Commentary on Matthew (complete)
Latin text: Migne, PL 26 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Commentary 1, chapter 5
1.5.31PL 26:39c
Dictum est autem : Quicumque dimiserit uxorem suam, det ei libellum repudii. Ego autem dico vobis : quia omnis qui dimiserit uxorem suam, excepta fornicationis causa, facit eam moechari : et qui dimissam duxerit, adulterat, iterum audistis, quia dictum est antiquis : Non perjurabis, reddes autem Domino juramenta tua. In posteriori parte locum istum plenius Salvator exponit, quod Moses libellum repudii dari jusserit propter duritiam cordis maritorum, non dissidium concedens, sed auferens homicidium (Deut. xxiv). Multo enim melius est, licet lugubrem evenire discordiam, quam per odium sanguinem fundi.
“It was said: Whoever puts away his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery.” “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not swear falsely, but you shall render your oaths to the Lord.” In the later part [of the Gospel] the Saviour expounds this passage more fully: that Moses commanded a certificate of divorce to be given because of the hardness of husbands' hearts, not granting separation but removing murder. For it is much better that even a mournful discord should occur than that blood should be shed through hatred.
Matt 5:31–32 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:33 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 19:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 24:1 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome comments briefly on Matt 5:31–32, explaining that Moses allowed the certificate of divorce to prevent husbands from murdering hated wives.
- Jerome's Commentary on Matthew has no public-domain English translation; the translation was re-read against the Latin. Terms: dimittere “put away”, libellus repudii “certificate of divorce”, fornicatio “sexual immorality”; Jerome's text uses both moechari and adulterare for “commit adultery”. The staged section also contains the lemma of Matt 5:33, which Jerome comments on next. A stray page number was removed by a logged correction. Quotations: Matt 5:31–33; allusions: Matt 19:8; Deut 24:1.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked page number): Ego antem dico → Ego autem dico; dimissam 30 duxerit → dimissam duxerit; re Ides autem → reddes autem.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 1.5.31 (PL 26:39c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/1-5-31). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/1-5-31
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
Commentary 3, chapter 19
3.19.1PL 26:133c–134 a
Et factum est cum consummasset Jesus sermones istos, migravit a Galilaea; et venit in fines Judaeae trans Jordanem : et secutae sunt eum turbae multae et curavit eos ibi. Et accesserunt ad eum Pharisaei tentantes eum, et dicentes : Si licet homini dimittere uxorem suam quacumque ex causa? De Galilaea venerat ad Judaeam : idcirco Pharisaeorum Scribarumque factio interrogat eum : utrum liceat homini dimittere uxorem suam qualibet causa, ut quasi cornuto teneant eum syllogismo : et quodcumque responderit, captioni pateat. Si dixerit, dimittendas esse uxores qualibet ex causa, et ducendas alias, pudicitiae praedicator sibi videbitur docere contraria. Si autem responderit, non omnem ob causam debere dimitti, quasi sacrilegii reus tenebitur; et adversus doctrinam Moysi ac per Moysen Dei, facere judicabitur. Igitur Dominus sic responsionem temperat, ut decipulam eorum transeat, Scripturam sanctam adducens in testimonium, et naturalem legem, primamque Dei sententiam secundae opponens; quae non voluntate Dei, sed peccantium necessitate concessa est.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, he moved from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; and great crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause whatever?” He had come from Galilee to Judea; therefore the faction of the Pharisees and scribes asks him whether it is lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause, so as to hold him, as it were, with a horned syllogism, so that whatever he answered would be open to capture. If he said that wives may be put away for any cause and others married, the preacher of chastity would be seen to teach things contrary to himself. But if he answered that they ought not to be put away for every cause, he would be held guilty, as it were, of sacrilege, and judged to act against the teaching of Moses, and through Moses of God. So the Lord tempers his answer so as to pass by their snare, bringing in holy Scripture as testimony, and the natural law, and opposing God's first sentence to the second, which was granted not by God's will but by the necessity of sinners.
