements which, though
conceived by the ruler of the wicked and those who feast along with
him to be regular and pleasing to them, were irregular and out of
tune, if truth be umpire, then Jesus withdraws from the place in which
prophecy was attacked and condemned; and He withdraws to the place
which had been barren of God among the Gentiles, in order that the
Word of God, when the kingdom was taken from the Jews and "given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," [5328] might be among the
Gentiles; and, on account of it, "the children of the desolate one,"
who had not been instructed either in the law or the prophets, "might
be more than of her who has the husband," [5329] that is, the law.
When, then, the word was of old among the Jews, it was not so among
them as it is among the Gentiles; wherefore it is said that, "in a
boat,"--that is, in the body--He went to the desert place apart, when
He heard about the killing of the prophet. And, having come into the
desert place apart, He was in it, because that the Word dwelt apart,
and His teaching was contrary to the customs and usages which obtained
among the Gentiles. And the crowds among the Gentiles, when they
heard that Jesus had come to stay in their desert, and that He was
apart, as we have already reported, followed Him from their own
cities, because each had left the superstitious customs of his fathers
and come to the law of Christ. And by land they followed Him, and not
in a boat, inasmuch as not with the body but with the soul only, and
with the resolution to which they had been persuaded by the Word, they
followed the Image of God. And to them Jesus comes out, as they were
not able to go to Him, in order that, having gone to those who were
without, He might lead within those who were without. And great is
the crowd without to whom the Word of God goes out, and, having poured
out upon it the light of His "visitation," beholds it; and, seeing
that they were rather deserving of being pitied, because they were in
such circumstances, as a lover of men He who was impassible suffered
the emotion of pity, and not only had pity but healed their sick, who
had sicknesses diverse and of every kind arising from their
wickedness.
Footnotes
[5325] Matt. xiv. 12.
[5326] Matt. xiv. 13.
[5327] Matt. x. 23.
[5328] Matt. xxi. 43.
[5329] Isa. liv. 1; Gal. iv. 27.
24. The Diverse Forms of Spiritual Sickness.
And, if you wish to see of what nature are the sicknesses of the soul,
contemplate with me the lovers of money, and the lovers of ambition,
and the lovers of boys, and if any be fond of women; for these also
beholding among the crowds and taking compassion upon them, He
healed. For not every sin is to be considered a sickness, but that
which has settled down in the whole soul. For so you may see the
lovers of money wholly intent on money and upon preserving and
gathering it, the lovers of ambition wholly intent on a little glory,
for they gape for praise from the masses and the vulgar; and
analogously you will understand in the case of the rest which we have
named, and if there be any other like to them. Since, then, when
expounding the words, "He healed their sick," [5330] we said that not
every sin is a sickness, it is fitting to discuss from the Scripture
the difference of these. The Apostle indeed says, writing to the
Corinthians who had diverse sicknesses, "For this cause many among you
are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep." [5331]Hear Him in these
words, knitting a band and making it plaited of different sins,
according as some are weak, and others sickly more than weak, and
others, in comparison with both, are asleep. For some, because of
impotence of soul, having a tendency to slip into any sin whatever,
although they may not be wholly in the grasp of any form of sin, as
the sickly are, are only weak; but others who, instead of loving God
"with all their soul and all their heart and all their mind," love
money, or a little glory, or wife, or children, are suffering from
something worse than weakness, and are sickly. And those who sleep
are those who, when they ought to be taking heed and watching with the
soul, are not doing this, but by reason of great want of attention are
nodding in resolution and are drowsy in their reflections, such as "in
their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at naught that which is
highest in authority, and rail at dignities." [5332]And these,
because they are asleep, live in an atmosphere of vain and dream-like
fancies concerning realities, not admitting the things which are
actually true, but deceived by what appears in their vain
imaginations, in regard to whom it is said in Isaiah, "Like as when a
thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but when he has risen up is
still thirsty, and his soul has cherished a vain hope, so shall be the
wealth of all the nations as many as have warred in Jerusalem." [5333]
If, then, we have seemed to make a digression in recounting the
difference between the weak and the sickly and those that sleep,
because of that which the Apostle said in the letter to the
Corinthians which we have expounded, we have made the digression in
our desire to represent what is meant to be understood by the saying,
"And He healed their sick." [5334]
Footnotes
[5330] Matt. xiv. 14.
