And concerning these two lords he speaks by dissuading worldly cupidity and inviting to divine piety. Hence the Gloss: "Rebuking avarice, he says that lovers of money cannot love God; therefore let whoever loves God despise money." From which it is clear that whoever wishes to be a servant of Christ cannot be a servant of this world; hence Bede: "You ought to distribute these temporal things faithfully as lords of temporal things, not as servants."
22. Second, as regards the assertion of reprobation, he adds: For either he will hate the one and love the other: which is said with respect to charity, which causes one to hate evil and to love good, according to that passage in Romans 12: "Hating evil, clinging to good, loving one another with the charity of fraternity"; and the Psalm: "I have hated the wicked, and I have loved your law." — Or he will cling to the one and despise the other: which is said with respect to cupidity, which clings to the world and the devil in contempt of God, according to that passage in Jeremiah 2: "My people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
23. Now the reason why one cannot serve the aforesaid lords at the same time is fourfold. The first, namely, the opposition of services. For the service of God consists in the exercise of virtues, according to that passage above in chapter one: "Let us serve him in holiness and justice before him"; and 1 Peter 1: "According to him who called you, who is holy, that you also may be holy," etc. But the service of the devil consists in the exercise of vices: hence above in chapter fifteen concerning the prodigal son it is said that "he sent him to his farm to feed swine."
The second reason is the dissimilarity of ministers, because the Lord wills to have sharp-sighted servants: on account of which it is said in Revelation 4 that "the living creatures were full of eyes before and behind"; and Proverbs 14: "An intelligent minister is acceptable to the king." But the devil wills to have one-eyed servants; whence 1 Kings 11: "On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes." The Lord also wills to have ministers who are well-composed and well-ordered: whence 3 Kings 10: "The queen of Sheba seeing the dwellings of the servants and the order of those ministering," etc. But the devil wills to have those who are disordered and disfigured: whence 2 Kings 10: "Hanon, king of the children of Ammon, cut the garments of David's servants up to the buttocks and shaved half their beards." The Lord also wills to have humble servants, according to that Psalm: "He who acts with pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house, he who speaks iniquities," etc. But the devil wills to have the arrogant: Job, the penultimate chapter: "He beholds every high thing, and he is king over all the children of pride."
- The third reason is the distance of places, because the Lord wills to be in a lofty and pure place: the Psalm: "To you have I lifted up my eyes, who dwell in the heavens"; and Song of Songs 2: "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills." But the devil, in unclean places: Job 40: "He sleeps under the shadow, in the secret of the reed, in moist places." - The fourth reason is the indistinction of times, because the devil wills that he be served at all times: Jeremiah 16: "You shall serve strange gods, who will give you no rest day or night," etc. Similarly the Lord wills that he be served at all times: the Psalm: "He shall meditate on the law of the Lord day and night," etc. Since therefore the Lord wills to have all time and the whole heart, according to that of Deuteronomy 6: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all your strength"; and the devil and the world likewise will the whole: therefore it is impossible to serve both at the same time.
24. And therefore he concludes: You cannot serve God and mammon. Now he is said to serve mammon in whose affection riches hold dominion, such that he may be called covetous, because then he is a slave of idols. For, as is said in Ephesians 5, "covetousness is the servitude of idols." Whence the Gloss: "He does not say: to have riches, but to serve. He serves who guards riches as a slave; but he who has shaken off the yoke of servitude distributes as a master." And therefore the Apostle said in 1 Corinthians 7: "It remains that those who buy be as though not possessing, and those who use this world as though not using it," etc. But some wish to have God and the world at the same time, who are like those nations of whom it is said in 4 Kings 17: "The nations were fearing the Lord, and nonetheless serving idols." Against these it is said in Leviticus 19: "You shall not wear a garment woven from two materials," and against these the Lord speaks here, and against such Jerome says: "It is impossible that one should enjoy both present and future goods: that here he fill his belly, there his mind: that he pass from delights to delights: that here he rejoice with the world and there reign with God: that in both ages he appear glorious, first in heaven and on earth."
25. Now all these things they were hearing, etc. After the formative instruction for the humble, there follows the instruction repressive of the rebellious. And because the Pharisees were rebellious against the teaching of Christ the man on account of the pride which they had concerning their merits, and this pride came from the literal observance of the Law, therefore this part has two sections, in the first of which is described the repression of the arrogance of the Pharisees, and in the second, the abrogation of the observance of the legal precepts, at the passage: The Law and the Prophets were until John, so that thus, from the demonstration of the abrogation of the Law, vain boasting may be taken away from the Pharisees.
