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disaster will meet him. But what I wished to say is that just as He fashioned into completeness bodies that were lacking, so also He took the imperfect law and ordered it and formed it and led it to what is better. Let no one hearing that the law was imperfect think that we are accusing the one who gave it. For it was imperfect, not on account of its own nature, but on account of the time that followed; since at the time it was introduced, it was exceedingly perfect and suitable for those who received it; but since our nature, having been educated by it for what is better, had then advanced, it became less perfect, not on account of its own nature, but on account of the advancement in virtue of those taught by it. And just as bows and arrows, made for a royal child for practice rather than for battle and war, become useless when the child has grown and learned to excel in wars; so indeed it also happened with our nature. When we were in a less perfect state and were learning to be trained, He gave us suitable weapons, which we were able to bear with ease; but since we then grew according to the measure of virtue, from our perfection those things then became imperfect. For this reason Christ came, entrusting to us other, greater things. And consider with what great understanding He both reads the old48.791 laws, and sets beside them the new ones. You have heard, He says, that it was said to those of old: You shall not murder. Tell me, by whom was it said? Did you say this, or your Father? But He does not say. For what reason, then, did He remain silent on this, and not make known the one who spoke, but introduce the legislation impersonally? Because if He had said: You shall not murder, but I say to you: You shall not be angry, what was said would have seemed burdensome due to the arrogance of the listeners, not yet being able to understand that He was not overturning the former things, but augmenting them; and they would have said to him: What are you saying? Your Father said: You shall not murder, but you say: You shall not be angry? Therefore, so that no one might think He was opposed to the Father, or that He was introducing something wiser than His, He did not say, "You have heard from the Father." Again, if He had said: You have heard that I said to those of old, it would have seemed intolerable, and this no less than the former. For if, when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am," they tried to stone Him, if He had added that He Himself gave the law to Moses, what would they not have done? For this reason, saying nothing either about Himself or about the Father, but leaving it ambiguous, and saying: You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not murder; what He did in the case of the bodies, teaching them by the filling up of what was lacking who also was the one who created man in the beginning, this He also does here, by the correction of the law and the addition of what was wanting, teaching who it is who also gave the law from the beginning. For this reason also when discoursing about the creation of man, He mentioned neither Himself nor the Father, but here too He makes His statement impersonal and indefinite, saying: He who made them from the beginning, made them male and female; and in word He was silent about the maker, but in deed He taught by filling up what was lacking in the bodies. So also here, saying, "You have heard that it was said to those of old," He was silent about by whom it was said, but by the deeds themselves He revealed Himself. For He who filled up what was lacking is the one who also introduced it from the beginning. And He reads the old laws themselves, so that by the comparison the listeners might learn that what is said is not of opposition, and that He has the same authority as the One who begot Him. The Jews also understood these things and were amazed. And that they were amazed, hear the evangelist declaring this and saying: The crowds, he says, were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes and the Pharisees. What then, if they suspected this wrongly?

