Origen: Some of little discernment think, that only those who shall then be found in the body shall be gathered together, but it is better to say that the Angels of Christ shall then gather together not only all who from the coming of Christ to the end of the world have been called and chosen, but all from the foundation of the world, who like Abraham have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced therein. [[Joh 8:56]] And that He here means not only those that shall be found in the body, but those also who have quitted the body, the following words shew, "from one end of heaven to the other," which cannot be meant of any one upon earth,
Or, the heavens are the divine Scriptures and their authors [Source note: [marg. note: al. autoritates] in which God dwells. "One end of heaven" is the beginning of the Scriptures, "the other" end is their conclusion. The saints there are gathered together "from one end of heaven," that is, from those that live in the beginning of the Scriptures to those who live in the ends of them. They shall be gathered together "with a trump and a loud voice," that they who bear and attend may prepare themselves for that way of perfection which leads to the Son of God.
Remigius: Or otherwise; Lest any one should suppose that they should be gathered only from the four quarters of the world, and not from the middle regions, He adds this, "And from one end of heaven to the other." By the heights of heaven meaning the central regions of the earth, which are under the heights of heaven; and by the ends of heaven, meaning the extreme parts of the earth, where the land seems to join a very wide and distant horizon.
Chrysostom: That the Lord calls His elect by His Angels pertains to the honour of the elect; and Paul also says "that they shall be caught into the clouds;" [[1Thes 4:17]] that is, the Angels shall gather together those that have risen, and when they are gathered together, the clouds shall receive them.
Ver. 32. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:33. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Chrys., Hom. lxxvii: Because He had said that these things should come to pass "immediately after the tribulation of those days," they might ask, How long time hence, He therefore gives them an instance in the fig.
Jerome: As much as to say, When the tender shoots first shew themselves in the stem of the fig tree, and the bud bursts into flower, and the bark puts forth leaves, ye perceive the approach of summer and the season of spring and growth; so when ye shall see all these things that are written, do not suppose that the end of the world is immediate, but that certain monitory signs and precursors are shewing its approach.
Chrysostom: He shews that the interval of time shall not be great, but that the coming of Christ will be presently. By the comparison of the tree He signifies the spiritual summer and peace that the just shall enjoy after their winter, while sinners on the other hand shall have a winter after summer.
Origen: As the fig has its vital powers torpid within it through the season of winter, but when that is past its branches become tender by those very powers and put forth leaves; so the world and all those who are saved had before Christ’s coming their vital energies dormant within them as in a season of winter. Christ’s Spirit breathing upon them makes the branches of their hearts soft and tender, and that which was dormant within burgeons into leaf, and makes shew of fruit. To such the summer and the coming of the glory of the Word of God is nigh at hand.
Chrysostom: This analogy also adds credit to His foregoing discourse; for wherever He speaks of what must by all means come to pass, Christ ever brings forward parallel physical laws.
Aug., Ep. 199, 22: That now from the Evangelic and Prophetic signs that we see come to pass, we ought to look that the Lord’s coming should be nigh, who is there that denies? For daily it draws ever more and more near, but of the exact time it is said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons." [[Act 1:7]] See how long ago the Apostle said, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." [[Rom 13:11]] What he spoke was not false, and yet how many years have elapsed, how much more may we not say that the Lord’s coming is at hand now, that so great an accession of time has been made?
Hilary: Mystically; The Synagogue is likened to the fig tree; [Source note: ed. note: See above on chap xxi, 19] its branch is Antichrist, the son of the Devil, the portion of sin, the maintainer of the law; when this shall begin to swell and to put forth leaves, then summer is nigh, i.e. the approach of the day of judgment shall be perceived.
Remigius: Or, when this fig shall again bud, that is, when the synagogue shall receive the word of holy preaching, as the preaching of Enoch and Elias, then we ought to understand that the day of the consummation is at hand.
Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 39: Or, by the fig tree understand the human race, by reason of the temptations of the flesh. "When its branch is tender," i.e. when the sons of men through faith in Christ have progressed towards spiritual fruits, and the honour of their adoption to be the sons of God has shone forth in them.
Hilary: To give sure credit to the things which should come to pass He adds, "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled." By saying "Verily," He gives asseveration to the truth.
Origen: The uninstructed refer the words to the destruction of Jerusalem, and suppose them to have been said of that generation which saw Christ’s death, that it should not pass away before the city should be destroyed. But I doubt that they would succeed in thus expounding every word from that, "one stone shall not be left upon another," to that, "it is even at the door;" in some perhaps they would succeed, in others not altogether.