[5331] 1 Cor. xi. 30.
[5332] Jude 8.
[5333] Isa. xxix. 8 (LXX., which has "against mount Zion," where
Origen has "in Jerusalem").
[5334] Matt. xiv. 14.
25. Healing Precedes Participation in the Loaves of Jesus.
After this the word says, "And when even was come, His disciples came
to Him, saying, The place is desert and the time is already past;
send, therefore, the multitudes away, that they may go into the
villages and buy themselves food." [5335]And first observe that
when about to give to the disciples the loaves of blessing, that they
might set them before the multitudes, He healed the sick, in order
that, having been restored to health, they might participate in the
loaves of blessing; for while they are yet sickly, they are not able
to receive the loaves of the blessing of Jesus. But if any one, when
he ought to listen to the precept, "But let each prove himself, and so
let him eat of the bread," etc., [5336] does not obey these words, but
in haphazard fashion participates in the bread of the Lord and His
cup, he becomes weak or sickly, or even--if I may use the
expression--on account of being stupefied by the power of the bread,
asleep.
Footnotes
[5335] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5336] 1 Cor. xi. 28.
.
Book XI.
1. Introduction to the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
"And when even was come His disciples came to Him," [5337] that is, at
the consummation of the age in regard to which we may fitly say what
is found in the Epistle of John, "It is the last hour." [5338]They,
not yet understanding what the Word was about to do, say to Him, "The
place is desert," [5339] seeing the desert condition of the masses in
respect of God and the Law and the Word; but they say to Him, "The
time is past," [5340] as if the fitting season of the law and prophets
had passed. Perhaps they spoke this saying, in reference to the word
of Jesus, that because of the beheading of John both the law and the
prophets who were until John had ceased. [5341]"The time is past,"
therefore they say, and no food is at hand, because the season of it
is no longer present, that those who have followed Thee in the desert
may serve the law and the prophets. And, further, the disciples say,
"Send them away," [5342] that each one may buy food, if he cannot from
the cities, at least from the villages,--places more ignoble. Such
things the disciples said, because, after the letter of the law had
been abrogated and prophecies had ceased, they despaired of unexpected
and new food being found for the multitudes. But see what Jesus
answers to the disciples though He does not cry out and plainly say
it: "You suppose that, if the great multitude go away from Me in need
of food, they will find it in villages rather than with Me, and among
bodies of men, not of citizens but of villagers, rather than by
abiding with Me. But I declare unto you, that in regard to that of
which you suppose they are in need they are not in need, for they have
no need to go away; but in regard to that of which you think they have
no need--that is, of Me--as if I could not feed them, of this contrary
to your expectation they have need. Since, then, I have trained you,
and made you fit to give rational food to them who are in need of it,
give ye to the crowds who have followed Me to eat; for ye have the
power, which ye have received from Me, of giving the multitudes to
eat; and if ye had attended to this, ye would have understood that I
am far more able to feed them, and ye would not have said, `Send the
multitudes away that they may go and buy food for themselves.'" [5343]
Footnotes
[5337] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5338] 1 John ii. 18.
[5339] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5340] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5341] Luke xvi. 16.
[5342] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5343] Matt. xiv. 15.
2. Exposition of the Details of the Miracle.
Jesus, then, because of the power which He gave to the disciples, even
the power of nourishing others, said, Give ye them to eat. [5344]
But (not denying that they can give loaves, but thinking that there
were much too few and not sufficient to feed those who followed Jesus,
and not considering that when Jesus takes each loaf--the Word--He
extends it as far as He wills, and makes it suffice for all whomsoever
He desires to nourish), the disciples say, We have here but five
loaves and two fishes. [5345]Perhaps by the five loaves they meant
to make a veiled reference to the sensible words of the Scriptures,
corresponding in number on this account to the five senses, but by the
two fishes either to the word expressed [5346] and the word conceived,
[5347] which are a relish, so to speak, to the sensible things
contained in the Scriptures; or, perhaps, to the word which had come
to them about the Father and the Son. Wherefore also after His
resurrection He ate of a broiled fish, [5348] having taken a part from
the disciples, and having received that theology about the Father
which they were in part able to declare to Him. Such is the
contribution we have been able to give to the exposition of the word
about the five loaves and the two fishes; and probably those, who are
better able than we to gather together the five loaves and the two
fishes among themselves, would be able to give a fuller and better
interpretation of their meaning. It must be observed, however, that
while in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, [5349] the disciples say that they
have the five loaves and the two fishes, without indicating whether
they were wheaten or of barley, John alone says, that the loaves were
barley loaves. [5350]Wherefore, perhaps, in the Gospel of John the
disciples do not acknowledge that the loaves are with them, but say in
John, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fishes."
