Matthew 23:28 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 23:28 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The application of the whitewashed-tomb image to the Pharisees: the outward appearance of righteousness that conceals the hypocrisy and lawlessness of the inside. The lawlessness — anomia, the violation of the law — is what the Pharisees' law-keeping conceals: the very people who are known for their law observance are guilty of lawlessness in the things that matter most.

Church Fathers on Matthew 23:28

As above they are said to be 'full of extortion and excess,' so here they are 'full of hypocrisy and iniquity,' and are likened to dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness.
Origen · 3rd century

Justly are the bodies of the righteous said to be temples, because in the body of the righteous the soul has dominion, as God in His temple; or because God Himself dwells in righteous bodies. But the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres of the dead, because the sinner’s soul is dead in his body; for that cannot be deemed to be alive, which does no spiritual or living act.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Sepulchres are whitened with lime without, and decorated with marble painted in gold and various colours, but within are full of dead men’s bones. Thus crooked teachers who teach one thing and do another, affect purity in their dress, and humility in their speech, but within are full of all uncleanness, covetousness, and lust.
Jerome · 4th century

Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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