Fragment on Matthew

Name: Fragment on Matthew
Author: Gregory Thaumaturgus

Fragmentum in evangelium Matthaei

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270 AD) · written c. 250–270 AD · PG 10

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Contents4 passages

1The eye as lamp and love as light
2Hypocrites speak light but think darkness
3The Savior convicts hypocrites with the darkness question
4If your seeming love is darkness, how much worse your open sins

Author

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270 AD) — Gregory the Wonderworker, a student of Origen at Caesarea who became bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus. His farewell address to Origen gives a rare picture of how Origen taught.

All works by Gregory Thaumaturgus

About this text

Gregory Thaumaturgus on Matthew 6:22–23 — single eye, hypocrisy, and false love.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this brief exposition of a saying from the Gospel of Matthew. It is addressed to no named recipient and survives only as a fragment. He wrote to explain the meaning of Jesus' words about the eye as the lamp of the body, applying them to the difference between sincere and pretended love.

The passage under discussion is Matthew 6:22-23, where Jesus says that if the eye is sound, the whole body is full of light, but if the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness.

A reader should know that Gregory interprets the 'sound eye' as sincere love, through which a person's outward words match inward thoughts. The 'evil eye' is pretended love, which he equates with hypocrisy. Such hypocrites are wolves who have put on sheep's clothing, washing only the outside of the cup and dish while leaving the inside unclean. The Savior convicts them by asking: if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? Gregory explains this as meaning that if what you think is love is actually a work deserving darkness because of hidden hypocrisy, your open transgressions are far worse.

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Translated from PG 10 (Greek)

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The eye as lamp and love as light§1

Gregory opens by quoting Matthew 6:22-23, then begins explaining the saying's terms.

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1The eye is the lamp of the body (Matthew 6:22). So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. And if the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:23)? The sound eye is sincere love, through which, when the whole body is enlightened, love brings forth through the outward parts the same things as the things thought within. The evil eye, on the other hand, is pretended love, which is also called hypocrisy, and through it the whole body of a person is darkened.

Greek · §1

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Hypocrites speak light but think darkness§2

Gregory is describing the hypocrite whose evil eye darkens the whole body, now detailing how such a person thinks dark deeds inwardly while speaking words that seem full of light.

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2They devise deeds worthy of darkness within, yet through their outward parts they bring forth words that seem to be full of light. For they are truly wolves who have put on sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). They wash only the outside of the cup and dish (Matthew 23:25), not knowing that unless the inside is cleansed, the outside cannot become clean.

Greek · §2

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The Savior convicts hypocrites with the darkness question§3

Gregory has just described hypocrites who wash only the outside of the cup and dish; now he quotes the Savior's convicting question from Matthew 6:23.

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3Therefore the Savior clearly convicts these people when he says: If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:23)?

Greek · §3

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If your seeming love is darkness, how much worse your open sins§4

Gregory is explaining the Savior's question from Matthew 6:23, applying it to the hypocrite whose pretended love is actually a work of darkness.

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4That is, if the love that seems to you to be light is actually a work worthy of darkness because of the hypocrisy hidden in you, then what are your open transgressions?

Greek · §4

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