[5351]And so long as these five loaves and two fishes were not
carried by the disciples of Jesus, they did not increase or multiply,
nor were they able to nourish more; but, when the Saviour took them,
and in the first placed looked up to heaven, with the rays of His
eyes, as it were, drawing down from it power which was to be mingled
with the loaves and the fishes which were about to feed the five
thousand; and after this blessed the five loaves and the two fishes,
increasing and multiplying them by the word and the blessing; and in
the third place dividing and breaking He gave to the disciples that
they might set them before the multitudes, then the loaves and the
fishes were sufficient, so that all ate and were satisfied, and some
portions of the loaves which had been blessed they were unable to
eat. For so much remained over to the multitudes, which was not
according to the capacity of the multitudes but of the disciples who
were able to take up that which remained over of the broken pieces,
and to place it in baskets filled with that which remained over, which
were in number so many as the tribes of Israel. Concerning Joseph,
then, it is written in the Psalms, "His hands served in the basket,"
[5352] but about the disciples of Jesus that they took up that which
remained over of the broken pieces twelve baskets, twelve baskets, I
take it, not half-full but filled. And there are, I think, up to the
present time, and will be until the consummation of the age with the
disciples of Jesus, who are superior to the multitudes, the twelve
baskets, filled with the broken pieces of living bread which the
multitudes cannot eat. Now those who ate of the five loaves which
existed before the twelve baskets that remained over, were kindred in
nature to the number five; for those who ate had reached the stage of
sensible things, since also they were nourished by Him who looked up
to heaven and blessed and brake them, and were not boys nor women, but
men. For there are, I think, even in sensible foods differences, so
that some of them belong to those who "have put away childish things,"
[5353] and some to those who are still babes and carnal in Christ.
Footnotes
[5344] Matt. xiv. 16.
[5345] Matt. xiv. 17.
[5346] logos prophorikos.
[5347] logos endiathetos.
[5348] Luke xxiv. 42, 43.
[5349] Matt. xiv. 17; Mark vi. 38; Luke ix. 13.
[5350] John vi. 9.
[5351] John vi. 9.
[5352] Ps. lxxxi. 7.
[5353] 1 Cor. xiii. 11.
3. The Exposition of Details Continued. The Sitting Down on the
Grass. The Division into Companies.
We have spoken these things because of the words, "They that did eat
were five thousand men, beside children and women," [5354] which is an
ambiguous expression; for either those who ate were five thousand men,
and among those who ate there was no child or woman; or the men only
were five thousand, the children and the women not being reckoned.
Some, then, as we have said by anticipation, have so understood the
passage that neither children nor women were present, when the
increase and multiplication of the five loaves and the two fishes took
place. But some one might say that, while many ate and according to
their desert and capacity participated in the loaves of blessing, some
worthy to be numbered, corresponding to the men of twenty years old
who are numbered in the Book of Numbers, [5355] were Israelitish men,
but others who were not worthy of such account and numbering were
children and women. Moreover, interpret with me allegorically the
children in accordance with the passage, "I could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ;"
[5356] and the women in accordance with the saying, "I wish to present
you all as a pure virgin to Christ;" [5357] and the men according to
the saying, "When I am become a man I have put away childish things."