First, therefore, the repression of the arrogance of the Pharisees is described in this manner: for first is set forth the rebellion of the Pharisees, then follows the reproof of the rebellion, and then is added the reason for the reproof.
26. (Verse 14.). First, therefore, as regards the rebellion of the Pharisees, by which they derided Christ, it is said: Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. They derided him as the proud regarding words of simplicity, according to that passage of Job 12: "The simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn: a lamp despised in the thoughts of the rich." And as the foolish regarding counsels of usefulness: Proverbs 15: "A fool laughs at the discipline of his father" etc. Or as the dull-witted regarding admonitions of piety, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Their fury is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears"; whence the Gloss: "They deride the teacher of mercy and humility and frugality, as though he were harmfully commanding things less useful and never to be carried out." Or as the covetous deride regarding praises of generosity: whence the Gloss: " They derided, understanding, namely, that the parable was spoken against them, and preferring present carnal things to future spiritual things as though uncertain." And this is what is said in Proverbs 18: "A fool does not receive the words of prudence, unless you say those things which revolve in his heart." Or as experts in the law regarding commendations of poverty: whence the Gloss: "They derided him arguing against love of money as though he were contrary to the Law and the Prophets, since in the Law many rich men pleased God, and since the Law promises the goods of the earth to its observers." Whence Proverbs 9: "And he who reproves a wicked man generates a stain upon himself." And all this came from a certain haughty and foolish rebellion.
27. (Verse 15). Second, regarding the rebuke of the rebellious, by which Christ was pressing down their arrogance, there is added: And he said to them: You are they who justify yourselves before men, through the display of your righteousness, by which you consider yourselves righteous: Romans 10: "Being ignorant of the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to the justice of God." By which you also call yourselves righteous, against that passage in Job 9: "If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me; if I would show myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked." By which you also outwardly pretend yourselves righteous, against that passage in Matthew 6: "Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them." — And since such self-justification gives birth to guilt, he therefore adds: But God knows your hearts, through the detestation of pride: whence he does not know so as to approve but so as to judge: Psalm: "The Lord is high, and he regards the lowly, and the lofty he knows from afar." Whence it is said in Proverbs 16: "All the ways of men are open to his eyes; the Lord is the weigher of spirits"; Jeremiah 17: "The heart of man is perverse and unsearchable, and who shall know it?" It avails you little, therefore, to be commended by human testimony, since you are to be condemned by the judgment of God, who is the searcher of hearts. Therefore, 1 Corinthians 4: "Judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness." Whence, because that justice was not of truth but of vanity — not directed to the reality but to human opinion; not interior but exterior — it was rather a detestable fault than a commendable virtue, rather worthy of punishment than of eternal reward. Whence Matthew 5: "Unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 28. Third, regarding the reason for the rebuke, by which he was expressing the divine judgment, he adds: Because that which is exalted among men is an abomination before God. Note that he does not rebuke the height of perfection, of which 2 Corinthians 8 says: "Their most profound poverty abounded unto the riches of their simplicity," etc. Nor the height of contemplation, of which Romans 11 says: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments," etc.; and Sirach 24: "I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud." Nor the height of desire and expectation, of which the Psalm says: "You, O Lord, are my hope; you have made the Most High your refuge." For these heights are before God. — But there is another height, which distances one from the Most High, and this is the height of presumption, of which Jeremiah 48 says: "We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is exceedingly proud: his haughtiness and his arrogance and his pride and the loftiness of his heart I know, says the Lord." This is also the height of ambition: Jeremiah 49: "Your arrogance has deceived you, you who strive to seize the height of the hill." This is also the height of ostentation: Ezekiel 31: "Because he was exalted in height and set his top among the green and thick boughs, and his heart was lifted up in his height, now I have delivered him into the hand of the mightiest of the nations," etc. This height in the sight of men is an abomination before God, according to that passage in Proverbs 16: "Every arrogant man is an abomination to the Lord; even if hand is joined to hand, he is not innocent." Now the Lord is said to abominate this kind of height on account of its severe casting down, according to that passage in Isaiah 2: "The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."
