ACC ~ Matthew 10 v32 - 42

OVERVIEW:

Confession by the lips is worth nothing without faith of the heart, and faith of the heart is worth nothing without confession by the lips (ANONYMOUS). The whole world is becoming divided against itself for the sake of faith in Christ. A necessary conflict has been sent to break a peace that is evil (JEROME). This is peace: when the cancer is cut away. The incurable part must be surgically removed. Only in this way does the military commander preserve the peace: by cutting off those in rebellion (CHRYSOSTOM). The only true and lasting peace is found in God’s righteousness (APOLLINARIS). At times God brings a creative disunity to our earthly lives in order to break an evil unity (ANONYMOUS). There are times when conflict is necessary between the believer and the unbeliever (EUSEBIUS OF EMESA).

Love your father, your mother, your sons, but love them ordinately in relation to your love of God (JEROME). Jesus bids parents not to attempt what is impossible by assuming that their love of their children can be rightly compared with their love toward God (CHRYSOSTOM). Say to your parents, “I will love you in Christ, not in stead of Christ. You will be with me in him, but I will not be with you without him” (AUGUSTINE).

It is better to die for God’s sake and live eternally than to live for the sake of human interests alone and suffer eternal death (ANONYMOUS). We are unworthy of Christ if we do not take up our cross, by which we suffer, die, are buried and resurrected together with him (HILARY). How great is the impairment to those who love their own lives in an exaggerated way. How great is the blessing to those who are ready to give up their lives for a well-ordered love (CHRYSOSTOM). Christ comes to us in the office of a mediator, as one who comes from God (HILARY). Whatever reward there is for the traveler, one who receives that traveler for God’s sake will have the same reward (ANONYMOUS). One who receives the apostles who preach the Father, Son and Spirit receives the fullness of deity itself (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). One who has properly extracted the meaning of the apostle’s writing and has not misunderstood it is receiving the apostle as well as Christ, who speaks and dwells in the apostle (ORIGEN).

10:32 | Acknowledged Before the Heavenly Father

WHO ACKNOWLEDGES ME

APOLLINARIS: The prize is superior insofar as it comes from God. It is not the same thing to acknowledge in a human manner and to be acknowledged in God’s manner. … The believer then must acknowledge God with both heart and mouth. “For one believes with one’s heart and so is justified, and one confesses with his one’s lips and so is saved.” [1] FRAGMENT 56. [2]

[1] Rom 10:10.

[2] MKGK 16.

10:33 | Denied Before the Father

WHOEVER DENIES ME

CHRYSOSTOM: The Son does not here speak soothing words but rather speaks of the consequences of denial. Note carefully: It is not by some power within yourself that you make your confession but by the help of grace from above. But if you deny me, the Son, he is saying, then I will deny you in the presence of the Father. Someone may then object: “How then am I to be blamed if God, forsaking me, denies me?” The answer is, Your being forsaken is the fault of you yourself, the forsaken person, not of God.

“But why,” you object, “should I need to confess faith with my mouth if I confess faith in my mind?” No, we must confess with our mouths in order that we may be steadily trained to speak boldly. It is only through this more abundant love and determination that we will be raised on high.

In this way Jesus addresses himself to each one of us personally. He is not here addressing his original disciples only but every one of us who follows after his disciples in accord with their witness to him. One who learns this lesson will teach it in boldness to others, prepared to suffer all things easily and with a ready mind. This is why so many have come to have faith in the witness of the apostles to this Word. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 34.3. [1]

[1] PG 57:401-2; NPNF 1 10:229**.