[5358]Let us not pass by without exposition the words, "He
commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass, and He look the
five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed,
and brake, and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to
the multitudes. And they did all eat." [5359]For what is meant by
the words, "And He commanded all the multitudes to sit down on the
grass?" And what are we to understand in the passage worthy of the
command of Jesus? Now, I think that He commanded the multitudes to
sit down on the grass because of what is said in Isaiah, "All flesh is
grass;" [5360] that is to say, He commanded them to put the flesh
under, and to keep in subjection "the mind of the flesh," [5361] that
so any one might be able to partake of the loaves which Jesus
blesses. Then since there are different orders of those who need the
food which Jesus supplies and all are not nourished by equal words, on
this account I think that Mark has written, "And He commanded them
that they should all sit down by companies upon the green grass; and
they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties;" [5362] but Luke,
"And He said unto His disciples, Make them sit down in companies about
fifty each." [5363]For it was necessary that those who were to find
rest in the food of Jesus should either be in the order of the
hundred--the sacred number--which is consecrated to God, because of
the unit, (in it) or in the order of the fifty--the number which
embraces the remission of sins, in accordance with the mystery of the
Jubilee which took place every fifty years, and of the feast at
Pentecost. And I think that the twelve baskets were in the possession
of the disciples to whom it was said "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." [5364]And as the throne of
him who judges the tribe of Reuben might be said to be a mystery, and
the throne of him who judges the tribe of Simeon, and another of him
who judges the tribe of Judah, and so on with the others; so there
might be a basket of the food of Reuben, and another of Simeon, and
another of Levi. But it is not in accordance with our present
discourse now to digress so far from the subject in hand as to collect
what is said about the twelve tribes, and separately what is said
about each of them, and to say what each tribe of Israel may signify.
Footnotes
[5354] Matt. xiv. 21.
[5355] Num. i. 3.
[5356] 1 Cor. iii. 1.
[5357] 2 Cor. xi. 2.
[5358] 1 Cor. xiii. 11.
[5359] Matt. xiv. 19, 20.
[5360] Isa. xl. 6.
[5361] Rom. viii. 6.
[5362] Mark vi. 39, 40.
[5363] Luke ix. 14.
[5364] Matt. xix. 28.
4. The Multitudes and the Disciples Contrasted.
"And straightway He constrained the disciples to enter into the boat,
and to go before Him unto the other side, till He should send the
multitudes away." [5365]It should be observed how often in the same
passages is mentioned the word, "the multitudes," and another word,
"the disciples," so that by observing and bringing together the
passages about this matter it may be seen that the aim of the
Evangelists was to represent by means of the Gospel history the
differences of those who come to Jesus; of whom some are the
multitudes and are not called disciples, and others are the disciples
who are better than the multitudes. It is sufficient, however, for
the present, for us to set forth a few sayings, so that any one who is
moved by them may do the like with the whole of the Gospels. It is
written then--as if the multitudes were below, but the disciples were
able to come to Jesus when He went up into the mountain, where the
multitudes were not able to be--as follows: "And seeing the
multitudes He went up into the mountain, and when He had sat down His
disciples came unto Him; and He opened His mouth and taught them
saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit," etc. [5366]And again in
another place, as the multitudes stood in need of healing, it is said,
"Many multitudes followed Him and He healed them." [5367]We do not
find any healing recorded of the disciples; since if any one is
already a disciple of Jesus he is whole, and being well he needs Jesus
not as a physician but in respect of His other powers. Again in
another place, when He was speaking to the multitudes, His mother and
His brethren stood without, seeking to speak to Him; this was made
known to Him by some one to whom He answered, stretching forth His
hand not towards the multitudes but towards the disciples, and said,
"Behold My mother and My brethren," [5368] and bearing testimony to
the disciples as doing the will of the Father which is in heaven, He
added, "He is My brother and sister and mother." [5369]And again in
another place it is written, "All the multitude stood on the beach and
He spake to them many things in parables." [5370]Then after the
parable of the sowing, it was no longer the multitudes but the
disciples who came and said to Him, not "Why speakest thou to us in
parables," but, "Why speakest thou to them in parables." [5371]Then
also He answered and said, not to the multitudes but to the disciples,
"To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to the rest in parables." [5372] Accordingly, of those who come to
the name of Jesus some, who know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, would be called disciples; but those to whom such a privilege
is not given would be called multitudes, who would be spoken of as
inferior to the disciples. For observe carefully that He said to the
disciples, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven," but about the multitudes, "To them it is not given." [5373]
And in another place He dismisses the multitudes indeed, and goes into
the house, [5374] but He does not dismiss the disciples; and there
came to Him into His house, not the multitudes but His disciples,
saying, "Declare to us the parable of the tares of the field." [5375]
Moreover, also, in another place when Jesus heard the things
concerning John and withdrew in a boat to a desert place apart, the
multitudes followed Him; when He came forth and saw a great multitude
He had compassion on them and healed their sick--the sick of the
multitudes, not of the disciples. [5376]"And when even was come
there came to Him," not the multitudes, but the disciples, as being
different from the multitudes, saying, "Send the multitudes away that
they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." [5377]And,
further, when Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes, and
looking up to heaven He blessed and brake the loaves, He gave not to
the multitudes but to the disciples, [5378] that the disciples might
give to the multitudes who were not able to take from Him, but
received with difficulty at the hands of the disciples the loaves of
the blessing of Jesus, and did not eat even all these; for the
multitudes were filled and left that which remained over in twelve
baskets which were full.
