The thieves also, who were crucified with him, reviled him the same way.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
De Cons. Ev., iii, 16: It may seem that Luke contradicts this, when be describes one of the robbers as reviling Him, and as therefore rebuked by the other. But we may suppose that Matthew, shortly alluding to the circumstance, has used the plural for the singular, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews we have, "Have stopped the mouths of lions,” when Daniel only is spoken of. And what more common way of speaking than for one to say, See the country people insult me, when it is one only who has done so. If indeed Matthew had said that both the thieves had reviled the Lord, there would be some discrepancy; but when he says merely, “The thieves,” without adding ‘both,’ we must consider it as that common form of speech in which the singular is signified by the plural.
The thieves also which were crucified with Him uttered against Him the like reproach. The Greek Fathers, and S. Hilary among the Latins, think it probable that both the thieves blasphemed Christ at first, but that one of them afterwards repented. But the Latin Fathers consider that the plural is here, by synecdoche, put for the singular. "Thieves," i.e, "one of the thieves" (as Luke 23:36, "the soldiers," meaning one of them); S. Matthew wishing by the word thieves to point out not so much the persons of the thieves, as the condition of those who insulted Christ; all vying in insulting Him, even the thief at His side. S. Luke 23:40 gives the story of the other thief (see Comment. in loc.).
Here comes in the third word on the Cross, "Woman, behold thy Song of Solomon ," &c. (see John 19:26, and the notes thereon).
And the same thing the thieves also: i.e. one of them, the other being converted, as we find Luke xxiii. 39. (Witham)
St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and Ven. Bede say, that at first both of the thieves blasphemed; but one of them seeing the wonderful things that happened, viz. that the sun was darkened, the rocks split asunder was terrified and converted, he believed in Jesus, and atoned for his former evil language, by praying to him as to his God. (Denis the Carthusian)
What forgiveness then for them, when by the resurrection of His body they shall see the temple of God rebuilt within three days?.
That both the thieves cast in His teeth the manner of His Passion, shows that the cross should be an offence to all mankind, even to the faithful.
“They revile him” because they passed by that way, and would not walk in the true way of the Scriptures. “They wagged their heads,” because they had just before shifted their feet, and stood not upon a rock. The foolish rabble cast the same taunt against Him that the false witnesses had invented, “Aha! thouthat destroyest the temple of God and rebuildest it in three days.”.
Even the Scribes and Pharisees reluctantly confess that “He saved others.” Your own judgment then condemns you, for in that He saved others, He could if He would have saved Himself.
Or it may be said that at first both reviled Him; but when the sun had withdrawn, the earth was shaken, the rocks were rent, and the darkness increased, one believed on Jesus, and repaired his former denial by asubsequent confession.
Or, in the two thieves both nations, Jews and Gentiles, at first blasphemed the Lord; afterwards the latter terrified by the multitude of signs did penitence, and thus rebukes the Jews, who blaspheme to this...
Here, through a figure of speech called syllepsis, instead of only one thief, both are described as having mocked Jesus. According to Luke, however, after one thief blasphemed, the other thief confessed his faith and rebuked the first. The Gospels do not disagree with each other. At first each thief blasphemed. But after the sun had fled, the earth shook, rocks split apart and darkness fell, one of the thieves believed in Jesus and recanted his initial denial by a subsequent confession. Along with the two thieves each crowd of both the Gentiles and the Jews at first mocked the Lord. .
Having stripped and crucified Christ, they go yet further, and seeing Him on the cross revile Him.
And as beginning to extenuate His former miracles, they add, “Save thyself; ifthou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”.
Hom. de Cruc. et Latr. ii: He, on the contrary, does not come down from the cross, because He is the Son of God; for He therefore came that He might be crucified for us.
and they say now, “If thou bethe Son of God, come down from the cross.”.
“He trusted in God, let him now deliver him, if he will.” O most foul! Were they therefore not Prophets or righteous men, because God did not deliver them out of their perils? But if He would not oppose their glory, which accrued to the m out of the perils which you brought upon them, much more in this man ought you not to be offended because of what He suffers; what He has ever said ought to remove any such suspicion. When they add, “Because he said, I am the Son of God,” they desire to intimate that He suffered as an imp...
Serm. 55, 2: From what source of error, O Jews, have ye sucked in the poison of such blasphemies? What teacher delivered it to you? What learning moved you to think that the true King of Israel, that the veritable Son of God, would be Hew ho would not suffer Himself to be crucified, and would set free His body from the fastenings of the nails? Not the bidden meaning of the Law, not the mouths of the Prophets. Had ye indeed ever read, “I hid not my face from the shame of spitting;”
Had He then been prevailed on by their taunts to leave the cross, He would not have proved to us the power of endurance; but He waited enduring their mockery; and He who would not come down from the cross, rose again from the tomb.
. As a slander against Christ the two thieves were crucified with Him, so that people would think that He, too, was such a transgressor of the law as they were. The two thieves were symbolic of the two races, the Jewish and the Gentile, for both races had transgressed the law and reviled Christ, just as both these thieves at first reviled Him. But later the one thief understood Who He was and confessed Him as King; whereupon he also said, "Remember me, Lord, in Thy kingdom" (Lk. 23:42). So, too, did the Gentile race confess Christ, while the other thief, the Jewish race, blasphemed. The devil prompted them to say, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross," in order to provoke Him to come down and thus overturn the salvation of all being accomplished on the cross. But Christ, Who is indeed the Son of God, was not persuaded by the enemy, so that you, O reader, might learn that we ought not to be persuaded by the ploys of the devil, but do what is good even if men think ill of...
