While almost all of the works in this vault use Victorian translations, due to the only English translation of this commentary being in copyright, it was machine-translated (by Claude, 2026) from the public-domain Latin. It has not been checked by a human translator.
Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written about 353–356, before his exile to the East. Chapter 8: On the disciples in the ship who awoke Jesus, on the two possessed men in the country of the Gerasenes, and on the paralytic who was healed and took up his bed.
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And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, and the rest. When the disciples have gone into the ship a storm arises, the sea is stirred, the sailors are troubled. And He, sunk in sleep, is awakened by the fear of those who were afraid, and is begged to bring help. And having rebuked them for being of little faith, He commanded calm to the wind and the sea, men marvelling that the wind and the sea obeyed His commands. According to this, then, the churches within which the word of God does not keep watch are shipwrecked: not that Christ is relaxed into sleep, but that He is lulled to sleep in us by our own sleep. And it most often happens that we hope in God chiefly when we are in fear of danger and in distress. And would that even a late hope might trust that it can escape the danger, while the power of Christ keeps watch within it! But He has left us a lasting remembrance of His rebuke, saying, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? — that is, there ought to be no fear of the commotions of the world, while faith in Christ keeps watch with them.
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There follows then the wonder of the men, who say, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! These are not the words of the disciples, but of the Gentiles. For whereas above he had said that only the disciples went into the ship, and that He was awakened only by the disciples, now he says that it was men who marvelled, men who in their very marvelling call Him a man. By this change of names it is understood that all the works of Christ, and all His mighty deeds, are to be praised as God’s: because it shows the folly of the Gentile guilt and its most wretched error, that from the lowliness of His Passion they rather call Him a man than from His mighty works God.
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And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gerasenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, and the rest. The meeting of two men; the long possession of the two men by devils; the way made perilous for those who passed; the entreaty to be allowed to pass over into the swine; the fall of that herd down a steep place into the sea when the men had been cleansed; then the flight of the swineherds into the town; the coming out of the people from the city; the request that the Lord should not come to the city; and His return to His own country; and the bringing to Him there of the paralytic lying on a bed; and, for the merit of faith, the remission of sins at that very time; and the murmuring of the scribes, and the confession of His power; and the paralytic’s return home even under the burden of his bed; and the wonder of the men — all these have this meaning.
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In the beginning of mankind there was a division of the human race into three, namely the sons of Noe, of whom, according to the prophecy of Genesis, Sem was chosen to be God’s possession. And outside the city, that is, outside the synagogue of the Law and the prophets, devils held two men among the tombs: that is, they had besieged the origins of two races in the abodes of the departed and among the remains of the dead, making the way of the present life dangerous to those who passed by. So, that the things done might be a full meditation on what was to come, two men meet the Lord as He comes: so that by their meeting Him might be shown the will of those who were hastening together to salvation. But in the men the devils cry out, Why does He grudge them their abode, why does He trouble them before the time of the judgment? Now near these two peoples of the Gentiles there lay also a people of the race of Sem, the Sadducees, whose heresy among the Jews is the guilt of denying the resurrection. The devils, then, seeing that no place is now left them among the Gentiles, beg that He will let them dwell in the heretics; and when these have been seized, the whole herd is driven headlong with a rapid rush into the sea: that is, they are cast down by the prompting of the devils into worldly desire, to die in many waters, that is, with the unbelief of the rest of the nations. And in this too the figurative meaning is kept, in that it was not enough to have said that they were cast down into the sea, unless it were added, and perished in the waters. Their chiefs and keepers, troubled with wonder at such things, come to the city and tell what was done. That city bears the likeness of the Jewish people, which, having heard of the works of Christ, goes out to meet its Lord, forbidding Him to touch its borders and its city; for the Law does not receive the Gospels: and being rejected by it, He returns to His own city. The city of God is the people of the faithful. Into this, then, He entered, carried in the ship, that is, in the Church.
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And now in the paralytic the whole body of the Gentiles is brought to be healed. But the words of the healing itself must also be considered. It is not said to the paralytic, Be whole; it is not said, Arise and walk; but it is said, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. In Adam alone sins are forgiven to all the nations. He, then, is brought by the ministry of angels to be healed; he is called son, because he is God’s first work; to him the sins of the soul are forgiven, and the pardon of the first transgression comes by forgiveness. For we have not heard that the paralytic had committed any sin: especially as in another place the same Lord said that blindness from birth had not been contracted through sin, either the man’s own or his parents’.
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Then the order of the truth follows in the events, although the likeness of what is to come is fulfilled in the words. The scribes are disturbed that sin is forgiven by a man; for in Jesus Christ they saw only a man. And there was forgiven by Him what the Law could not loose; for faith alone justifies. Then the Lord looks into their murmuring, and says that it is easy for the Son of man to forgive sins on earth. For in truth no one can forgive sins but God alone: so He who forgives is God. Because no one forgives but God, God abiding in man gave healing to man: and He had no difficulty in doing or in speaking, in whom lies the power to do all that He speaks.
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Moreover, that it might be understood that He who both forgave sins to souls and bestowed resurrection on bodies was Himself set in a body, He says, But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed. It would have been enough to have said, Arise; but because the whole meaning of the work to be done was to be unfolded, He added, Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. First He grants the remission of sin; then He shows the power of the resurrection; then by the taking up of the bed He taught that weakness and pain would be absent from bodies; and lastly, by the return to his own house, that the way back to paradise was to be restored to believers, out of which Adam, the father of all, had gone forth, unstrung by the stain of sin.
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But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled. Wonder rather than fear ought to have followed this work; but even now the order of the mystery remains, that the likeness of things to come is added to the truth of the present. The multitudes fear the power of the Lord’s words and deeds. For it is a matter of great fear to be dissolved in death with sins not forgiven by Christ: because there is no return to the eternal home for one to whom the pardon of his offences has not been granted. And glorified God, which had given such power unto men. All things are brought to a close in their order, and, the fear of despair now ceasing, honour is paid to God because He has given such power to men. But this was due to Christ alone; to Him alone, from His fellowship in the Father’s substance, it came naturally to do these things. It is not this, then, that comes to be wondered at, that He could do these things (for what will God be believed not to be able to do?); otherwise the praise would have been given for one man, not for many: but the reason for the honour paid to God is this, that power and a way have been given to men through His word, both of the remission of sins, and of the resurrection of bodies, and of the return to heaven.