Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 33–37

“And Jesus answered and said to them: See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will lead many astray.”

Those who understand simply think that these words signify only this: that many were to come asserting that they were christs, having in themselves even certain wonderful powers, and words by which they would lure to belief many who showed themselves deserving of being led astray. But John in his letter says: “And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have arisen; from which we know that it is the last hour.” By these words he teaches that every word which is foreign to the truth and asserts itself to be the Word of God is Antichrist; for so it is possible to understand his saying, “And now many antichrists have arisen,” since that which is true is one. But, as the record of what we read shows, there were not many men in the time of the apostles who said that they were christs, except perhaps Dositheus the Samaritan, from whom the Dositheans are named, and Simon, of whom the Acts of the Apostles relate that he proclaimed himself the great Power of God. Besides these, neither before nor afterwards were there any, as far as I know. But every word that professes the exposition of the Scriptures and their faith, yet does not have the truth, must rightly be understood as Antichrist, coming in the name of Christ and saying, “I am the Christ,” lying, and quite unable to show in itself the form of truth. And since to those who examine the words of Scripture to find its sense there often occur certain understandings that seem true but are not true, and sometimes these are handed on by others too in plausible, well-coloured words, so that the true sense is not easily found until a truer and firmer sense has been found against the lying opinions: therefore I think that Christ, in answer to his disciples' question, “When will these things be, and what is the sign of your coming and of the consummation of the age?”, answered thus: “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will lead many astray.” For truly one who fulfils the commandment that says, “Be wise money-changers,” and the one that says, “Test all things; hold fast what is good; abstain from every form of evil,” will see many led astray by many understandings and words that profess to be Christ, the Word of God. And would that only those outside the Church were led astray; it would be easy to beware of their seduction. But now those very people who profess to be churchmen are deceived and led astray on various necessary points, as their very disagreement bears witness, since even those within are led astray. But accordingly, just as among those who go astray on these bodily roads there is a difference in going astray, and some wander away even in the opposite direction from the public road that is sought, while others turn aside only a little from the right path so as to be recoverable, and there are many differences among those who stray, so too we see those who stray from the truth. The Marcionites, Basilides, the Valentinians, the Apellians, and the Ophites stray far from the appointed road, holding things wholly contrary to the truth. But some do not dissent on the public and manifest points: for example, about the one God who gave the law and the Gospel; or about Christ Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, who at the end of the age, according to the preaching of the prophets, came into the world and took upon himself the true nature of human flesh, so that he also underwent birth from a virgin, and accepted the death of the cross, and rose from the dead, and deified the human nature he had taken up; and further about the Holy Spirit, that it was he who was in the patriarchs and prophets who was afterwards given in the apostles; and about the resurrection of the dead, as the Gospel teaches, they believe most surely, and all things that are handed down in the churches. But on other points, not few, yet small, they put forward new doctrines, and they too are surely among those who are led astray by false understandings and words that come in the name of Christ, who is the Word and the truth. It is evil to find someone straying in the conduct of his life, but I think it much worse to stray in doctrines and not to think according to the truest rule of the Scriptures. For just as we are to be punished for mortal sins, so we are punished more for sinning through false doctrines. For if a good moral way of life were enough for men's salvation, how is it that among the Gentiles the philosophers, or among the heretics many who live continently, are by no means saved, as though the falsity of their doctrine darkened and soiled their way of life? I think that the word in the twenty-third psalm, wishing to show a general cleanness which is not only in actions but also in knowledge, says: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands and pure in heart.” And in Proverbs: “Who will boast that he has a chaste heart, or who will be confident that he is clean from sins?” I think, then, that the clean of heart and chaste of heart is none other