馬太福音講道集 第 16 章 第 1/2 段

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.

For who suspected this, or who accused Him, that He should make His answer to it? For neither out of what had been said was any such suspicion begotten;

for to bid men be meek, and forbearing, and merciful, and pure in heart, and to contend for righteousness' sake, indicated nothing of the kind, but rather the very opposite.

Why then did He say this? Not without cause, nor at random;

but because He was about to lay down commandments greater than those of old, saying:

'Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time';

and to cut out a road to a certain divine and heavenly way of life;

so that the strangeness of it might not trouble the souls of the hearers, and dispose them to rise up in dissension against the things said, He made use of this preliminary correction.

For though they were not fulfilling the law, yet nevertheless they were held by much conscientiousness toward it; and while daily overthrowing it in their deeds, they wished its letters to remain unmoved, and that no one should add anything more to them;

or rather, they did endure their rulers adding to it, yet not for the better but for the worse.

For thus, by their own additions, they annulled the honour due to parents;

and many other of the injunctions laid down they dissolved by these unseasonable additions.

Since then Christ happened to be neither of the priestly tribe, and the things He was about to introduce were a kind of addition—not one that diminished, but one that heightened virtue—

foreseeing that both these things would trouble them, before He inscribed those wondrous laws, He casts out beforehand that which was about to lie hidden and lurking in their mind.

And what was it that lurked and stood in the way? They supposed that in saying these things He was acting to abolish the ancient ordinances.

This suspicion therefore He heals.

And not here only does He do this, but elsewhere again.

For since they thought Him to be against God on this ground—from His not keeping the Sabbath—healing this suspicion of theirs, there also again He sets forth defences: some befitting Himself, as when He says, 'My Father worketh, and I work';

and others having much that is condescending, such as when He brings into the midst a sheep perishing on the Sabbath, and shows that for the sake of its safety the law is set in motion, and makes mention of circumcision, which likewise does this same thing again.

Wherefore indeed He often utters lowlier words, that He may do away with the appearance of being against God.

For this reason He who raised countless dead by a word alone, when He called Lazarus, added also a prayer;

then, lest this should show Him to be less than the One who begat Him, correcting the suspicion, He subjoined, that 'These things I said because of the multitude standing by, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.'

And neither does He do all things as one acting by His own authority, that He may correct their weakness;

nor does He do all things by praying, lest He leave to those who came after a ground for evil suspicion, as though He were weak and destitute of power;

but He mingles these with those, and those with these.

And not even this does He do at random, but with the discretion that befits Him.

For while doing the greater works with authority, in the lesser He looks up to heaven.

For when loosing sins, and revealing hidden things, and opening Paradise, and driving out demons, and cleansing lepers, and bridling death, and raising countless dead, He did all things by command.

But when—a thing far less than these—He was causing many loaves to gush forth from a few, then He looked up to heaven, showing that it was not through weakness that He wrought this.

For He who was able to do the greater things with authority, how should He have needed prayer in the lesser?

But, as I said, that He might silence their shamelessness, He does this.

The same then also in the case of the words: when you hear Him uttering lowly things, reason thus.

For many are the causes both of such words and of such deeds;

such as: that He might not be thought alien from God; that He was training and healing all; that He was teaching humility; that He was clothed with flesh; that the Jews were not able to hear all things at once; that He was teaching them to speak nothing great concerning themselves.

For this reason, having Himself often spoken many lowly things concerning Himself, He leaves the great things to be spoken by others.

For He Himself, when discoursing with the Jews, said:

'Before Abraham was, I am';

but His disciple not so, rather: '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 plainly said;

but the disciple, with much boldness, keeping back nothing, once and twice and many times says this, writing, 'All things were made through Him';

'and without Him was not anything made that was made.'

and again, 'He was in the world, and the world was made by Him.'

And why do you marvel if others have said greater things concerning Him than He said of Himself, seeing that, though He displayed many things through His works, He did not plainly declare them in words? For that He Himself made man, He showed clearly even through the blind man;

but when His discourse concerned the fashioning of man in the beginning, He did not say, 'I made,' but 'He that 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 upon the sea, through the sunbeam which He turned away at the Cross, and through many other things;

but in words He nowhere plainly declared this, yet the disciples continually proclaim it—both John, and Paul, and Peter.

