[5216] 1 Pet. i. 12.
[5217] 1 Cor. vi. 3.
[5218] Ezek. xviii. 17-22.
14. The Disciples as Scribes.
"Have ye understood all these things? They say, Yea." [5219] Christ Jesus, who knows the things in the hearts of men, [5220] as John also taught concerning Him in the Gospel, puts the question not as one ignorant, but having once for all taken upon Him the nature of man, He uses also all the characteristics of a man of which "asking" is one. And there is nothing to be wondered at in the Saviour doing this, since indeed the God of the universe, bearing with the manners of men as a man beareth with the manners of his son, makes inquiry, as--"Adam, where art thou?" [5221] and, "Where is Abel thy brother?" [5222] But some one with a forced interpretation will say here that the words "have understood" are not to be taken interrogatively but affirmatively; and he will say that the disciples bearing testimony to His affirmation, say, "Yea." Only, whether he is putting a question or making an affirmation, it is necessarily said not "these things" only,--which is demonstrative,--not "all things" only, but "all these things." And here He seems to represent the disciples as having been scribes before the kingdom of heaven; [5223] but to this is opposed what is said in the Acts of the Apostles thus, "Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." [5224] Some one may inquire in regard to these things--if they were scribes, how are they spoken of in the Acts as unlearned and ignorant men? Or if they were unlearned and ignorant men, how are they very plainly called scribes by the Saviour? And it might be answered to these inquiries that, as a matter of fact, not all the disciples but only Peter and John are described in the Acts as unlearned and ignorant, but that there were more disciples in regard to whom, because they understood all things, it is said, "Every scribe," etc. Or it might be said that every one who has been instructed in the teaching according to the letter of the law is called a scribe, so that those who were unlearned and ignorant and led captive by the letter of the law are spoken of as scribes in a particular sense. And it is very specially the characteristic of ignorant men, who are unskilled in figurative interpretation and do not understand what is concerned with the mystical [5225] exposition of the Scriptures, but believe the bare letter, and, vindicate it, that they call themselves scribes. And so one will interpret the words, "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," [5226] as having been said to every one that knows nothing but the letter. Here you will inquire if the scribe of the Gospel be as the scribe of the law, and if the former deals with the Gospel, as the latter with the law, reading and hearing and telling "those things which contain an allegory," [5227] so as, while preserving the historic truth of the events, to understand the unerring principle of mystic interpretation applied to things spiritual, so that the things learned may not be "spiritual things whose characteristic is wickedness," [5228] but may be entirely opposite to such, namely, spiritual things whose characteristic is goodness. And one is a scribe "made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven" in the simpler sense, when he comes from Judaism and receives the teaching of Jesus Christ as defined by the Church; but he is a scribe in a deeper sense, when having received elementary knowledge through the letter of the Scriptures he ascends to things spiritual, which are called the kingdom of the heavens. And according as each thought is attained, and grasped abstractly [5229] and proved by example and absolute demonstration, can one understand the kingdom of heaven, so that he who abounds in knowledge free from error is in the kingdom of the multitude of what are here represented as "heavens." So, too, you will allegorise the word, "Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand," [5230] as meaning that the scribes--that is, those who rest satisfied in the bare letter--may repent of this method of interpretation and be instructed in the spiritual teaching which is called the kingdom of the heavens through Jesus Christ the living Word. Wherefore, also, so far as Jesus Christ, "who was in the beginning with God, God the word," [5231] has not His home in a soul, the kingdom of heaven is not in it, but when any one becomes nigh to admission of the Word, to him the kingdom of heaven is nigh. But if the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same thing in reality, [5232] if not in idea, manifestly to those to whom it is said, "The kingdom of God is within you," [5233] to them also it might be said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you;" and most of all because of the repentance from the letter unto the spirit; since "When one turn to the Lord, the veil over the letter is taken away. But the Lord is the Spirit." [5234] And he who is truly a householder is both free and rich; rich because from the office of the scribe he has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven, in every word of the Old Testament, and in all knowledge concerning the new teaching of Christ Jesus, and has this riches laid up in his own treasure-house--in heaven, in which he stores his treasure as one who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven,--where neither moth doth consume, nor thieves break through. [5235] And in regard to him, who, as we have said, lays up treasure in heaven, we may truly lay down that not one moth of the passions can touch his spiritual and heavenly possessions. "A moth of the passions," I said, taking the suggestion from the "Proverbs" in which it is written, "a worm in wood, so pain woundeth the heart of man." [5236] For pain is a worm and a moth, which wounds the heart which has not its treasures in heaven and spiritual things, for if a man has his treasure in these--"for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also," [5237] --he has his heart in heaven, and on account of it he says, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." [5238] And so neither can thieves in regard to whom the Saviour said, "All that came before Me are thieves and robbers," [5239] break through those things which are treasured up in heaven, and through the heart which is in heaven and therefore says, "He raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ," [5240] and, "Our citizenship is in heaven." [5241]
[5219] Matt. xiii. 51.
[5220] John ii. 25.
[5221] Gen. iii. 9.
[5222] Gen. iv. 9.
[5223] Matt. xiii. 52.
[5224] Acts iv. 13.
[5225] Or, anagogical.
[5226] Matt. xxiii. 13.
[5227] Gal. iv. 24.
[5228] Eph. vi. 12.
[5229] Or, in an exalted sense.
[5230] Matt. iii. 2.
[5231] John i. 1, 2.
[5232] Or, substance.
[5233] Luke xvii. 21.
[5234] 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17.
[5235] Matt. vi. 20.
[5236] Prov. xxv. 20.
[5237] Matt. vi. 21.