than one who possesses a heart clean and chaste from every false doctrine; and I consider the innocent in hands and clean from sins to be one who is blameless in the actions of his life. But it must be known that, in truth, it is impossible for anyone to be innocent in hands and clean from sins without being pure in heart and chaste from false doctrines; just as, on the contrary, it is impossible to be clean and chaste in heart from false doctrines without being innocent in hands and clean from sins. For these follow each other and are not separated from one another: a clean word in the soul and a blameless life. We have treated that point more fully, teaching ourselves according to what seemed right to us in this place, so that we may guard ourselves from every error of false doctrines, whether on the manifest and principal points or on those that seem lesser, so that we may hear him who said, “You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left” from him who said, “I am the way.” And let us not be led astray, but be watchful, lest any of those who come in Christ's name deceive us, saying: “I am the Christ, I am the truth, and the wisdom, and the true light.” And I think that not only is Christ a word, but Antichrist is also a word; Christ is truth, and feigned truth is Antichrist; Christ is wisdom, and feigned wisdom is Antichrist, deceiving the lovers of the wisdom of God and … of the truth, all of which belong to the account of the faith. But also in those virtues by which we live according to God, we find that all true virtues are Christ, and all feigned virtues Antichrist. For all the forms of good that Christ has in himself in truth for the building up of men, the devil has all of them in himself in appearance for the seduction of the saints. For if Christ is righteousness, yet there are often ways of a man that seem to be righteous, but their end looks into the depth of hell. When, then, righteousness appears though it is not true righteousness, such righteousness is Antichrist, against Christ who is righteousness. I think that the chastity found among heretics is also Antichrist, sending men into error so that they do not understand that the church's chastity is Christ. So too there is a mercy that is Antichrist against Christ who is mercy: those who give alms, but not for the sake of God's righteousness. There is also a patience that is Antichrist in those who seem to suffer for Christianity and contend even to the shedding of blood, evidently so as not to seem to deny Christianity; but they speak iniquity on high even in the very shedding of their blood, and set their mouth against heaven. There is also a power that is Antichrist, leading the ignorant astray, since many will say to Christ on that day: “Lord, in your name we cast out demons and did many mighty works.” To whom he will answer: “Depart from me, all who work iniquity; I never knew you.” For if Christ never knew them, yet they boast of having done mighty works in Christ's name, those mighty works were not from Christ, who did not know them, but from him who transforms himself not only into an angel of light but even into Christ himself. We need, then, with God's help and with Christ himself living in us, to see with open eyes that no one leads us astray, whether a word or a power, from within or from without, promising that it is Christ when it is his enemy and the enemy of his other virtues. Consider also this: that many come in nothing else but “in my name.” For Antichrist takes up only the name of Christ; he neither does his works, nor teaches the words of his truth, nor shows his wisdom in himself. And just as, according to some, Barabbas was also called Jesus, but was a robber having nothing of Jesus except the name, so I think there are many christs, but in name only. Note that nowhere in the Scriptures is the Lord found using this very word and saying, “I am the Christ,” so that he would not say anything like the many who were to come in his name and say, “I am the Christ.” For to make believers believe that he is the Christ, the works of God which only Christ could do, and the word he taught, and his power, were enough for him, above a thousand voices crying, “I am the Christ.” So he never said plainly, “I am,” but he said it through his works and through the teaching of godliness; so that he himself says to Peter, as to one who had never heard it from him but had learned from the Father that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” For if he himself, being in the body, had said plainly to him, “I am the Christ,” flesh would seem to have revealed it to him, not the Father alone. Therefore it is enough for the seduction worked by the antichrists that they say only this, “I am the Christ,” which Christ is never read to have said; and many are led astray. For wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many enter by it; but few are those who find the way that leads to life.

“And you will hear of battles and reports of battles. See that you are not alarmed; for these things must take place, but the end is not yet.” And Luke in this way: “When you hear of battles and insurrections, do not be alarmed.”

