Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23

Pseudo-Chrysostom: When the Lord had refuted the Priests with His answer and shown their condition to be beyond remedy—since clergy, when they act wickedly, cannot be corrected, while laypeople who have gone wrong are easily set right—He turned His discourse to His Apostles and the people. For a teaching is useless if it silences one person without improving another.

Origen of Alexandria: The disciples of Christ are better than the common crowd; in the Church, you may find those who come to the word of God with greater passion. These are Christ's disciples; the rest are simply His people. Sometimes He speaks to His disciples alone, and other times to the multitudes and His disciples together, as He does here.

The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, as they profess to follow his Law and boast that they can interpret it. Those who do not depart from the letter of the Law are the Scribes; those who make high professions and separate themselves from the common people as being better than them are called Pharisees, which means "separate ones."

Those who understand and explain Moses according to his spiritual meaning truly sit on Moses' seat, but they are neither Scribes nor Pharisees; they are better than either, being Christ's beloved disciples. Since His coming, these disciples have sat upon the seat of the Church, which is the seat of Christ.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: But we must consider how each person fills his seat, for it is not the seat that makes the priest, but the priest who makes the seat; the place does not consecrate the man, but the man consecrates the place. A wicked priest derives guilt, not honor, from his priesthood.

St. John Chrysostom: But so that no one could say, "I am negligent in my practice because my teacher is evil," He removes every such excuse, saying, All therefore whatsoever they say unto you, observe and do. For they are not speaking their own words, but God's, which He taught through Moses in the Law. And see what great honor He gives Moses, showing again how much harmony there is with the Old Testament. ¹

Origen of Alexandria: But if the Scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat are the teachers of the Jews, teaching the commandments of the Law according to the letter, how can the Lord bid us to do all the things they say? For the Apostles in the book of Acts forbid believers from following the letter of the Law.ⁱ These men indeed taught according to the letter, not understanding the Law spiritually. Whatever they tell us from the Law, if we understand its spiritual sense, we should observe and do, while not doing according to their works. For they do not do what the Law commands, nor do they perceive the veil that covers the letter of the Law.

Or, by "all," we should not understand everything in the Law—for example, the many things relating to sacrifices and the like—but only those things that concern our conduct.

St. John Chrysostom: But why did He give this command about the doctrine of Moses and not the law of grace? Because it was not yet the time to publish the commandments of the New Law before the season of His passion. I also think He had something further in mind here. He was about to make many accusations against the Scribes and Pharisees in the discourse that followed. Therefore, so that arrogant people might not think He desired their position of authority or spoke this way out of hostility toward them, He first dispels this suspicion and then begins to rebuke them. This was so that the people would not fall into their same faults. And so that, just because they should listen to them, they would not think they should also imitate their works, He adds, But do not do according to their works. What is more pitiable than a teacher whose life, if imitated, leads to ruin, but whose example, if rejected, leads to salvation for his disciples?

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Just as gold is separated from the dross and the dross is left behind, so listeners can take the teaching and leave the practice, for good doctrine often comes from an evil man. But just as priests judge it better to teach the wicked for the sake of the good, rather than to neglect the good for the sake of the wicked, let those under their authority also respect the bad priests for the sake of the good, so that the good are not despised because of the bad. For it is better to give the wicked what they do not deserve than to deprive the good of what is rightfully theirs.

St. John Chrysostom: See how He begins His rebuke of them: For they say, and do not. Everyone who transgresses the Law deserves blame, but especially one who holds a teaching position. This is for three reasons: first, because he is a transgressor; secondly, because when he ought to correct others, he himself falters; and thirdly, because, being a teacher, his influence is more corrupting.

He then brings another charge against them: that they oppress those under their authority. They bind heavy burdens. In this, He shows a twofold evil in them: they demanded the strictest way of life from those under them without any allowance, while they allowed themselves great license. A good ruler should do the opposite: be a severe judge to himself, but a merciful one to others. Notice the forceful words He uses in His rebuke. He does not say they cannot, but that they will not; and not that they will not lift them, but that they will not even touch them with one of their fingers.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: For the Scribes and Pharisees of whom He is now speaking, the unbearable, heavy burdens are the commandments of the Law, as St. Peter says in the book of Acts: Why are you trying to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10). By commending the burdens of the Law with invented proofs, they bound the shoulders of their hearers' hearts with straps, as it were, so that, tied down by what seemed like reasoned proof, they could not throw them off. But they themselves did not fulfill them in the slightest—that is, they not only failed to fulfill them completely, but did not even attempt to.

