Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23:16-22

"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor. Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon." — Matthew 23:16-22 (ASV)

St. Jerome: Just as they sought a reputation for holiness by making their phylacteries and fringes broad, and in turn used this as a means of gain, so now He charges them with teaching wickedness through their fraudulent pretense of tradition.

For when in any dispute, quarrel, or ambiguous case, someone swore by the temple and was later convicted of falsehood, he was not held guilty. This is what is meant by the saying, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; that is, he owes nothing. But if he had sworn by the gold, or by the money that was offered to the priests in the temple, he was immediately compelled to pay what he had sworn by.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: The temple pertains to God's glory and to humanity's spiritual salvation, but the gold of the temple, though it also pertains to the glory of God, relates even more to human delight and the profit of the priests. The Jews, then, pronounced the gold that delighted them and the gifts that fed them to be more holy than the temple, so that they might make people more disposed to offer gifts than to pour out prayers in the temple. This is why the Lord suitably reproves them with these words.

Yet some Christians today have an equally foolish notion. For example, they say that in a lawsuit, if someone swears by God, it means nothing; but if someone swears by the Gospel, he seems to have done something significant. To them we will say in the same manner: Ye fools and blind! The Scriptures were written because of God; God is not because of the Scriptures. Therefore, God is greater than what is hallowed by Him.

St. Jerome: Again, if someone swore by the altar, no one held him guilty of perjury. But if he swore by the gift, the victims, or the other things that are offered to God upon the altar, they exacted this oath most rigorously. They did all this not out of fear of God, but out of covetousness. Thus, the Lord charges them with both folly and fraud, since the altar is much greater than the victims that are sanctified by it.

Glossa Ordinaria: And so that their infatuation would not go so far as to affirm that the gold was more holy than the temple, or the gift more holy than the altar, He argues on another ground: that an oath sworn by the temple and the altar also contains an oath by the gold or by the gift.¹

Origen of Alexandria: In the same way, He reprobates the Jewish custom of swearing by Heaven. For they did not, as they supposed, avoid the danger of taking an oath by God, because: Whoso sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

Glossa Ordinaria: For whoever swears by a created thing that is subject to God also swears by the Divinity that rules over creation.²

Origen of Alexandria: Now, an oath is a confirmation of something that has been said. The oath here, then, may signify the testimony of Scripture that we produce to confirm the words we speak. In this sense, Divine Scripture is the temple of God, and the gold is the meaning it contains.

Just as gold outside the Temple is not sanctified, so all thoughts that are outside of Divine Scripture, however admirable they may seem, are not holy. Therefore, we ought not to bring our own speculations to confirm doctrine, unless we can show that they are made holy by being contained in Divine Scripture.

The altar is the human heart, which is the most important part of a person. The offerings and gifts placed upon the altar are everything done from the heart, such as praying, singing, giving alms, and fasting. Every offering a person makes, then, is sanctified by the heart from which it is made.

Therefore, there can be no more honorable offering than the human heart itself, from which the offering proceeds. If, then, a person's conscience does not condemn him, he has confidence before God—not because of his gifts, but, so to speak, because he has rightly ordered the altar of his heart.

Thirdly, we may say that over the temple (that is, over all Scripture) and over the altar (that is, over every heart), there is a certain meaning called Heaven, the very throne of God. In it, we will be able to see face to face the things that are revealed, when that which is perfect has come.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Since Christ has come, reliance upon the Law is vain. For it is not Christ who is sanctified by the Law, but the Law that is sanctified by Christ, in whom it rests as on a seat or throne. Thus, they are fools and blind who overlook the One who sanctifies and instead pay honor to the things that are sanctified.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We may also understand the temple and altar to be Christ Himself, and the gold and gifts to be the praise and the sacrifice of prayer that we offer in Him and through Him. For it is not He who is sanctified by them, but they that are sanctified by Him.³

1. non occ.
2. ord.
3. Quaest. Ev., i, 34