Footnotes
[5365] Matt. xiv. 22.
[5366] Matt. v. 1-3.
[5367] Matt. xii. 15.
[5368] Matt. xiv. 46-49.
[5369] Matt. xiv. 50.
[5370] Matt. xiii. 2, 3.
[5371] Matt. xiii. 10.
[5372] Matt. xiii. 11.
[5373] Matt. xiii. 11.
[5374] Matt. xiii. 36.
[5375] Matt. xiii. 36.
[5376] Matt. xiv. 13, 14.
[5377] Matt. xiv. 15.
[5378] Matt. xiv. 19.
5. The Disciples in Conflict. Jesus Walks Upon the Waters.
The reason why we have taken up this subject is the passage under
discussion which tells that Jesus separated the disciples from the
multitudes, and constrained them to enter into the boat and to go
before Him unto the other side until He Himself should send the
multitudes away; [5379] for the multitudes were not able to go away to
the other side, as they were not in the mystic sense Hebrews, which
are by interpretation, "dwelling on the other side." But this was the
work of the disciples of Jesus--I mean to go away to the other side,
and to pass beyond things seen and material, as temporal, and to go on
to things unseen and eternal. To be dismissed by Jesus was a
sufficient act of kindness bestowed on the multitudes by Jesus; for
just because they were multitudes they were not able to go away to the
other side; and this kind of dismissal no one has the power to effect
save Jesus only, and it is not possible for any one to be dismissed
unless he has first eaten of the loaves which Jesus blesses. Nor is
it possible for any one to eat of the loaves of blessing of Jesus
unless he has done as Jesus commanded and sat down upon the grass as
we have told. Nor again was it possible for the multitudes to do this
unless they had followed Jesus from their own cities, when He withdrew
into a desert place apart. And at first, when He was asked by the
disciples to send away the multitudes, He did not send them away until
He had fed them with the loaves of blessing; but now He sends them
away, having first constrained the disciples to enter into the boat;
and He sends them away, while they were somewhere below,--for the
desert was below,--but He Himself went up into the mountain to pray.
[5380]And you must observe this, that immediately after the five
thousand had been fed, Jesus constrained the disciples to embark into
the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side. Only, the
disciples were not able to go before Jesus to the other side; but,
when they had got as far as the middle of the sea, and the boat was
distressed "because the wind was contrary to them," [5381] they were
afraid when about the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them.
