Matthew 23:15 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 23:15 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. The third woe: the missionary zeal that produces converts who are twice as much a child of hell as the converts' teachers. The problem is not the proselytizing but what the convert is converted to — the Pharisaic system that closes the kingdom rather than opens it.

Church Fathers on Matthew 23:15

This the next charge against them is, that they are unequal to the salvation of many, seeing they need so much labour to bring one to salvation; and not only are they slack in conversion, but destroy even those whom they do convert, by corrupting them by example of evil life.
Chrysostom · 4th century

That they compass sea and land signifies that throughout the whole world they shall be enemies of Christ’s Gospel, and shall bring men under the yoke of the Law against the justification of faith. There were proselytes made into the Synagogue from among the Gentiles, the small number of whom is here denoted by what is said 'one proselyte.' For after the preaching of Christ there was no faith left in their doctrine, but whoever was gained to the faith of the Jews became a…
Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

For all who Judaize since the coming of the Saviour, are taught to follow the temper of those who cried at that time, 'Crucify, crucify him.'
Origen · 3rd century

Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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