Complete Works, Vol. XX

ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, I-1.

Just as Christ is both King and Priest. Luke 1:32: He shall reign in the house of Jacob. Isaiah 9:7: His empire shall be multiplied. Psalm 109:4: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Therefore, Melchizedek is his figure; he was both king and priest cf. Genesis 14:18, and Hebrews 7:1. Both, namely, the kingdom and the priesthood, devolved upon him by inheritance.

And therefore it follows: « Son of David » on account of the kingdom, and « Son of Abraham » on account of the priesthood, because Abraham offered the first sacrifice, which was an expression and figure of that which Christ offered: himself. Genesis 22:2: Take your son: and the Apostle, Hebrews 11:17: Abraham... offered up his only begotten, he who had received the promises. But because it is prior to lay down the law and gather into a kingdom before redeeming through an offering, « Son of David » is placed first, and « Son of Abraham » is added below. For a king shows himself to be a king when he gives laws, arranges precepts, and distributes the ranks of officials. Because Dionysius says that « Kingdom is the distribution of law, order, and good, » yet according to Jerome and Chrysostom, there is another reason for the order: lest he be forced to repeat Abraham. For if he had said « Son of Abraham » first, while weaving the genealogy again, he would have had to say « Abraham », and David would have been interposed, thus discontinuing the order of generation. However, the first reason is better.

And according to that, it is objected that he ought to have said: Son of Melchizedek, who is a more expressive figure of the priesthood.

But to this it must be said that he is not the son of Melchizedek according to humanity. Rather, Melchizedek is a figure, not

in the offering by which he offered himself on the altar of the cross, but regarding two other things that surround his priesthood: one of which is the rite used in the Church or exercise, and the other is its perpetual duration.

Furthermore, he is assimilated to the Son of God according to the face of God, not according to the face of man, in that he is without father, without mother, without genealogy Hebrews 7:3.

According to the Glosses, these two are placed first in the title because the promise was made principally to them, as is evident from what has been said previously. Or, one was a prophet and king, while the other was a prophet and priest, which three things Christ exhibited. For Abraham was a prophet, Genesis 20:7: Return the man his wife, for he is a prophet. Therefore it is said that these two are placed first, like the two columns standing at the doors of the temple, one of which was called Jachin, and the other Booz 3 Kings 7:21 et seq.: And King Solomon set up two columns in the porch of the temple: and when he had set up the right column, he called it by the name Jachin: in like manner he raised the second column, and called its name Booz, etc.: around which a cord of twelve cubits was turned, which—holding twelve others in the first group of ten—signifies the twelve Apostles around the door, Christ John 10:7: Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Cf. also John 10:1 et seq., entwined around the truth of the promises made to the fathers.

But then a question arises: since he placed two names in the title, namely Jesus, Christ, he introduced two fathers from whose prefiguration he has one which is the name of an office, but he did not introduce anyone from whose prefiguration he had the other, which is Jesus, even though this could be found. Genesis 41:43: He called him in the Egyptian language, Savior of the world.

But to this it must be said that two things are required for a name to be placed in the title. One is the prefiguration of the office, as has been said, and the other is descent through generation. And this is lacking in Joseph and Joshua.

Furthermore, the act of a Savior does not befit