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.
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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...
Then shall they deliver you up The fourth sign, common to both these events, shall be the persecution raised against the Church, which will be two-fold; it will regard both body and soul. See Luke xxi. 12; Mark xiii. 9. All this happened to the apostles previously to the siege of Jerusalem, as well as to the martyrs in subsequent times. A similar persecution, attended probably with additional severity, will most probably be the lot of the faithful during the reign of Antichrist. The calamities, bloodshed, and utter ruin which took place at the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, are a figure of the still more dreadful calamities, bloodshed, and ruin to be expected towards the end of the world; and which should be frequently present to our minds. The late learned and venerable prelate Walmesly admonishes all parents to stand prepared for the bloody trial themselves, and to teach their children to be ever ready to meet, with Christian resignation, the awful and approaching e...
Then he added, “And you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” This is the time of greatest evil, when the war becomes internal, for there are many false brothers. Note that the war is coming from three sources simultaneously: from the deceivers, from the enemies, from the false brothers. Later Paul would lament over the same complications, saying that there were “fightings without, fears within” and “danger from false brothers.” Again he wrote, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
In good season did He introduce their ills, having a consolation from the common miseries; and not in this way only, but also by His adding, that it is for my name's sake.
