Tractates on Matthew 4.1–7.3

Then he says: 'You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt of the earth has lost its savour, it is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled by men.' The Lord calls his apostles the salt of the earth. And let us see what the Lord wishes to be understood of his apostles under the comparison of this word. To grasp this more fully, we must first carefully ask what this salt is, and of what earth, and then for what thing and use it serves. We must also treat the nature and use of salt itself, so that, knowing these, we may more easily attain by spiritual understanding the force of the Lord's saying. The nature of salt, then, comes about through water, through the heat of the sun, through the blowing of the wind; and from what it was, it is generated into another form. So too the apostles and all believers, reborn to God through the water of baptism, through faith in Christ (who by comparison is called the sun of righteousness) and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have passed from an earthly to a heavenly birth. Hence the holy apostles are not undeservedly called by the Lord the salt of the earth. And of what earth? It is easy to know: the earth, namely, of our body, which, long foolish and insipid with a sense of vanity, they salted with the wisdom of the Gospel preaching. For they became the salt of our earth, because through them we both received the words of wisdom and were changed by a heavenly birth into a spiritual nature. As this salt, then, that is, the salt of the earth, is needed by all without distinction, by kings and the powerful, rich and poor, slaves and masters, so too the word of heavenly wisdom, preached through the apostles, is necessary to all for life: for all, according to the Apostle, need the grace of God. For as we do not have this present life without the use of salt, so too we cannot obtain that eternal life without the gift of divine wisdom.

But since we have spoken above, according to spiritual understanding, about the nature or grace of salt, now let us also treat the power of salt itself. 'You, then,' he says, 'are the salt of the earth.' So, as salt, when it works in any flesh, does not admit corruption, takes away stench, cleanses filth, and does not allow worms to be born, so too the heavenly grace and faith given through the apostles works in us in like manner. For it takes away the corruption of carnal lust, cleanses the filth of sins, shuts out the smell of evil conduct, does not allow the worms of delights to be born, that is, lustful and deadly pleasures to arise from the body: preserving our bodies even from that immortal worm which torments sinners with unwearied punishment, of which it is written: 'Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched.' And as salt is applied from outside but works within by the power of its nature, so too heavenly grace penetrates the outer and inner parts of man and keeps the whole man whole and incorrupt from sin. And that those who are seasoned with the salt of heavenly wisdom are worthy of God was shown long ago by the preceding figure of the law, because every sacrifice to be offered to God was salted with salt. The Evangelist recalled this very thing, saying: 'Every sacrifice,' he says, 'will be salted with salt': showing that the man becomes a truly worthy sacrifice to God who has been filled with the power of heavenly wisdom. Hence not undeservedly, when the Lord rebuked Jerusalem, or rather the synagogue, through the prophet Ezekiel, he says among other things: 'You were not washed with water, nor salted with salt'; foretelling that it would neither receive the grace of saving baptism to wash away its sins, nor take up the faith of heavenly wisdom. So whoever uses this heavenly salt will be seasoned; but whoever will not will lose his savour. Not undeservedly the Apostle too warned that our speech should always be seasoned with the salt of grace.

Further, we find the grace and power of this salt shown beforehand in the books of Kingdoms too. When there were bad waters in Jericho which made people barren, the holy prophet Elisha was asked to give a saving remedy to those waters. Then holy Elisha, not ignorant of the heavenly mystery, said that an earthen vessel should be brought to him and salt put in it. And he came and threw the salt at the outflow of the waters; and so the barren nature of the waters was healed and changed into fruitfulness: which we recognise by plain reasoning was done as a sacrament of the truth to come. For the Apocalypse plainly reported that the nations are signified by waters, saying: 'The waters which you saw are peoples and nations and crowds and tongues.' These could not otherwise be healed or receive a saving remedy unless salt were put into an earthen vessel, that is, unless the wisdom of God took a human body. After it came, for our salvation's sake, to the outflow of the waters, that is, to the end of human death, then the nature of all believers, which was barren of the fruit of seed, was changed into the fruitfulness of faith and righteousness. Hence not undeservedly the Lord calls his apostles the salt of the earth, whom he filled with divine and heavenly wisdom from himself. And he testified that they are the salt of the earth just as he did that they are the light of the world. For though he professed that he himself is the light of the world, yet he also wished to call his disciples by this name, not taking from himself the light that is his, but bestowing it: because he bestows the true and eternal light that is his without any loss to his own nature. We know indeed that some salts are produced from the earth: but this likeness too fits the person of the apostles. For though they seemed born of the earth of the human body, yet through faith in Christ they had already begun to be something else: so that they were held no longer earth but the salt of the earth; because from carnal they were made spiritual, fit to season by faith the insipid hearts of believers.

