Then said he unto them,
Therefore every scribe who is instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
All Commentaries on Matthew 13:52 Go To Matthew 13
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
But if by things “new and old” in this passage we understand the two Testaments, we deny Abraham to have been learned, who although he knew indeed some deeds of the Old Testament, yet had not read the words. Neither Moses may we compare toa learned householder, for although he composed the Old Testament, yet had he not the words of the New. But what is here said may be understood as meant not of those who had been, but of such as might hereafter be in the Church, who then “bring forth things new and old” when they speak the preachings of both Testaments, in their words and in their lives.
Otherwise; The things old are, that the human race for its sin should suffer ineternal punishment; the things new, that they should be converted and live in the kingdom, First, He brought forward a comparison of the kingdom to atreasure found and a pearl of price; and after that, narrated the punishment of hell in the burning of the wicked, and then concluded with “Therefore every Scribe” as if He had said, He is a learned preacher in the Church who knows to bring forth things new concerning the sweetness of the kingdom, and to speak things old concerning the tenor of punishment; that at least punishment may deter those whom rewards do not excite.
