Chapter LXXIV.—Of the Passage in Which the Jews are Asked to Say Whose Son They Suppose Christ to Be; And of the Question Whether There is Not a Discrepancy Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists, in So Far as He States the Inquiry to Have Been, “What Think Ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?” And Tells Us that to This They Replied, “The Son of David;” Whereas the Others Put It Thus, “How Say the Scribes that Christ is David’s Son?”

143. Matthew goes on thus: “Now when the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He? They say unto Him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son? And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions.”676    Matt. xxii. 41–46. This is given also by Mark in due course, and in the same order.677    Mark xii. 35–37. Luke, again, only omits mention of the person who asked the Lord which was the first commandment in the law, and, after passing over that incident in silence, observes the same order once more as the others, narrating just as these, do this question which the Lord put to the Jews concerning Christ, as to how He was David’s son.678    Luke xx. 41–44. Neither is the sense at all affected by the circumstance that, as Matthew puts it, when Jesus had asked them what they thought of Christ, and whose son He was, they [the Pharisees] replied, “The son of David,” and then He proposed the further query as to how David then called Him Lord; whereas, according to the version presented by the other two, Mark and Luke, we do not find either that these persons were directly interrogated, or that they made any answer. For we ought to take this view of the matter, namely, that these two evangelists have introduced the sentiments which were expressed by the Lord Himself after the reply made by those parties, and have recorded the terms in which He spoke in the hearing of those whom He wished profitably to instruct in His authority, and to turn away from the teaching of the scribes, and whose knowledge of Christ amounted then only to this, that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, while they did not understand that He was God, and on that ground also the Lord even of David. It is in this way, therefore, that in the accounts given by these two evangelists, the Lord is mentioned in a manner which makes it appear as if He was discoursing on the subject of these erroneous teachers to men whom He desired to see delivered from the errors in which these scribes were involved. Thus, too, the question, which is presented by Matthew in the form, “What say ye?” is to be taken not as addressed directly to these [Pharisees], but rather as expressed only with reference to those parties, and directed really to the persons whom He was desirous of instructing.

CAPUT LXXIV. Quod Judaei interrogantur de Christo, cujus eis filius videatur, utrum non repugnet Matthaeus aliis duobus; quia secundum istum dicitur, Quid vobis videtur de Christo? cujus est filius? cui responderunt, David: secundum illos autem, Quomodo dicunt Scribae Christum filium esse David?

143. Sequitur Matthaeus: Congregatis autem Pharisaeis, interrogavit eos Jesus, dicens: Quid vobis videtur de Christo? cujus filius est? Dicunt ei: David. Ait illis: Quomodo ergo David in spiritu vocat eum Dominum, dicens, Dixit Dominus Domino meo, sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum? Si ergo David vocat eum Dominum, quomodo filius ejus est? Et nemo poterat ei respondere verbum, neque ausus fuit quisquam ex illa die eum amplius interrogare (Matth. XXII, 41-46). Hoc consequenter et eodem ordine Marcus quoque commemorat (Marc. XII, 35-37). Lucas etiam, tantummodo de illo tacet, qui interrogavit Dominum, quod esset mandatum primum in Lege: hoc autem praetermisso, eumdem etiam ipse ordinem servat; et hoc de Christo, quomodo sit filius David, quaesisse a Judaeis Dominum pariter narrat (Luc. XX, 41-44). Nec interest ad sententiam, quod secundum Matthaeum, cum interrogasset Jesus quid eis videretur de Christo, cujus esset filius, illi responderunt, David, tum demum intulit, quomodo eum David diceret Dominum; secundum illos autem duos, Marcum et Lucam, nec interrogati esse, nec respondisse inveniuntur. Intelligere enim debemus, post eorum responsionem sententiam ipsius Domini a duobus Evangelistis insinuatam, quomodo ab illo dicta sit, his audientibus quos volebat suo magisterio utiliter informare, et a Scribarum alienare doctrina: qui de Christo illud solum sapiebant, quod secundum carnem factus erat ex semine David, non eum autem intelligebant Deum, propter quod erat Dominus ipsius David. Ideo tanquam de illis errantibus Dominus ad istos sermonem faciens, quos volebat ab illorum errore liberari, secundum hos duos Evangelistas commemoratur: ut quod illis dictum est, Quomodo dicitis, sicut Matthaeus narrat, sic accipiatur, non tanquam ad illos, sed tanquam de illis ad eos potius dictum sit, quos volebat instruere.