Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23:15

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves." — Matthew 23:15 (ASV)

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.

1. Mor. xxxi, 9
2. cont. Faust., xvi, 29 (et cf cont. Adimant. 16)