12. New Testament, Matthew, 7.15-7.19, 7.21-7.23, 12.33, 12.44-12.45, 13.45, 14.13-14.14, 16.3, 16.6, 16.18, 19.6, 21.46, 22.6, 22.24, 23.25-23.26, 24.4-24.5, 24.7, 24.15, 24.25, 24.29, 26.3, 26.14-26.16, 26.48-26.50, 26.73, 27.39, 27.45-27.46, 27.49-27.51 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 7.15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. 7.16. By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 7.17. Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. 7.18. A good tree can't produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. 7.19. Every tree that doesn't grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire. 7.21. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 7.22. Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?' 7.23. Then I will tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.' 12.33. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. 12.44. Then he says, 'I will return into my house from which I came out,' and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 12.45. Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation. 13.45. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls 14.13. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. 14.14. Jesus went out, and he saw a great multitude. He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. 16.3. In the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times! 16.6. Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 16.18. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19.6. So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don't let man tear apart. 21.46. When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet. 22.6. and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. 22.24. saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother.' 23.25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. 23.26. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of it may become clean also. 24.4. Jesus answered them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray. 24.5. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will lead many astray. 24.7. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. 24.15. When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) 24.25. Behold, I have told you beforehand. 24.29. But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; 26.3. Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. 26.14. Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 26.15. and said, "What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?" They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver. 26.16. From that time he sought opportunity to betray him. 26.48. Now he who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, "Whoever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him. 26.49. Immediately he came to Jesus, and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed him. 26.50. Jesus said to him, "Friend, why are you here?" Then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 26.73. After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, "Surely you are also one of them, for your speech makes you known. 27.39. Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads 27.45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 27.46. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 27.49. The rest said, "Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to save him. 27.50. Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 27.51. Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. |
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14. Origen, Commentary On Matthew, 10.8, 10.22, 12.23, 14.16 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 10.8. Now, having collected these things out of dissertations about stones, I say that the Saviour with a knowledge of the difference of pearls, of which some are in kind goodly and others worthless, said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls; Matthew 13:45 for, if some of the pearls had not been worthless, it would not have been said, to a man seeking goodly pearls. Now among the words of all kinds which profess to announce truth, and among those who report them, he seeks pearls. And let the prophets be, so to speak, the mussels which conceive the dew of heaven, and become pregt with the word of truth from heaven, the goodly pearls which, according to the phrase here set forth, the merchantman seeks. And the leader of the pearls, on the finding of which the rest are found with it, is the very costly pearl, the Christ of God, the Word which is superior to the precious letters and thoughts in the law and the prophets, on the finding of which also all the rest are easily taken. And the Saviour holds converse with all the disciples, as merchant-men who are not only seeking the goodly pearls but who have found them and possess them, when He says, Cast not your pearls before swine. Matthew 7:6 Now it is manifest that these things were said to the disciples from that which is prefixed to His words, And seeing the multitudes He went up into the mountain, and when He had sat down His disciples came unto Him; Matthew 5:1 for, in the course of those words, He said, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine. Matthew 7:6 Perhaps, then, he is not a disciple of Christ, who does not possess pearls or the very costly pearl, the pearls, I mean, which are goodly; not the cloudy, nor the darkened, such as the words of the heterodox, which are brought forth not at the sunrise, but at the sunset or in the north, if it is necessary to take also into the comparison those things on account of which we found a difference in the pearls which are produced in different places. And perhaps the muddy words and the heresies which are bound up with works of the flesh, are the darkened pearls, and those which are produced in the marshes, not goodly pearls. 