29. Therefore this threefold height, as being abominable to the Lord, is discouraged: first, namely, the height of presumption: Sirach 3: "Seek not the things that are too high for thee"; and Romans 11: "Be not highminded," etc. Second, the height of ambition: Romans 12: "Not minding high things, but condescending to the lowly," etc. Third, the height of ostentation is discouraged: the Psalm: "Lift not up your horn on high; speak not iniquity against God." Now the Lord abhors this height, because it is haughty: 1 Kings 16: "Look not on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him." Because it is feigned: Daniel 3: "King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits," etc. Because it is ruinous: on account of which, Proverbs 17: "He who makes his house high seeks ruin." And therefore it is said in 2 Corinthians 10: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, destroying counsels and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding to the obedience of Christ."
30. (Verse 16). The Law and the Prophets were until John, etc. After the repression of the arrogance of the rebellious Pharisees, there is here secondly subjoined a description of the abrogation of the legal precepts, on account of which the Pharisees, raising their brow, were spurning Christ's teachings and cloaking their avarice. And since the Mosaic law has been abrogated through Christ, in such a way that it remains with respect to the spiritual understanding of the ceremonial precepts and the literal observance of the moral precepts: therefore in this part he intimates not only the abrogation of the Law itself according to literal observance, but also its fulfillment according to spiritual understanding, and its endurance according to moral law and the conjugal bond.
First, therefore, as regards the abrogation of the Law according to literal observance, he says: The Law and the Prophets were until John: as if he were saying to the Pharisees: you ought not to raise your brow on account of the observance of the Law, because it has now ceased as regards the letter and the figure. And note that, although Christ could have said, until me, because, Romans 10, "Christ is the end of the Law unto justice," etc.; he nevertheless preferred to name the Precursor as his own voice, because through the ministry of John himself the Lamb was pointed out with a finger: John 1: "Behold, the Lamb of God; behold, he who takes away," etc.; and he had already begun to show the open truth and thereby to abrogate the figure. For since the Law and the Prophets all promised Christ as yet to come, and John showed him as present, therefore " the Law and the Prophets were until John, because that which is clear to have come by the testimony of John could no longer be prophesied as future which is manifest to have come by the testimony of John."
31. And because the end of the Law is through the beginning of the new testament, therefore there follows: From that time the kingdom of God is preached as good news, that is, from him the Gospel of grace is begun. Whence Mark chapter one: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah: Behold, I send my Angel" etc.; therefore also blessed Luke took the beginning of his Gospel from the very conception of blessed John: above, chapter one: "There was in the days of Herod." Whence, so that his preaching might be shown to be new, it is said in Mark chapter one that "he was baptizing and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." - And because John's preaching was about repentance, in which a person does violence to himself, therefore he adds: And everyone forces his way into it, which is expressed more clearly in Matthew chapter eleven: "From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it." Now this is the violence by which one exceeds natural power: whence Bede: "It is a great force when one born of earth seeks to possess heaven through virtue, who could not hold it by nature." This is also the violence that overcomes the curvature of nature: whence the Gloss: "Let us do violence to nature, so that it does not sink down to earthly things, but raises itself to things above." This is also the violence by which one overcomes the torpor of sloth: whence Bede: "Everyone who does violence hastens with vehement zeal, and does not grow sluggish with torpid affection. Therefore the violence of faith is devout; sluggishness is criminal." For it is a great violence when through the force and rigor of repentance one mitigates the severity of the divine sentence, when through humble prayer one bends the lofty strictness. As a figure of this, it was said to Jacob, that vigorous wrestler, in Genesis chapter thirty-two: "If you were strong against God, much more will you prevail against men."
32. And note that blessed Bernard distinguishes four kinds of people possessing the kingdom of heaven: "For some violently seize it, others purchase it, others steal it, others are compelled to it." "For those seize it who abandon all things and follow Christ," to whom can be referred that passage from the penultimate chapter of Genesis: "Judah is a lion's whelp; you have gone up to the prey, my son"; and again in the same place: "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall seize the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoils." - "But those purchase it who give temporal things in order to receive eternal things"; concerning whom, above, chapter twelve: "Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old"; and above, in the same chapter: "Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of iniquity." To such people belongs that saying of Augustine: "I have something for sale—what? The kingdom of heaven. How is it bought? The kingdom by poverty, glory by lowliness, joy by sorrow, rest by labor, life by death." - "But those steal it who do good deeds in secret, and avoiding human praise, are content with the divine testimony alone"; to whom belongs that passage from Matthew chapter six: "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.
" But the poor are compelled to enter, whom here the fire of poverty, by God's dispensation, tests, lest in the future the fire of judgment damnably oppress them"; concerning these things, above in the fourteenth chapter: "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to enter, that my house may be filled." Although therefore in the time of the Law it was a time of trading, now after John it is a time of seizing. For, just as then wealth was promised, so now poverty is urged.