Glossa Ordinaria: Or, to bind burdens means to gather traditions from all sides, not to aid the conscience, but to burden it. ²

St. Jerome: But all these things—the shoulders, the finger, the burdens, and the straps with which they bind the burdens—have a spiritual meaning. In this, the Lord also speaks generally against all teachers who command difficult things but do not do even the small things themselves.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: This is also true of those who lay a heavy burden on people coming to repentance, so that while people try to avoid present punishment, they overlook the punishment that is to come. For if you lay a burden on a boy's shoulders that is heavier than he can bear, he must necessarily either throw it off or be crushed by it. In the same way, the person on whom you lay too severe a burden of penance must either refuse it completely or, if he submits to it, will find himself unable to bear it, and so will stumble and sin worse.

And if we are wrong in imposing too light a penance, is it not better to answer for mercy than for severity? Where the master of the house is generous, the steward should not be oppressive. If God is kind, should His priest be harsh? Are you seeking a reputation for holiness by doing this? Be strict in ordering your own life, but lenient in the lives of others; let people hear that you require little but perform much. The priest who gives license to himself and demands the utmost from others is like a corrupt tax collector, who burdens others heavily to ease his own load.

St. John Chrysostom: The Lord had charged the Scribes and Pharisees with harshness and neglect; He now brings forward their vainglory, which made them depart from God.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Every substance breeds within itself that which destroys it, as wood breeds the worm and garments the moth. In the same way, the Devil strives to corrupt the ministry of the priests, who are ordained for the building up of holiness, endeavoring so that this good, when it is done to be seen by men, is turned into evil. Take away this fault from the clergy, and you will have no further labor in their reform, for this is why a clergyman who has sinned can hardly perform penance.

Here the Lord also points out the reason why they could not believe in Christ: because nearly everything they did was in order to be seen by men. For he whose desire is for earthly glory from men cannot believe in Christ, who preaches heavenly things.

I have read one who interprets this passage this way: The Scribes and Pharisees are seated unworthily "in Moses' seat"—that is, in the rank and degree instituted by Moses—inasmuch as they preached to others the Law which foretold Christ's coming, but they themselves did not receive Him when He had come. For this reason, He exhorts the people to hear the Law which they preached (that is, to believe in Christ who was preached by the Law), but not to follow the Scribes and Pharisees in their disbelief of Him.

And He shows the reason why they preached the coming of Christ from the Law, yet did not believe in Him: namely, because they did not preach that Christ should come out of any desire for His coming, but so that they might be seen by men as doctors of the Law.

Origen of Alexandria: And likewise, they do their works to be seen by men, practicing outward circumcision, removing actual leaven from their houses, and doing similar things. But Christ's disciples fulfill the Law in secret, being Jews inwardly, as the Apostle says.ⁱ

St. John Chrysostom: Note the intensive force of the words in His reproofs. He does not merely say that they do their works to be seen by men, but adds, "all their works." And not only in great things but even in some trivial things they were vainglorious: They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments.

St. Jerome: For when the Lord had given the commandments of the Law through Moses, He added at the end, And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be ever before your eyes (Deuteronomy 6:8). The meaning of this is, "Let my precepts be in your hand to be fulfilled in your works; let them be before your eyes so that you shall meditate on them day and night."

The Pharisees, misinterpreting this, wrote the Decalogue of Moses—that is, the Ten Commandments—on parchment, and folding them up, tied them on their foreheads, making them a crown for their heads so that they would always be before their eyes. In another place, Moses had commanded that they should make fringes of blue on the borders of their garments to distinguish the people of Israel.ⁱ The intent was that just as circumcision distinguished their bodies, so the fringe on their garments would distinguish the Jewish nation.

But these superstitious teachers, grasping for popular favor and making a profit from foolish women, made broad hems and fastened them with sharp pins, so that as they walked or sat they might be pricked, and by such reminders be recalled to the duties of God's ministry. They called this embroidery of the Decalogue "phylacteries"—that is, "preservatives"—because those who wore them did so for their own protection and security. The Pharisees understood so little that these were to be worn on the heart and not on the body. For in the same way, one could say that cases and chests have books, but they certainly do not have the knowledge of God.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: But following their example, many invent Hebrew names of Angels, write them down, and bind them on themselves, and they seem formidable to those who are without understanding. Others again wear a portion of the Gospel, written out, around their neck. But is not the Gospel read every day in the Church and heard by all? Therefore, for those who receive no profit from the Gospel proclaimed in their ears, how shall having it hung around their neck save them?