Matt 19:1–3 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 24:1 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome explains the Pharisees' question in Matt 19:3 as a dilemma meant to trap Jesus, which he escapes by setting God's first decree, from creation, against the later concession.
- The “horned syllogism” is the dilemma (syllogismus cornutus). The “second sentence” is the concession of Deut 24:1. Quotations: Matt 19:1–3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word): Pharisoei → Pharisaei; ut quosi cornuto → ut quasi cornuto; di mittendas → dimittendas.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.1 (PL 26:133c–134 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.4PL 26:134a–134 b
Qui respondens ait eis : Non legistis, quia qui fecit ab initio, masculum et feminam fecit eos? Hoc in exordio Geneseos scriptum est. Dicendo autem, masculum et feminam, ostendit secunda vitanda conjugia. Non enim ait, masculum et feminas, quod ex priorum repudio quaerebatur : sed masculum et feminam, ut unius conjugis consortia necterentur.
“He answered and said to them: Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female?” This is written at the opening of Genesis. By saying “male and female” he shows that second marriages are to be avoided. For he does not say “male and females,” which was what they sought by the repudiation of the former wives, but “male and female,” so that the fellowship of one spouse should be bound together.
Matt 19:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome argues from “male and female” (one man, one woman) that second marriages after repudiation are to be avoided.
- “Second marriages” (secunda conjugia) here are marriages contracted after putting away a first wife. Stray marks and a page number were removed by logged corrections. Quotations: Matt 19:4; Gen 1:27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (leaked page number; split word; split word; stray note letter): masculum 145 et feminam, ostendit secun da → masculum et feminam, ostendit secunda; masculum et fe minas → masculum et feminas; ut b unius → ut unius.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.4 (PL 26:134a–134 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.5PL 26:134b–134 c
Et dixit : propter hoc dimittet homo patrem et matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae : et erunt duo in carne una. Itaque jam non sunt duo, sed una caro. Similiter ait, adhaerebit uxori suae, non uxoribus. Et erunt duo in carne una. Praemium nuptiarum, e duabus unam carnem fieri. Castitas juncta spiritui, unus efficitur spiritus. Quod ergo Deus conjunxit, homo non separet. Deus conjungit, unam faciendo carnem viri et feminae : hanc homo non potest separare, nisi forsitan solus Deus. Homo separat, quando propter desiderium secundae uxoris, primam dimittit. Deus separat, qui et conjunxerat, quando ex consensu propter servitutem Dei (eo quod tempus in arcto sit) sic habemus uxores, quasi non habentes (I Cor. vii).
“And he said: For this reason a man will leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be in one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” Likewise he says “will cleave to his wife,” not “to his wives.” “And the two will be in one flesh.” The reward of marriage is that one flesh is made from two. Chastity joined to the spirit is made one spirit. “What therefore God has joined, let man not separate.” God joins by making one flesh of man and woman; this man cannot separate, but only perhaps God. Man separates when, out of desire for a second wife, he puts away the first. God separates, he who had also joined, when by consent, for the service of God (because the time is short), we have wives as though we did not have them.
Matt 19:5–6 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 6:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 7:29 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome explains that God makes husband and wife one flesh, so that man separates them when he puts away a wife to take another, while God separates them only when they agree to live in continence for his service.
- Jerome's “God separates” refers to spouses who by mutual consent abstain from intercourse (1 Cor 7:5, 29), not to divorce. Quotations and allusions: Matt 19:5–6; Gen 2:24; 1 Cor 6:17; 1 Cor 7:29.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; split word): adhoerebit uxori suoe → adhaerebit uxori suae; nisi forsitan soins Deus → nisi forsitan solus Deus; se cundae → secundae; (I Car. vii) → (I Cor. vii).
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.5 (PL 26:134b–134 c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.7PL 26:134c
Dicunt illi : Quid ergo Moyses mandavit dari libellum repudii, et dimittere? Aperiunt calumniam quam paraverant. Et certe Dominus non propriam sententiam protulerat, sed veteris historiae et mandatorum Dei fuerat recordatus.
