Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 16.2–16.3

For he himself, when conversing with the Jews, said, “Before Abraham came to be, I am”; but his disciple not so, but, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Again, that he himself made heaven and earth and sea and all things visible and invisible, he himself nowhere said plainly; but the disciple, with great boldness and holding nothing back, says this once and twice and many times, writing, “All things came to be through him, and without him not one thing came to be,” and, “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him.” And why do you wonder if others have said greater things about him than he said himself, when many things that he displayed by deeds he did not say plainly in words? For that he himself made man, he showed plainly also through the blind man; but when his discourse was about the first fashioning, he did not say, “I made them,” but, “He who made them made them male and female.” Again, that he created the world and the things in it, he demonstrated through the fishes, through the wine, through the loaves, through the calm on the sea, through the sunbeam he turned back at the cross, and through many other things; but in words he nowhere said this plainly, while the disciples continually utter it, John and Paul and Peter. For if they, who heard him conversing night and day, and saw him working miracles, to whom he explained many things in private, and to whom he gave so great power as even to raise the dead, and whom he made so perfect that they left everything for him, after so great virtue and philosophy were not able to bear everything before the bestowal of the Spirit, how would the Jewish people, devoid of understanding, falling far short of such virtue, and coming to what was done and said only by chance, ever have been persuaded that he was not alien to the God of all, had he not used such great condescension in everything? That is why, when he was setting the sabbath aside too, he did not introduce such legislation directly, but puts together many and various defenses. And if, when about to set aside one commandment, he uses so careful an arrangement of words so as not to shock his hearers, much more, when adding a whole other legislation to the whole law, did he need much preparation and care, so as not to alarm those who were then listening. That is why he is not seen everywhere teaching plainly about his own divinity either. For if the addition to the law so alarmed them, much more would his declaring himself God. That is why he utters many things far below his own dignity; and here, being about to go on to the addition to the law, he uses much advance correction. For he did not say once, “I do not destroy the law,” but took it up again a second time and added something else greater. For having said, “Do not think that I came to destroy,” he added, “I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

And this not only stops the shamelessness of the Jews, but also sews up the mouths of the heretics who say that the Old Testament is from the devil. For if Christ had come to destroy the devil’s tyranny, how is it that he not only does not destroy it but even fulfills it? For he did not only say, “I do not destroy,” though that would have been enough, but also, “I fulfill,” which belongs not only to one who is not opposed to it, but to one who even confirms it. “And how,” someone says, “did he not destroy it? And how did he fulfill either the law or the prophets?” The prophets, by confirming in his deeds all that had been said about him; that is why the evangelist said in each case, “that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled,” both when he was born, and when the children sang that wonderful hymn to him, and when he sat on the ass; and in many other cases he fulfilled this same thing, all of which would have remained unfulfilled if he had not come. And the law he fulfilled not in one way only, but in a second and a third. In one way, by transgressing none of the ordinances. For [that] he fulfilled all of it, hear what he says to John: “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” And to the Jews he said, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” And to the disciples again: “The ruler of this world is coming, and he finds nothing in me.” And the prophet too had said long before that “he committed no sin.” In one way, then, he fulfilled it in this manner; and in another, by doing this through us as well. For the wonderful thing is this, that not only did he himself fulfill it, but he also granted this to us. Paul too showed this when he said that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” And he said that he condemned sin in the flesh, “so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh.” And again: “Do we then abolish the law through faith? By no means! On the contrary, we establish the law.” For since the law was striving for this, to make man righteous, but was too weak, he came himself and, bringing in the way of righteousness that is through faith, established the purpose of the law; and what the law could not do by letters, he accomplished by faith. That is why he says, “I did not come to destroy the law.”