Furthermore, where is the power of the Gospel? In the shape of its letters, or in the understanding of its meaning? If it is in the characters, you do well to hang them around your neck; but if it is in the meaning, they are more profitable when stored in the heart than when hung around the neck.

But others explain this passage this way: that they made their teachings concerning special observances broad, like phylacteries or preservatives of salvation, preaching them continually to the people. And they explain the broad fringes of their garments as representing the same undue stress on such commandments.

St. Jerome: Since they make their phylacteries broad and make their fringes broad in this way, desiring to have glory from men, they are convicted in other things as well: For they love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.

Rabanus Maurus: It should be noted that He does not forbid those to whom this belongs by right of rank from being greeted in the marketplace or from sitting or reclining in the highest place. Rather, He commands believers to shun as wicked those who unduly desire these things, whether they obtain them or not.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: For He does not rebuke those who recline in the highest place, but those who love such places, blaming the will and not the deed. For it is pointless for someone to humble himself in his physical position if he exalts himself in his heart. For some vain men, hearing that it is a commendable thing to seat themselves in the lowest place, choose to do so. In this way, they not only fail to put away the vanity of their hearts but also add the further vain ostentation of their humility, as someone who wants to be thought righteous and humble.

For many proud men take the lowest place physically, but in the haughtiness of their hearts, they think themselves to be seated among the highest. And there are many humble men who, though placed among the highest, are inwardly, in their own esteem, among the lowest.

St. John Chrysostom: Observe where vainglory governed them: namely, in the synagogues, where they entered to guide others. It would have been tolerable to feel this way at feasts, even though a teacher ought to be held in honor in all places alike, and not only in the churches. But if it is blameworthy to love such things, how much more wrong is it to seek to attain them?

Pseudo-Chrysostom: They love the first greetings—first, that is, not only in time (before others), but also in tone, that we should say with a loud voice, "Hail, Rabbi!"; and in body, that we should bow our heads low; and in place, that the greeting should be in public.

Rabanus Maurus: And in this they are not without fault: that the same men who are involved in the legal disputes of the marketplace are the ones who, in the synagogue, in Moses' seat, seek to be called "Rabbi" by men.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: That is, they wish to be called this, not to be it; they desire the name and neglect the duties.

Origen of Alexandria: And in the Church of Christ are found some who take the uppermost places for themselves, that is, they become deacons. Next, they aspire to the chief seats of those who are called presbyters. And some intrigue to be styled "Bishop" among men—that is, to be called "Rabbi." But Christ's disciple does indeed love the uppermost place, but it is at the spiritual banquet, where he may feed on the choicest morsels of spiritual food. For, with the Apostles who sit on twelve thrones, he loves the chief seats and hurries by his good works to make himself worthy of such seats. He also loves greetings made in the heavenly marketplace—that is, in the heavenly congregations of the first believers.

But the righteous man does not want to be called "Rabbi," either by man or by any other, because there is one Master of all people.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, of the previous things with which He had charged the Pharisees, He now passes over many as being of no weight and as things His disciples did not need instruction on. But He insists on that which was the cause of all evils—namely, the ambition for the master's seat—in order to instruct His disciples.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: "Do not be called 'Rabbi,'" so that you do not take to yourselves what belongs to God. And do not call others "Rabbi," so that you do not pay a divine honor to men. For one is the Master of all, who instructs all people by nature. For if people were taught by man, all people who have teachers would learn. But since it is not man who teaches, but God, many are taught, but few learn. Man cannot impart understanding to another man by teaching; rather, the understanding that is given by God is called forth in man by instruction.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: He says this so that the disciples may always remember that they are the children of one parent and that, by their new birth, they have passed beyond the limits of their earthly origin.

St. Jerome: All people may be called brothers in affection, which is of two kinds: general and particular. The particular affection is that by which all Christians are brothers; the general is that by which all people, being born of one Father, are bound together by a similar tie of kinship. ¹

Pseudo-Chrysostom: "And call no man your father on earth," because although in this world a man begets another man, yet there is one Father who created all people. For we do not have the beginning of our life from our parents; rather, our life is transmitted through them.ⁱ

Origen of Alexandria: But who calls no man father on earth? It is he who, in every action done as if before God, says, Our Father, who art in Heaven.

Glossa Ordinaria: Because it was clear who the Father of all was from the phrase, who art in Heaven, He would now teach them who the Master of all is. Therefore, He repeats the same command concerning a master: Neither be you called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ. ²

St. John Chrysostom: This does not mean that when Christ is said to be our Master, the Father is excluded, just as Christ is not excluded when God is said to be our Father, for Christ is also the Father of mankind.

