Verses 8-12:8 But do not be called teachers, for you have one Teacher, Christ, and you are all brethren; and call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; and do not be called teachers, for you have one Teacher, Christ. Let the greatest of you be your servant (minister = ????????): for he who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. - Neither teacher nor father should be called anyone other than God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father, because all things are from Him; but He is a Teacher, because all things are through Him, or because through the economy of His flesh we are all reconciled to God.843 The question now arises, why does the Apostle, contrary to this command, call himself a teacher of tongues844; or how in the common language, especially in Palestine and Egypt in the monasteries, one is mutually called fathers? This question is settled thus: it is one thing to be a father by nature, as well as a teacher, and another by grace (indulgentia). If we call a person father, we show reverence for his age, and not that he is the culprit of our life. Likewise, the teacher is called by this name because of his participation in the work of the true Teacher. But in order not to extend the objection to infinity, just as by nature one Father and one Son do not prevent others from being called gods and sons by adoption, so the one Father and Teacher does not prevent others from being called by the names of fathers and teachers that are not peculiar to them (abusive appelentur patres et magistri).

Verses 13-14: Woe to you, scribes and hypocrite Pharisees, for you close the kingdom of God to men. For you also do not enter, neither do you suffer those who enter in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour the houses of widows by praying at length, so that you will suffer greater condemnation.845 - The scribes and Pharisees, having a knowledge of the law and the prophets, know that Christ is the Son of God; but they do not know that He was born of a Virgin; but when they seek prey for themselves from the people subject to them, they themselves do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven and do not allow them to enter as they could. This is what the prophet Hosea rebukes: The priests hid the way and killed them in Sikim,846 and again: The priests did not say where the Lord was,847 or it could be that every teacher who by evil deeds offended his disciples closed the kingdom of heaven to them.

Verse 15: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you go about the sea and the land, that you may convert even one; and when this happens, make him a son of hell, twice as bad as you. - We do not preserve what we find with the same care as we seek. The scribes and Pharisees, going about the whole world for the sake of trade or for the acquisition of wealth, both from the disciples and from outward holiness, were very anxious to acquire proselytes, that is, strangers, and to unite them to the circumcised people of God. But he who before, while he was a pagan, simply erred and was a son of hell once, seeing the vices of his teachers and realizing that by their deeds they overthrow what they taught in words, turns again to his uncleanness (vomitum suum, cf. 2 Pet 2:22), and, having become a pagan, as a traitor will be worthy of a greater punishment. He is called the son of Gehenna by the likeness of the expressions: "son of perdition" and "son of this world." Everyone who does the work of someone is called his son.

Verses 16-22: Woe to you, blind leaders, who say, If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is guilty. Mad and blind! Which is greater: gold, or the temple that sanctifies gold? Likewise, if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. Mad and blind! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all that is on it; and he who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven swears by the Throne of God and by Him who sits on it. — Above, as it seems to us, we have explained the meaning of the tradition of the Pharisees, who said: Whatever gift may be from me, it will be useful to you.848 Now the double tradition of the Pharisees is condemned, but it gives occasion for the same avarice, so that they are convicted of doing everything for the sake of profit, and not out of the fear of God. Indeed, just as in enlarged storehouses and enlarged plating of clothing, the idea of their holiness created glory for them, and as a result of glory attracted wealth

(lucra), so the fabricated falsehood of tradition exposed them as teachers of impiety. If anyone in a dispute, or in any quarrel, or in a doubtful case, swore by the temple, and then was found to be a lie, he was not guilty of perjury. On the contrary, if anyone swore by the gold and money which were presented to the priests in the temple, he would immediately be compelled to make up for the amount by which he had sworn. On the other hand, if anyone swore by the altar, no one would consider him guilty of perjury; on the contrary, if he had sworn by gifts or offerings, that is, by animals and other sacrifices and the like, and everything else that is offered to God on the altar, they demanded all these things with great care. Thus the Lord convicts them of both foolishness (stultitiae) and deceit, in the sense that the temple is much greater than the gold which it consecrates, and the altar is much greater than the sacrifices which are consecrated by the altar. And they did all this not out of fear of God, but out of greed for riches.

