Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23:5-12

"But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders [of their garments], and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, [even] he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, [even] the Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted." — Matthew 23:5-12 (ASV)

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.

1. Hieron. cont., Helvid. 15
2. non. occ