For if even those men—who by night and by day heard Him discoursing, and beheld Him working wonders, and to whom He privately expounded many things, and on whom He bestowed such great power that they even raised the dead, and whom He made so perfect that they forsook all for His sake—if these, after so great virtue and heavenly wisdom, were not able to bear all things before the supply of the Spirit,

how could a Jewish populace, destitute of understanding, falling far short of such virtue, and coming upon the things done or spoken only by chance, ever have been persuaded that He was not alien to the God of the universe, unless He had employed such great condescension in all things? For this very reason, when He was abrogating the Sabbath, He did not introduce such a law as a leading principle, but framed manifold and many defenses.

But if, when about to set aside a single commandment, He employed so great an economy of words, that He might not smite those who heard;

much more, when adding to the whole law another entire body of legislation, did He require much preparation and careful tending, so as not to disturb those who were then listening.

For this reason too, everywhere He is manifestly seen instructing them only cautiously concerning His own Godhead.

For if the addition to the law so greatly disturbed them, much more would His declaring Himself to be God.

Therefore He utters many things far beneath His own dignity;

and here too, being about to proceed to the addition to the law, He employed much preparatory correction.

For not once only did He say, 'I do not abolish the law,' but He took it up a second time again, and added something else yet greater.

For having said, 'Think not that I am come to destroy,' He added, 'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.'

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 of the devil.

For if Christ came to overthrow that one's tyranny, how is it that He not only does not abolish this law, but even fulfils it? For He did not merely say, 'I do not destroy';

which would have been the mark of one not merely not opposing it, but even upholding and confirming it.

'And how,' one may say, 'did He not destroy it?'

and how too did He fulfil either the law

or the prophets? The prophets indeed, in that He confirmed by His works all the things spoken concerning Him;

wherefore also in each instance the evangelist would say:

'That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.'

both when He was born, and when the children sang the wondrous hymn unto Him, and when He sat upon the ass, and in many other cases He fulfilled this same thing;

all of which would have remained unfulfilled, had He not come.

But the law He fulfilled not in one way only, but also in a second and a third manner.

In one way, by transgressing none of the legal ordinances.

For that He fulfilled it all, hear what He says to John:

'For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.'

'Which of you convicteth me of sin?' And again to the disciples:

'The ruler of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in me.'

And the prophet also from of old declared that 'He did no sin.'

In one way, then, He fulfilled it in this manner;

and in another, by doing this through us as well.

For the marvelous thing is this, that not only did He Himself fulfil it, but He also bestowed this upon us.

Which also Paul, making it plain, declared:

'That Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.'

And he said too that He 'condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh.'

'Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.'

For since the law was zealous for this, to make man righteous, but was too weak, He Himself, having come and introduced the way of righteousness through faith, established the law's purpose;

and what that one could not accomplish through the letter, this He Himself accomplished through faith.

'I am not come to destroy the law.'

But if one should examine it carefully, one will also find yet a third manner according to which this came to pass.

What manner is that? That of the legislation to come, which He was about to deliver.

For the things He was saying were not an abolition of the former ones, but an intensifying and a fulfilling.

For not to be angry is not an abolition of 'Thou shalt not kill,' but a fulfilling and a greater security;

wherefore also, sowing beforehand the seeds of these things unsuspected at that time, when it was about to be more plainly suspected of contradiction from the comparison of the old and new ordinances, He employed the preparatory correction.

For enigmatically indeed He had already laid them down through the things spoken.

For 'Blessed are the poor' is the same as 'not to be angry';

and 'Blessed are the pure in heart' is the same as not looking upon a woman to lust after her;

and not to lay up treasures upon the earth accords with 'Blessed are the merciful';

and to mourn, and to be persecuted, and to be reviled, is equivalent to entering through the narrow gate;

and to hunger and thirst after righteousness is nothing else than that which afterwards He says: 'Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also unto them.'

And having blessed the peacemaker, He said almost the same thing again, when He commanded to leave the gift and to hasten to be reconciled with him that is grieved, and to be kindly disposed toward one's adversary.

But there He set forth the prizes of those who do rightly, while here He set forth the punishments of those who do not act.