'You, then,' he says, 'are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, with what will it be seasoned? It is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled by men.' He shows that those lose their savour who, once instructed through faith and heavenly wisdom, though they ought to remain faithful and steadfast, abandon faith and divine wisdom and either rush into heresy or return to the folly of the Gentiles. And therefore he says: 'But if the salt has lost its savour, with what will it be seasoned?' Because such men, made insipid by the devil's fraud, lose the grace of faith and vanish. Though they could have seasoned others too, who did not believe and were still strangers to the faith, with the word of divine preaching, they became useless even to themselves. Judas Iscariot, finally, had been of such salt: but after he rejected divine wisdom and became an apostate from an apostle, not only could he not benefit others, but he became wretched and useless to himself. And therefore the Lord added, saying: 'It is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled by men': because such people are no longer to be held faithful and members of the household, but cast out of the church, as strangers and enemies of the faith. Hence Judas too, from a member of the household of faith, became an enemy of the truth. So such people, cast out of the church, must be trampled by various vices of the flesh and various pleasures of the world: and this is what he says: 'It is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled by men.' What it is to be trampled by men Solomon too reported in his book, when he spoke of the harlot: 'The woman who is a fornicator,' he says, 'is trampled like dung on the road by men passing by.' Since, then, we have been seasoned with such apostolic salt, we must remain in such and so great a seasoning of spiritual grace that we too may deserve to be called the salt of the earth by Christ our Lord, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Then he says: 'You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp to put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house.' The Lord called his disciples the salt of the earth, because they seasoned with heavenly wisdom the hearts of the human race made insipid by the devil. Now too he calls them the light of the world, because, illuminated by him who is the true and eternal light, they too became light for those in darkness. For since he himself is the sun of righteousness, he not undeservedly calls his disciples too the light of the world; because through them, as through certain glittering rays, he poured the light of knowledge of himself into the whole world: for they drove the darkness of error from the hearts of men by showing the light of truth. For we too, illuminated through them, have been made light out of darkness, as the Apostle says: 'For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord: walk as children of light.' And again: 'You are not children of night nor of darkness, but you are children of light and children of the day.' Rightly holy John too testified in his letter, saying: 'God is light, and he who abides in God is in the light, as he himself is in the light.' Hence, since we rejoice that we have been freed from the darkness of error, we must always walk in the light as children of light.

And he added: 'A city set on a mountain,' he says, 'cannot be hidden.' By the city he here signifies the church, of which the divine Scriptures testify in many places, and of which David especially speaks, saying: 'Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God.' And again: 'The rush of the river gladdens the city of God.' And again: 'As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God has founded it for ever.' And to show plainly that he was speaking of this city, the Holy Spirit made mention of the mountain itself too, saying: 'In the city of our God, on his holy mountain.' Of which the Lord speaks through Isaiah, saying: 'Behold, I will prepare for you carbuncle stone, and your foundations of sapphire, and your bulwarks of jasper, and your gates of crystal stone, and your circuit of choice stones, and all your sons taught by God.' And many similar things which we have passed over, so as not to weary readers; especially since what has been said is amply enough to prove this city. So the city set on the mountain he shows to be the church, established in heavenly glory on the faith of our Lord and Saviour; which, by spiritual action rising above all the humility of earthly weakness, has been made glorious and conspicuous to the whole world; which is no longer overshadowed through the proclamation of the law, but is seen in open preaching through the teaching of the Gospel.