He puts forward two things: one thus, “You will hear battles,” and the other, “reports of battles.” And first let us see, according to the simple tradition, as many understand it, how reports of battles differ from battles. Suppose for me that there are battles where cities rise against cities, or nations against nations, or one takes another's property, or a stronger man kills a strong one. What, then, do reports of battles signify, after battles? Especially since it is not said, “You will see battles and hear of battles,” but in both he put “you will hear”: that is, you will both hear battles and hear reports of battles. And let us suppose that hearing battles is when the sons of peace guard their eyes clean from battles so as not to see evil things, and since they cannot look upon toils and griefs, they hear about battles, what city fights against what city, or what nation is overcome by what nation. What, then, besides this will be the other thing, to hear battles and to hear reports of battles? See, then, whether you can (I speak as to the simple sense of the word) give a difference of this kind: it is not the same to hear of a battle set far off, that there is a battle, and to be near a battle and hear the very voices of those fighting. Each, then, has its own meaning. And perhaps one who hears the very voices that occur in battles hears battles, while one who hears about battles fought far away hears reports of battles, for he does not hear the battles themselves. But since the words are ambiguous, someone may say the contrary: that one who is far away hears more about them, while one who is near the battles hears the reports of the battles themselves. In both, then, there seems to be some understanding of the difference.

Rise now to the figurative and spiritual understanding, if in some way you can find a sense worthy of the eminence of Christ's knowledge and of the subtlety of the evangelists, so as not to lower the dignity of the Gospel's wisdom. See, then, whether, remembering what was handed on above about the saying, “Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will lead many astray,” we can interpret these words too in keeping with it. Everyone, then, who is perfect, and sees in his soul the glorious coming of the Word, which destroys and brings to its consummation the world and crucifies it to the righteous man, so that all worldly things die in him, and who has senses trained for grasping, must, as he seeks and examines, run into many battles of doctrines; he will also hear many professing the truth, and different traditions about it; so that, like a good soldier of the Word, he may remain unwounded in spirit by all who profess the truth but neither see it nor make it plain, but proclaim the contrary of the truth as truth; and that he may be made worthy to receive into his soul the glorious coming of Christ, according as he is God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, who customarily comes to those who, after they have known Christ according to the flesh and received the Word who became flesh, rise so far above the many that they can grasp not just any glory, but the glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father. And perhaps the Word of God appears in different glories according to the power of each soul that sees him, according as each soul has made itself capable. To one, then, who is perfect and has come, as far as he is concerned, to the consummation of the age, the Word appears such that whoever has seen him says: “We have seen his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” If, then, someone is to be held worthy to receive and see such a Word, he must before such a vision of the Word hear battles in his soul, and, through others who assert as truth whatever has seemed right to them, reports of battles. And well did the Saviour, to his disciples who were advancing to perfection, after speaking about battles, add “See,” and did not say “Hear,” urging them to be careful that with the eyes of the soul they may see, after hearing battles and reports of battles, the nature of each thing heard, and seeing it not be alarmed; since such intelligible battles customarily befall righteous men in various persuasions, and trouble and move their souls to doubt whether perhaps what seems plausible is true, though it is false, or even to believe it fully as true. As many, then, as are advancing to the perfection that is in Christ and to the way of life of the heavenly Church, when they hear the battles of the heresies, which fight against the true faith and against one another, and hear the reports of the battles of philosophy and of vain deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of this world and not according to Christ, exercising themselves in what is said, consider and ponder the commandment of Christ, who says, “See”; and they see what is said, and seeing lies with plausibility, they are not led astray, but hope, unwounded by such battles, to see the glorious coming of Christ, who is the Word; above all if, hearing battles and reports of battles according to Christ's commandment, they suffer no disturbance of soul, but, protected under the peace of God, which guards the hearts and minds of the worthy, are not alarmed. But if someone, hearing battles and reports of battles in the sense we have explained, is not careful to see the things said in their various plausibilities, and, because he was not careful to see, is alarmed, he will not only be deceived by the many who come in Christ's name and say, “I am the Christ,” but will also be slain by such swords, receiving incurable wounds; of which swords it is said: “Swords wound, but the tongue of the wise heals