And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his teachings:
All Commentaries on Matthew 7:28 Go To Matthew 7
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And it came to pass, &c. Here then is concluded Christ"s whole Sermon upon the Mount containing the whole law and perfection of the Gospel. And although the precepts given are dispersed, yet are they all connected. And if any one desires to learn the order and connection which exists amongst them let him read Bellarmine (lib4 , de Justific.)
For he taught them, &c. That Isaiah , He was accustomed to teach, &c1. Because Christ taught important matters with great authority, matters of the highest moment for salvation, and the Truth itself. But the Scribes taught with levity, trifling matters, such as rites and ceremonies, washings of the hands and of cups.
2. Because what Christ taught in word, that He fulfilled in deed. For great authority is added to the doctrine of the teacher when he performs the good which he enjoins. "Protracted," says Seneca, "is the road to virtue through precepts; short and effectual through example." Here S. Gregory (23Moral7): "That is indeed taught with authority which is acted before it is spoken. For we take away from confidence in our doctrine when conscience impedes the tongue. Whence also it is written of the Lord, "He taught as one having authority, and not as the Scribes." For peculiarly and above all He spoke only from a good power, because He had done no evil through weakness. From the power of His Divinity He had that which He ministered unto us through the innocence of His humility.
3. Christ taught with great spirit and fervour, with great persuasive force and efficacy; the Scribes coldly and superficially.
4. Christ confirmed His doctrine by miracles, which the Scribes could not do. Again Christ had a marvellous grace in speaking, according to those words of S. Matthew , "They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."
5. The Scribes taught as interpreters of the Law, but Christ as a Lawgiver sent from heaven, with celestial wisdom and majesty. So Bede and Theophylact.
6. Christ in His teaching aimed only at the glory of God and the salvation of man. The Scribes sought their own glory and the applause of men.
7. Christ by His external teaching, and by His holy interior inspiration, and the light of grace, illuminated the minds and inflamed the affections of His hearers, and thereby made ignorant and stupid men learned, and those who were torpid and frigid fervent.
In these things then let the orator and preacher imitate Christ, and let him teach more by his life than his words, like S. Basil, of whom S. Gregory Nazianzen writes (Orat20), "A sermon of Basil"s was like thunder, because his life was like lightning." S. Bernard, in his Life of S. Malachi , says that upon one occasion he rendered a certain enraged and furious woman, whose temper was perfectly intolerable to every one, so meek, that she did not even appear angry. And this he did by a word, saying to her, "In the name of the Lord Jesus, I bid thee be no longer angry." And this, S. Bernard thinks, was a greater miracle than raising a man from the dead, which was once performed by the same S. Malachi. "For in the one case it was but the outward man who lived again, in the other case it was the inward man."
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