And if Jesus had not gone up into the boat neither would the wind
which was contrary to the disciples who were sailing have ceased, nor
would those who were sailing have gone across and come to the other
side. And, perhaps, wishing to teach them by experience that it was
not possible apart from Him to go to the other side He constrained
them to enter into the boat and go before Him to the other side; but,
when they were not able to advance farther than the middle of the sea,
He appeared to them, and did what is written, [5382] and showed that
he who arrives at the other side reaches it because Jesus sails along
with him. But what is the boat into which Jesus constrained the
disciples to enter? Is it perhaps the conflict of temptations and
difficulties into which any one is constrained by the Word, and goes
unwillingly, as it were, when the Saviour wishes to train by exercise
the disciples in this boat which is distressed by the waves and the
contrary wind? But since Mark has made a slight change in the
reading, and for "Straightway He constrained the disciples to enter
into the boat and to go before Him to the other side," has written,
"And straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat
and to go before Him unto the other side unto Bethsaida," [5383] we
must attend to the word, "He constrained," when first we have seen to
the slight variation in Mark who indicates something more definite by
the addition of the pronoun; for the same thing is not expressed by
the words, straightway "He constrained the disciples." Something more
than "the" disciples simply is written in Mark, namely, "His"
disciples. Perhaps, therefore, to attend to the expression, the
disciples who found it hard to tear themselves away from Jesus, and
could not be separated from Him by any ordinary cause, wished to be
present with Him; but He having judged that they should make trial of
the waves and of the contrary wind, which would not have been contrary
if they had been with Jesus, put on them the necessity of being
separated from Him and entering into the boat. The Saviour then
compels the disciples to enter into the boat of temptations and to go
before Him to the other side, and through victory over them to go
beyond critical difficulties; but when they had come into the midst of
the sea, and of the waves in the temptations, and of the contrary
winds which prevented them from going away to the other side, they
were not able, struggling as they were without Jesus, to overcome the
waves and the contrary wind and reach the other side. Wherefore the
Word, taking compassion upon them who had done all that was in their
power to reach the other side, came to them walking upon the sea,
which for Him had no waves or wind that was able to oppose if He so
willed; for it is not written, "He came to them walking upon the
waves," but, "upon the waters;" [5384] Just as Peter, who at first
when Jesus said to him, "Come," went down from the boat and walked not
upon "the waves," but upon "the waters" [5385] to come to Jesus; but
when he doubted he saw that the wind was strong, which was not strong
to him who laid aside his little faith and his doubting. But, when
Jesus went up with Peter into the boat, the wind ceased, as it had no
power to energise against the boat when Jesus had gone up into it.
Footnotes
[5379] Matt. xiv. 22.
[5380] Matt. xiv. 23.
[5381] Matt. xiv. 24.
[5382] Matt. xiv. 25.
[5383] Mark vi. 45.
[5384] Matt. xiv. 25.
[5385] Matt. xiv. 29.
6. Interpretation of the Details in the Narrative. Application
Thereof to All Disciples.
And then the disciples "having crossed over came to the land
Gennesaret," [5386] of which word, if we knew the interpretation, we
might gain some assistance in the exposition of the present passage.
And observe, since God is faithful, and will not suffer the multitudes
to be tempted above that they are able, [5387] in what way the Son of
God constrained the disciples to enter into the boat, as being
stronger and able to get as far as the middle of the sea, and to
endure the trials by the waves, until they became worthy of divine
assistance, and saw Jesus and heard Him when He had gone up, and to
cross over and come to the land Gennesaret; but as for the multitudes
who, because they were weaker, did not make trial of the boat and the
waves and the contrary wind, them He sent away, and went up into the
mountain apart to pray. [5388]To pray for whom? Was it perhaps to
pray for the multitudes that, when they were dismissed after the
loaves of blessing, they might do nothing opposed to their dismissal
by Jesus? And for the disciples that, when they were constrained by
Him to enter into the boat and to go before Him unto the other side,
they might suffer nothing in the sea nor from the contrary wind? And
I would say with confidence, that, because of the prayer of Jesus to
the Father for the disciples, they suffered nothing when sea and wave
and contrary wind were striving against them. The simpler disciple,
then, may be satisfied with the bare narrative; but let us remember,
if ever we fall into distressful temptations, that Jesus has
constrained us to enter into their boat, wishing us to go before Him
unto the other side; for it is not possible for us to reach the other
side, unless we have endured the temptations of waves and contrary
