Complete Works, Vol. XX

ON CHAPTER I OF MATTHEW

EXPLANATION.

of the generation, when it is said in the last chapter, xxviii, 19: original: "Baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, etc." Baptizing them in the name of the Father, etc. And this is the method of treating divine matters, where the sacraments of the Church draw their strength from the sacraments that Christ performed in his own person. And thus the title refers to the whole: and the face of a man according to the whole book corresponds to Matthew.

Regarding that which is brought forward from Luke, it must be said that Luke does not deal with the sacrament of the generation, but touches upon certain things that occurred in the generation: all of which correspond according to the face of God rather than according to the face of a man. The entire Annunciation, and the fact that the power of the Most High and the Holy Spirit came upon her, do not speak of the face of a man, but rather of the face of God in man. And this pertains to the acceptability of the sacrifice rather than to the generation of a man according to the human face: because from the fact that God was offered, it was worth more in satisfying the debt of sin than Adam had taken away by sinning; namely, the Presentation in the temple pertains to the offering, and also the Circumcision: because in Circumcision there was no regeneration, but the infant was dedicated to God by a sign. And therefore Matthew does not include any of these. The genealogy also, which Luke sets forth, is not so that the generation of a man may be known, but rather so that the evil suspicion that existed concerning Christ might be removed, namely that he was thought to be the son of Joseph 1, when he was the Son of God in man: this is clear to one considering the words of Luke. And therefore Luke, demonstrating the face of the calf, should in no way have been entitled regarding the generation.

That which is brought forward from John is invalid: because he speaks of the divine generation, nor does he touch upon the human, except insofar as it is caused by the divine. And this is ineffable. Isa. liii, 8: Who shall declare his generation? And therefore it could not be entitled from that.

But to that which is said, that it is taken materially regarding Christ generated: it seems that this must be said, that it is true, but it is about Christ generated, in that he is generated: and thus other Evangelists do not speak of him in this way.

Through what has been said, the solution to all the questions is evident. The first thing therefore that he touches upon in the title is the form, when he says " The book. " For he describes that which Matthew says by the method of a book, because what is said here is written for eternal memory. Apocal. i, 11: What thou seest, write in a book: and send to the seven churches. Baruch, iv, 1: This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that is for ever. Job, xix, 23 and 24: Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book with an iron pen, and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone? He says "marked down" on account of the deepening into the heart; "with an iron pen," on account of the taming of divine authority, which tames the intellect. The plate of lead sets the flatness of the historical sense alight with the gravity of the mystery (otherwise, intends). The engraving in flint signifies the impression tenacious of memory. Whence Maximus says, that "authority is nothing other than truth discovered by reason, and committed to memory for the utility of posterity." This is signified by the fact that the law is inscribed upon stones, which strongly and perpetually hold what is inscribed.

Behold according to what is the matter. And the new things respond to the old: for the first book in the Old Testament is about generation; and the first in the New is about generation likewise. But that one tends from the likeness of God into the region of dissimilarity: this one, however, leads things that are dissimilar back into the likeness of God. Isa. lxvi, 9: Shall I, that make others to bring forth children, myself not bring forth? says the Lord: if I who grant generation to others, shall be barren, saith the Lord.

1 Luke iii, 23: And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty, being, as it was supposed, the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of, etc.