Fragment on Matthew · §3 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

The Savior convicts hypocrites with the darkness question

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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.

Therefore 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

γενέσθαι. ∆ιόπερ τούτους σαφῶς ἐλέγχων, φησὶν ὁ Σωτὴρ, ὅτι· Εἰ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ,

σκότος, τὸ σκότος πόσον;

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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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