10.22. Wherefore John, endued with prophetic boldness and not terrified at the royal dignity of Herod, nor through fear of death keeping silence in regard to so flagrant a sin, filled with a divine spirit said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have her; for it is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother. For Herod having laid hold on John bound him and put him in prison, not daring to slay him outright and to take away the prophetic word from the people; but the wife of the king of Trachonitis - which is a kind of evil opinion and wicked teaching - gave birth to a daughter of the same name, whose movements, seemingly harmonious, pleasing Herod, who was fond of matters connected with birthdays, came the cause of there being no longer a prophetic head among the people. And up to this point I think that the movements of the people of the Jews, which seem to be according to the law, were nothing else than the movements of the daughter of Herodias; but the dancing of Herodias was opposed to that holy dancing with which those who have not danced will be reproached when they hear the words, We piped unto you, and you did not dance. And on birthdays, when the lawless word reigns over them, they dance so that their movements please that word. Some one of those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man. For Herod was more unjust than that famous Pharaoh; for by the latter on his birthday feast a chief baker is killed; Genesis 40:20 but by the former, John, than whom no one greater has risen among those born of women, Matthew 11:11 in regard to whom the Saviour says, But for what purpose did ye go out? To see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. Luke 7:26 But thanks be unto God, that, even if the grace of prophecy was taken from the people, a grace greater than all that was poured forth among the Gentiles by our Saviour Jesus Christ, who became free among the dead; for though He were crucified through weakness, yet He lives through the power of God. 2 Corinthians 13:4 Consider also the word in which pure and impure meats are inquired into; but prophecy is despised when it is brought forward in a charger instead of meat. But the Jews have not the head of prophecy, inasmuch as they disown the crown of all prophecy, Christ Jesus; and the prophet is beheaded, because of an oath in a case where the duty was rather to break the oath than to keep the oath; for the charge of rashness in taking an oath and of breaking it because of the rashness is not the same in guilt as the death of a prophet. And not on this account alone is he beheaded, but because of those who sat at meat with him, who preferred that the prophet should be killed rather than live. And they recline at the same table and also feast along with the evil word which reigns over the Jews, who make merry over his birth. At times you may make a graceful application of the passage to those who swear rashly and wish to hold fast oaths which are taken with a view to unlawful deeds, by saying that not every keeping of oaths is seemly, just as the keeping of the oath of Herod was not. And mark, further, that not openly but secretly and in prison does Herod put John to death. For even the present word of the Jews does not openly deny the prophecies, but virtually and in secret denies them, and is convicted of disbelieving them. For as if they believed Moses they would have believed Jesus, John 5:46 so if they had believed the prophets they would have received Him who had been the subject of prophecy. But disbelieving Him they also disbelieve them, and cut off and confine in prison the prophetic word, and hold it dead and divided, and in no way wholesome, since they do not understand it. But we have the whole Jesus, the prophecy concerning Him being fulfilled which said, A bone shall not be broken. 12.23. Next we must inquire how He said to Peter, You are a stumbling-block unto Me, Matthew 16:23 especially when David says, Great peace have they that love Your law, and there is no stumbling-block to them. For some one will say, if this is said in the prophet, because of the steadfastness of those who have love, and are incapable of being offended, for love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails, 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 how did the Lord Himself, who upholds all that fall, and raises up all that be bowed down, say to Peter, You are a stumbling-block unto Me? But it must be said that not only the Saviour, but also he who is perfected in love, cannot be offended. But, so far as it depends on himself, he who says or does such things is a stumbling-block even to him who will not be offended; unless perhaps Jesus calls the disciple who sinned a stumbling-block even to Himself, as much more than Paul He would have said from love, Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I burn not? 2 Corinthians 11:29 In harmony with which we may put, Who is made to stumble, and I am not made to stumble? But if Peter, at that time because of the saying, God be propitious to You, Lord, this shall not be unto You, Matthew 16:22 was called a stumbling-block by Jesus, as not minding the things of God in what he said but the things of men, what is to be said about all those who profess to be made disciples of Jesus, but do not mind the things of God, and do not look to things unseen and eternal, but mind the things of man, and look to things seen and temporal, 2 Corinthians 4:18 but that such still more would be stigmatized by Jesus as a stumbling-block to Him, and because stumbling-blocks to Him, as stumbling-blocks to His brethren also? As in regard to them He says, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, Matthew 25:42 etc., so also He might say, When I was running ye caused Me to stumble. Let us not therefore suppose that it is a trivial sin to mind the things of men, since we ought in everything to mind the things of God. And it will be appropriate also to say this to every one that has fallen away from the doctrines of God and the words of the church and a true mind; as, for example, to him who minds as true the teaching of Basilides, or Valentinus, or Marcion, or any one of those who teach the things of men as the things of God. 14.16. After this it is written that there came unto Him the Pharisees tempting Him and saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Matthew 