And if one examines it precisely, he will find another, third way in which this came about. What is it? That of the legislation to come, which he was about to deliver. For what was said was not an abolition of the former things but an intensification and fulfillment. For not being angry is not an abolition of not killing, but its fulfillment and greater security; and so with all the others. That is why, having laid down the seeds of these beforehand without arousing suspicion, at the point where, from the setting of the old and new ordinances side by side, he was going to be more clearly suspected of opposing them, he uses the correction in advance. For he had already laid them down in a veiled way through what had been said. For “Blessed are the poor” is the same as not being angry; and “Blessed are the pure in heart” the same as not looking at a woman to lust; and not laying up treasures on earth agrees with “Blessed are the merciful”; and mourning, being persecuted, and being reviled are equal to entering by the narrow gate; and hungering and thirsting for righteousness is nothing other than what he says later: “Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do so to them.” And having called the peacemaker blessed, he said almost the same thing again when he bade us leave the gift and hasten to be reconciled with the one we had pained, and to be well disposed toward our adversary. But there he set the prizes of those who do right, here the punishments of those who do not. That is why there he said, “The meek shall inherit the earth,” but here, “Whoever calls his brother a fool shall be liable to the hell of fire”; and there, “The pure in heart shall see God,” but here, that the man who looks licentiously is a complete adulterer; and having there called the peacemakers sons of God, here he makes them afraid from the other side, saying, “Lest your adversary hand you over to the judge.” So too, having called blessed those who mourn and those who are persecuted in the earlier part, in what follows, establishing this same thing, he threatens destruction to those who do not walk this way; “for those who walk by the broad way,” he says, “end up there.” And “You cannot serve God and mammon” seems to me to be equal to “Blessed are the merciful” and “those who hunger for righteousness.” But, as I said, since he was going to say these things more clearly, and not only more clearly but to add more than had been said (for he no longer seeks merely a merciful man, but bids him give up even his tunic; nor simply a meek man, but one who turns the other cheek to the one who wants to strike him), he first removes the apparent contradiction.

For this reason, as I said before, he said this not once but twice. For having said, “Do not think that I came to destroy,” he added, “I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one iota or one stroke shall not pass from the law, until all things come to pass.” What he means is this: it is impossible for it to remain unaccomplished, but even its smallest part must be fulfilled. And this he himself did, completing it with all precision. And here he hints to us that the whole world too is being transformed. And he did not put this at random, but to raise up the hearer and to show that he was justly bringing in another way of life, if indeed all things in creation were to be transformed, and the human race called to another country and a loftier way of living.

“Whoever then breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” For when he had freed himself from the evil suspicion and stopped the mouths of those who wished to contradict, then at last he also makes them afraid and sets the greatest threat on behalf of the legislation to come. For that he said this not on behalf of the old laws but on behalf of those he himself was about to legislate, hear what follows: “For I say to you,” he says, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” But if he were threatening on behalf of the old laws, how could he say, “unless it exceeds”? For those who did the same things they did could not exceed them in the measure of righteousness. But what was the excess? Not being angry, not even looking at a woman licentiously. Why then did he call them least, though they are so great and lofty? Because he himself was about to introduce the legislation. For as he humbled himself and speaks of himself modestly in many places, so too about his own legislation, teaching us in this too to be modest everywhere. Besides, since there was some suspicion of innovation, for the time being he uses restrained language. And when you hear “least in the kingdom of heaven,” suspect nothing other than hell and punishment. For he is accustomed to call “kingdom” not only the enjoyment, but also the time of the resurrection and that fearful coming. For how would it be reasonable that the man who calls his brother a fool and transgresses one commandment should fall into hell, while the one who breaks whole commandments and leads others to do so should be in the kingdom? This, then, is not what he says, but that at that time he will be least, cast away, last; and the last will certainly fall into hell then. For being God, he foreknew the indolence of the many, and that some would think that what was said was merely hyperbole, and would reason about the laws and say, “If someone calls another a fool, is he punished? If someone simply looks, does he become an adulterer?” That is why, removing this negligence beforehand, he set the greatest threat for both, both for those who transgress and for those who lead others to do so. Knowing the threat, then, let us neither transgress ourselves nor weaken those who wish to keep these things.

“But whoever does and teaches them,” he says, “shall be called great.” For we must be useful not only to ourselves, but to others too. For the reward is not equal for the one who sets himself right and for the one who brings another with him. For as teaching without doing condemns the teacher (“you who teach another,” it says, “do you not teach yourself?”), so doing but not guiding others lessens the reward. We must, then, be outstanding in both, and having first set ourselves right, so go on to the care of others. For this is why he himself put doing before teaching, showing that in this way most of all a man will be able to teach, and otherwise not at all. For he will hear, “Physician, heal yourself.” For he who cannot teach himself and tries to set others right will have many mocking him; or rather such a man will not even be able to teach, since his deeds speak against him. But if he is perfect on both sides, he “shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