Verse 23: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and have forsaken the most important things of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith; this was to be done, and not to be forsaken. - There are many commandments in the law that represent images of the future. But some of them are clear, as the Psalmist says: The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes849; they require direct execution in practice. For example: Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not pronounce false testimony, etc. And the Pharisees, since the Lord had commanded (we will leave the mysterious meaning for the present) that tithes of all things should be brought into the temple for the maintenance of the priests and Levites, for the Lord was their portion, had the chief concern that all that was prescribed should be offered, and whether any one observed the rest, which was more important, or not, they considered insignificant. And so, in this passage also,850 He rebukes the Pharisees and lawyers of avarice, because they carefully demanded tithes of even insignificant vegetables and ignored just judgment in the adjudication of cases, mercy to the poor, orphans, and widows, and faith in God, which is of very great importance.

Verse 24: The leaders are blind, straining the gnat, and devouring the camel. "I think that the camel, according to the meaning of the present place, is just judgment, and mercy, and faith, and the mosquito is tithes of mint, anise, and cumin, and the rest

cheap vegetables. Contrary to the Lord's commandment, we devour and neglect that which is great, and in the insignificant, that which profit gives us, we show thoroughness and give it the meaning of a pious act (religionis).

Verses 25-26: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, while inside they are full of theft and unrighteousness. Blind Pharisee! let us first cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that their outside may also be clean. In various words, but with the same meaning as before, He denounces the Pharisees of pretense and falsehood, because they show one thing to people on the outside,851 and do another in their home life. This does not mean that their superstition is contained in the cup and the dish, but that from the outside they show people holiness, namely, in their behavior, in their speech, in the storehouses and the lining of their clothes, in long prayers, and so on, but inwardly they are filled with the impurity of vices.

Verses 27-28: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are likened to painted sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness; so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. "What He showed under the image of the cup and the dish, that they are clean852 on the outside, but dirty on the inside, He now shows under the image of the sepulchres, because the outside of the tombs are whitewashed with lime, adorned with marble and gold, and painted with flowers, but on the inside they are filled with the bones of the dead; In the same way, depraved teachers, who preach one thing and do another, show their purity in the cut of clothing and humble speech, but inwardly are filled with all kinds of abomination and lust. Finally, He expresses this even more clearly when He says: "So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Verses 29-31: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build tombs for the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in shedding the blood of the prophets; In this way you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who slew the prophets. - By a very wise conclusion (syllogismo) He accuses them of being the sons of murderers, when they themselves, for the sake of their glory among the people and their apparent goodness, build the tombs of the prophets whom their fathers have killed, and say: "If we had lived at that time, we would not have done what our fathers did." Though they do not express this in words, they do so by their deeds, and by proudly and magnificently erecting monuments to those who are slain,853 without denying that they were slain by their fathers.

Verse 32: Complete therefore the measure of your fathers. - Having affirmed in the previous words that they were the sons of murderers and those who slew the prophets, He now draws the conclusion He wanted, and posits, as it were, the final conclusion from the conclusion (extremam syllogism! partem): "Complete therefore the measure of your fathers,854 that is, you complete what they lacked. They have killed the ministers, and you crucify the Lord, they crucify the prophets, and you crucify Him who was proclaimed by the prophets.

Verse 33: Serpents [or with the addition: and] are the offspring of poisonous reptiles! how will you escape from the judgment of hell.855 - John the Baptist said the same856; Indeed, just as poisonous snakes are born from poisonous snakes, so from the fathers of murderers you were born murderers.

Verse 34: Therefore behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, but you will kill and crucify some of them on the cross, and you will scourge them in your congregations, and persecute them from city to city.857 - That which we have said before [namely, that the words]: Complete the measure of your fathers refers to the Lord, because he was to be put to death858 by them, [these words] may also be applied to his disciples, of whom he now says: Behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes, and [one] of them you shall put to death, and crucify them on the cross, and ye shall scourge your congregations, and persecute you from city to city. At the same time, note the words of the Apostle who writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor 7:17-24) that the gifts of Christ's disciples are different: some are prophets who foretell859 the future, others are wise men who know when to speak, others are scribes who are the most learned in the law860; of them Stephen was stoned, Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified on the cross; in the book of the Acts of the Apostles [it is reported that] the disciples were scourged; and they drove them from one city to another, driving them out of Judea, so that they went over to the nations of the Gentiles.