wind. Then when we see many difficulties besetting us, and with
moderate struggle we have swum through them to some extent, let us
consider that our boat is in the midst of the sea, distressed at that
time by the waves which wish us to make shipwreck concerning faith or
some one of the virtues; but when we see the spirit of the evil one
striving against us, let us conceive that then the wind is contrary to
us. When then in such suffering we have spent three watches of the
night--that is, of the darkness which is in the temptations--striving
nobly with all our might and watching ourselves so as not to make
shipwreck concerning the faith or some one of the virtues,--the first
watch against the father of darkness and wickedness, the second watch
against his son "who opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is
called God or thing that is worshipped," [5389] and the third watch
against the spirit [5390] that is opposed to the Holy Spirit, then we
believe that when the fourth watch impendeth, when "the night is far
spent, and the day is at hand," [5391] the Son of God will come to us,
that He may prepare the sea for us, walking upon it. And when we see
the Word appearing unto us we shall indeed be troubled before we
clearly understand that it is the Saviour who has come to us,
supposing that we are still beholding an apparition, and for fear
shall cry out; but He Himself straightway will speak to us saying, "Be
of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." [5392]And if, warmly moved
by His "Be of good cheer," any Peter be found among us, who is on his
way to perfection but has not yet become perfect, having gone down
from the boat, as if coming out of that temptation in which he was
distressed, he will indeed walk at first, wishing to come to Jesus
upon the waters; but being as yet of little faith, and as yet
doubting, will see that the wind is strong and will be afraid and
begin to sink; but he will not sink because he will call upon Jesus
with loud voice, and will say to Him, "Lord, save me;" [5393] then
immediately while such a Peter is yet speaking and saying, "Lord save
me," the Word will stretch forth His hand, holding out assistance to
such an one, and will take hold of him when he is beginning to sink,
and will reproach him for his little faith and doubting. [5394]
Only, observe that He did not say, "O thou without faith," but, "O
thou of little faith," and that it was said, "Wherefore didst thou
doubt," as he had still a measure of faith, but also had a tendency
towards that which was opposed to faith.
Footnotes
[5386] Matt. xiv. 34.
[5387] Cf. 1 Cor. x. 13.
[5388] Matt. xiv. 22, 23.
[5389] 2 Thess. ii. 4.
[5390] The conception of Origen seems to be that opposed to the Divine
Trinity there is an evil trinity. Cf. book xii. 20.
[5391] Rom. xiii. 12.
[5392] Matt. xiv. 27.
[5393] Matt. xiv. 30.
[5394] Matt. xiv. 31.
7. The Healing of the Sick on the Other Side. The Method of Healing.
But after this both Jesus and Peter will go up into the boat, and the
wind will cease; and those in the boat, perceiving the great dangers
from which they have been saved, will worship Him, saying, not simply,
"Thou art the Son of God," as also the two demoniacs said, but, "Of a
truth, Thou art the Son of God." [5395]This the disciples in the
boat say, for I do not think that others than the disciples said so.
And when we have undergone all these experiences, having crossed over,
we shall come to the land where Jesus commanded us to go before Him.
And perhaps, also, some secret and occult mystery with reference to
some who were saved by Jesus is indicated by the words, "And when the
men of that place knew Him,"--plainly of the place on the other
side,--"they sent into all that region round about,"--round about the
other side, not on the other side itself, but round about it,--"and
they brought unto Him all that were sick." [5396]And here observe
that they brought unto Him not only many that were sick, but all in
that region round about; and the sick who were brought to Him besought
Him that they might touch if it were only the border of His garment,
[5397] beseeching this grace from Him, since they were not like "the
woman who had an issue of blood twelve years, and who came behind Him
and touched the border of His garment, saying within herself, If I do
but touch His garment, I shall be made whole." [5398]For observe in
what is said about the border of His garment, on account of what the
flowing of her blood ceased at once. But those from the country round
the land of Gennesaret, to which Jesus and His disciples crossed over
and came, did not come of themselves to Jesus, but were brought by
those who had sent the tidings, inasmuch as they were not able because
of their extreme weakness to come of themselves. Nor did they merely
touch the garment, like the woman who had an issue of blood, but they
touched after that they had besought Him. Only, of these, "as many as
touched were made whole." [5399]And whether there be any difference
between the "They were made whole," [5400] which is said in their
case, and the "being saved," [5401] --for it was said to the woman
with the issue of blood, "Thy faith hath saved thee," [5402] you may
yourself consider.
Footnotes
[5395] Matt. xiv. 33.