St. Jerome: It presents a difficulty that the Apostle, contrary to this command, calls himself the teacher of the Gentiles, and that in monasteries, in their common conversation, they call one another "Father." It can be clarified this way: It is one thing to be a father or master by nature, and another by concession. Thus, when we call any man our father, we do it to show respect for his age, not because we regard him as the author of our being.

We also call men "Master" out of a resemblance to a real master. And, to avoid tedious repetition, just as the one God and one Son (who are so by nature) do not prevent us from calling others "gods" and "sons" by adoption, so the one Father and one Master do not prevent us from speaking of other fathers and masters by a conventional use of the terms.

St. John Chrysostom: Not only does the Lord forbid us to seek supremacy, but He would lead His hearer to the very opposite: He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Origen of Alexandria: Alternatively, if someone ministers the divine word, knowing that it is Christ who makes it fruitful, such a person professes himself a servant and not a master. From this it follows, He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant. As Christ Himself, who was in truth our Master, professed Himself a servant, saying, I am in the midst of you as one that ministers (Luke 22:27). And He well concludes this prohibition of all vainglory with the words, And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Remigius of Auxerre: This means that everyone who thinks highly of his own merits will be humbled before God, and everyone who humbles himself concerning his good deeds will be exalted with God.

Origen of Alexandria: Christ is truly the Son of the God who gave the Law. Following the example of the blessings pronounced in the Law, He Himself pronounced blessings on those who are saved. Likewise, following the curses of the Law, He now declares a woe against sinners: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.”

Those who accept that it is compatible with goodness to utter these denunciations against sinners should understand that God’s purpose is the same in the curses of the Law. Both the curse there and the woe here fall upon the sinner not from the One who pronounces them, but from the sinners themselves, who commit the sins being denounced. They rightly bring upon themselves the consequences of God’s discipline, which is appointed to turn people to what is good.

In the same way, a father rebuking a son utters words of cursing, but he does not desire that his son should become deserving of those curses. Rather, he desires that his son should turn away from them.

He adds the reason for this woe: “You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” These two actions are by nature inseparable, because not allowing others to enter is, by itself, enough to keep the one hindering out.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: By “the kingdom of heaven,” he means the Scriptures, because the kingdom of heaven is found in them; the understanding of the Scriptures is the door.

Alternatively, “the kingdom of heaven” is the blessedness of heaven, and its door is Christ, through whom people enter. The gatekeepers are the priests, to whom the word of teaching or interpreting Scripture is entrusted, by which the door of truth is opened to humanity. The opening of this door is correct interpretation. And notice that He did not say, “Woe to you,” because you open it, but “because you shut it up.” The Scriptures, then, are not shut, even though they may be obscure.

Origen of Alexandria: The Pharisees and the Scribes, then, would neither enter in themselves nor listen to Him who said, “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). Nor would they allow those to enter who could have believed through the things previously spoken by the Law and the Prophets concerning Christ. Instead, they shut the door with every kind of device to deter people from entering.

They also disparaged His teaching, denied all prophecy concerning Him, and blasphemed every miracle as deceitful or as worked by the Devil. All who in their evil conduct set a sinful example for the people, and who commit injustice, causing the weak to stumble, seem to shut up the kingdom of heaven before others. This sin is found among the people, and especially among the teachers, when they teach others what Gospel righteousness requires but do not practice what they teach.

But those who both teach and live rightly open the kingdom of heaven to others; they both enter in themselves and invite others to enter. Conversely, many will not allow those who are willing to enter the kingdom of heaven, excommunicating out of jealousy others who are better than themselves. In this way they refuse them entrance.

But these sober-minded people, overcoming this tyranny by their patience, enter and inherit the kingdom even though they were forbidden. Likewise, those who have rashly taken up the profession of teaching before they have learned, and who, following Jewish fables, disparage those who search out the deeper things of Scripture—these also, as far as it is in their power, shut people out from the kingdom of heaven.

St. John Chrysostom: Next, the Lord rebukes them for their gluttony. And what was worst of all, they took what they needed to fill their bellies not from the rich but from widows, thereby burdening the poverty of those whom they should have relieved.¹

Glossa Ordinaria: Devour widows' houses—that is, your superstitions have this one aim: to profit from the people placed under you.²

Pseudo-Chrysostom: The female sex is imprudent, not rationally considering all that it sees or hears, and weak, being easily turned either from bad to good or from good to bad. The male sex is more prudent and resilient. Therefore, those who pretend to be holy focus their efforts on women, who are unable to see their hypocrisy and are easily inclined to love them on the basis of their supposed religion.

