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MATTHEW 24:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 24:11Matt 24:13
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
And because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold. The love that grows cold is the agape that defines the community's identity — the love of neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39) and the love that distinguishes the community from the world. The lawlessness (anomia — the violation of God's standards) that produces the cold love is the moral deterioration that persecution and deception together generate.

Church Fathers on Matthew 24:12

For what desert so many evils are to be brought upon Jerusalem, and the whole Jewish province the Lord shews, when He adds, 'Then shall they deliver you up, &c.'

Rabanus Maurus · 9th century

Or otherwise; The disciples when they heard these things which were spoken of Jerusalem might suppose that they should be beyond reach of harm, as though what they now heard was the sufferings of others, while they themselves should meet with nothing but prosperous times, He therefore announces the grievous things which should befal them, putting them in fear for themselves.

Chrysostom · 4th century

But how should the people of Christ be hated by the nations who dwelt in the uttermost parts of the earth? But one may perhaps say, that in this place all is put hyperbolically for many. But this that He says, 'Then shall they deliver you,' presents some difficulty; for before these things the Christians were delivered to tribulation. To this it may be answered, that at that time the Christians shall be more delivered to tribulation than ever.

Origen · 3rd century
Read all 21 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 24:12 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy