Verily I say unto you, you shall by no means come out of there, till you have paid the last penny.
All Commentaries on Matthew 5:26 Go To Matthew 5
Jerome
AD 420
The word here in our Latin books is ‘consentiens,’ in Greek, ευνοων, which means, ‘kind,’ ‘benevolent.’.
Some, from that verse of Peter, “Your adversary the Devil” will have the Saviour’s command to be, that we should be merciful to the Devil, not causing him to endure punishment for our sakes. For as he puts in our way the incentives to vice, if we yield to his suggestions, he will be tormented for our sakes. Some follow a more forced interpretation, that in baptism we have each of us made a compact with the Devil by renouncing him. If we observe this compact, then we are agreeing with our adversary, and shall not be cast into prison.
And how can the body be cast into prison if it agree not with the spirit, seeing soul and body must go together, and that the flesh can do nothing but what the soul shall command?.
But from the context the sense is manifest; the Lord is exhorting us to peace and concord with our neighbour; as it was said above, Go, be reconciled to thybrother.
A farthing is a coin containing two mites. What He says then is, ‘Thou shaltnot go forth thence till thou hast paid for the smallest sin.’
