Chapter VI.—Of the Circumstance that Mark Has Recorded More Than Luke as Spoken by the Lord in Connection with the Case of This Man Who Was Casting Out Devils in the Name of Christ, Although He Was Not Following with the Disciples; And of the Question How These Additional Words Can Be Shown to Have a Real Bearing Upon What Christ Had in View in Forbidding the Individual to Be Interdicted Who Was Performing Miracles in His Name.

7. Mark proceeds with his narrative in these terms: “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe on me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” And so on, down to where it is said, “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”1116    Mark ix. 40–50. These words Mark represents to have been spoken by the Lord in the connection immediately following what He said in forbidding the man to be interdicted who was casting out devils in His name, and yet was not following Him along with the disciples. In this section, too, he introduces some matters which are not found in any of the other evangelists, but also some which occur in Matthew as well, and some which we come across in like manner both in Matthew and in Luke. Those other evangelists, however, bring in these matters in different connections, and in another order of facts, and not at this particular point when the statement was made to Christ about the man who did not follow Him along with the disciples, and yet was casting out devils in His name. My opinion, therefore, is, that the Lord did really utter sayings in this connection, according to Mark’s attestation, of which he also delivered Himself on other occasions, and this for the simple reason, that they were sufficiently pertinent to this expression of His mind which he gave here, when He forbade the placing of any interdict upon the working of miracles in His name, even although that should be done by a man who did not follow Him along with His disciples. For Mark presents the relation of the one passage to the other thus: “For he that is not against us is on our part; for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” This makes it plain that even this man, whose case John had taken up, and thus had given occasion for the Lord to commence the discourse referred to, was not separating himself from the society of the disciples to any such effect as to scorn it like a heretic. But his position was something parallel to the familiar one of men who, while not going the length yet of receiving the sacraments of Christ, nevertheless favour the Christian name so far as even to receive Christians, and accommodate themselves to them for this very reason, and none other, that they are Christian; of which type of persons it is that He tells us that they do not lose their reward. This does not mean, however, that they ought at once to think themselves quite safe and secure simply on account of this kindness which they cherish towards Christians, while at the same time they are neither cleansed by Christ’s baptism, nor incorporated into the unity of His body. But the import is, that they are now being guided by the mercy of God in such a way that they may also come to these higher things,1117    The text gives ad ea. Another reading is ad eam = that unity of His body. and so quit this present world in safety. And such persons assuredly are more profitable [servants], even before they become associated with the number of Christians, than those individuals who, while already bearing the Christian name and partaking in the Christian sacraments, recommend courses which are only fitted to drag others, whom they may persuade to adopt them, along with themselves into eternal punishment. These are the persons to whom He refers under the figure of the members of the body, and whom He commands to be cast out from the body, like an offending hand or eye; that is to say, to be cut off from the fellowship of that unity, in order that they should seek rather to enter into life without such associates, than to go into hell in their company. Moreover, they are separated from those from whom they separate themselves, just when no consent is yielded to their evil recommendations, that is to say, to the offences in which they indulge. And if, indeed, they are discovered in the character of their perversity to all good men with whom they have any fellowship,1118    Reading societas. Many mss. give notitia = acquaintance. they are cut off completely from the fellowship of all, and also from participation in the divine sacraments. But if they are known in this character only to some, while their perversity is unknown to the majority, they must just be borne with, as the chaff is endured in the thrashing-floor previous to the winnowing; that is to say, they must be dealt with in a manner which will neither involve any agreement with them in the fellowship of unrighteousness, nor lead to a forsaking of the society of the good on their account. This is what is done by those who have salt in themselves, and who have peace one with another.

CAPUT VI.

Quod in occasione hujus qui in nomine Christi ejiciebat daemonia, quamvis cum discipulis non sequeretur, Marcus amplius quam Lucas Dominum dixisse narravit, quomodo ostendatur ad hoc ipsum pertinere quod illum in nomine suo virtutem facientem vetuit prohiberi.

7. Sequitur Marcus et dicit: «Quisquis enim potum dederit vobis calicem aquae in nomine meo, quia Christi estis, amen dico vobis, non perdet mercedem suam. Et quisquis scandalizaverit unum ex his pusillis credentibus in me, bonum est ei magis si circumdaretur mola asinaria collo ejus, et in mare mitteretur. Et si scandalizaverit te manus tua, abscide illam: bonum est tibi debilem introire in vitam, quam duas manus habentem ire in gehennam, in ignem inexstinguibilem, ubi vermis eorum non moritur, et ignis non exstinguitur,» etc., usque ad illud ubi ait, «Habete in vobis salem, et pacem habete inter vos» (Marc. IX, 40-49). Haec Marcus Dominum locutum, posteaquam illum qui in nomine ejus ejiciebat daemonia et cum discipulis non cum sequebatur, vetuit prohiberi, contextim commemorat; aliqua ponens quae nullus alius Evangelistarum posuit, aliqua vero quae Matthaeus quoque posuit, et aliqua itidem quae et Matthaeus et Lucas: sed illi ex aliis occasionibus, et alio rerum ordine, non hoc loco ubi de illo suggestum est, qui cum discipulis Christi non eum sequebatur, et daemonia in ejus nomine ejiciebat. Unde mihi videtur etiam hoc loco Dominus secundum Marci fidem ideo dixisse quae aliis etiam locis dixit, quia satis pertinebant ad hanc ipsam ejus sententiam, qua vetuit prohiberi virtutes in nomine suo fieri, etiam ab illo qui cum discipulis, eum non sequebatur. Sic enim contexit: Qui enim non est adversum vos, pro vobis est: quisquis enim potum dederit vobis calicem aquae in nomine meo, quia Christi estis, amen dico vobis, non perdet mercedem suam. Unde ostendit etiam illum de quo Joannes suggesserat, et unde iste ejus sermo exortus est, quod non ita separabatur a societate discipulorum, ut eam tanquam haereticus improbaret: sed sicut solent homines nondum audere Christi suscipere Sacramenta, et tamen nomini favere christiano, ita ut Christianos etiam suscipiant, et non ob aliud eis, nisi quia christiani sunt, obsequantur, de qualibus dicit, quod non perdunt mercedem suam. Non quia jam tuti atque securi sibi debent videri ex hac benevolentia, quam erga Christianos habent, etiamsi Christi baptismo non 1221 abluantur, nec unitati ejus incorporentur: sed quia ita jam Dei misericordia gubernantur, ut ad ea quoque perveniant, atque ita securi de hoc saeculo abscedant. Qui profecto, et priusquam Christianorum numero socientur, utiliores sunt, quam ii qui cum jam christiani appellentur, et christianis Sacramentis imbuti sint, talia suadent, ut quibus ea persuaserint secum in aeternam poenam pertrahant: quos membrorum corporalium nomine tanquam manum vel oculum scandalizantem jubet erui a corpore, hoc est ab ipsa unitatis societate, ut sine his potius veniatur ad vitam, quam cum eis eatur in gehennam. Hoc ipso autem separantur a quibus separantur, quod eis mala suadentibus, hoc est scandalizantibus non consentitur. Et si quidem omnibus bonis, cum quibus eis societas est , etiam de hac perversitate innotescunt, ab omnium penitus societate, atque ab ipsa divinorum Sacramentorum participatione separantur: si autem quibusdam ita noti sunt, pluribus autem ista eorum est ignota perversitas; ita tolerandi sunt, sicut ante ventilationem palea toleratur in area, ut neque illis ad iniquitatis communionem consentiatur, neque propter illos bonorum societas deseratur: hoc faciunt qui habent in seipsis salem, et pacem habent inter se.