“They say to him: Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away?” They open up the slander they had prepared. And indeed the Lord had not put forward his own opinion, but had recalled the ancient history and the commandments of God.
Matt 19:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 24:1 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome notes that the Pharisees' appeal to Moses reveals their trap, though Jesus had only cited Genesis.
- Quotation: Matt 19:7; allusion: Deut 24:1.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): vereris historiae → veteris historiae.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.7 (PL 26:134c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-7
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.8PL 26:134c–135 a
Ait illis : quoniam Moyses ad duritiam cordis vestri permisit vobis dimittere uxores vestras : ab initio autem non fuit sic. Quod dicit istiusmodi est : Numquid potest Deus sibi esse contrarius, ut aliud ante jusserit, et sententiam suam novo frangat imperio? Non ita sentiendum est : sed Moyses cum videret, propter desiderium secundarum conjugum, quae vel ditiores, vel juniores, vel pulchriores essent, primas uxores interfici, aut malam vitam ducere, maluit indulgere discordiam, quam odia et homicidia perseverare (Deut. xxiv). Simulque considera, quod non dixit : Propter duritiam cordis vestri permisit vobis Deus, sed Moyses : ut juxta Apostolum (I Cor. vii) consilium sit hominis, non imperium Dei.
“He said to them: Because of the hardness of your heart Moses permitted you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so.” What he says is this: Can God be contrary to himself, so as to have commanded one thing before and to break his own sentence by a new command? We must not think so; but Moses, when he saw that, out of desire for second wives who were richer or younger or more beautiful, first wives were being killed or were leading a wretched life, preferred to allow discord rather than that hatreds and murders should continue. And consider at the same time that he did not say, “Because of the hardness of your heart God permitted you,” but “Moses”; so that, according to the Apostle, it is the counsel of a man, not the command of God.
Matt 19:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 24:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 7:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 7:25 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome explains that the concession of divorce was Moses' counsel to prevent the murder of first wives, not God's command.
- “According to the Apostle” refers to Paul's distinction between his own counsel and the Lord's command (1 Cor 7:12, 25). Quotations: Matt 19:8; allusions: Deut 24:1; 1 Cor 7:12, 25.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word; stray marks): Ait iliis → Ait illis; cum vi deret → cum videret; malnis indulgere → maluit indulgere; vobis(??)Deus → vobis Deus.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.8 (PL 26:134c–135 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-8
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.9PL 26:135a–135 b
Dico autem vobis, quia quicumque dimiserit uxorem suam, nisi ob fornicationem, et aliam duxerit, moechatur. Et qui dimissam duxerit, moechatur. Sola fornicatio est quae uxoris vincat affectum : immo cum illa unam carnem in aliam diviserit, et se fornicatione separaverit a marito, non debet teneri : ne virum quoque sub maledicto faciat, dicente Scriptura : Qui adulteram tenet, stultus et impius est. Ubicumque est igitur fornicatio, et fornicationis suspicio, libere uxor dimittitur. Et quia poterat accidere, ut aliquis calumniam faceret innocenti, et ob secundam copulam nuptiarum, veteri crimen impingeret, sic priorem dimittere jubetur uxorem, ut secundam, prima vivente, non habeat. Quod enim dicit, tale est : Si non propter libidinem, sed propter injuriam dimittis uxorem : quare expertus infelices priores nuptias, novarum te immittis periculo? Necnon quia poterat evenire, ut juxta eamdem legem uxor quoque marito daret repudium, eadem cautela praecipitur, ne secundum accipiat virum. Et quia meretrix, et quae semel fuerat adultera, opprobrium non timebat, secundo praecipitur viro, quod si talem duxerit, sub adulterii sit crimine.