And he added: 'Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house.' Let us see, then, the reason for this saying of the Lord too. We know that a lamp is lit for this purpose, that it may not be covered by a bushel or any covering; if this is done, its use will profit nothing: but it is lit on a lampstand for this, that, placed in a high place, it may cast away the blindness of the dark night and give the use of its light to those in the house. The Lord mentions this so that we might know that we too have been lit by the grace of faith and illuminated by the light of the Spirit for this purpose, that we ourselves too might shine spiritually like a lamp through works of faith and righteousness; and that we might illuminate with the light of truth itself those placed in the darkness of error, the night of ignorance driven away. Hence the Apostle says: 'Among whom you shine as lights in this world, holding the words of life.' If we do not do this, we shall seem by our unbelief to cover and overshadow, as with a kind of veil, the usefulness of so necessary a light, to the loss both of ourselves and of others. For this reason too we know and read that the man who preferred to hide the talent received for the gain of heavenly trading rather than give it to the money-changers' table incurred the penalty due.

And therefore that spiritual lamp, which has been lit for the use of our salvation, must always shine in us. For we have the lamp of the heavenly commandment and of spiritual grace, of which David reported: 'Your commandment is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.' Of which Solomon too says: 'For the precept of the law is a lamp.' Of which the Lord testifies through the prophet Zephaniah too: 'And I will search Jerusalem with a lamp.' For in this lamp he shows the unquenchable light of his law and grace, which must not be covered or darkened by any veil of a blind mind, as the Jews or heretics do, who strive to cover and hide the clear light of divine preaching with perverse interpretations, preaching perfidy for faith and veiling the light of truth with the darkness of error. Hence this lamp of the law and faith must not be hidden by us, but always set in the church, as on a lampstand, for the salvation of many, so that we may enjoy the light of truth itself and all believers may be illuminated. To the contemplation of this light the Holy Spirit too exhorts us through Isaiah, saying: 'Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. For he has sent away his people, the house of Israel.' Of which light blessed Peter too testified in his letter, saying: 'Who rescued us from darkness and called us into his wonderful light.' Hence the prophet Zechariah too, to reveal the mysteries of this spiritual light and of the heavenly lampstand which was shown as a figure of the church, testified, among the other things shown him for the merit of his prophecy, that he saw a golden lampstand with its lamps. For in the tabernacle of testimony too, as an example of the truth to come, the lampstand with lamps shone for the people with unwearied light. The reason for this is hidden to the Jews, like all the sacraments of the law, but is now plain to us. For we know that in that lampstand was shown the type of the true and eternal light, that is, of the Holy Spirit, who through manifold grace always illuminates the whole body of the church. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, among other things, urges his disciples to have lamps burning in their hands, saying: 'Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning.' That the Lord commanded this is surely to be understood not in a bodily sense but by spiritual reasoning. For since the commandment of God, or the light of the law, is signified by the lamp, therefore we are commanded to carry the lamp in our hands, so that, illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may shine with works of righteousness and faith, as Solomon reported: 'The ways of the just,' he says, 'will shine like light; they go forth and give light until the day is set right.'

Rightly, then, when in the present place the Lord had mentioned the lamp, saying, 'Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house,' he added, saying: 'So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' For God is glorified in us before unbelievers and the faithless if we live according to the divine precepts, if we shine with good works. Hence the holy Apostle too says: 'Glorify and carry God in your body.' And blessed Peter in his letter likewise warns: 'So that when they disparage you, the works of righteousness may glorify our God.' But it can also be understood otherwise, because spiritual understanding is manifold, so that we may recognise that by the lamp the Lord himself is signified, because of the humility of the body he assumed. He indeed, according to the glory of his divinity, is called the Sun of righteousness, but according to the sacrament of the body he assumed he is also shown as a lamp; because, though he was the God of glory and eternal majesty, he appeared humble in this world like a lamp. And not without cause like a lamp: because a lamp is accustomed to shine through the night. Therefore he appeared humble in this world like a lamp, to drive away the darkness of error and the night of ignorance from our hearts, we who live in this world as if placed in night. Such a lamp, then, that is, the incarnation of Christ shown by the Law and the prophets, is no longer read in the obscure preaching of the law as under a bushel, nor covered by the unbelief of the scribes and Pharisees as by a vessel of perfidy: but set on the cross, as on a lampstand, it illuminates the whole house of the church. According to the mystery of the incarnation, then, he is a lamp; according to the glory of divinity, the Sun of righteousness. In short, on the very lampstand of the cross he shone like the sun, when, through the preaching of the apostles as through certain rays, our Lord and Saviour, who is blessed for ever, brought the brightest light of knowledge of himself to the whole world.

