Complete Works of Saint Jerome, Vol. VII

13; x, 20). The Jews, by swearing by the angels original: "per angelos", the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the elements, were venerating creatures and carnal things with the honor original: "honore" and obedience due to God. Finally, consider that here the Savior did not prohibit swearing by God, but [only] by heaven, the earth, Jerusalem, and your own head. This had been granted by law as if to little children, just as they sacrificed victims to God to prevent them from sacrificing them to idols: so also they were permitted to swear by God, not because they were doing so rightly, but because it was better to offer this to God than to demons. The evangelical truth, however, does not accept an oath, since every faithful word should stand in place of an oath.

(Verses 38, 39.) "You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil." He who says an eye for an eye does not wish to take away the other, but to preserve both. Our Lord, removing retaliation, cuts off the beginnings of sins. In the Law, there is retribution; in the Gospel, grace. There, the fault is corrected; here, the beginnings of sins are taken away.

(Verses 39, 41.) "But if anyone strikes you on your right cheek, offer him the other also. And to him who wishes to contend with you in judgment and take your tunic, yield your cloak to him as well. And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two." An ecclesiastical man is described here, a follower of Him who says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matthew xi, 29). And when struck by a slap, he proves his promise: If I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike me? (John xviii, 23). David said something similar in the Psalm: If I have repaid those who did me evil (Psalm vii, 5). And Jeremiah in the Lamentations: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth. He will give his cheek to the one who strikes him: he will be filled with insults (Lamentations iii, 27, 30). This is against those who think there is one God of the Law and another of the Gospel original: "alterum Deum legis, alterum Evangelii", because meekness is taught both there and here. According to mystical understandings: when our right side is struck, we are not ordered to offer the left, but the other, that is, the other right. For the just man does not have a left side. If a heretic strikes us in a dispute and wishes to wound our right-hand doctrine, let another testimony from the Scriptures be opposed to him, and let us offer our right sides to the one striking us, until the enemy's anger is exhausted.

(Verses 42, 43.) Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn away from the one who wishes to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said: You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.

If we understand this as spoken only about alms, in many cases this cannot stand for the poor. But even if the rich were always to give, they would not always be able to give. Therefore, after the benefit of alms, the precepts are given to the apostles, that is, to the teachers, so that those who received freely may also give freely (Matthew x, 8). Money of this kind never runs out; but the more it is given, the more it is doubled. And when he waters the fields subjected to him, the spring's water never dries up.

(Verse 44.) "But I say to you, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you." Many, assessing the precepts of God by their own weakness rather than the strength of holy men, think that the commanded precepts are impossible, and they say that it is enough for virtues not to hate enemies; otherwise, to love them is commanded more than human nature can bear. It must be known, therefore, that Christ does not command the impossible, but the perfect, which David did regarding Saul and Absalom (I Kings xxiv, 9; xxvi, 5; II Kings xviii, 33). Stephen the martyr also prayed for the enemies who were stoning him (Acts vii, 59). And Paul wishes to be anathema for his persecutors (Romans ix, 3). Jesus both taught and did these things, saying: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke xxiii, 34).

(Verses 45-48.) "That you may be children of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad, and rains on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even the tax collectors do this? And if you greet your brothers only, what more are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do this? Be therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." If by keeping God's precepts one is made a child of God, then he is not a child by nature, but by his own will.

(Chapter VI. — Verse 1.) "Beware of practicing your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." Whoever sounds a trumpet original: "tuba canit" while giving alms is a hypocrite. Whoever, while fasting, destroys his face to show the emptiness of his belly on his countenance is also a hypocrite. Whoever prays in synagogues and at the corners of streets to be seen by men is a hypocrite. From all these, it is concluded that those are hypocrites who do anything so that they may be glorified by men. It seems to me that he who says to his brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye (Matthew vii, 4), does this for the sake of glory, so that he himself may appear just. Whence it is said to him by the Lord: Hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye (Ibid., 5). Therefore, it is not the virtue, but the cause of the virtue that has a reward before God. Even if you deviate slightly from the straight path, it does not matter whether you go to the right or to the left, once you have lost the true way.