“And I say to you that whoever puts away his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery.” Sexual immorality alone is what overcomes the affection owed to a wife; indeed, when she has divided the one flesh into another and separated herself from her husband by sexual immorality, she ought not to be kept, lest she bring the husband too under the curse, since Scripture says, “He who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious.” Wherever, then, there is sexual immorality and the suspicion of sexual immorality, the wife is freely put away. And because it could happen that someone would slander an innocent woman and, for the sake of a second marriage union, fasten a charge on the old one, he is commanded so to put away his former wife that he may not have a second while the first is living. For what he says is this: If you put away your wife not out of lust but because of injury, why, having experienced an unhappy first marriage, do you thrust yourself into the danger of a new one? And also, because it could happen that by the same law a wife too gives her husband a repudiation, the same caution is commanded, that she is not to receive a second husband. And because a prostitute, and a woman who had once been an adulteress, did not fear reproach, it is commanded to the second husband that if he marries such a woman he is under the charge of adultery.
Matt 19:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 18:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome holds that sexual immorality alone allows a husband to put away his wife, indeed requires it, but that he may not take a second wife while the first lives, nor may a wife who repudiates her husband remarry.
- Translated exactly: sexual immorality is the only ground, and the adulterous wife “ought not to be kept”; but the husband is “commanded so to put away his former wife that he may not have a second while the first is living”, and the same applies to a wife who repudiates her husband. Jerome reads the exception clause as permitting the putting away, not a new marriage. “He who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious” is the addition to Prov 18:22 found in the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Stray marks and a page number were removed by logged corrections. Quotations: Matt 19:9; Prov 18:22 (LXX/Vulgate addition).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (leaked page number; stray note letter): separaverit 146 a marito → separaverit a marito; secundo a praecipitur → secundo praecipitur.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.9 (PL 26:135a–135 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-9
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.10PL 26:135b–135 c
Dicunt ei discipuli ejus : Si ita est causa homini cum uxore, non expedit nubere. Grave pondus uxorum est, si excepta causa fornicationis, eas dimittere non licet. Quid enim si temulenta fuerit, si iracunda, si malis moribus, si luxuriosa, si gulosa, si vaga, si jurgatrix, si maledica, tenenda erit istiusmodi? Volumus nolumus, sustinenda est. Cum enim essemus liberi, voluntarie nos subjecimus servituti. Videntes ergo apostoli grave uxorum jugum, proferunt motum animi sui, et dicunt : si ita est causa homini cum uxore non expedit nubere.
“His disciples say to him: If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” Heavy is the burden of wives, if it is not permitted to put them away except for the cause of sexual immorality. For what if she is a drunkard, if irascible, if of bad character, if extravagant, if gluttonous, if a gadabout, if quarrelsome, if abusive: must such a woman be kept? Whether we will or not, she must be borne. For when we were free, we voluntarily subjected ourselves to servitude. Seeing, then, the heavy yoke of wives, the apostles express the movement of their mind and say: “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Matt 19:10 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome explains the disciples' reaction: since a wife may be put away only for sexual immorality, a man must bear even a drunken or quarrelsome wife.
- A variant noted by the editor in brackets in the digital text (“nolimus velimus” for “volumus nolumus”) was removed by a logged correction. Quotation: Matt 19:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (editor's variant note; split word): tenenda erit is tiusmodi → tenenda erit istiusmodi; Volumus nolumus [Al. nolimus velimus], sustinenda → Volumus nolumus, sustinenda.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage, Marriage
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.10 (PL 26:135b–135 c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-10
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.11PL 26:135c–135 d
Qui dixit illis : Non omnes capiunt verbum istud, sed quibus datum est. Nemo putet sub hoc verbo, vel fatum, vel fortunam introduci : quod hi sunt virgines, quibus a Deo datum sit, aut quos quidam ad hoc casus adduxerit, sed his datum est qui petierunt, qui voluerunt, qui ut acciperent, laboraverunt. Omni enim petenti dabitur, et quaerens inveniet, et pulsanti aperietur (Matth. vii, 8, et Luc. xi, 10).
“He said to them: Not all receive this word, but those to whom it is given.” Let no one think that by this word either fate or fortune is introduced, as though these were virgins to whom it has been given by God, or whom some chance has led to this; it is given to those who asked, who willed, who laboured to receive it. “For to everyone who asks it will be given, and the one who seeks will find, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Matt 19:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 7:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 11:10 (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome explains that the gift of continence is given to those who ask and strive for it, not by fate.
