Fear not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.
All Commentaries on Matthew 10:31 Go To Matthew 10
Hilary of Poitiers
AD 368
Figuratively; that which is sold is our soul and body, and that to which it is sold, is sin. They then who sell two sparrows for a farthing, are they who sell themselves for the smallest sin, born for flight, and for reaching heaven with spiritual wings. Caught by the bait of present pleasures, and sold to the enjoyment of the world, they barter away their whole selves in such a market. It is of the will of God that one of them rather soar aloft; but the law proceeding according to God’s appointment decrees that one of them should fall. In like manner as, if they soared aloft they would become one spiritual body; so, when sold under sin, the soul gathers earthly matter from the pollution of vice, and there is made of them one body which is committed to earth.
For it is an unworthy task to number things that are to perish. Therefore that we should know that nothing of us should perish, we are told that our very hairs are numbered. No accident then that can befal our bodies is to be feared. Thus He adds, “Fear not, ye are better than many sparrows.”.
Or this, “ye are better than many sparrows,” teaches that the elect faithful are better than the multitude of the unbelieving, for the one fall to earth, the other fly to heaven.