Wherefore there He said that the meek shall inherit the earth;

but here, that whosoever calleth his brother a fool shall be in danger of the hell of fire.

And there, that the pure in heart shall see God;

but here, that he who looks unchastely is already a consummate adulterer.

And having there called the peacemakers sons of God, here He strikes fear from another quarter, saying:

'Lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge.'

So too, having blessed those that mourn and those that are persecuted in the earlier part, in the part after this, establishing this same thing, He threatens destruction to those who come not by this way;

for those who walk through the broad way, He says, are there brought to ruin.

And 'Ye cannot serve God and mammon' seems to me to be the same as 'Blessed are the merciful,' and 'They that hunger after righteousness.'

But, as I said, since He is about to state these things more distinctly—and not only more distinctly, but also to add still more to the things spoken

(for He no longer seeks a merciful man only, but bids him even part with his coat;

nor merely a meek man, but also to turn the other cheek to him that wishes to smite)—He first removes the apparent contradiction.

For this reason, as I said before, He did not utter this once only, but a second time as well.

For having said, 'Think not that I am come to destroy,' He added:

'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.'

'Though heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or a single stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all things be accomplished.'

And what He means is this:

It is impossible that it should remain unfulfilled; rather, even the very smallest part of it must be fulfilled.

This very thing He Himself did, bringing it to completion with all exactness.

But here He hints to us that the whole world too shall be transformed.

And He did not set this down without purpose, but that He might rouse the hearer, and show that He was justly introducing another manner of life;

since indeed all the things of creation are destined to be transformed, and the race of men is to be called to another homeland and to a loftier preparation of life.

'Whosoever therefore shall loose one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.'

For since He had freed Himself from the wicked suspicion, and had stopped the mouths of those who wished to gainsay Him, then at length He also strikes fear, and lays down a most weighty threat on behalf of the legislation that was to come.

For that He spoke not concerning the old laws, but concerning those which He Himself was about to legislate, hear what follows.

'Except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

But if He were threatening concerning the old laws, how could He say, 'Except it exceed'? For those who did the very same things which those men did, it was not possible to exceed according to the measure of righteousness.

But what was the 'more'? To be not angry, and not to look upon a woman unchastely.

For what reason then did He call them least, seeing they are so great and lofty? Because He Himself was about to introduce the legislation.

For just as He humbled Himself, and in many places speaks modestly concerning Himself,

so also concerning His own legislation, teaching us in this too everywhere to practice moderation.

And besides, since there seemed to be some suspicion of innovation, He used the word sparingly for the present.

But when you hear 'least in the kingdom of heaven,' suspect nothing else than hell and punishment.

For He is wont to speak of the kingdom not only as the enjoyment, but also as the time of the resurrection, and that fearful coming.

For else how could it stand to reason, that he who called his brother fool, and transgressed one commandment, should fall into hell,

while he who breaks all of them, and leads others into this, should be in the kingdom? It is not this then that He means, but that in that time he shall be least, cast out, last;

and he that is last shall by all means then fall into hell.

For being God, He foreknew the slothfulness of the many, and that some would think the things spoken to be matters of mere exaggeration, and would reason about the laws, and say:

'If then one call another fool, is he punished? If then one merely look, does he become an adulterer?' Therefore, to do away beforehand with this contempt, He laid down a most weighty threat upon both, both upon those who transgress, and upon those who lead others into this.

Knowing therefore the threat, let us neither transgress ourselves, nor slacken those who wish to keep these things.

'But whosoever shall do and teach,' He says, 'the same shall be called great.'

For we must be useful not only to ourselves, but also to others.

For the reward is not equal for him who sets himself aright, and for him who along with himself adds another also.

For just as to teach without doing condemns the teacher (for 'Thou that teachest another,' He says, 'teachest thou not thyself?'),

so to do indeed, but not to guide others, lessens the reward.

One must therefore be perfect in both, and having first set oneself aright, thus also proceed to the care of others.

For this reason He too set doing before teaching, showing that thus

one will most of all be able to teach, but in no other way.

'Physician, heal thyself.'

For he who has not been able to teach himself, and yet attempts to correct others, will have many to make sport of him;

or rather, such a one will not even be able to teach, since his own deeds cry out against him.