They especially choose to target widows. First, because a woman who has her husband to advise her is not as easily deceived. Second, a wife does not have the means to give, as she is under her husband's authority.

The Lord, then, while He confounds the Jewish priests, also instructs Christians that they should not visit widows more than others. For even if their purpose is not bad, it gives rise to suspicion.

St. John Chrysostom: The manner of this plundering is particularly grievous, because they make long prayers. Everyone who does evil deserves punishment, but he who uses religion as an occasion for his offense deserves a more severe punishment. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: First, because you are wicked, and second, because you put on the cloak of holiness. You dress up your covetousness in the guise of religion and use God's weapons in the Devil's service, so that wickedness might be loved when it is mistaken for piety.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or, they will receive a harsher judgment because their supposed observance of the kingdom of heaven is merely a way to maintain their practice of visiting widows' houses. Thus, they must answer for both their own sin and the ignorance of others.

Glossa Ordinaria: Or, because the servant that knew his Lord's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12:47).³

St. John Chrysostom: The next charge against them is that they are unequal to the task of saving many, since they need so much labor to bring one person to salvation. Not only are they ineffective in conversion, but they also destroy those whom they do convert by corrupting them with the example of their evil lives.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: That they compass sea and land signifies that throughout the whole world they will be enemies of Christ's Gospel and will bring people under the yoke of the Law, opposing the justification of faith. There were proselytes made into the Synagogue from among the Gentiles, whose small number is denoted here by the phrase "one proselyte." For after the preaching of Christ, no faith was left in their doctrine, and whoever was won over to the Jewish faith became a child of hell.

Origen of Alexandria: For all who Judaize since the coming of the Savior are taught to follow the disposition of those who cried out at that time, "Crucify, crucify him."

St. Hilary of Poitiers: And he becomes the child of a double punishment, because he has not obtained forgiveness for his Gentile sins and has joined the company of those who persecuted Christ.

St. Jerome: Alternatively, the Scribes and Pharisees traveled the whole world to make proselytes of the Gentiles, that is, to mix the uncircumcised stranger with the people of God.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: And they do this not out of compassion or a desire to save the one they teach, but either from greed, so that a greater number of worshipers might increase the number of sacrificial offerings, or out of vainglory. For someone who sinks himself in a mire of sins, how could he desire to rescue another from it? Will a person be more merciful to another than to himself? Therefore, by a person's actions it can be known whether he seeks another's conversion for God's sake or out of vainglory.

St. Gregory the Great: Since hypocrites, although they always do crooked things, never stop speaking righteous things, they produce spiritual sons through their good instruction but are unable to raise them by a good life. The more they give themselves over to worldly works, the more willingly they allow those they have produced to do the same.

And because their hearts are hardened, they do not acknowledge these very sons they have produced with any sign of due affection.¹

Therefore, it is said of the hypocrites here, And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He said this not because proselytes were circumcised, but because they imitated the lives of those whom He had forbidden His disciples to follow, saying, Do not act according to their works (Matthew 23:3).²

Two things are noteworthy in this command. First is the honor shown to Moses's teaching, that even wicked men sitting in his seat are compelled to teach good things. Second is that the proselyte is made a child of hell not by hearing the words of the Law, but by following their actions. And he is twice the child of hell they are for this reason: he neglects to fulfill what he chose to undertake, since he was not born a Jew but became one of his own free will.

St. Jerome: Or, it is because while he was a Gentile, he erred in ignorance and was only a child of hell. But seeing the vices of his teachers, and understanding that they undermined by their actions what they taught in words, he returns to his vomit. By becoming a Gentile again, he is worthy of greater punishment as one who has deserted his cause.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, it is because while he was a worshiper of idols, he practiced righteousness, if only for the sake of appearances before others. But when he became a Jew, influenced by the example of evil teachers, he became worse than they were.

St. John Chrysostom: For a disciple imitates a virtuous master but surpasses a vicious one.

St. Jerome: He is called a child of hell in the same way that one is said to be a child of perdition or a child of this world; every person is called the son of the one whose works he does.

Origen of Alexandria: From this passage we learn that there will be different degrees of torment in hell, since one is said here to be singly a child of hell, and another doubly so. We ought to consider whether it is possible for a person to be a child of hell in a general sense—as a Jew, for example, or a Gentile—or in a specific sense as a consequence of particular sins. Just as a righteous man's glory is increased by the abundance of his righteousness, so a sinner's punishment is increased many times over by the number of his sins.