Then he says: 'Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets: I have not come to abolish but to fulfil.' The Son of God, who is the author of the Law and the Prophets, did not come to dissolve the Law or the Prophets; for he himself gave Moses to hand on the Law to the people, and cleansed the Prophets with the Holy Spirit for the proclaiming of things to come. 'So I have not come,' he says, 'to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil.' And he fulfilled the Law and the Prophets in this way: by himself completing what had been written in the Law and the Prophets. Hence, when he had drunk the vinegar offered him on the cross, he said: 'It is fulfilled': to show plainly that all that had been written of him in the Law and the Prophets had been completed, even to the drinking of vinegar. He fulfils the Law in every way, when he completed by the sacrament of his passion the mystery of the Passover or the lamb, shown long ago in figure. Hence the Apostle says: 'For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.' He fulfils the Law when, by taking a body, he completed by the reality of truth the sacrifices of the Law and all the examples prefigured of him. Or certainly he fulfils the Law when he confirms the precepts of the Law he had given with the supplement of his Gospel grace. And which Law he came to fulfil he shows in what follows, saying: 'Until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one stroke will fall from the Law, until all things come about.' How true and divine, then, is the preaching of the Law we know from this very fact, from which the Lord shows not even an iota or one stroke can fall. Although in this iota or stroke of the Law the sacrament of the cross too can be understood, because the iota and the stroke show in themselves a kind of image of the cross, which, proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets, could by no means be passed over.

Then he says: 'Whoever abolishes,' he says, 'one of these least commandments and teaches men so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.' If it is impious to abolish the least commandments, much more the great and greatest. Hence the Holy Spirit testifies to this very thing through Solomon, saying: 'He who despises small things will fall little by little.' And therefore nothing of the divine precepts is to be abolished, nothing mutilated, but the whole is to be kept and taught with a faithful and devoted mind, lest the glory of the heavenly kingdom be lost: because what in the judgment of unbelievers or worldly men is thought least and small is not small before God, but necessary. But whoever teaches and does, the Lord shows that he will be great in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore we must work not only with words but also with deeds; not only to teach, but to do what you have taught. And let us hear the Lord himself in the Gospel rebuking such teachers, who say and do not do: 'Woe to you,' he says, 'scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you load men with burdens that cannot be carried, but you yourselves do not touch the loads with your finger.' Hence the Apostle too says: 'Not the hearers of the Law,' he says, 'are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.' If he says this even of hearers, what must be understood of teachers? Hence Solomon too says: 'Do not be quick with your tongue, and slack and remiss in your works.' And therefore he who teaches must offer from himself an example of pure faith by the honour of his conduct, as the Apostle writes to Timothy: 'Be,' he says, 'a pattern for the faithful.' And again: 'Showing yourself an example of good works, in righteousness, in chastity, in sobriety, through sound teaching.' Hence the Son of God himself too, who is teacher and lord of the law, wished, for our example, to fulfil in deeds all that he taught.

And he added: 'Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.' The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is rebuked, because they sought not the faith of the divine promise but human praise and the glory of the world, as we have the example of that proud and puffed-up Pharisee, who, putting forward the merits of his righteousness as he saw them, shamelessly boasted of himself in God's sight with a lifted mind and proud words. So the scribes and Pharisees kept the appearance of righteousness, not to please God, but to seek the fame of human glory, to buy earthly gain and temporal advantages. And therefore the Lord urges us to surpass this famous righteousness of human praise with works of heavenly righteousness and the merits of faith, through Christ our Lord.

