Matthew 1-13

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture #1a

by Manlio Simonetti (Editor)

The Gospel of Matthew stands out as a favorite biblical text among patristic commentators. The patristic commentary tradition on Matthew begins with Origen's pioneering twenty-five-volume commentary on the First Gospel in the mid-third century. In the Latin-speaking West, where commentaries did not appear until about a century later, the first commentary on Matthew was written by Hilary of Poitiers in the mid-fourth century. From that point the First Gospel became one of the texts most frequently commented on in patristic exegesis. Outstanding examples are Jerome's four-volume commentary and the valuable but anonymous and incomplete Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum . Then there are the Greek catena fragments derived from commentaries by Theodore of Heraclea, Apollinaris of Laodicea, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Cyril of Alexandria. The ancient homilies also provide ample comment, including John Chrysostom's ninety homilies and Chromatius of Aquileia's fifty-nine homilies on the Gospel of Matthew. In addition, there are various Sunday and feast-day homilies from towering figures such as Augustine and Gregory the Great as well as other fathers. In this ACCS volume, the rich abundance of patristic comment, much of it presented here in English translation for the first time, provides a bountiful and varied feast of ancient interpretation of the First Gospel.

Genres: Reference, New Testament, Christianity, Christian, Theology

326 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Peter Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Gospel of Matthew


This Spring, I participated in an online group reading of the Gospel of Matthew as part of Symposium Great Books. The group read one chapter a week. I have either been exposed to the Gospel of Matthew as snippets at Mass, or I have read the entire gospel at one time. This middle approach was eye-opening in that it allowed the development of themes in context over time and sustained reading.

For example, it became clear to me that Jesus’s initial preaching was geared to the cultivation of a personal space. Jesus teaches that it is not enough to do good things that are seen to be good by others, thereby earning the praise of others. Doing good things is good, but good things should be done because they are good, the doer knows them to be good, and God knows them to be good. This amounts to the creation of a private sphere, a sphere of the self, which is not the modern isolated self, but a self illumined by the presence of God.

From the standpoint of the conventional understanding of social evolution, this is remarkable. It has often been proposed that the private self is a modern invention that did not exist until much later in history. Augustine is famous for penning the first autobiography. For example, artists did not sign their artwork until late in the Renaissance. Individuality is often thought of as an invention of the Reformation or the Enlightenment.

But here we are, in the first century, and Jesus is advocating that each individual create their own personal sphere of the self.

In addition, Jesus is not advocating orthopraxy. We have been told that ancient pagans did not care what people believed; so long as people went through the motions of piety, the gods and the community were happy. But here is Jesus advocating more than orthopraxy; believers should not engage in pious actions for show, but in order to shape their own character toward virtue.

For Jesus, the personal orientation toward the good matters a lot. Of course, for Jesus, behind the good is God, which means that the person’s orientation toward the good is one’s orientation toward God.

Another thing I picked up from this approach was that the key question is, who is Jesus talking to? Surprisingly often, the answer is, to the disciples. The Gospel of Matthew serves as a primer for the disciples on how to lead the successor movement after Jesus' departure. Early on, Jesus tells the disciples that he will be gone, and it will be up to them to run the surviving movement.

In Matthew 18, Jesus gives advice about how to handle disputes in the church, ending with the observation:



“I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Most people read the last line and think it refers to them in a church. But how did we get from judging disputes to a church sermon? And why “two or three”? I think the answer is that Jesus is still talking about the two or three judges meeting in His name and He is the Shekinah, or the Holy Spirit.

This verse has sometimes been understood to refer to the “messianic minyan.”

In the Talmud, Rabbi Halafta of Kefar Hanania said: when ten sit together and occupy themselves with Torah, the Shechinah abides among them, as it is said: “God stands in the congregation of God” (Psalm 82:1).

Psalm 82 recites:

A psalm of Asaph.

1 God presides in the great assembly;

he renders judgment among the “gods”:

2 “How long will you[a]defend the unjust

and show partiality to the wicked?[b]

3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;

uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Aquinas understood the reference to gods to refer to judges:

1527. For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them; in the congregation of the holy, not of the earthly. In the council of the just: and in the congregation, great are the works of the Lord (Ps 110:1)

So, in Matthew 18, we have something more remarkable than Jesus saying that he will be present in future church services; we have an identification of Jesus with the Shekinah.

This identification becomes clear in the Transfiguration. I had never focused on the cloud that envelopes Jesus, but the resemblance to the “one who appears like a Son of Man” who arrives on a cloud before the Ancient of Days is obvious. (Daniel 7). Since this reference is understood as “binitarian,” we have in the Transfiguration another example that more or less identifies Jesus with God.

And all this is happening right under our noses.

I utilized several collections of quotations and commentaries from Patristic sources. The Sri commentary, supra, is very useful. In addition, the two-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Volume 1 (Ch. 1 – 13) and Volume 2 (Ch. 14-28) were excellent.

These contain quotes from Patristic sources about the relevant passages of the text. The Patristic observations may seem apt or inapt, but they are often fruitful for contemplation.

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Finally, Aquinas’s Catena Aurea on Matthew provides similar resources.

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[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compendium of patristic commentary on the first half of the Gospel of Matthew.

The ACCSNT series is well edited and presented, featuring an introduction of the general concept of the series as well as a specific introduction to patristic commentary on Matthew. The reader is also given basic information about the major commentators.

The commentary itself leans heavily on John Chrysostom and the anonymous incomplete commentary on Matthew with a lot of input from Augustine and many others.

A useful resource for considering the history of interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

[Jonathan]

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[Michael Barakat · Rating 5 out of 5]

أفضل طريقة لفهم الإنجيل المقدّس حسب متّى هي عبر قراءة هذا الكتاب! يفسّر الإنجيل حسب تفسيرات الآباء االقدّيسين. عمل رائع ومفصّل لجمع أهمّ الأقوال حسب كلّ إصحاح.