FAITH OF THE HEART AND CONFESSION OF THE LIPS

ANONYMOUS: He does not say, “Every one who acknowledges me in his own heart” but “before others.” [1] If one does not acknowledge him before others, it does one no good to believe in Christ in one’s heart. For it is impossible that one who denies with one’s lips can believe in one’s heart. For the root of confession is the heart’s faith. Confession is thus the fruit of faith. As long as a root is living, it must produce either branches or leaves, and if the plant does not produce these, we know beyond a doubt that its root is withered in the ground. In the same way, as long as the faith of the heart is healthy, it always sows the seeds of confession with the lips. But if there is no acknowledgment with the lips, you should know beyond a doubt that the faith of the heart has already withered away. For the apostle says, “For one believes with one’s heart and so is justified, and one confesses with one’s lips and so is saved.” [2] And so confession by the lips is worth nothing without faith of the heart, and faith of the heart is worth nothing without confession by the lips. If it benefits you to believe with the heart without confessing before others, does it also benefit an infidel to confess Christ deceitfully, even though he does not believe in his heart? If it results in no benefit to an unbeliever to confess without faith in the same way, it will not benefit you to believe without confessing. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 25. [3]

[1] Mt 10:32.

[2] Rom 10:10.

[3] PG 56:766.

10:34 | Not Peace but a Sword

HOW PEACE REQUIRES A SWORD

CHRYSOSTOM: What sort of peace is it that Jesus asks them to pronounce upon entering each house? And what kind of peace is it of which the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace”? And if Jesus came not to bring peace, why did all the prophets publish peace as good news? Because this more than anything is peace: when the disease is removed. This is peace: when the cancer is cut away. Only with such radical surgery is it possible for heaven to be reunited to earth. Only in this way does the physician preserve the healthy tissue of the body. The incurable part must be amputated. Only in this way does the military commander preserve the peace: by cutting off those in rebellion. Thus it was also in the case of the tower of Babel, that their evil peace was ended by their good discord. Peace therefore was accomplished. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.1. [1]

[1] PG 57:405; NPNF 1 10:232**.

GOD’S BATTLE AGAINST A CHEAP PEACE

APOLLINARIS: The unbelievers’ disagreement with the believers will produce a distinction. Now since the unbelievers think that peacemaking is their proper duty, they say, “Do not believe that it is best under all circumstances to be saved, for you owe it as a duty to be at peace with all.” But there are some who are preparing for battle against our peace, and you should not let their false peace rule. For the only true concord is according to God … and this above all is peace. FRAGMENT 57. [1]

[1] MKGK 17.

GOOD PEACE VERSUS BAD PEACE

ANONYMOUS: There is a good peace and there is an evil peace. There is a good peace among good, faithful and just people. … For faith is born through the word of God, but it is preserved through peace and nourished by love, as the apostle says: “It is faith which works through love.” [1] But faith devoid of love can produce none of the fruit of good works. And so if the faithful should be separated by any disagreement, that is an evil conflict, as the Lord has said: “No house divided against itself will stand.” [2] And if the brotherhood is divided, it will consume itself, as the apostle has said: “But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another.” [3] On the other hand, there is an evil peace among unbelievers and iniquitous people. Among them is a single sinfulness, and so there is a common agreement to sin. For unbelief and iniquity are born through the encouragement of a demon, but they are preserved through peace. And so if at any time the unfaithful and iniquitous are divided against each other, that is a good conflict. For when there is peace among good people, faith and justice are established, but unbelief and injustice lie dormant. But when conflict arrives, faith and justice sink down while unbelief and injustice rise up anew. In the same way, when there is peace among iniquitous people, injustice and unbelief are established but faith and justice lie dormant. And when harmony arrives, unbelief and injustice sink down while faith and justice rise up. In this way then God brought a good disunity to the earth in order to break an evil unity. All people used to be together as if they lived in a single house of disbelief—all people, the good and the evil together, for some were in evil because they pursued evil, and others remained in evil out of ignorance of the good. But God brought a sword of disunity among them, which was the word of truth. Concerning this, the apostle says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” [4] INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 26. [5]

[1] Gal 5:6.

[2] Mt 12:25.

[3] Gal 5:15.

[4] Heb 4:12.

[5] PG 56:767-68.

10:35 | Relatives Set Against One Another

FAITH MAY SEVER ONE FROM ONE’S FAMILY

HILARY: And so when we are renewed by the water of baptism through the power of the Word, we are separated from the sins and ancestors of our origin; we are cut away from the inordinate love of father and mother as if by an incision from God’s sword, and we are divided from them. And as we shed our former self with its sins and unfaithfulness and are made new by the Spirit in mind and body, we will necessarily detest the habits of our old, inborn way of life. ON MATTHEW 10.24. [1]

[1] SC 254:244-46.

