Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
All Commentaries on Luke 3:7 Go To Luke 3
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
Because the Jews hated good men, and persecuted them, following the stepsof their carnal parents, they are by birth the poisonous sons, as it were, of poisonous or sorcerous parents. But because the preceding verse declares that at the last judgment Christ shall be seen by all flesh, it is rightly added, Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? The wrath to come being the awarding of final punishment.
But because he cannot then flee from the wrath of God, who now has not recourse to the sorrows of repentance, it is added, Bring forth therefore fruits.
He warns them that they must bring forth not only the fruits of repentance, but fruits worthy of repentance. For he that has violated no law, to him it is permitted to use what is lawful, but if a man has fallen into sin, he ought so to cut himself off from what is lawful, as he remembers to have committed what is unlawful. For the fruit of good works ought not to be equal in the man who has sinned less, anti the man who has sinned more, nor in him who has fallen into no crimes, and him who has fallen into some. In this way it is adapted to the conscience of each man, that they should seek for so much the greater blessing on good works through repentance, as they have by guilt brought on themselves the heavier penalties.
But the Jews glorying in their noble birth were unwilling to acknowledge themselves sinners, because they were descended from the stock of Abraham. So then it is lightly said, And begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father.
Or we may take it in this way; The tree represents the whole human race in this world, but the ax is our redeemer, who by the handle and iron, as it were, is held indeed in the hand of man, but strikes by the power of God. Which ax indeed is now laid at the root of the tree; for although it waits patiently, yetit is plain what it is about to do. And we must observe that the said ax is to be laid not at the branches, but at the root. For when the children of the wicked are taken away, what is this butthe cutting off of the branches of an unfruitful tree But when the whole family together with the parent is removed, the unfruitful tree is cut off from the very root. But every hardened sinner finds the fire of hell the quicker prepared for him, as he disdains to bring forth the fruits of good works. Hence it follows, Every one then.