Chrysostom: All these things therefore mean what was said of the end of Jerusalem, of the false prophets, and the false Christs, and all the rest which shall happen down to the time of Christ’s coming, That He said, "This generation," He meant not of the men then living, but of the generation of the faithful; for so Scripture uses to speak of generations, not of time only, but of place, life, and conversation; as it is said, "This, is the generation of them that seek the Lord." [[Psa 24:6]]
Herein He teaches that Jerusalem shall perish, and the greater part of the Jews be destroyed, but that no trial shall overthrow the generation of the faithful.
Origen: Yet shall the generation of the Church survive the whole of this world, that it may inherit the world to come, yet it shall not pass away until all these things have come to pass. But when all these shall have been fulfilled, then not the earth only but the heavens also shall pass away; that is, not only the men whose life is earthly, and who are therefore called the earth, but also they whose conversation is in heaven, and who are therefore called the heaven; these "shall pass away" to things to come, that they may come to better things.
But the words spoken by the Saviour shall not pass away, because they effect and shall ever effect their purpose; but the perfect and they that admit no further improvement, passing through what they are, come to that which they are not; and this is that, "My words shall not pass away." And perhaps the words of Moses and the Prophets have passed away, because all that they prophesied has been fulfilled; but the words of Christ are always complete, daily fulfilling and to be fulfilled in the saints. Or perhaps we ought not to say that the words of Moses and the Prophets are once for all fulfilled; seeing they also are the words of the Son of God, and are fulfilled continually.
Jerome: Or, by "generation" here He means the whole human race, and the Jews in particular. And He adds, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," to confirm their faith in what has gone before; as though He had said, it is easier to destroy things solid and immovable, than that aught should fail of my words.
Hilary: For heaven and earth have in their constitution no necessity of existence, but Christ’s words derived from eternity have in them such virtue that they must needs abide.
Jerome: The heaven and the earth shall pass away by a change, not by annihilation; for how should the "sun be darkened, and the moon not give her light," if earth and heaven in which these are should be no more?
Rabanus: The heaven which shall pass away is not the starry [Source note: [marg. note: sidereum] but the atmospheric [Source note: [marg. note: aereum] heaven which of old was destroyed by the deluge.
Chrysostom: He brings forward the elements of the earth to shew that the Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is Maker of all things. [[2Pe 3:3]]
Ver. 36. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.37. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.38. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
Chrysostom: The Lord having described all the tokens that shall precede His coming, and brought His discourse to thevery doors, yet would not name the day; "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels Of heaven, but my Father only."
Jerome: In some Latin copies is added here, "neither the Son:" but in the Greek copies, and particularly those of Adamantius and Pierius, it is not found. [Source note: ed. note: The addition is found in a very few Greek MSS., and ancient versions, in Chrys. and Theophylact. It is in the Old Italic version, and is acknowledged by Hilary, Ambrose, and Pseudo-Chrysostom:; but the preponderance of evidence is greatly against it, and it is not admitted into the text of the G. T. by any editors. It probably crept in from the parallel passage in S. Mark. Adamantius is a surname of Origen. Pierius was a presbyter of Alexandria in the third century, whose learning occasioned him to be styled ’Origen the younger.’] But because it is read in some, it seems to require our notice.
Remigius: And Mark has the addition. [[Mar 13:32]]
Jerome: Whereat Arius and Eunomius rejoice greatly; for say they, He who knows and He who is ignorant cannot be both equal. Against these we answer shortly; Seeing that Jesus, that is, The Word of God, made all times, (for "By him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made, [[1Jo 1:1]]) and that the day of judgment must be in all time, by what reasoning can He who knows the whole be shewn to be ignorant of a part?
This we will further say; Which is the greater, the knowledge of the Father, or the knowledge of the judgment? If He knows the greater, how can He be ignorant of the less?
Hilary: And has indeed God the Father denied the knowledge of that day to the Son, when He has declared, "All things are committed to me of my Father?" [[Luk 10:22]] but if any thing has been denied, all things are not committed to Him.
Jerome: Having then shewn that the Son of God cannot be ignorant of the day of the consummation, we must now show a cause why He should be said to be ignorant. When after the resurrection He is demanded concerning this day by the Apostles, He answers more openly; "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power." [[Act 1:7]] Wherein He shews that Himself knows, but that it was not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being in uncertainty of the coming of their Judge, they should live every day as though they were to be judged that day.
