Chapter LXXIII.—Of the Person to Whom the Two Precepts Concerning the Love of God and the Love of Our Neighbour Were Commended; And of the Question as to the Order of Narration Which is Observed by Matthew and Mark, and the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Them and Luke.

141. Matthew then proceeds with his narrative in the following terms: “But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. And one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”671    Matt. xxii. 34–40. This is recorded also by Mark, and that too in the same order. Neither should there be any difficulty in the statement made by Matthew, to the effect that the person by whom the question was put to the Lord tempted Him; whereas Mark672    Another but evidently faulty reading is sometimes found here,—namely, Lucas autem hoc tacet et in fine Marcus, etc. = whereas Luke says nothing about that, and Mark tells us, etc. says nothing about that, but tells us at the end of the paragraph how the Lord said to the man, as to one who answered discreetly, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” For it is quite possible that, although the man approached Him with the view of tempting Him, he may have been set right by the Lord’s response. Or we need not at any rate take the tempting referred to in a bad sense, as if it were the device of one who sought to deceive an adversary; but we may rather suppose it to have been the result of caution, as if it were the act of one who wished to have further trial of a person who was unknown to him. For it is not without a good purpose that this sentence has been written, “He that is hasty to give credit is light-minded, and shall be impaired.”673    Minorabitur. Ecclus. xix. 4.

142. Luke, on the other hand, not indeed in this order, but in a widely different connection, introduces something which resembles this.674    Luke x. 25–37. But whether in that passage he is actually recording this same incident, or whether the person with whom the Lord [is represented to have] dealt in a similar manner there on the subject of those two commandments is quite another individual, is altogether uncertain. At the same time, it may appear right to regard the person who is introduced by Luke as a different individual from the one before us here, not only on the ground of the remarkable divergence in the order of narration, but also because he is there reported to have replied to a question which was addressed to him by the Lord, and in that reply to have himself mentioned those two precepts. The same opinion is further confirmed by the fact that, after telling us how the Lord said to him, “This do, and thou shall live,”—thus instructing him to do that great thing which, according to his own answer, was contained in the law,—the evangelist follows up what had passed with the statement, “But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”675    Luke x. 29. Thereupon, too [according to Luke], the Lord told the story of the man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers. Consequently, considering that this individual is described at the outset as tempting Christ, and is represented to have repeated the two commandments in his reply; and considering, further, that after the counsel which was given by the Lord in the words, “This do, and thou shalt live,” he is not commended as good, but, on the contrary, has this said of him, “But he, willing to justify himself,” etc., whereas the person who is mentioned in parallel order both by Mark and by Luke received a commendation so marked, that the Lord spake to him in these terms, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God,”—the more probable view is that which takes the person who appears on that occasion to be a different individual from the man who comes before us here.

CAPUT LXXIII. De illo cui commendata sunt duo praecepta dilectionis Dei et proximi, qui ordo sit narrantium Matthaei et Marci, ne a Luca discrepare videantur.

141. Sequitur ergo Matthaeus, et dicit: Pharisaei autem audientes quod silentium imposuisset Sadducaeis, convenerunt in unum; et interrogavit eum unus ex eis Legis doctor, tentans eum: Magister, quod est mandatum magnum in Lege? Ait illi Jesus: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum in toto corde tuo, et in tota anima tua, et in tota mente tua: hoc est maximum et primum mandatum. Secundum autem simile est huic: Diliges proximum tuum sicut te ipsum. In his duobus mandatis universa Lex pendet et Prophetae (Matth. XXII, 34-40). Hoc et Marcus commemorat, eumdem ordinem servans (Marc. XII, 28-34). Nec moveat quod Matthaeus dicit tentantem fuisse illum a quo Dominus interrogatus est; Marcus autem hoc tacet, et in fine ita concludit , quod ei Dominus sapienter respondenti dixerit, Non longe es a regno Dei. Fieri enim potest ut quamvis tentans accesserit, Domini tamen responsione correctus sit. Aut certe ipsam tentationem non accipiamus malam, tanquam decipere volentis inimicum; sed cautam potius, tanquam experiri amplius volentis ignotum. Neque enim frustra scriptum est, Qui facile credit, levis corde est, et minorabitur (Eccli. XIX, 4).

142. Lucas autem non hoc ordine, sed longe alibi tale aliquid interponit (Luc. X, 25-37): utrum autem hoc recordetur, an alius ille sit cum quo similiter de duobus istis praeceptis Dominus egerit, prorsus incertum est: hinc autem etiam recte videtur alius esse, non solum propter ordinis multam differentiam, sed quia etiam ipse dicitur respondisse Domino interroganti, et in sua responsione commemorasse duo ista praecepta; et cum ei dixisset Dominus, Hoc fac, et vives, ut illud faceret quod magnum esse in Lege ipse responderat, secutus Evangelista ait, Ille autem volens se justificare dixit: Et quis est meus proximus? Tunc Dominus narravit de illo qui descendebat ab Jerusalem in Jericho, et incidit in latrones. Unde quia et tentans praedictus est, et duo praecepta ipse respondit, et post admonitionem Domini dicentis, Hoc fac, et 1147 vives, non bonus commendatur cum dicitur de eo, Ille autem volens se justificare; iste autem quem pari ordine Matthaeus Marcusque commemorant, tam bene commendatus est, ut ei diceret Dominus, Non longe es a regno Dei: probabilius creditur hunc alium esse, non illum.