Matthew 23:1._Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes. _This warning was highly useful, that, amidst contentions and the noise of combats, amidst the trouble and confusion of public affairs, amidst the destruction of proper and lawful order, the authority of the word of God might remain entire. The desig... [ Continue Reading ]
2._In the chair of Moses. _Reasons were not wanting for inserting here what Luke relates at a different place. Besides that the doctrine is the same, I have no doubt that _Luke, _after having said that the scribes were sharply and severely reproved by our Lord, added also the other reproofs which Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
4._For they bind heavy and intolerable burdens. _He does not charge the scribes with oppressing and tyrannizing over souls by harsh and unjust laws; for, though they had introduced many superfluous ceremonies — as is evident from other passages — yet Christ does not at present refer to that vice, be... [ Continue Reading ]
5._And all their works they do that they may be seen by men. _He had lately said that the _scribes _live very differently from what they teach; but now he adds that, if they have any thing which is apparently good, it is hypocritical and worthless, because they have no other design than to please me... [ Continue Reading ]
6_And love the first places at entertainments.. _He proves, by evident signs, that no zeal for piety exists in the _scribes, _but that they are wholly devoted to ambition. For to seek _the first places _and _the first seats _belongs only to those who choose rather to exalt themselves among men, than... [ Continue Reading ]
9._And call no man on earth your Father. _He claims for God alone the honor of _Father, _in nearly the same sense as he lately asserted that he himself is the only _Master; _for this name was not assumed by men for themselves, but was given to them by God. And therefore it is not only lawful _to cal... [ Continue Reading ]
10._For one is your Master, even Christ. _He repeats a second time the former statement about Christ’s office as _Master, _in order to inform us that the lawful order is, that God alone rule over us, and possess the power and authority of a _Father, _and that Christ subject all to his doctrine, and... [ Continue Reading ]
11._He who is greatest among you. _By this conclusion he shows that he did not, after the manner of the sophists, dispute about words, but, on the contrary, looked to the fact, that no man, through forgetfulness of his rank, might claim more than was proper. He therefore declares that the highest ho... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:13._You shut up the kingdom of heaven. _Christ pronounces a curse on them, because they pervert their office to the general destruction of the whole people; for since the government of the Church was in their hands, they ought to have been, as it were, _porters _for _the kingdom of heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
14._For you devour widows’ houses. _He now proceeds farther, for he not only accuses them of open crimes which demand hatred and detestation, but even tears away the disguises of virtues, by which they deceived the common people. If it be objected, that there was no need of reproving those things wh... [ Continue Reading ]
15._For you compass sea and land. _The _scribes _had also acquired celebrity by their zeal in laboring to bring over to the Jewish religion the strangers and uncircumcised. And so, if they had gained any one by their false appearances, or by any other stratagem, they gloried wonderfully over it as a... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:16._Woe to you, blind guides, _As ambition is almost always connected with hypocrisy, so the superstitions of the people are usually encouraged by the covetousness and rapacity of pastors. The world has, indeed, a natural propensity to errors, and even draws down upon itself, as if on pur... [ Continue Reading ]
18._And whosoever shall swear by the altar. _Here our Lord does what ought to be done in correcting errors; for he leads us up to the source, and shows, by the very nature of an oath, that _the temple _is far more valuable than the _gifts _which are offered in it. He accordingly assumes this princip... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:23._The former you ought to have done. _This is intended to anticipate their calumny; for they might have put an unfavorable interpretation on his discourse, and charged him with setting no value on what the Law of God had enjoined. He therefore acknowledges that whatever God has enjoined... [ Continue Reading ]
24._Blind guides. _This is s proverbial saying, by which he beautifully describes the affected scrupulousness of hypocrites about trifling matters; for they utterly shrink from very small faults, as if a single transgression appeared to them more revolting than a hundred deaths, and yet they freely... [ Continue Reading ]
25._For you cleanse the outer part. _Our Lord follows out the same statement, and employs a figure for reproaching the _scribes _with being eagerly bent on this single object of making a brilliant appearance before men. For by _the outer part of the dish _he metaphorically expresses the outward appe... [ Continue Reading ]
27_You are like whitened sepulchers. _This is a different metaphor, but the meaning is the same; for he compares them to _sepulchers, _which the men of the world ambitiously construct with great beauty and splendor. As a painting or engraving on _sepulchers _draws the eyes of men upon them, while in... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:29._For you build the sepulchers of the prophets. _An unfounded opinion is entertained by some, that the _scribes _are here reproved for superstition, in foolishly honoring the deceased _prophets _by splendid _sepulchers, _as the Papists now transfer the honor of God to departed saints, a... [ Continue Reading ]
30._If we had been in the days of our fathers. _Not without good reason did Christ introduce this sentiment; for though he does not blame them for the conduct of their fathers, and does not make it the chief ground of accusation that they are the children of murderers: yet he takes a passing glance... [ Continue Reading ]
32._Do you then fill up the measure of your fathers. _He at length concludes that they are not, in this respect, degenerate from their fathers; as if he had said, “It is not now that your nation begins to treat with cruelty the prophets of God; for this is the ancient discipline, this is the custom... [ Continue Reading ]
33._Offspring of vipers. _After having demonstrated that the _scribes _are not only base enemies of sound doctrine, and wicked corrupters of the worship of God, but likewise deadly plagues of the Church, Christ, being about to close his discourse, kindles into more vehement indignation against them;... [ Continue Reading ]
34._Therefore, lo, I send to you. Luke _introduces it in a still more emphatic manner, _Wherefore also the Wisdom of God hath said; _which some commentators explain thus: “I, who am the eternal _Wisdom of God, _declare this concerning you.” But I am more inclined to believe that, according to the or... [ Continue Reading ]
35._That upon you may come. _He not only takes away from them their false boasting, but shows that they had received _prophets _for a totally different purpose, that no age might be free from the criminality of wicked rebellion; for the pronoun _you _embraces generally the whole nation from its very... [ Continue Reading ]
37._Jerusalem, Jerusalem. _By these words, Christ shows more clearly what good reason he had for indignation, that _Jerusalem, _which God had chosen to be his sacred, and — as we might say — heavenly abode, not only had shown itself to be unworthy of so great an honor, but, as if it had been a den o... [ Continue Reading ]
38_Lo, your house is left to you desolate. _He threatens the destruction of the temple, and the dissolution of the whole frame of civil government. Though they were disfigured by irreligion, crimes, and every kind of infamy, yet they were so blinded by a foolish confidence in the temple, and its out... [ Continue Reading ]
39._For I tell you. _He confirms what he had said about the approaching vengeance of God, by saying that the only method of avoiding destruction will be taken from them. For that was _the accepted time, the day of salvation, _(Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2,) so long as that very person who had come... [ Continue Reading ]