[5238] Ps. xxvii. 3.
[5239] John x. 8.
[5240] Eph. ii. 6.
[5241] Phil. iii. 20.
15. The Householder and His Treasury.
Now since "every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder who bringeth forth out of his treasury things new and old," [5242] it clearly follows, by "conversion of the proposition," as it is called, that every one who does not bring forth out of his treasury things new and old, is not a scribe who has been made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven. We must endeavour, therefore, in every way to gather in our heart, "by giving heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching," [5243] and by "meditating in the law of the Lord day and night," [5244] not only the new oracles of the Gospels and of the Apostles and their Revelation, but also the old things in the law "which has the shadow of the good things to come," [5245] and in the prophets who prophesied in accordance with them. And these things will be gathered together, when we also read and know, and remembering them, compare at a fitting time things spiritual with spiritual, not comparing things that cannot be compared with one another, but things which admit of comparison, and which have a certain likeness of diction signifying the same thing, and of thoughts and of opinions, so that by the mouth of two or three or more witnesses [5246] from the Scripture, we may establish and confirm every word of God. By means of them also we must refute those who, as far as in them lies, cleave in twain the Godhead and cut off the New from the Old, [5247] so that they are far removed from likeness to the householder who brings forth out of his treasury things new and old. And since he who is likened to any one is different from the one to whom he is likened, the scribe "who is made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven" will be the one who is likened, but different from him is the householder "who brings out of his treasury things new and old." But he who is likened to him, as in imitation of him, wishes to do that which is like. Perhaps, then, the man who is a householder is Jesus Himself, who brings forth out of His treasury, according to the time of the teaching, things new, things spiritual, which also are always being renewed by Him in the "inner man" of the righteous, who are themselves always being renewed day by day, [5248] and old things, things "written and engraven on stones," [5249] and in the stony hearts of the old man, so that by comparison of the letter and by exhibition of the spirit He may enrich the scribe who is made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven, and make him like unto Himself; until the disciple shall be as the Master, imitating first the imitator of Christ, and after him Christ Himself, according to that which is said by Paul, "Be ye imitators of me even as I also of Christ." [5250] And likewise, Jesus the householder may in the simpler sense bring forth out of His treasury things new,--that is, the evangelic teaching--and things old,--that is, the comparison of the sayings which are taken from the law and the prophets, of which we may find examples in the Gospels. And with regard to these things new and old, we must attend also to the spiritual law which says in Leviticus, "And ye shall eat old things, and the old things of the old, and ye shall bring forth the old from before the new; and I will set my tabernacle among you." [5251] For we eat with blessing the old things,--the prophetic words,--and the old things of the old things,--the words of the law; and, when the new and evangelical words came, living according to the Gospel we bring forth the old things of the letter from before the new, and He sets His tabernacle in us, fulfilling the promise which He spoke, "I will dwell among them and walk in them." [5252]
[5242] Matt. xiii. 52.
[5243] 1 Tim. iv. 13.
[5244] Ps. i. 2.
[5245] Heb. x. 1.
[5246] Matt. xviii. 16.
[5247] Marcion and his school.
[5248] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
[5249] 2 Cor. iii. 7.
[5250] 1 Cor. xi. 1.
[5251] Lev. xxvi. 10, 11.
[5252] Lev. xxvi. 12; 2 Cor. vi. 16.
16. Parables in Relation to Similitudes. Jesus in His Own Country.
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence. And coming into His own country." [5253] Since we inquired above whether the things spoken to the multitude were parables, and those spoken to the disciples were similitudes, and set forth observations bearing on this in my judgment not contemptible, you must know that the sentence which is subjoined, "And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence," will appear to be in opposition to all these arguments, as applying not only to the parables, but also to the similitudes as we have expounded. We inquire therefore whether all these things are to be rejected, or whether we must speak of two kinds of parables, those spoken to the multitudes, and those announced to the disciples; or whether we are to think of the name of parable as equi-vocal; or whether the saying, "And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables," is to be referred only to the parables above, which come before the similitudes. For, because of the saying, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the rest in parables," [5254] it was not possible to say to the disciples, inasmuch as they were not of those without, that the Saviour spoke to them in parables. And it follows from this, that the saying, "And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence," is to be referred to the parables spoken above, or that the name parable is equivocal, or that there are two kinds of parables, or that these which we have named similitudes were not parables at all. And observe that it was outside of His own country He speaks the parables "which, when He had finished, He departed thence; and coming into His own country He taught them in their synagogue." And Mark says, "And He came into His own country and His disciples follow Him." [5255] We must therefore inquire whether, by the expression, "His own country," is meant Nazareth or Bethlehem,--Nazareth, because of the saying, "He shall be called a Nazarene," [5256] or Bethlehem, since in it He was born. And further I reflect whether the Evangelists could have said, "coming to Bethlehem," or, "coming to Nazareth." They have not done so, but have named it "His country," because of something being declared in a mystic sense in the passage about His country,--namely, the whole of Judæa,--in which He was dishonoured according to the saying, "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country." [5257] And if anyone thinks of Jesus Christ, "a stumbling-block to the Jews," [5258] among whom He is persecuted even until now, but proclaimed among the Gentiles and believed in,--for His word has run over the whole world,--he will see that in His own country Jesus had no honour, but that among those who were "strangers from the covenants," [5259] the Gentiles, He is held in honour. But what things He taught and spake in their synagogue the Evangelists have not recorded, but only that they were so great and of such a nature that all were astonished. And probably the things spoken were too high to be written down. Only be it noted, He taught in their synagogue, not separating from it, nor disregarding it.