NECESSARY STRIFE

EUSEBIUS OF EMESA: The Lord himself proclaims peace, which is why the apostle Paul also admonishes peace and says, “For he is our peace.” [1] This means, of course, the peace of those who believe and receive. But in what way does he not bring peace to the earth? When the daughter believed and the father remained an unbeliever, “what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” [2] For the proclamation of peace caused a division. With a believing son and an unbelieving father there is necessarily strife. The peace that was proclaimed itself caused a division: a good division! For it is in peace that we are saved. HOMILY 26. [3]

[1] Eph 2:14.

[2] 2 Cor 6:15.

[3] SSL 27:188.

10:36 | Foes in the Household

IN ONE’S OWN HOUSEHOLD

JEROME: He had said previously, “What I tell you in the dark, declare in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.” [1] He now explains what follows after this proclamation. The whole world is divided against itself for the sake of faith in Christ. Every house contains both unbelievers and believers. And a necessary conflict has been sent to break an evil peace. It is written in Genesis that God did a similar thing to the rebellious people who streamed out of the east and rushed to build a tower, by which they meant to reach the heights of heaven. God divided their languages. [2] For this same reason David prays in the psalm, “O God, scatter the peoples who delight in war.” [3] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.10.34. [4]

[1] Mt 10:27.

[2] Gen 11:9.

[3] Ps 68:30 (67:30 LXX).

[4] CCL 77:73-74.

10:37 | Not Worthy of Me

FAMILIAL LOYALTY AND LOVE OF GOD

JEROME: For he had previously said, “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” [1] He adds that he has divided people against father and mother and relatives, so that no one will place familial loyalty before religion. He says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” [2] We also read in the Song of Songs, “He established love in me.” [3] We must preserve this order in all our relations. Love your father, your mother, your sons. If a time comes when love for a parent and for the children of God are in conflict and both cannot be maintained, then forthright rejection of your family may be a higher form of familial loyalty in relation to God. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.10.37. [4]

[1] Mt 10:34.

[2] Mt 10:37.

[3] Song 2:4.

[4] CCL 77:74.

WHETHER LOVE OF PARENTS IS COMPARABLE TO THE LOVE OF GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: He said this to bring fathers to greater gentleness and children to greater freedom, just at the point where love might be most tempted to hinder them. He bids parents not to attempt what is impossible by assuming that their love of their children can be rightly compared with their love toward God. He instructs the children not to attempt what is impossible by seeking to make their love of parents greater than their love of God.

Then lest his hearers should become riled or count this saying as too demanding, see how he turns the argument even further in a more drastic direction. For after saying “who hates not father and mother,” he even adds, “and his own life!” So do not compare love of God merely with love of parents, brothers and sisters and wife. If you are serious, compare it with the love of your very life. For nothing is dearer to you than your life. Yet if you are also not ready to give up this love, in all things you must bear the opposite lot. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:407; NPNF 1 10:233**.

LOVE YOUR FAMILY IN CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: Let a father say, “Love me.” Let a mother say, “Love me.” To these words I will say, “Be silent.” But isn’t what they are asking for just? Shouldn’t I give back what I have received? The father says, “I fathered you.” The mother says, “I bore you.” The father says, “I educated you.” The mother says, “I fed you.” … Let us answer our father and mother when they justly say “love us.” Let us answer, “I will love you in Christ, not instead of Christ. You will be with me in him, but I will not be with you without him.” “But we don’t care for Christ,” they say. “And I care for Christ more than I care for you. Should I obey the ones who raised me and lose the One who created me?” SERMON 65A.5. [1]

[1] RB 86:43; WSA 3 3:200.