19:3 Mark, also, has written to the like effect. Mark 10:2 Accordingly, of those who came to Jesus and inquired of Him, there were some who put questions to tempt Him; and if our Saviour so transcendent was tempted, which of His disciples who is ordained to teach need be vexed, when he is tempted by some who inquire, not from the love of learning, but from the wish to tempt? And you might find many passages, if you brought them together, in which the Pharisees tempted our Jesus, and others, different from them, as a certain lawyer, Matthew 22:35 and perhaps also a scribe, Mark 12:28 that by bringing together what is said about those who tempted Him, you might find by investigation what is useful for this kind of inquiries. Only, the Saviour, in response to those who tempted Him, laid down dogmas; for they said, Is it lawful for a man to put away his own wife for every cause? and He answered and said, Have ye not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female? Matthew 19:4 etc. And I think that the Pharisees put forward this word for this reason, that they might attack Him whatever He might say; as, for example, if He had said, It is lawful, they would have accused Him of dissolving marriages for trifles; but, if He had said, It is not lawful, they would have accused Him of permitting a man to dwell with a woman, even with sins; so, likewise, in the case of the tribute-money, Matthew 22:17 if He had told them to give, they would have accused Him of making the people subject to the Romans, and not to the law of God, but if He had told them not to give, they would have accused Him of creating war and sedition, and of stirring up those who were not able to stand against so powerful an army. But they did not perceive in what way He answered blamelessly and wisely, in the first place, rejecting the opinion that a wife was to be put away for every cause, and, in the second place, giving answer to the question about the bill of divorcement; for He saw that not every cause is a reasonable ground for the dissolution of marriage, and that the husband must dwell with the wife as the weaker vessel, giving honour, 1 Peter 3:7 and bearing her burdens in sins; Galatians 6:2 and by what is written in Genesis, He puts to shame the Pharisees who boasted in the Scriptures of Moses, by saying, Have ye not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, etc., and, subjoining to these words, because of the saying, And the two shall become one flesh, teaching in harmony with one flesh, namely, So that they are no more two, but one flesh. Matthew 19:4-6 And, as tending to convince them that they should not put away their wife for every cause, is it said, What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6 It is to be observed, however, in the exposition of the words quoted from Genesis in the Gospel, that they were not spoken consecutively as they are written in the Gospel; and I think that it is not even said about the same persons, namely, of those who were formed after the image of God, and of those who were formed from the dust of the ground and from one of the ribs of Adam. For where it is said, Male and female made He them, Genesis 1:27 the reference is to those formed after the image, but where He also said, For this cause shall a man leave his own father and mother, Genesis 2:24 etc., the reference is not to those formed after the image; for some time after the Lord God formed the man, taking dust from the ground, and from his side the helpmate. And mark, at the same time, that in the case of those who are formed after the image, the words were not husband and wife but male and female. But we have also observed this in the Hebrew, for man is indicated by the word is, but male by the word zachar, and again woman by the word essa, but female by the word agkeba. For at no time is it woman or man after the image, but the superior class, the male, and the second, the female. But also if a man leave his mother and his father, he cleaves not to the female, but to his own wife, and they become, since man and woman are one in flesh, one flesh. Then, describing what ought to be in the case of those who are joined together by God, so that they may be joined together in a manner worthy of God, the Saviour adds, So that they are no more two; Matthew 19:6 and, wherever there is indeed concord, and unison, and harmony, between husband and wife, when he is as ruler and she is obedient to the word, He shall rule over you, Genesis 3:16 then of such persons we may truly say, They are no more two. Then since it was necessary that for him who was joined to the Lord, it should be reserved that he should become one spirit with Him, 1 Corinthians 6:17 in the case of those who are joined together by God, after the words, So that they are no more two, it is said, but one flesh. And it is God who has joined together the two in one so that they are no more two, from the time that the woman is married to the man. And, since God has joined them together, on this account in the case of those who are joined together by God, there is a gift; and Paul knowing this, that marriage according to the Word of God was a gift, like as holy celibacy was a gift, says, But I would that all men were like myself; howbeit, each man has his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that. 1 Corinthians 7:7 And those who are joined together by God both mind and keep the precept, Husbands love your wives, as Christ also the church. Ephesians 5:25 The Saviour then commanded, What God has joined together, let not man put asunder, Matthew 19:6 but man wishes to put asunder what God has joined together, when, falling away from the sound faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, forbidding, not only to commit fornication, but to marry, 1 Timothy 4:1-3 he dissolves even those who had been before joined together by the providence of God. Let these things then be said, keeping in view what is expressly said concerning the male and the female, and the man and the woman, as the Saviour taught in the answer to the Pharisees. |
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