Then follows: 'You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you: whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.' This is what the Lord said: 'I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.' That is, to add what was lacking: to reform, namely, the precepts of the Law for the better. Hence the holy Apostle too says: 'Do we then destroy the Law through faith? Far from it: rather we establish the Law.' To a rude and hard people the commandments of righteousness of the Law were handed on; but to a perfect and faithful people the Gospel precepts of perfected faith and heavenly righteousness are handed on. The Law commanded not to kill, but the Gospel not even to be angry: so as to take every root of sin out of our hearts; because through anger one can come even to murder. Hence not undeservedly blessed Job testified thus in his book, saying: 'Anger kills the foolish, and envy slays the one led astray.' David too says thus: 'Be angry and do not sin; speak in your hearts, and be pricked with compunction on your beds.' This testimony the holy Apostle interpreted, saying: 'Let not the sun set on your anger, and do not give place to the devil.' Since, then, it is not permitted to be angry, much less to commit the crime of murder. And since anger is held liable in the future judgment, what penalty do we think the doer of the crime itself will have?

'But whoever says,' he says, 'to his brother, Raca, will be liable to the council. And whoever says, Fool, will be liable to the Gehenna of fire.' So the Lord teaches us to be perfect in all things, so that we may not be held guilty at the future judgment even for light or vain words. For he forbids saying to a brother 'Raca', that is, empty and vain: for he who is full of faith and the Holy Spirit ought not to be called empty and vain. Nor ought he to be called a fool who, by believing in Christ, has obtained the grace of divine wisdom. Hence too, when the Holy Spirit spoke through Solomon of the Gospel man, he testified thus, saying: 'Blessed is he who has not slipped by a word of his mouth, and is not goaded by the sorrow of offence.' And therefore in another place the same Solomon says: 'Make bars for your mouth, and make a balance for your tongue and your words.' And again: 'Put away from you a crooked mouth, and drive far from you unjust lips.' And again: 'Let not your mouth grow used to undisciplined speech; for in it is the sorrow of offence.' Hence David too says: 'Set a guard, Lord, on my mouth, and a door round about my lips.' And again in another psalm he said: 'I said, I will guard my ways, so that I do not offend with my tongue.' Because, as Solomon says: 'The lips of the imprudent will tell foolish things; and the word of the prudent is weighed on a balance.' And therefore the Lord in the Gospel testified that we will give an account even for an idle word. Hence the Apostle too exhorts thus, saying: 'Let no evil word come out of your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of faith.' And again: 'Let your speech be always in grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one.' For which reason it is fitting for us to be careful in all things, lest by familiarity with useless words we acquire loss to our salvation.

Then he says: 'If you offer your gift before the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then offer your gift.' How highly the Lord values brotherly love we learn from this very fact, since he shows that a gift offered to God is not offered acceptably unless the offerer of the gift is first reconciled to his brother, laying anger aside. Indeed we find that the gifts of Cain as he offered them were rejected by God for this reason, because, not keeping the rights of love, he kept anger against his brother in his mind. Hence not undeservedly the Lord in the Gospel in many places suggests that the love of brotherly charity is above all to be kept, saying: 'A new commandment I give you, that you have love for one another.' And again: 'By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.' Not undeservedly too the Lord speaks thus through the prophet Zechariah: 'Judge just and peaceable judgment, and do not keep the malice of your brother in your hearts.' Through David too he likewise testifies: 'Cease from anger, and abandon indignation.' In like manner too the Holy Spirit speaks through Solomon, saying: 'Man keeps anger against man, and do you seek healing from God? He has no mercy on a man like himself, and does he pray to God for sins? He, though he is flesh, keeps anger, and does he ask atonement from God? And who will pray for his offences?' And he added, saying: 'Remember the last things, and cease from enmity.' Hence holy David too, not ignorant of the Gospel precept through the Holy Spirit, testified thus of himself, saying: 'If I have regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.' For what is so pleasing to God, so necessary for our salvation, as what the Lord commands: not to keep anger, to offer a gift to God with a peaceful mind and simple conscience, as Abel first offered? And therefore his gifts were received by God, Cain's rejected: because Abel offered gifts to the Lord with a pure and simple mind, but Cain kept anger against his brother in his heart. Therefore, if we want our gifts to please God, we must exclude anger from our heart, kill the malice conceived against a brother, and keep brotherly peace, preserve love, cherish unanimity, guard concord, so that we may deserve to appease the Lord, who is blessed for ever.