10:38 | Taking One’s Cross

READINESS TO DIE

ANONYMOUS: The man who bears his own cross is one who, if necessary, is ready to face any danger for the sake of God, up to and including death, rather than abandon Christ. He is ready to be tortured any day, because of his way of life. Even if he does not suffer anything as great as death, he will still receive mercy. For it is the intention that is rewarded, not the deed. Intentions come from our free choice, but a deed is accomplished only through the grace of God. “He who finds his life will lose it.” [1] It is better to die for God’s sake and live eternally than to live for the sake of human interests and suffer eternal death. He died for us, although he was incapable of dying unless he wished to. How much more ought we to die for him, we who are mortal even if we do not wish to be? If our Lord died for his servants without even a reward, it is more than equitable that a servant should die for the Lord and be rewarded besides. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 26. [2]

[1] Mt 10:39; Mk 8:35; Jn 12:25.

[2] PG 56:769.

10:39 | Finding and Losing Life

ONE WHO LOSES LIFE WILL FIND IT

HILARY: Here the stated doctrine and its meaning run along the same course. After he commands us to abandon everything that is most valuable in earthly life, he adds, “He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” This is because those who belong to Christ have crucified their bodies with their sinful practices and pleasures. We are unworthy of Christ if we do not take up our own cross, by which we suffer, die and are buried and resurrected together with him. Only by this pledge of faith in the Spirit will he triumph in new life in us.

“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” [1] This obviously means that through the power of the Word and separation from our old vices, we will receive spiritual profit in death and a fine exacted against our life. Therefore we must accept death in the reformation of our life. We are to fashion our vicious selves on the model of our Lord’s cross, and we are to cling to an open profession of glory, even against persecutors and with disregard of things present. ON MATTHEW 10.25-26. [2]

[1] Mt 10:39; Mk 8:35; Jn 12:25.

[2] SC 254:246-48.

APPROPRIATE LOVE

CHRYSOSTOM: See how great is the impairment to those who have an exaggerated love for their own life. And how great is the blessing to those who are ready to give up their lives for a well-ordered love! So he bids his disciples to be willing to give up parents, children, natural relationships, kinships, the world and even their own lives. How onerous are these injunctions! But then he immediately sets forth the greater blessings of rightly ordered love. Thus these instructions, Jesus says, are so far from harming that they in fact are of greatest benefit. It is their opposites that injure. He then counsels them, as he so often does, in accord with the very desires that they already possess. Why should you be willing to give up your life? Only because you love it inordinately. So for the very reason of loving it ordinately, you will scorn loving it inordinately, and so it will be to your advantage to the highest degree. You will then in the truest sense love your life.

Jesus does not reason in this way only in the case of the love of parents or children. He teaches the same with regard to your very life, which is nearest to you of all. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:407-8; NPNF 1 10:234**.

ONE WHO FINDS LIFE WILL LOSE IT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Here Jesus calls the departure of life from the body the “loss of life,” speaking figuratively. “He who finds his life” [1] refers to anyone who too highly values transitory existence and as it were sells it at a profit. He will face the hands of death when he is sent to unremittable punishment and death. FRAGMENT 128. [2]

[1] Mt 10:39; Mk 8:35; Jn 12:25.

[2] MKGK 194.

10:40 | Whoever Receives You

THE MEDIATOR

HILARY: “He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.” [1] He who receives a prophet receives him who dwells in the prophet, and he becomes worthy of a prophet’s reward by receiving the prophet because he is a prophet. And a like reward is allotted for receiving a righteous person. One who does this becomes righteous by honoring righteousness. In this way righteousness is attained through faith, taking on mercy as its duty. This happens when someone receives a righteous person and becomes a prophet himself by reason of his own reverence. He will receive the honor due to a righteous person and a prophet. ON MATTHEW 10.28. [2]

[1] Mt 10:41.

[2] SC 254:250.