But if he be perfected on both sides, 'he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'

'Except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

Here by 'righteousness' He means all virtue, just as also, when discoursing concerning Job, He said:

'And there was a man blameless, righteous.'

In this same sense Paul also called that man righteous, for whom he said no law was even laid down:

'For the law is not laid down for a righteous man,' he says.

And in many other places one may find this word applied to virtue in general.

But do thou consider the increase of grace, in that He wills the newly-come disciples to be better than the teachers of the Old Covenant.

For by 'scribes and Pharisees' here He did not simply mean the lawless, but those who kept the law aright;

for unless they had kept it aright, He would not have said they had righteousness, nor would He have compared that which is not with that which is.

And observe here too how He establishes the Old Covenant, by making a comparison of this with that;

which shows it to be of the same kindred and akin;

for the more and the less are of the same kind.

He does not therefore disparage the Old Covenant, but wills it to be heightened.

For if it were evil, He would not have sought the 'more,' nor would He have set it aright, but would have cast it out.

He says, if it be such, does it not bring one into the kingdom? Now it does not bring in those who live after the coming of Christ, inasmuch as they have partaken of greater power, and owe a greater striving;

since indeed all its own nurslings it does bring in.

For 'Many,' He says, 'shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.'

And Lazarus too, enjoying the great prizes, appears dwelling in that man's bosom.

And all who shone with surpassing brightness in the Old Covenant, shone all of them through this.

And Christ Himself, had it been something evil and alien, would not have come and fulfilled it all.

For if He did this only in order to draw the Jews to Himself, and not so as to show that it was akin to the New and in harmony with it;

for what reason did He not also fulfill the customs and usages of the Greeks, that He might draw the Greeks?

So that from every side it is plain, that it is not because they are evil that He does not bring them in, but because it is the season for greater commandments.

And if it be more imperfect than the New, not even this shows it to be evil;

since in this respect the New too will suffer the same thing.

For its knowledge too, compared with that which is to come, is something partial and imperfect, and is done away when that other has come;

'For when that which is perfect is come,' He says, 'then that which is in part shall be done away;'

which is the very thing that the Old suffered at the hands of the New.

But we shall not on this account disparage it, though this too shall give place, when we attain the kingdom;

'For then,' He says, 'that which is in part shall be done away;'

yet nevertheless we call it great.

Since therefore both the prizes are greater, and the power from the Spirit is more abundant, with good reason He also requires greater gifts of grace.

For it is no longer a land flowing with milk and honey, nor a sleek old age, nor abundance of children, nor corn and wine, nor flocks and herds;

but heaven, and the good things in the heavens, and adoption as sons, and brotherhood with the Only-begotten, and fellowship in the inheritance, and to be glorified together and to reign together, and those ten thousand rewards.

And that we have also enjoyed greater help, hear Paul when he says:

There is therefore now no condemnation to 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 of death.

Having therefore threatened those who transgress, and set great rewards before those who do rightly, and having shown that it is with justice

that He requires more of us than the former measures, He then begins His legislation, not simply, but by way of comparison with the ancient ordinances;

wishing to show these two things: that He is not at variance with the former ordinances, but rather in full agreement with them when He legislates these things; and that with good reason and most opportunely He adds the latter to those former ones.

And that this may become still clearer, let us listen to the very words of the Lawgiver.

What then does He Himself say? You have heard that it was said to them of old time:

And yet He who gave those things also is the very same;

but for the present He sets them down impersonally.

For if He had said, You have heard that I said to them of old time, the saying would have been hard to accept, and would have offended all His hearers;

and if again He had said, You have heard that it was said to them of old time by My Father, and then added, But I say to you, the presumption would have seemed the greater.

Therefore He simply set it down, establishing from it one thing only: to show that He came speaking these things at the fitting season.

For by saying, It was said to them of old time, He indicated the long time since they had received this commandment.

And this He did in order to shame the hearer who shrank back from going forth to the higher things beyond the earlier injunctions;

as a teacher might say to a lazy child:

Do you not know how much time you have spent studying syllables? This too He was hinting at by the name of 'the ancients', calling them henceforth to the greater of the teachings, as though He were saying:

You have sufficient time spent in studying these things, and it now behooves you to press on toward things higher than these.