[5396] Matt. xiv. 35.
[5397] Matt. xiv. 36.
[5398] Matt. ix. 20, 21.
[5399] Matt. xiv. 36.
[5400] diesothesan.
[5401] sothenai.
[5402] Matt. ix. 22.
8. Concerning the Pharisees and Scribes Who Came and Inquired, Why Do
Thy Disciples Transgress the Tradition of the Elders?
"Then there came to Him from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying,
Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they
wash not their hands when they eat bread." [5403]He who observes at
what time the Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus,
saying, "Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders,"
etc., will perceive that Matthew of necessity wrote not simply that
Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to the Saviour to inquire of
Him the matters before us, but put it thus, "Then come to Him from
Jerusalem." What time, therefore, are we to understand by "then"? At
the time when Jesus and His disciples crossed over and came in the
boat to the land of Gennesaret, when the wind ceased from the time
that Jesus entered into the boat, and when "the men of that place
knowing Him sent into all that region round about, and brought unto
Him all that were sick, and besought Him that they might touch if it
were only the border of His garment, and as many as touched were made
whole." [5404]At that time came to Him from Jerusalem Pharisees and
scribes, not struck with admiration at the power which was in Jesus,
which healed those who only touched even the border of His garment,
but in a censorious spirit, accusing the disciples before their
Teacher, not concerning the transgression of a commandment of God, but
of a single tradition of the Jewish elders. And it is probable that
this very charge of these censorious persons is a proof of the piety
of the disciples of Jesus, who gave to the Pharisees and scribes no
opportunity of censure with reference to the transgression of the
commandments of God, as they would not have brought the charge of
transgression against the disciples, as transgressing the commandment
of the elders, if they had had it in their power to censure those whom
they accused, and to show that they were transgressing a commandment
of God. But do not suppose that these things go to establish the
necessity of keeping the law of Moses according to the letter, because
the disciples of Jesus up to that time kept it; for not before He
suffered did He "redeem us from the curse of the law," [5405] who in
suffering for men "became a curse for us." But just as fittingly Paul
became a Jew to the Jews that he might gain Jews, [5406] what strange
thing is it that the Apostles, whose way of life was passed among the
Jews, even though they understood the spiritual things in the law,
should have used a spirit of accommodation, as Paul also did when he
circumcised Timothy, [5407] and offered sacrifice in accordance with a
certain legal vow, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles? [5408]
Only, again, they appear fond of bringing accusations, as they have no
charge to bring against the disciples of Jesus with reference to a
commandment of God, but only with reference to one tradition of the
elders. And especially does this love of accusation become manifest
in this, that they bring the charge in presence of those very persons
who had been healed from their sickness; in appearance against the
disciples, but in reality purposing to slander their Teacher, as it
was a tradition of the elders that the washing of hands was a thing
essential to piety. For they thought that the hands of those who did
not wash before eating bread were defiled and unclean, but that the
hands of those who had washed them with water became pure and holy,
not in a figurative sense, in due relation to the law of Moses
according to the letter. But let us, not according to the tradition
of the elders among the Jews, but according to sound reason, endeavour
to purify our own actions and so to wash the hands of our souls, when
we are about to eat the three loaves which we ask from Jesus, who
wishes to be our friend; [5409] for with hands that are defiled and
unwashed and impure, we ought not to partake of the loaves.
Footnotes
[5403] Matt. xv. 1, 2.
[5404] Matt. xiv. 35, 36.
[5405] Gal. iii. 13.
[5406] 1 Cor. ix. 20.
[5407] Gal. ii. 3.
[5408] Acts xxi. 26; xviii. 18.
[5409] Cf. Luke xi. 5.
9. Explanation of "Corban."
Jesus, however, does not accuse them with reference to a tradition of
the Jewish elders, but with regard to two most imperative commandments
of God, the one of which was the fifth in the decalogue, being as
follows: "Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with
thee, and that thy days may be long on the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee;" [5410] and the other was written thus in Leviticus, "If
a man speak evil of his father or his mother, let him die the death;
he has spoken evil of his father or mother, he shall be guilty."
[5411]But when we wish to examine the very letter of the words as
given by Matthew, "He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him
die the death," [5412] consider whether