- Quotations: Matt 19:11; Matt 7:8; Luke 11:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): sub huc verbo → sub hoc verbo; fortunam introduce → fortunam introduci.
Topics: Marriage, Virginity and celibacy
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.11 (PL 26:135c–135 d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-11
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.
3.19.12PL 26:135d–136 b
Sunt enim eunuchi, qui de matris utero sic nati sunt : et sunt eunuchi, qui facti sunt ab hominibus : et sunt eunuchi, qui seipsos castraverunt propter regnum coelorum. Qui potest capere, capiat. Triplex genus est eunuchorum : duorum carnalium, et tertii spiritualis. Alii sunt qui de matris utero sic nascuntur. Alii quos vel captivitas facit, vel deliciae matronales. Tertii sunt qui seipsos castraverunt propter regnum coelorum; et qui cum possint esse viri, propter Christum eunuchi fiunt. Istis promittitur praemium : superioribus autem quibus castimoniae necessitas, non voluntas est, nihil omnino debetur. Possumus et aliter dicere. Eunuchi sunt ex matris utero, qui frigidioris naturae sunt, nec libidinem appetentes. Et alii, qui ab hominibus fiunt : quos aut philosophi faciunt, aut propter idolorum cultum emolliuntur in feminas : vel persuasione haeretica simulant castitatem, ut mentiantur religionis veritatem. Sed nullus eorum consequitur regna coelorum, nisi qui se castraverit propter Christum. Unde et infert : Qui potest capere capiat; ut unusquisque consideret vires suas, utrum possit virginalia et pudicitiae implere praecepta. Per se enim castitas blanda est, et quemlibet ad se alliciens. Sed considerandae sunt vires, ut qui potest capere, capiat. Quasi hortantis vox Domini est, et milites suos ad pudicitiae praemium concitantis. Qui potest capere, capiat; qui potest pugnare, pugnet, superet ac triumphet.
“For there are eunuchs who were born so from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made so by men; and there are eunuchs who castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can receive it receive it.” The kind of eunuchs is threefold: two carnal and the third spiritual. Some are born so from their mother's womb; others are those whom captivity makes, or the pleasures of matrons. The third are those who castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven, and who, though they could be men, become eunuchs for Christ. To these the reward is promised; but to the former, for whom chastity is a necessity and not a choice, nothing at all is owed. We can also put it otherwise. Eunuchs from the mother's womb are those who are of a colder nature and do not desire lust; and others are those made by men, whom either philosophers make, or who are softened into women for the worship of idols, or who by heretical persuasion feign chastity so as to counterfeit the truth of religion. But none of them attains the kingdom of heaven except the one who has castrated himself for Christ. Hence he adds, “Let the one who can receive it receive it,” so that each may consider his strength, whether he can fulfil the precepts of virginity and chastity. For chastity in itself is attractive and draws everyone to itself; but one's strength must be considered, so that “the one who can receive it may receive it.” The Lord's voice is as of one exhorting and rousing his soldiers to the prize of chastity: let the one who can receive it receive it; let the one who can fight fight, overcome and triumph.
Matt 19:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jerome distinguishes three kinds of eunuchs in Matt 19:12 and holds that only those who choose chastity for Christ receive the reward, each according to his strength.
- Jerome reads “castrated themselves” spiritually, of chosen continence. Stray marks and a page number were removed by logged corrections. Quotation: Matt 19:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked page number; stray note letter): ab horninibus → ab hominibus; sic nascuntur. 147 Alii → sic nascuntur. Alii; ex matris utero, b qui → ex matris utero, qui.
Topics: Marriage, Heresy, Virginity and celibacy
Cite (SBL): Jerome, Matt. 3.19.12 (PL 26:135d–136 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/jerome-commentarii-matthaeum/3-19-12
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (PL 26); re-read against the Latin, since no public-domain English exists.