Catena Aurea on Matthew
Lecture 6
19. “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
Chrys. To the foregoing topics of consolation, He adds another not a little one; that they should not say, How shall we be able to persuade such men as these, when they shall persecute us? He bids them be of good courage respecting their answer, saying, “When they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak.”
Remig. “How or what,” one refers to the substance, the other to the expression in words. And because both of these would be supplied by Him, there was no need for the holy preachers to be anxious about either.
Jerome When then we are brought before judges for Christ’s sake, we ought to offer only our will for Christ. But Christ who dwelleth in us speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will minister in our answer.
Hilary For our faith, observing all the precepts of the Divine will, will be instructed with an answer according to knowledge, after the example of Abraham, to whom when he had given up Isaac, there was not wanting a ram for a victim. “For it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.”
Remig., ap. Raban. Meaning, Ye indeed go out to the battle, but it is I who fight; you utter the words, but it is I who speak. Hence Paul speaks, “Seek ye a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?” (2 Cor 13:3)
Chrys. Thus He raises them to the dignity of the Prophets, who have spoken by the Spirit of God. He who says here, “Take no thought what ye shall speak,” has said in another place, “Be ye always ready to give an answer to him that demandeth a reason of the hope that is in you.” (1 Pet 3:15) When it is a dispute among friends, we are commanded to “be ready;” but before the awful judgment, and the raging people, aid is ministered by Christ, that they may speak boldly and not be dismayed.
Lecture 7
21. “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
Gloss, ap. Anselm Having placed the comfort first, He adds the more alarming perils; “Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the son; children shall rise against parents, to put them to death.”
Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxv, 3 Wrongs which we suffer from strangers, pain us less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had counted; for besides the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of lost affection.
Jerome This we see often happen in persecutions, nor is there any true affection between those whose faith is different.
Chrys. What follows is yet more dreadful, “Ye shall be hated of all men;” they sought to exterminate them as common enemies of all the world. To this again is added the consolation, “For my name’s sake;” and yet further to cheer them, “Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved.” For many are hot and zealous in the beginning, but afterwards grow cool, for these, He says, I look at the end. For where is the profit of seeds that only sprout at first? wherefore He requires a sufficient endurance from them.
Jerome For virtue is not to begin but to complete.
Remig. And the reward is not for those that begin, but for those that bring to an end.
Chrys. But that no man should say, that Christ wrought all things in His Apostles, and therefore it is nothing wonderful that they were made such as they were, since they did not bear the burden of these things, therefore He says, that perseverance was their work. For though they were rescued from their first perils, they are preserved for still harder trials, which again shall be followed by others, and they shall be in danger of snares as long as they live. This He covertly intimates when he says, “Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved.”
Remig. That is, He who shall not let go the commands of the faith, nor fall away in persecution, shall be saved; he shall receive the reward of the heavenly kingdom for his earthly persecutions. And note that ‘the end’ does not always mean destruction, but sometimes perfection, as in that, “Christ is the end of the Law.” (Rom 10:4) So the sense here may be, “Whosoever shall endure to the end,” that is, in Christ.
Aug., City of God, book 21, ch. 25 To endure in Christ, is to abide in His faith which worketh by love.