Divine Will and the Perfection of Love
God desires to have through choice simplicity, the forgetfulness of wrongs, and the loving of parents even if they beat him. He placed hands upon the children of the place of the hands, teaching the arming of the divine power.
The early stage of the law is good, and Christ does not annul it; rather, he says, 'if you wish, enter into life' (Mt 19:17), keeping the commandments, showing the beginning of this way, but not fulfilling it; and his law is not something else, testifying through this; but perfection is with him. It is good for the apostolic way here to fit 'laying aside all wealth' (Mt 19:23); for the wealth was shown by the comparison to the camel; 'for narrow and afflicted is the way leading into life' (Mt 19:24). Do the evils then also fit? For where it is said that God follows the good, no healthy person would even conceive that evils are possible for God, or that he would say it is not a weakness to not do good things; for the doing of evils is the opposite of strength, and Paul calls sins weaknesses, saying: 'for while we are still weak, Christ died for the ungodly according to the time' (Rom 5:6), and the Psalmist says: 'their infirmities' (Ps 38:3); he calls sins infirmities. But no one would accuse him by the word that says all things are possible for God, as they are accustomed to say. Is it then possible that the making of the race did not occur for God? For such a thing is useless to him again; and nothing is received as useless before the power of God. Thus all the slanders according to the word are excessive.
Having said, Mark says, that 'Jesus, looking at him, loved him' (Mk 10:21), he stirs up a question: how was he loved who was not going to follow into 'life'? Regarding the former, he who kept the law and these things from youth was worthy of love, but regarding perfection, he did not allow the love upon the following things to become perfect through a lack of time, just as he also did not show perfection. Therefore Paul, having understood all in the law as incomplete, hurried toward perfection. Not as if they were leaving great things, but they, from those which they had, stood up and showed the choice preferring all (Mt 19:27).
Greek
ὁ θεὸς θέλει ἔχειν τῇ προαιρέσει, τὴν ἁπλότητα, τὴν ἀμνησικακίαν, τὸ ἀγαπᾶν τοὺς γονέας, κἂν τύπτηται ὑπ' αὐτῶν. ἐπετίθη δὲ τὰς χεῖρας τοῖς παιδίοις τῆς ἐπι θέσεως τῶν χειρῶν διδασκούσης τὴν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ὅπλισιν. 97 Mt 19, 17 Καλὴ ἡ τοῦ νόμου προπαίδεια καὶ οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ ὁ Χριστὸς αὐτήν, ἀλλ' εἰ θέλεις, φησίν, εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν , τήρει τὰς ἐντολὰς ἀρχὴν τῆς ὁδοῦ ταύτης ἐπιδεικνύων, οὐ συμπλήρωσιν· καὶ τὸ μὴ ἀλλό τριον εἶναι ἑαυτοῦ τὸν νόμον διὰ τούτου μαρτυρῶν· ἡ 11 τελειότης δὲ παρ' αὐτοῦ. 98 Mt 19, 23®26 Καλὸν τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐνταῦθα ἁρμόζει τὸν «ὄγκον ἀποθέμενοι πάντα »· τὸν γὰρ ὄγκον ἐδήλωσεν ἡ πρὸς κάμηλον ὁμοίωσις· «στενὴ γὰρ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωήν ». ἆρ' οὖν καὶ τὰ κακά; ὅπου γὰρ ὁ θεός, εἴρηται, τὸ καλὸν ἕπεται καὶ οὐδ' ἂν ἐννοήσαι τις ὑγιαίνων, ὅτι τὰ κακὰ θεῷ δυνατὰ οὐδὲ ἀδυναμίᾳ εἴποι ἂν τὰ καλὰ μὴ ποιεῖν· ἀσθένεια γὰρ τοὐναντίον ἡ τῶν κακῶν ποίησις καὶ ἀσθενείας τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὁ Παῦλος καλεῖ λέγων· «ἔτι γὰρ ὄντων ἡμῶν ἀσθενῶν κατὰ καιρὸν Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἀσεβῶν ἀπέθανεν » καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδός· ἐπλήσθησάν φησιν «αἱ ἀσθένειαι αὐτῶν »· τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἀσθενείας καλεῖ λέγων. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐκεῖνό τις ἂν ἐγκαλέσειεν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ λέγοντι πάντα θεῷ δυνατὰ οἷον λέγειν εἰώθασιν. ἆρ' οὖν καὶ τὸ γένος ποιῆσαι μὴ γεγονέναι θεῷ δυνατόν ἐστιν; ἀχρεῖον γὰρ αὐτῷ πάλιν τὸ τοιοῦτον· οὐδὲν δὲ ἀχρεῖον ἐπὶ θεοῦ δυνάμεως παραλαμβάνεται. ὥστε περισσαὶ πᾶσαι αἱ κατὰ τοῦ λόγου συκοφαντίαι. εἰπὼν δὲ ὁ Μᾶρκος, ὅτι «Ἰησοῦς ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ ἠγάπησεν ἀυτὸν » ζήτησιν κινεῖ, πῶς ἠγαπήθη ὁ μὴ μέλλων ἀκολουθεῖν ἐπὶ «τὴν ζωήν ». ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῖς προτέροις ἀγάπης ἄξιος ὁ τὰ τοῦ νόμου φυλάξας καὶ ταῦτα ἐκ νεότητος, τῇ δὲ περὶ τὸ τέλειον ὀλιγωρίᾳ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς πρόσθεν ἀγάπην τελείαν οὐκ εἴασε γενέσθαι, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὴν τελειότητα ἐδείξατο. διόπερ ὁ Παῦλος ἀτελὲς ἅπαν τὸ ἐν νόμῳ κατα λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα ἔσπευσεν. 99 Mt 19, 27 Οὐχ ὡς μεγάλα τινὰ καταλελοιπότες, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν, ὧν εἶχον, ἐκ στάντες καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐπιδείξαντες τὴν ἁπάντων προτιμῶσαν
About this text
Apollinaris of Laodicea on Matthew (catena fragments).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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