ACC ~ Matthew 5 v45

THE EVIL AND THE GOOD

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: The imitator of God and Christ makes the sun of his word and the brightness of his righteousness to shine on both evil and good people, and the rain from his mouth falls upon both the righteous and the sinful. FRAGMENT 42. [1]

[1] MKGK 68.

JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST BY ADOPTION

AUGUSTINE: With regard to what immediately follows, namely, “That you may be children of your Father who is in heaven,” it is to be understood in the sense in which John also speaks when he says, “He gave them the power of becoming children of God.” [1] For there is One who is the Son by nature, and he absolutely knows no sin. But since we have received the power to become sons, we are made sons insofar as we fulfill the precepts that have been given by the Son. “Adoption” is the term used by the apostle to denote the character of our vocation to the eternal inheritance, in order to be joint heirs with Christ. By spiritual regeneration we therefore become sons and are adopted into the kingdom of God, not as aliens but as his creatures and offspring. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 1.23.78. [2]

[1] Jn 1:12.

[2] PL 34:1268; FC 11:105-6*. We embody our sonship and daughterhood by living as if we were receiving our eternal inheritance, which is enabled by our spiritual regeneration.

A SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF SUN AND RAIN

AUGUSTINE: Since he calls us to the adoption as sons through the only begotten Son himself, he calls us to his own likeness. For, as the Lord at once adds, “He makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” Now, if you would understand the expression “his sun” to mean not the sun that is visible to bodily eyes but his wisdom, to which the following expressions refer—“he is the brightness of eternal light” [1] and also “The sun of justice is risen upon me,” [2] as well as “But to you that fear the name of the Lord, the sun of justice shall arise” [3] —then you must also understand the rain as a watering by the teaching of truth, because that teaching has become manifest to the good and to the evil. But you may prefer to understand it as the sun that is manifest to the bodily eyes of beasts as well as people and to understand the rain as the showers that produce the fruits that God has given us for the perfection of the body. I believe this to be surely the more probable meaning, since the other “sun” does not rise except on the good and the holy, for this is the very thing that the unjust bewail in the book that is called the Wisdom of Solomon: “And the sun [of understanding] has not risen upon us.” [4] And the spiritual rain refreshes only the good, for the vine signifies the bad of whom it is said, “I will command my clouds not to rain upon it.” [5] SERMON ON THE MOUNT 1.23. 79. [6]

[1] Wis 7:26.

[2] See Breviary, Response 8, Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary; cf. FC 11:106 n. 4.

[3] Mal 4:2.

[4] Wis 5:6.

[5] Is 5:6.

[6] PL 34:1268-69; FC 11:106-7. The spiritual meanings of sun and rain are grounded in and constrained by their literal meanings. The spiritual meaning of sun as truth is grounded in the literal meaning of the sun as light. The spiritual meaning of the rain as the watering by the teaching of the truth must be grounded in the literal meaning of rain as refreshment.

THE DESTINY OF THE JUST AND THE UNJUST NOT SEPARATED

ANONYMOUS: He put it carefully when he said “over the just and the unjust,” not “over the unjust as over the just,” [1] because God puts all good things on the earth, not on account of all people but on account of the few holy ones. He is more content that sinners should enjoy the benefits of God against their deserving than that the just should be robbed of his benefits against their deserving. Likewise, when the Lord is irritated by sinners, he sends his punishment not on account of the good but only on account of the sinners; nevertheless it touches the just in equal measure with the sinners. For as in prosperity he does not separate the sinners from the just, so he does not separate the just from the sinners in hard times. He does not separate the sinners from the just in prosperity, lest, being separated, they should know themselves to be cast down and despair. He does not separate the just from the sinners in hard times, lest, being separated, they should know themselves to be chosen and boast. Above all, prosperity should not benefit the evil but rather hurt them, nor should difficult times harm the good but rather benefit them. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 13. [2]

[1] If indeed the scriptural text recorded that God brought down rain on the unjust and the just alike, one could deduce that God grants gifts indiscriminately. The author here, however, is convinced that God grants gifts to the good and punishment to the evil, though sometimes the evil are involved in the gifts and the good in the punishments.

[2] PG 56:703-4.