10:41 | Receiving One’s Reward

RECEIVING A RIGHTEOUS PERSON’S REWARD

ORIGEN: This passage has a deeper [1] meaning. One who has properly extracted the meaning of the apostle’s writing, and has not misunderstood it is receiving the apostle as well as Christ who speaks and dwells in the apostle and is the source of the apostle’s teaching. And since the divine mind of the Father is also in the Son, one who receives the word “of wisdom” [2] and everything that is Christ is receiving God the Father of all things. The first part refers mystically to the new covenant, the last part to the old covenant. And if one believes that the prophets spoke wisely, not from their own understanding but because they were moved by the Holy Spirit, when one receives the meaning in them he possesses the prophetic Spirit and quite reasonably receives a prophet’s reward. And if one who understands righteousness and unrighteousness (and does not live unrighteously himself) receives a righteous person, that one is not only hospitable but righteous in addition. That one receives a righteous person’s reward. FRAGMENT 218. [3]

[1] Or mystical.

[2] 1 Cor 2:4; 12:8.

[3] GCS 41.1:104.

RECEIVE THE RIGHTEOUS

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: The one who receives people sent by anyone gladly honors the one who sent them, and vice versa. Or alternately: the one who receives the apostles who preach the Trinity receives “the fullness of deity” [1] itself. And I think it likely that even in our days we receive them in spirit, if we receive their counsels with an open mind. FRAGMENT 72. [2]

[1] Col 2:9.

[2] MKGK 76.

RECEIVE THE TRAVELING PROPHET

ANONYMOUS: By the word prophet he means to signify all preachers of Christ, and by “righteous man” he means every Christian person. For not only teachers may wander from city to city because of persecution but so may all righteous Christians who believe in Christ. And so “because he is a prophet” means “as a prophet of Christ.” And “because he is a righteous man” means a righteous servant of Christ. Now, two things must happen if this good deed is to have its reward. You must both receive a Christian and receive that one as a Christian, whether a minister or a lay believer. But you will not receive the reward of a Christian if you do not receive a Christian, nor will you receive a reward if you receive a Christian but do not receive that one as a Christian. Thus what is the meaning of “He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward”? This means that whatever reward there is for the traveler, the one who receives that traveler for God’s sake will have the same reward. And so these two are made equal, both the one who suffers for God’s sake and the other who gives refreshment for God’s sake. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 26. [1]

[1] PG 56:770.

10:42 | A Cup of Cold Water

GIVING A CUP OF COLD WATER

HILARY: He teaches that no deed of a good conscience is useless. It is no crime for a believer to have hope that transcends another’s unbelief. For he foresaw that there would be many who glory merely in the name of apostleship but whose every action proves they are unworthy. They deceive and lie perpetually. And yet when we grant these people the favors that are due them because of their mere appearance of religiosity, he does not withhold from us the reward of doing his work and of hope. For even if they are the very least, that is, the worst sinners of all—for nothing is smaller than the “least”—nonetheless he decrees that we have duties toward them. These duties are light but not useless. They are represented by the phrase “cold water.” For honor is to be paid not to the sins of the individual but to his status as a disciple. He grants his reward to the faith of the one who gives, not to the deceitfulness of the one who receives. ON MATTHEW 10.29. [1]

[1] SC 254:250-52.

OVERCOMING EVASIONS

JEROME: Jesus said, “He who receives you receives me.” But there are many false prophets and false preachers who perhaps make this doctrine difficult. He has also cured this stumbling block by saying, “He who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.” [1] Then again, someone may object and say, “I am prevented by poverty. My own lack prevents me from acting as a host.” Jesus eliminated this excuse, too, by the easily fulfilled command that we should offer a cup of cold water with our whole heart. He said “cold water” rather than “hot water” so that we could not object because of our poverty or lack of fuel for hot water. As I have mentioned before, the apostle gave a similar instruction to the Galatians: “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.” [2] He admonishes disciples to give refreshment to their teachers because before he had specified this, it was possible for anyone to plead poverty and avoid the instruction. He clears up this important doubt when he says, “God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” [3] Paul means “If you plead poverty but know in your conscience that the case is otherwise, your excuse accomplishes nothing. You can disobey my admonitions, but be warned that you will reap exactly what you have sown.” COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.10.40-42. [4]

[1] Mt 10:41.

[2] Gal 6:6.

[3] Gal 6:7.

[4] CCL 77:75-76.