MATTHEW 23:13 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. The first woe: the scribes and Pharisees shut the kingdom. The door-shutting communicates the gatekeeping function that the Pharisees have assumed — and their failure in that function: they neither enter themselves nor allow those trying to enter to do so. The teachers who should be opening the kingdom are closing it.
Church Fathers on Matthew 23:13
Christ is truly the Son of that God Who gave the Law; after the example of the blessings pronounced in the Law, did Himself pronounce the blessings of them that are saved; and also after the cursings of the Law, He now sets forth a woe against sinners; 'Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.' They who allow that it is compatible with goodness to utter these denunciations against sinners, should understand that the purpose of God is the same in the cursings of the…
By 'the kingdom of heaven' is meant the Scriptures, because in them the kingdom of heaven is lodged; the understanding of these is the door.
Read all 3 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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