33. (Verse 17). Secondly, as regards the fulfillment of the Law according to the spiritual understanding, it is added: But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, through the conflagration of the world: Psalm: "And you in the beginning founded the earth. They shall perish," etc.
Than for one tittle of the Law to fall, through the frustration of any promise. Rabanus: " Heaven and earth shall pass away, by the change of renewal, their form being laid aside while the prior substance remains: but the words of the Lord shall in no way pass away without the effect of their fulfillment." Therefore it is said in Matthew twenty-four: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away"; because, as it is said in the Psalm, "forever, O Lord, your word endures." Whence although the old law may seem transitory, yet it is more abiding than worldly creation. It also abides through the spiritual understanding of the divine word: whence Matthew five: "I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. For amen I say to you, not one iota or one tittle shall pass from the Law, until all things be accomplished."
And note that he says one tittle: for apex properly refers to the topmost point of a letter, which is placed for the adornment of the letter itself and is, as it were, a very small thing. In this it is given to understand that nothing at all, neither small nor great, is in Scripture, nor anything whatsoever, that does not have its fulfillment. For all things are referred to human salvation, which shall have perpetual duration, even as worldly creation passes away according to its outward appearance; Isaiah fifty-one: "The heavens shall melt away like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, etc. But my salvation shall be forever, and my justice shall not fail." Whence the book of Scripture is nearer to the book of life than the book of creation, and therefore it cannot remain unfulfilled.
34. (Vers. 18.). Third, regarding the duration of the Law according to the law of nature and the conjugal bond, he adds: Everyone who dismisses his wife and marries another commits adultery: first, because he cannot dismiss the first except for the sole cause of fornication, according to Matthew nineteen: "Whoever dismisses his wife except for fornication and marries another commits adultery." Second, because for whatever cause he dismisses her, it is not lawful for him, while she lives, to marry another, and this according to the law of nature divinely instituted in the formation of man; Genesis two: "A man shall leave his father and mother," etc. And this is what dictates that "matrimony is the union of a man and a woman, retaining an indivisible manner of life"; which also dictates that it is an indissoluble bond. - And therefore he adds: And he who marries a woman dismissed by her husband commits adultery. And the reason for this is that the wife belongs to him whose she first was, however much she may seem to be separated; whence the Apostle, Romans seven: "The woman who is under a husband, while the husband lives, is bound to the law. Therefore, while the husband lives, she shall be called an adulteress if she has been with another man." And therefore Jeremiah three: "If a man dismisses his wife, and she, departing from him, marries another man, shall he return to her again? Shall not that woman be polluted and contaminated?" - It should be noted, however, that although no mention had been made of wives, the Lord nevertheless, wishing to show the permanence of the Law with regard to morals and its passing with regard to ceremonials and judicials, gives the example of matrimony, because in it the bill of divorce was given. And the law of matrimony is confirmed in the Gospel as moral law, and the bill of divorce is rejected; whence Matthew nineteen: "Moses commanded to give a bill of divorce and to dismiss. He said to them: Because Moses, on account of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to dismiss your wives."
From these things, therefore, it is gathered how the Law remains, how it is abolished, how it is fulfilled, and nevertheless the arrogance of the Pharisees glorying in the letter of the Law is refuted.
An example of punished impiety, concerning which three things.
35. There was a certain rich man, etc. After the example of provident piety and the instruction of perfect piety, there is here added an example of punished impiety, which, as was said above, holds the character of an example more than of a parable, because literally this rich man was in delights and afterwards in torments. Whence the Gloss of Bede: "Against the avaricious scoffers, he establishes by example what he had proposed, namely that the rich man was tormented in hell because he did not make Lazarus his friend, by whom he might be received into eternal tabernacles. And it seems more a narrative than a parable"; whence also the Saints adduce the words of this parable as testimony concerning the state of the damned; and so that it may be shown that it was literally true, here the name of the poor man is stated.
To explain the exposition of this example, the Evangelist introduces three things, namely the cause, the fault, and the punishment of mercilessness. The cause of mercilessness was love with respect to oneself; the fault of mercilessness was lack of compassion with respect to one's neighbor, concerning which it says there : And there was a certain beggar; the punishment of mercilessness was casting down into the calamity of hell, concerning which it says there: And the rich man also died, etc.
Concerning the cause of mercilessness, which is the love of private good, he introduces three things concerning the rich man, for which he marks him, which are the concupiscence of the eyes, the pride of life, and the concupiscence of the flesh.