The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Moraliter . S. Bernard, in his sermon, on 1 Cor. iii. 12, says,
“ There is no security in heaven or in paradise, much less in the world. In heaven the angels fell in the very presence of God ; in the garden of Eden, Adam ; in the world, Judas, a disciple of Christ. I have said this, that no man lull himself into false security because ‘a place is holy ground.’ For it is not the place which sanctifies the men, but the men who sanctify the place.”
Mystically . S. Jerome, Ps. cxxiv. 8, says, “ Many earthly things became heavenly, and many heavenly things earthly.” The traitor Judas was offered heaven, but chose earth. The apostle Paul, when persecuting the Church, was the enemy of Christ ; but converted, he became meet for the kingdom of heaven. Let him, whose conversation is in heaven, beware of false security ; and let not him who yet loves the world, despair of salvation.
Ver. 19. — Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions . Power ἐξουσίαν, i.e. authority. We may take the words literally, for to Adam was given dominion over every living thing. Christ then gives His disciples power over the wild animals as well as over devils. “They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” S. Mark xvi. 17. And so S. Paul shook off the viper which had fastened on his hand, and felt no harm. Acts xxviii. 5. Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
And over all the power of the enemy , δύναμιν rendered in the Vulgate “ virtutem,” whether wild animal, or poison, or Satan himself . For by all the power of the enemy we may understand everything hostile to men.
But mystically, the passage has reference to the devils, who are described as serpents and scorpions, and called the power of the enemy, i.e. the army of Satan. S. Athanasius, Theophylact and others.
Hence Euthymius takes these serpents and scorpions as influencing the senses, or, as Bede says, “representing every kind of unclean spirit.” He adds, “ There is this difference between serpents which wound with their fangs, and scorpions whose sting is in their tail, that the serpents signify men or spirits raging openly, scorpions signify them plotting in secret.” Thus by the serpent which deceived Eve, we must understand the devil in the serpent’s form. See Gen. chap. iii.
Ver. 20. — Notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you. He does not forbid them altogether from rejoicing in that the spirits were subject unto them, for this was a lawful joy, but he exhorts them to rejoice rather at their election to eternal life.
1. Because power over the devils is a grace given to the Church, and sometimes bestowed upon the unworthy, as Judas. S. Matt. vii. 22. But predestination brings men into favour with God, and ends in everlasting happiness.
2. Because, as Euthymius says, “The one joy is productive of pride and vainglory, but the other of good works, and a desire to please God.”
3. Again, because the casting out of devils and the working of miracles is due to the power of God, and is independent of human merit. But they whose names are written in heaven, at some time present or future are made meet for so great a reward. Bede.
4. Lastly, because to cast out devils affects others, but it is for our own profit that our names are written in heaven. Theophylact.
Are written in heaven , “in the book of life,” not by pen and ink, says Titus, but by the foreknowledge and election of God. Ye are citizens inscribed on the roll of an eternal city, not after the manner of men, but written down in the remembrances of God. Euthymius. Not, says Bede, because God can forget, but that His purpose may stand fast for ever.
Hence, as the foreknowledge and election of God are twofold, so is the book of life. The one perfect and complete, in which are the names of those who are predestinated to eternal life. The other imperfect and incomplete, because they whose names are written in it may fall away, and forfeit their promised reward. So the Apostle salutes Clement and his fellow-labourers, “whose names are written in the book of life ” (Phil iv.) meaning thereby that they, like the Ephesian converts, were called by God and predestinated by Christ to believe on Him, but that their final salvation was conditional on their perseverance and faith. Eph. i. And again, Eph. ii. 19, “Ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God :” by grace here and in the glory hereafter, if ye depart not from the grace which is given you. So the Church in the “Secreta” for Lent prays, that the names of all believers may be retained in the book of God’s predestination. These then can forfeit their election, and therefore their salvation is conditional on their perseverance in well doing. For this is the interpretation of Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others, though Maldonatus doubts whether it be the right one, and Toletus refuses to accept it.
For it is clear from ver. 18 that Christ did not give the seventy disciples to understand that they were absolutely and unconditionally predestinated to glory, for He would have them mindful of condemnation . As Satan fell from heaven, so take heed lest ye also come short of the glory prepared for you in heaven. So all the apostles were called by Christ, and yet one of them was a reprobate. “ Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ? ” S. John vi. 70. And also among the deacons, who were chosen from the seventy was Nicolas, a man of impure life and the author of the heresy of the Nicolaitanes. S. Jerome, Epist 48.
Hence we must understand the promise of Christ (S. Matt. xix. 28), “Ye which have followed me, shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” to be conditional, i.e. to be fulfilled only if they continued to follow Him to their life’s end.
Ver. 21. — In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit (Spiritu Sancto, Vulgate), because the Holy Spirit had, according to His promise, granted the disciples, though weak and unlearned men, the power of working wonders, and had thus led others to believe in Christ and to glorify God.
And hast revealed them unto babes , i.e. that thou hast revealed to my humble and unlearned disciples the truth, so that they might acknowledge Thee, the one true God, and Me whom Thou hast sent, and might be predestinated to eternal life ; and that many others also, whom they have healed of their diseases, and from whom they have cast out devils, might be brought to the knowledge of God, and believe to the salvation of their soul.
Ver. 22. — All things are delivered to Me of My Father . As all things were created by My Father, so all things are created anew by Me, and redeemed from the curse of sin. That thus I might raise up those who had fallen away, and might sanctify them, and might renew all the other creatures which had become corrupt through the sin of man.
“For,” says S. Athanasius (Serm. iv. contra Arianos), “ after the fall of man, all things were made partakers of his transgression. And so death reigned over all from Adam even unto Christ. The earth was given over to the curse, hell was opened, paradise shut, heaven became an enemy, and mankind being corrupted and lost, the devil triumphed over us.”
“ Then He gave Him a human nature, that the Word Himself might take upon Him our flesh, and might renew in all the nature He had taken.”
“ All things were delivered unto Him as the physician who could heal the serpent’s bite, as the life which could restore the dead, as the light which could illuminate the darkness, as the understanding which could renew the powers of the mind.”
And in explanation, he adds, “ After all things were delivered to Him, and he was made man, all things were renewed and made perfect again. The earth received a blessing instead of a curse, paradise was unlocked. Hell drew back from fear, the graves gave up their dead, and the gates were thrown open that He might enter from Eden.”
Christ does not speak here of the essence and attributes which were communicated to Him from the Father by His divine generation, as S. Chrysostom, Hilary, and S. Ambrose explain, but of the plenary power which was given to Him as man, to effect the salvation of men.
Ver. 25. — And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up. " What ought I to do to obtain eternal life ? ” This lawyer is not the same as the one mentioned by S. Matt. xxii. 35, as is clear from the circumstances there recorded.
And tempted Him . He asked the question, not for any good motive, but with the design of tempting Christ to give some answer concerning Himself or His doctrine, which might lay Him open to the charge of being a breaker or a despiser of the law. Toletus.
Ver. 29. — But he, willing to justify himself. To justify himself, i.e. to show himself to be more just than others. “ Show me any one who comes nigh me in righteousness, who is as just and upright as I am. Such an one you will scarcely find.” So Titus, Euthymius, and Isidore of Pelusium, who think that the lawyer spoke with the pride and arrogance of a Pharisee.