“For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Here he calls the whole of virtue righteousness, just as in speaking of Job too it says, “And he was a blameless man, righteous.” In this sense Paul too called that man righteous for whom he said no law is laid down: “For the law is not laid down for the righteous,” he says. And in many other places one could find this name used of virtue in general. But consider, I beg you, the increase of grace, where he will have the newly come disciples be better than the teachers in the Old Testament. For here he did not speak of scribes and Pharisees who were lawless, but of those who did right; for if they had not done right, he would not have said that they had righteousness, nor would he have compared what did not exist with what did. And see here too how he commends the Old Testament by making a comparison of it with the new; which shows that it is of the same kind and akin; for the more and the less belong to the same kind. He does not, then, disparage the Old Testament, but wants it intensified. But if it were wicked, he would not have sought the more, nor have set it right, but would have cast it out. “And how,” someone says, “if it is such, does it not bring into the kingdom?” It does not now bring in those who live after the coming of Christ, since they have enjoyed greater power and ought to strive for greater things; for its own nurslings it does bring in, all of them. For “many,” he says, “shall come from east and west and shall recline in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.” And Lazarus too, enjoying the great prizes, is seen dwelling in his bosom. And all who shone exceedingly in the Old Testament all shone through it. And Christ, if it had been wicked and alien, would not have fulfilled the whole of it when he came. For if he did this only to draw the Jews, and not to show that it is akin to the new and in harmony with it, why did he not also fulfill the laws and customs of the Greeks, so as to draw the Greeks? So it is clear from every side that it does not bring in, not because it is wicked, but because it is the time of greater commandments. And if it is less perfect than the new, not even this shows it to be wicked; since in this respect the new too will suffer this same thing. For our knowledge too, compared with that which is to come, is partial and imperfect, and is done away when that comes: “for when the perfect comes,” it says, “then the partial will be done away”; just what the old suffered from the new. But we shall not disparage it for this reason, although it too gives way when we attain the kingdom (“for the partial will be done away,” it says); but nevertheless we say that it is great. Since, then, the prizes are greater and the power from the Spirit more abundant, he rightly demands greater things too, … the gifts. For it is no longer a land flowing with milk and honey, nor a rich old age, nor many children, nor grain and wine and flocks and herds; but heaven and the good things in the heavens, and adoption, and brotherhood with the Only-begotten, and a share in the inheritance, and being glorified and reigning together with him, and those countless prizes. And that we have enjoyed greater help, hear Paul saying: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.”

Having, then, threatened the transgressors and set great prizes for those who do right, and having shown that he justly demands of us more than the former measures, he now begins the legislation, not simply, but by comparison with the old ordinances, wishing to show two things: that he legislates these things not in conflict with the former ones but in full agreement, and that he rightly and very opportunely adds the second to the first. And so that this may become clearer, let us listen to the very words of the lawgiver. What then does he say? “You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘You shall not kill.’” And yet it was he himself who gave those commandments too; but for the time being he puts them impersonally. For if he had said, “You have heard that I said to the ancients,” the word would have been hard to accept and would have offended all who heard; and if again, having said, “You have heard that it was said to the ancients by my Father,” he had added, “But I say,” the presumption would have seemed greater. That is why he put it simply, contriving only one thing by it: to show that he had come at the fitting time in saying these things. For by saying, “It was said to the ancients,” he indicated the long time since they had received this commandment. And he did this to shame the hearer who shrank from going on to the loftier commands, as if a teacher should say to a lazy child, “Do you not know how much time you have spent practicing syllables?” This, then, he hints at by the word “ancients,” and summons them at last to the greater teachings, as if he were saying, “You have had time enough practicing these, and now you must press on to things loftier than these.” And it is well too that he does not confuse the order of the commandments, but begins from the first, from which the law too began; for this too belongs to one showing their harmony.

“But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment.” Do you see authority complete? Do you see a bearing befitting a lawgiver? For which of the prophets ever spoke thus? Which of the righteous? Which of the patriarchs? None; but, “Thus says the Lord.” But not so the Son. For they announced the things of their Master, but he those of the Father. And when I say “those of the Father,” I mean his own; “for all mine,” he says, “are yours, and yours are mine.” And they legislated for their fellow servants, but he for his own servants. Let us ask, then, those who reject the law: is not being angry contrary to not killing, or is it rather its perfection and support? It is plain that this is its fulfillment, and greater on this account. For he who is not carried away into anger will much more abstain from murder; and he who bridles his temper will much more keep his hands to himself. For the root of murder is anger. He, then, who cuts out the root will much more remove the branches; or rather, will not let them grow at all.