And well did He not confound the order of the commandments, but begin with the former one first, from which the Law also began;

for this too belongs to one who is showing the harmony between them.

But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment.

Did you see authority perfect and complete? Did you see a bearing befitting a lawgiver? For which of the prophets ever spoke thus? Which of the righteous? Which of the patriarchs? Not one.

For those men proclaimed the things of the Master, but He proclaims the things of the Father.

But when I say the things of the Father, I say His own things;

for My things, He says, are Yours, and Yours are Mine.

And those men legislated for their fellow-servants, but He for His own servants.

Let us then ask those who cast out the Law:

Is the not being angry contrary to the not killing, or rather is it the perfecting and confirming of that command? It is quite evident that this is the fulfillment of that, and greater for its sake.

For he who is not carried away into wrath 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 therefore who cuts out the root will much more destroy the branches;

or rather, he will not even allow them to sprout at all in the first place.

Therefore it was not for the abolition of the Law, but for a greater safeguarding of it, that He legislated these things.

For with what intent did the Law command these things? Was it not that no one might kill his neighbor? Therefore it was he who fought against the Law who commanded killing;

for killing is the opposite of not killing;

but if He does not even permit anger, He rather establishes that which the Law intended.

For he who studies not to kill will not abstain from murder in the same degree as he who has done away with anger itself;

for the latter stands farther from the daring deed.

But that we may catch them in yet another way, let us bring into the midst all that they say.

What then are the things they say? They say that the God who made the world, who makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, who sends rain on the just and the unjust, is some evil being.

But the more moderate of them, forsooth, decline this, and while saying that He is just, they deprive Him of being good;

and they assign to Christ another Father, one who does not exist, nor made any of the things that are.

And they say that the one who is not good remains in his own things and keeps to what is his;

but that the good one covets what belongs to another, and of a sudden desires to become the savior of those things of which he was not the maker.

Do you see the children of the devil, how they speak from the fountain of their father, alienating the creation from God, when John cries aloud that He came to His own;

and, The world was made by Him? Then, examining the

law in the Old Testament, the one which commands to pluck out an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, they immediately leap upon it, saying:

And how could He who says these things be good? What then do we say to this? That it is a very great form of loving-kindness.

For He did not set down this law in order that we might pluck out one another's eyes;

but that, out of fear of suffering at the hands of others, we might refrain from doing any such thing to others.

Just as, therefore, He threatened the Ninevites with overthrow, not that He might destroy them (for if He had wished this, He ought to have kept silent), but that, having made them better through fear, He might stay His wrath;

so also for those who readily rush upon others' eyes He appointed a punishment, in order that, even if of their own good will they were unwilling to abstain from cruelty, they might be hindered by fear from injuring the sight of their neighbors.

But if that be cruelty, then so also is the restraining of the murderer, and the hindering of the adulterer.

But these are the words of senseless men, and of those raving with the utmost madness.

For I am so far from saying that these things are cruelty, that I would even affirm the contrary of them to be unlawful, according to human reasoning.

For you say that, because He commanded an eye to be plucked out for an eye, He is therefore cruel;

but I say that, if He had not commanded this, then He would have seemed to the many to be that very thing which you say.

For let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the whole Law were abolished, and that no one feared the punishment coming from it, but that it were permitted to all the wicked to practice their ways with every impunity — to adulterers, and murderers, and thieves, and perjurers, and parricides;

would not everything have been turned upside down, and would not cities, and market-places, and houses, and land, and sea, and the whole inhabited world have been filled with ten thousand pollutions and murders? It is surely plain to everyone.

For if, even while there are laws and fear and threatening, the wicked purposes are scarcely held in check;

if this safeguard too had been done away, what would there be to hinder men from choosing wickedness? And how great a ruin would not have burst in upon human life? For it is not only cruelty to allow the wicked to do what they will;

but there is also another thing no less than this, namely, to overlook without providence the one who has done no wrong, yet is suffering evil idly and in vain.

For tell me: if someone were to gather wicked men from every quarter, and arm them with swords, and command them to go about through the whole city and slaughter all whom they met, would there be anything more brutal than this? And what if some other man should bind and imprison with all severity those armed by the former, and should snatch from the hands of those lawless men the ones who were about to be slaughtered;