Aug., de Trin., i, 12: When He says here, "Knows not," He means, ’makes others not to know;’ i.e. He knew not then, so as to tell His disciples; as it was said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest God;" [[Gen 22:19]] i.e. ’Now have I caused that thou shouldest know,’ because by the temptation he came to know himself.
Aug., Serm., 97, 1: That He says that the "Father knoweth," implies that in the Father the Son also knows. For what can there be in time which was not made by the Word, seeing that time itself was made by the Word!
Aug., Lib. 83, Quaest. Q60: That the Father alone knows may be well understood in the above-mentioned manner of knowing, that He makes the Son to know; but the Son is said not to know, because be does not make men to know.
Origen: Otherwise; So long as the Church which is Christ’s body knows not that day and hour, so long the Son Himself is said not to know that day and hour. The word "know" is used according to its proper usual meaning in Scripture. The Apostle speaks of Christ, as "him who knew no sin," [[1Co 5:5]] i.e. sinned not. The knowledge of that day and hour the Son reserves in store for the fellow-heirs of the promise, that all may know at once, i.e. in the day when it shall come upon them, "what things God hath prepared for them that love him." [[1Co 2:2]]
Rabanus: I have read also in some one’s book, that "the Son" here is not to be taken of the Only-begotten, but of the adopted, for that He would not have put the Angels before the Only-begotten Son, saying, "Not the Angels of heaven, neither the Son." [Source note: ed. note: See further on this Passage, Hil. de Trin. ix. 58, cited in the Catena on Mark, xiii. 32, and Basil adv. Eunom. iv.]
Aug., Ep. 199, 16: The Gospel then says, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man;" but you say, That neither the month nor the year of His coming can be known. This exactness of yours up to this point seems as if you meant that the year could not be known, but that the week or the decade of years might be known, as though it was possible to fix or assign it to some seven, ten, or a hundred, or some number of years more or less. If you allow that you cannot so limit it, you think with me.
Chrysostom: That you may perceive that it is not owing to ignorance that He is silent of the day and hour of the judgment, He brings forward another token, "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." By this He means that He shall come sudden and unlooked for, and while men are taking their pleasure; of which Paul also speaks, "When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." [[1Th 5:5]]
Raban: Marriage and meats in themselves are not here condemned, as the error of Marcion and Manicheaus teaches; for in the one the continuation of the species, in the other that of life, depends; but what is reproved is all unrestrained use of things lawful.Jerome: It is asked here, how it was said above, "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, etc." when here only tokens of peace are spoken of as what shall be then? We must suppose, that after the wars and the other miseries which shall waste the human race, shall follow a short peace, offering rest and quiet to approve the faith of the believers.
Chrysostom: Or, To such as are thoughtlessly disposed, it shall be a time of peace and enjoyment; as the Apostle said not, ’When there shall be peace,’ but "When they shall say, Peace and safety," shewing their insensibility to be such as was theirs in the days of Noe, when the wicked, and not the good, indulged themselves, but their end was sorrow and tribulation. This shews also, that when Antichrist shall come, those who are wicked, and despair of their salvation, shall run into illicit pleasures; therefore He chooses an instance suitable. For while the ark was building, Noe preached among them, foretelling the evils that should come; but those wicked giving no heed to him, wantoned as though no evil should ever come; so now, because many would not believe things future, He makes credible what He says from what has happened.
Another token He gives to shew how unexpectedly that day shall come, and that He is not ignorant of the day, "Then two shall be in the field, one shall be taken and the other left." These words shew that masters and servants, they that work, and they that work not, shall be taken or left alike.
Hilary: Or, the two in the field, are the two people of believers and unbelievers, whom the day of the Lord shall overtake, as it were in the labours of this life. And they shall be separated, one being taken and the other left; this shews the separation that shall be between believers and unbelievers; when God’s wrath is kindled, the saints shall be gathered into His garner, and the unbelievers shall be left as fuel for the fire from heaven. The same is the account to be given of that, "Two shall be grinding at the mill." The mill is the work of the Law, but as some of the Jews believed through the Apostles, so some shall believe through Elias, and be justified through faith; and one part shall be taken through this same faith of good works, the other part shall be left unfruitful in the work of the Law, grinding in vain, and never to produce the bread of heavenly food.
Jerome: Or, "Two men in one field" shall be found performing the same labour, sowing corn together, but not reaping the same fruit of their labour. The two "grinding together" we may understand either of the Synagogue and the Church, which seem to grind together in the Law, and to make of the same Scriptures meal of the commandments of God; or of other heresies, which out of both or one Testament, seem to grind meal of their own doctrines.