their wounds.” Those who are disturbed and, because they do not take care for themselves, fall in such a battle are those who are wounded and die in the valley of Zion, of whom Scripture says: “Your wounded are not wounded by the sword, nor are your dead dead in war.” Of these we need now only point out this: that it is not for just anyone to prepare himself to hear battles and reports of battles, so that, hearing, he sees and is not alarmed, but for the man perfect in Christ, who lives indeed in the flesh but does not war according to the flesh; the weapons of whose warfare are not fleshly but mighty for God, able to destroy strongholds and the thoughts of those who exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. For according to Solomon, a wise man went up against many cities fortified by the persuasion of the words of heresies, and going up destroyed the stronghold in which the ungodly trusted. Paul destroyed it, who had been prepared to destroy fortified cities that opposed the truth. One who is such, after he has heard battles and reports of battles, seeing, and as a wise man going up against fortified cities and destroying the strongholds in which the ungodly trusted, praising God and giving thanks to God, from whom he learned to fight such battles and to keep the commandment that says, “Sanctify war,” cries out and says: “Blessed be the Lord God who teaches my hands for war and my fingers for battle, my mercy and my refuge.” And because of battles of this kind it is said of David by the wife of Nabal: “My lord will fight the battles of the Lord.” I think that the battles read in the Scriptures are also mysteries of such battles; and that what is read, especially in the book of Joshua son of Nun, about the destruction of cities is a mystery of the destruction of those who fight against the assembly of truth, and a mystery of all the gatherings of the adverse powers. Hearing, then, battles and reports of such battles, let us attend to what he says: “See that you are not alarmed.” And we must know that these things must take place for one who awaits the coming of the Word, that he should hear battles and reports of battles; but it is not the case that as soon as he has heard, the end will come at once. Therefore every man who wishes to be saved must await the end, since “he who endures to the end will be saved.” And according to Luke, if we hear of battles and insurrections, let us not be troubled. Battles are those that come from knowledge falsely so called and from the wisdom of the rulers of this world; and insurrections are when people do not agree with one another in the assembly of the Church. For we plainly hear different opinions on various matters, especially those of us who wish to advance to the perfection that is in Christ: not only battles outside the Church, but also insurrections inside the Church; from all of which the disciples of the apostles were free, of all of whom, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles, “there was one heart and one soul”; for they were established in the same mind and in the same knowledge. Yet we, even if we hear such battles and such insurrections, should not be alarmed. For these things must happen first, before we see the perfection of wisdom which is in Christ; but the end we seek will not come at once. For we must be established and confirmed in peace, so as to be without fear and not be troubled by insurrections, so that after this we may be able to grasp the end, which lies neither in the hearing of battles nor in the insurrections themselves; for the peaceful end is far from all these.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of birth pains.” Mark has the same, but adds “and disturbances”; Luke likewise the same, but adds “and terrors from heaven, and there will be great signs, and storms.”

Let us first explain the simple and bodily sense of the passage. Just as bodies fall sick before the death of those who suffer no violence from outside, and as in all, through sickness, a way is made for separating the soul from its body, so this great creation of the world, when it begins to be corrupted, since it has a beginning and an end, for the things that are seen are temporal, and heaven and earth will pass away, must languish before its corruption: so that the earth is shaken more often by earthquakes, and the air, conceiving a certain disease-bearing force, becomes pestilential. And further the vital power of the earth, suddenly failing, chokes the fruits, and the power that generates all kinds of trees fails. When these things happen, it follows that living nature, being a part of the whole world, suffers together with the change of all things: for instance, not taking in its accustomed nourishment of food, it comes to failure and is corrupted. For “the heavens will perish, for they will grow old like a garment”; and whatever grows old and ages is near its end. It follows that, through lack of food, men are roused to greed and to wars against those who do not suffer so great a lack; and that, by comparison with others who have abundance of necessary things, some rise against others, and nation fights against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And it is possible that, with the lack of other things, there will also be a lack of men of good sense, so that for this reason a tranquil and peaceful life is not found among many, but risings, quarrels, and disturbances occur, sometimes from greed, sometimes from desire for rule, sometimes also from a mad craving for vainglory, and sometimes from the craving for vainglory of rulers who are not content with their own kingdom but wish to extend their rule and subject many nations to themselves.