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ἀπαντήσεται ἡ συμφορά. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἠβουλήθην εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὥσπερ τὰ σώματα ἐνδεῶς ἔχοντα ἀπηρτισμένα κατεσκεύαζεν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν νόμον ἀτελῆ λαβὼν ἐῤῥύθμιζε καὶ διέπλαττε καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἐξῆγε. Μηδεὶς δὲ ἀκούων ὅτι ὁ νόμος ἀτελὴς ἦν, τοῦ θέντος αὐτὸν κατηγορεῖν ἡμᾶς νομιζέτω. Ἀτελὴς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος οὐ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸν χρόνον λοιπὸν ἐγίνετο· ἐπεὶ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν, ὃν εἰσηνέχθη, σφόδρα τέλειος ἦν, καὶ τοῖς δεχομένοις αὐτὸν κατάλληλος· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ὑπ' ἐκείνου παιδευθεῖσα λοιπὸν ἡ φύσις ἐπιδέδωκεν, ἀτελέστερος, οὐ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ἐπίδοσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διδαχθέντων οὗτος ἐγένετο. Καὶ καθάπερ τόξα καὶ βέλη, παιδίῳ κατασκευασθέντα βασιλικῷ πρὸς γυμνασίαν μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς μάχην καὶ πόλεμον, αὐξηθέντος δὲ τοῦ παιδίου καὶ μαθόντος ἀριστεύειν ἐν πολέμοις, ἄχρηστα γίνεται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως συνέβη τῆς ἡμετέρας· ἡνίκα ἀτελέστερον διεκείμεθα καὶ γυμνάζεσθαι ἐμανθάνομεν, κατάλληλα ἡμῖν ἔδωκεν ὅπλα, ἅπερ ἠδυνάμεθα φέρειν μετ' εὐκολίας· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ηὐξήθημεν λοιπὸν κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγον, ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμετέρας τελειότητος ἐκεῖνα λοιπὸν ἀτελῆ γέγονε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἕτερα μείζονα ἐγχειρίζων ἡμῖν. Καὶ σκόπει μεθ' ὅσης συνέσεως καὶ τοὺς πα48.791 λαιοὺς ἀναγινώσκει νόμους, καὶ τοὺς νέους παρατίθησιν. Ἠκούσατε, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐῤῥέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· Οὐ φονεύσεις. Εἰπὲ καὶ παρὰ τίνος ἐῤῥέθη· σὺ εἶπας τοῦτο, ἢ ὁ Πατὴρ ὁ σός; Ἀλλ' οὐ λέγει. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τοῦτο ἐσίγησε, καὶ τὸν εἰπόντα οὐκ ἐποίησε φανερὸν, ἀλλ' ἀπρόσωπον τὴν νομοθεσίαν εἰσήγαγεν; Ὅτι εἰ μὲν εἶπεν· Οὐ φονεύσεις, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν· Οὐκ ὀργισθήσῃ, ἔδοξεν ἂν βαρὺ τὸ λεγόμενον εἶναι διὰ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν τῶν ἀκουόντων μηδέπω συνιέναι δυναμένων, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνατρέπων τὰ πρότερα, ἀλλ' αὔξων ταῦτα ἐνομοθέτει· καὶ εἶπον ἂν πρὸς αὐτόν· Τί λέγεις; ὁ Πατήρ σου εἶπεν· Οὐ φονεύσεις, σὺ δὲ λέγεις· Οὐκ ὀργισθήσῃ; Ἵν' οὖν μή τις ἐναντίον αὐτὸν τῷ Πατρὶ νομίσῃ εἶναι, ἢ ὡς σοφώτερόν τι πλέον εἰσφέρειν ἐκείνου, οὐκ εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἠκούσατε παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός. Πάλιν εἰ εἶπεν· Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, ἀφόρητον ἔδοξεν ἂν εἶναι, καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ τὸ πρότερον. Εἰ γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ εἶπε, Πρὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι, λιθάσαι αὐτὸν ἐπεχείρησαν, εἰ προσέθηκεν ὅτι καὶ Μωϋσῇ αὐτὸς τὸν νόμον ἔδωκε, τί οὐκ ἂν ἐποίησαν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὔτε περὶ ἑαυτοῦ, οὔτε περὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐδὲν εἰπὼν, ἀλλὰ μέσον ἀφεὶς, καὶ εἰπών· Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐῤῥέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· Οὐ φονεύσεις· ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων ἐποίησε, διὰ τῆς τοῦ λείποντος ἀναπληρώσεως διδάξας αὐτοὺς καὶ τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ δημιουργήσαντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα ποιεῖ, διὰ τῆς τοῦ νόμου διορθώσεως καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἐνδέοντος προσθήκης διδάσκων τίς ἐστιν ὃ καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν τὸν νόμον δεδωκώς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργίας διαλεγόμενος, οὔτε ἑαυτοῦ, οὔτε τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐμνήσθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀπρόσωπόν τε καὶ ἀδιόριστον ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον, εἰπών· Ὁ ποιήσας ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς· καὶ τῷ μὲν ῥήματι ἐσίγησε τὸν ποιήσαντα, τῷ δὲ ἔργῳ ἐδίδαξε τὰ λείποντα τῶν σωμάτων ἀναπληρῶν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰπὼν, ὅτι Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐῤῥέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, παρὰ μὲν τίνος ἐῤῥέθη ἐσίγησε, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἐδήλωσεν ἑαυτόν. Ὁ γὰρ τὸ λεῖπον ἀναπληρώσας, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτὸν εἰσενεγκών. Καὶ αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς παλαιοὺς ἀναγινώσκει νόμους, ἵνα τῇ παραθέσει μάθωσιν οἱ ἀκούοντες ὅτι οὔτε ἐναντιώσεώς ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ ὅτι τῷ γεγεννηκότι τὴν αὐτὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχει. Ταῦτα καὶ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι συνῆκαν καὶ ἐθαύμαζον. Καὶ ὅτι ἐθαύμαζον, ἄκουε τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ τοῦτο δηλοῦντος καὶ λέγοντος· Ἐξεπλήσσοντο, φησὶν, οἱ ὄχλοι ἐπὶ τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐδίδασκεν αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχων, καὶ οὐχ ὡς οἱ γραμματεῖς αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι. Τί οὖν, εἰ κακῶς τοῦτο ὑπώπτευον ἐκεῖνοι;