Commentary on Matthew

Contents

Only the comments on Matthew 5:31–33 (book 1) and 19:1–12 (book 3) are published.

1. 1.5.31Jerome comments briefly on Matt 5:31–32, explaining that Moses allowed the certificate of divorce to prevent husbands from murdering hated wives.
2. 3.19.1Jerome explains the Pharisees' question in Matt 19:3 as a dilemma meant to trap Jesus, which he escapes by setting God's first decree, from creation, against the later concession.
3. 3.19.4Jerome argues from “male and female” (one man, one woman) that second marriages after repudiation are to be avoided.
4. 3.19.5Jerome explains that God makes husband and wife one flesh, so that man separates them when he puts away a wife to take another, while God separates them only when they agree to live in continence for his service.
5. 3.19.7Jerome notes that the Pharisees' appeal to Moses reveals their trap, though Jesus had only cited Genesis.
6. 3.19.8Jerome explains that the concession of divorce was Moses' counsel to prevent the murder of first wives, not God's command.
7. 3.19.9Jerome holds that sexual immorality alone allows a husband to put away his wife, indeed requires it, but that he may not take a second wife while the first lives, nor may a wife who repudiates her husband remarry.
8. 3.19.10Jerome explains the disciples' reaction: since a wife may be put away only for sexual immorality, a man must bear even a drunken or quarrelsome wife.
9. 3.19.11Jerome explains that the gift of continence is given to those who ask and strive for it, not by fate.
10. 3.19.12Jerome distinguishes three kinds of eunuchs in Matt 19:12 and holds that only those who choose chastity for Christ receive the reward, each according to his strength.