Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23:25-26

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also." — Matthew 23:25-26 (ASV)

St. Jerome: In different words, but to the same effect as before, He rebukes the hypocrisy and deception of the Pharisees: that they showed one face to people publicly, but wore another in private. He does not mean here that their scrupulousness about the cup and the platter was important, but that they feigned it to pass themselves off as holy to others. This is clear from His addition, “but inwardly ye are full of ravening and uncleanness.”

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, He means that the Jews—whenever they were about to enter the temple, offer a sacrifice, or attend any festival—would wash themselves, their clothes, and their vessels, but no one cleansed himself from his sins. Yet God neither praises bodily cleanliness nor condemns its opposite. But if physical dirtiness or soiled vessels were offensive to God—which inevitably become dirty with use—how much more does He abhor a defiled conscience, which we can, if we choose, always keep pure?

St. Hilary of Poitiers: He is therefore rebuking those who, in their pursuit of a show of useless scrupulousness, neglected to practice essential morality. For it is the inside of the cup that is used; if that is dirty, what good is it to clean the outside? Therefore, what is needed is purity of the inner conscience, so that the things of the body may also be clean on the outside.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: He is not speaking of a physical cup and platter, but of the cup and platter of the understanding. This spiritual vessel can be pure before God even if it has never touched water; but if it has sinned, then even if the water of the whole ocean and all rivers has washed it, it remains foul and guilty before God.

St. John Chrysostom: Note that when speaking of tithes, He said, “These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” For tithes are a kind of almsgiving, and what is wrong with giving alms? Yet He did not say this to enforce a legalistic superstition. But here, when discussing things clean and unclean, He does not add this. Instead, He distinguishes and shows that external purity necessarily follows from internal purity, where the “outside of the cup and platter” signifies the body, and the inside, the soul.

Origen of Alexandria: This teaching instructs us that we should strive to become righteous, not merely to seem so. For whoever seeks only to be thought righteous cleans the outside and cares only for what is seen, but neglects the heart and conscience. But the one who seeks to cleanse what is within—that is, the thoughts—thereby also makes the outside clean.

All teachers of false doctrine are like cups cleaned on the outside. Because of the show of religion they put on, they appear clean, but inside they are full of extortion and deceit, leading people into error. The cup is a vessel for liquids, and the platter is for food. Therefore, every discourse from which we spiritually drink, and all speech by which we are fed, are vessels for our spiritual food and drink.

Those who focus on presenting well-crafted discourse rather than speech that is full of wholesome meaning are like cups cleaned on the outside, but inside are full of the defilement of vanity. Likewise, the letter of the Law and the Prophets is a cup of spiritual drink and a platter of necessary food. The Scribes and Pharisees seek to explain the outward meaning, while Christ’s disciples work to reveal the spiritual meaning.