Someone will give a deeper reason for what is to happen before the consummation of the world, especially about the battles. Just as the coming of Christ by divine power made peace among many nations, according to what the Prophet says of him, “In his days righteousness shall arise, and abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away,” and so the peace of the world was multiplied for the sake of the future growth of the churches, so that this peace became the occasion of salvation for many, while they were not compelled to go out to wars and fight for their homelands as was done before; so it follows that when, because of the abundance of iniquity, the love of many has grown cold, and therefore God and his Christ have abandoned them, battles happen again, namely when the operations that sow wars are not hindered by holiness but are rather nourished by the growing malice of men; so that the cause of all the evils that befall is said to be those who came to the Word but afterwards turned aside and all together became useless in worldly evils. For as long as the salt of the earth remains, to whom the Lord said, “You are the salt of the earth,” all things hold together, seasoned with salt. But after the salt itself has lost its savour, to speak according to Scripture, the things that were salted by it also lose their savour like unsalted things, are corrupted, stink, and fall apart. And further, as long as the light of the world remains, all things are directed, ordered by a clear light; but when this very light has been diminished in men's souls, while it is not nourished by its own natural food, then, as darkness takes hold of everything, when all things have come to be in sadness and calamities, there will be as it were an assembly of the adverse powers over all things, since they are not hindered by the saints and by Christ in them, who used to hinder them; but as in darkness, without any hindrance, they will work in the hearts of men so as to rouse nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And if, as some hold, famines and pestilences come from such operations and from the angels of Satan, then likewise famines and pestilences will grow strong through the adverse powers when the disciples of Christ are no longer the salt of the earth and the light of the world, they who are princes of the power of God, destroying in men the battles that the adverse powers make, and all that is sown by their malice. And at times in Israel famines and pestilences came because of sins, and droughts, which the prayers of saints such as Samuel, Jeremiah, and others like them used to end. And it is well put, “There will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places.” For God does not wish to destroy the human race all at once; but judging it in parts, little by little, while famines and pestilences and earthquakes happen in various places, he gives room for repentance to those who are corrected by small chastisements and turn to God. And just as when sicknesses begin it is possible to bring medical aids, so when famines and pestilences and earthquakes begin in various places, it is possible to give some men purifications leading to the way of life, the faith, and the wisdom of the saints. But if, when such evils begin, no godly correction has been made, famines and pestilences and earthquakes will advance to worse, when the abomination of desolation has taken its place, not content with another part of the world: it will come so as even to stand in the holy place. Yet the risings of nations against nations and of kingdoms against kingdoms, and famines and pestilences and earthquakes arising in various places, are said to be the beginnings of worse calamities, which the Lord called birth pains. If, then, such will be the beginnings of birth pains, what do you think the increase of the birth pains will be? And what will be the end of the general birth pains in the whole world, so that they destroy the whole world, no longer in parts? Yet I think that what is to follow will be against the ungodly only, so that they are tormented in the sharpest and longest pains until they lay down the seeds of sins that they have conceived and formed from the contrary operations. Pharaoh, not wishing to do good, commanded that every male born to the Hebrews be thrown into the river; but God, being good as truly good, kills the seeds of evils that they have received, so that through many labours and pains they may lay them down, since they conceived pain and brought forth iniquity. And what else befits God but to kill all the iniquity that sinners beget, for whom the day of such a death is better than the day of their birth, according to what is written: “The day of death is better than the day of birth”? So too one may well say that a stillbirth is better than what is born: “And I said, a stillbirth is better than he.” For such a stillbirth comes in its birth, and walks in darkness, and in darkness its name will be covered. We have treated these things more fully, looking to the sequence, according to what he says: “All these are the beginnings of birth pains.”