Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
All Commentaries on Matthew 24:9 Go To Matthew 24
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Then shall . . . to be afflicted . . . and shall hate you, &c. The Syriac puts hate first, because hate begets oppression. "They shall torment and afflict you with various torments. You will seem to be given up and dedicated to tribulation. All nations in all places shall persecute you as revilers of their gods, and as preachers of a new God, Christ crucified." This was fulfilled under Nero, who raised the first persecution, and slew the princes of the Apostles, S. Peter by the cross, S. Paul by the sword, and burnt alive in the circus many Christians, smearing them with grease and pitch, and setting them on fire, so that they acted the part of lamps to give light during the night. (Tac. Ann. l15.) Antichrist will do yet more horrible things before the end of the world.
Then . . . offended, i.e, suffer stumbling-blocks, and fall. The Syriac Isaiah , shall impinge upon scandals. That Isaiah , from fear of persecution and torments shall apostatize from the faith of Christ. That many did this we know from Eusebius and others.
And shall deliver one another up (Vulg.); Syr. and English, shall betray one another. Apostates and other heathen, to curry favour with the emperors and princes, shall betray their Christian friends and relations. This is now the case in England, Scotland, and Japan. Such are false brethren, of whom S. Paul complains, 2 Corinthians 11:26. "You see," says S. Chrysostom, "there shall be a triple war, one by enemies, a second by seducers, a third by false brethren."
And many false prophets—false teachers, heresiarchs, such as Simon Magus, Menander, Arius, Luther, and Antichrist the head of them all. Shall seduce many (Vulg.), not by the strength of the seducers, but by the negligence of the seduced. Thus S. Paul foretold, Acts xx29 , 30 , "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."
