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MATTHEW 26:41 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 26:40Matt 26:42
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The watch-and-pray command paired with the spirit-is-willing-but-flesh-is-weak observation is the honest assessment of the disciples' condition. The spirit willing and the flesh weak is not an excuse but an explanation — and the answer to the weakness of the flesh is the watch-and-pray that the disciples have just failed to do.

Church Fathers on Matthew 26:41

He took with Him the self-confident Peter, and the others, that they might see Him falling on His face and praying, and might learn not to think great things, but little things of themselves, and not to be hasty in promising, but careful in prayer. And therefore, 'He went forward a little,' not to go far from them, but that He might be near them in His prayer.

Origen · 3rd century

Whence He says emphatically, 'This cup,' that is, of this people of the Jews, who, if they shall put Me to death, can have no excuse for their ignorance, seeing they have the Law and the Prophets, who speak of Me.

Jerome · 4th century

And that none might think that He limited His Father’s power, He said not, 'If thou canst do it,' but 'If it may be,' or, 'If it be possible;' as much as to say, If thou wilt. For whatever God wills can be done, as Luke expresses more plainly; for he says not, 'If it be possible,' but 'If thou wilt.'

Augustine · 4th century · de Cons. Ev., iii, 4
Read all 27 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 26:41 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy