Commentary on Matthew

Chapter Twenty-Five

248 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE nd as he was walking away from the Temple, his disciples approached and beckoned him to look at the structure of the Temple.1 After threatening that Jerusalem would be forsaken, he is shown the grandeur of the Temple’s stature, as if it were necessary to stir him by its splendor. He said that it would be entirely destroyed and demolished since the stones of the entire structure would be knocked down.2 But an eternal temple is one that is consecrated to be a habitation of the Holy Spirit, that is, the temple is a person who is worthy to become a dwelling for God by knowledge of the Son,3 by confession of the Father, and by obedience to his commandments.4 2. Once the Lord had withdrawn to the mountain, his disciples came and asked him privately when this would happen [to the Temple] and by what sign they would recognize his coming, and about the end of the age. Here we have three questions in one [setting], separated by chronology and distinguished by the [degree of] significance in their meaning. The Lord answers the first question concerning the destruction of the city [Jerusalem], an event confirmed by the truth of his teaching so that they should not be deceived by an imposter because of their ignorance. For there would come, even in the disciples’ day, imposters who would claim they were the Christ.5 He therefore warns them that the faith could be undermined by a pernicious lie. In fact, it happened that Simon the Samaritan, bolstered with diabolical works and words, led 1. Mt 24.1. 2. Mt 24.2. 3. Cf. 1 Cor 6.19; 2 Cor 6.16. 4. The “trinity” of knowledge (agnitio), confession, and obedience, corresponding to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 5. Mt 24.4. ON MATTHEW, CHAP. 25 249 many astray by his miracles.6 And because this happened during the time of the apostles, the Lord said, the end is not yet.7 Still, the end is not yet until nations and kingdoms attack one another, and famines and earthquakes occur.8 This is not dissolution of all things, but the beginning of sorrows9 from which all evils would originate. He encouraged them to endure suffering : flight, scourging, death, and the pagans’ public hatred towards them on account of his name.10 On account of these troubles, many will be shaken, and will stumble in the face of increasing wickedness, and will be incited to hate one another .11 There will be false prophets, as was Nicolaus, one of the seven deacons,12 who will pervert many by falsifying the truth,13 and because of mass wickedness, love will grow cold.14 But for those who persevere to the end, salvation is assured.15 As the apostolic men16 are scattered throughout all parts of the world, the truth of the Gospel will be preached.17 Once the knowledge of the heavenly sacrament18 has been disseminated to all humanity, the fall and end of Jerusalem is imminent. Punishment of unbelievers and fear of the city’s destruction are the consequence when the faith is preached.19 All this happened in Jerusalem, just as it had been foretold; the city was consumed— ruined by her stonings, by her expulsions, by her murder of the apostles, by her hunger, by war, and by her captivity.20 For having rejected the preachers of Christ, she was shown to be unworthy of God’s message and not worthy to exist.21 6. Acts 8.9–11. Simon becomes the archetypal heretic in Christian antiheretical literature. See Justin, I Apol. 26; Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 1.27.4; Tertullian , De idol. 9; De anima 57; Origen, Contra Celsum 6.11. 7. Mt 24.6. 8. Mt 24.7. 9. Mt 24.8. 10. Mt 24.9. 11. Mt 24.10. 12. Acts 6.5; Rv 2.6, 15. Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 3.11.1. 13. Mt 24.11. 14. Mt 24.12. 15. Mt 24.13. 16. See supra, 22.4, for use of “apostolic men” (viri apostolici). 17. Mt 24.14. 18. Which is salvation through Christ. 19. Just as the prophets before the apostles preached. God’s judgment and salvation reveal continuity between OT and NT. 20. Jerusalem’s destruction is characterized by these things that she did as well as by the things that happened to her as a result. 21. Supra, 10.10. Cf. Acts 7...