ACC ~ Matthew 13 v51

THEY UNDERSTOOD

HILARY: He spoke not to the crowds but to the disciples, and he gave fitting witness to those who understood the parables. He compared them with a householder, for they understood the teaching of his storeroom of things new and old. He referred to them as scribes because of their knowledge, for they understood the new and old things—that is, in the Gospels and in the law. He brought forth both of these on behalf of the same householder and from the same storeroom. ON MATTHEW 14.1. [1]

[1] SC 258:10.

TRAINED IN LETTER AND SPIRIT

ORIGEN: And one is a scribe “as a disciple to the kingdom of heaven” in the simpler sense, when one comes from Judaism and receives the teaching of Jesus Christ as defined by the church. But one is a scribe in a deeper sense when having received elementary knowledge through the letter of the Scriptures one ascends to things spiritual, which are called the kingdom of heaven. And as each thought is attained, grasped abstractly and proved by example and absolute demonstration, thereby one can understand the kingdom of heaven. Thus one who abounds in knowledge free from error is in the kingdom of the multitude of what are here represented as “heavens.” … Hence, so far as Jesus Christ, “who was in the beginning with God, God the Word,” [1] has not his home in a soul, the kingdom of heaven is not in it. But when anyone comes close to admission of the Word, to that one the kingdom of heaven is near. But if the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same thing in reality, [2] if not in idea, manifestly to those to whom it is said, “The kingdom of God is within you,” [3] to them also it might be said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” This is most true because of the repentance from the letter to the spirit, since “when one turns to the Lord, the veil over the letter is taken away.” [4] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10.14. [5]

[1] Jn 1:1.

[2] Or substance.

[3] Lk 17:21.

[4] 2 Cor 3:16.

[5] GCS 40:17-18; ANF 9:422.