Apollinaris on Matthew

And Apollinaris is said to accept only the last genealogy; for Matthew's genealogy is natural, having the succession of those born, but Luke's is considered to be of the sons inscribed according to the law for those who did not beget; for in this way, it happened that "Joseph is inscribed to Eli" (Mt 1:16), a descendant of Jacob, from Jeconiah. Thus, having started from different origins, Matthew comes from "Solomon" and Luke from "Nathan" to the same Joseph.

For Apollinaris says, indeed, that a boy is inscribed to a father (Mt 1:19). But his father is Joseph by grace, and at the same time by flesh through the woman. And it is certain for him to be the father of Christ, who was born of his own flesh, which is Mary, where even for the deceased it was certain that the child being born of his wife and of the living brother was his own. For if that of the law is strong, much more is that of grace. And the beginning was also an announcement to a man, not to a woman. For he is the preceding living being and closer to God, and thus the one according to the image. In both the generations of Christ, Joseph is shown to be father, both by grace and by flesh; by grace indeed through the virgin betrothed to him, and by flesh indeed because both the virgin and Joseph are of the same tribe.

And Apollinaris, having set forth this example, also applied the explanation of the blessed John and Theodore.

Many testify from the beginning to our salvation, but the beginning of all these seems to be the firstfruits of the Magi. This is also said to be the firstfruits of all the Gentiles. And not this alone, but being guided by God and by a star, they also revealed the things that were to come, and, having solved the perplexity of the Jews, they proved them condemned for not believing the signs.

How did the evangelist bring the word to the children in Matthew 2:18? The infants slaughtered by Herod are taken as a type of the people. Rachel is remembered by the prophet as the mother of Ephraim and the father of Benjamin, of whom the part is according to Jerusalem, the so-called Ramah. Just as a resurrection awaits the infants, so it is shown, just as the people shall be saved from death through faith. As a type of the people of Israel, the evangelist received the prophet's word regarding the children slaughtered by Herod.

Regarding Matthew 3:17, some say concerning the saying of the voice: 'This is my beloved Son,' that it was an angelic substitute for the person of the Father, or something else prepared by chance. But the saying 'in whom I am well pleased' was spoken in the context of other sons, who were neither becoming beloved nor being extremely pleasing to him; for those in the law were also worthy of adoption. Yet, through the witness of the Father and the descent of the Spirit, the hypostases of the Holy Trinity are demonstrated.

Apollinaris the heretic says that food from paradise served him so that, just as Adam, who was not commanded, was losing the food there, so the new Adam, from whom nothing was commanded, might restore the original goodness through an excess of virtue in Matthew 4:11.

In Matthew 5:6, the hungry are remembered simply by Luke as 'the hungry,' but now Matthew specifies those who abstain because of the desire for the good, from the delights of the flesh. Thus, we hear similarly from both. He who thirsted for the righteousness of God found the truly desired thing, whose longing he fulfilled not in any way merely by the one acting according to appetite; for he did not only desire the participation of the righteous as food, for it was incomplete. Now, he made this good thing also drinkable, so that the warmth and the clarity of desire might be the passion of thirst.