Matthew 11:11
Together with the others who came before him, he is born of a woman. But those who have accepted the faith are no longer called born of women. As the most wise evangelist says, “As many as received him, he gave them authority to become children of God, who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.” For we were reborn into God’s adoption not from corruptible seed, but through a living and abiding word. So those born not from corruptible seed but rather from God are better than everyone born of a woman.
John was born of a woman; but those who accepted the faith are no longer called born of women — “but they were born of God.” When Christ rose again after spoiling Hades, then the Spirit of adoption is given. Blessed John departed before the Spirit was given. So even if we are lesser than those who accomplished righteousness under the law, we have still come into greater things through Christ.
Greek
Φρονίμους εἶναι βούλεται αὐτούς, ἵνα διδάσκωσι μὲν τὰ τῆς εὐσε βείας δόγματα ἀπαρακαλύπτως καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν τὰς τῶν φαύλων κακουργίας, εἰ δέ τινες ἐπέλθοιεν μὴ ἀντιστατεῖν, ἀπελθεῖν δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ μὴ ἀπερισκέπτως ἐπιστρέφειν πρὸς τὸ παθεῖν. ὄφεσιν δὲ παρεικάζει διδάσκων, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτοὺς ὀξεῖς εἶναι πρὸς φυγὴν εἴ γέ τινες ἐπέλθοιεν θανατῶσαι θέλοντες, περιστεραῖς δέ, ἐπειδὴ ἀμνησίκακον τὸ στρουθίον καὶ ἐμφιλοχωροῦν ἀεὶ πρὸς οἷς εἴθισεν τόποις καὶ ἐπανακάμπτον ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, ὅταν ὁ ἐκδιώκων παύσηται. διδάσκει οὖν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι οὐ δεῖ ὁλοτελῶς τῶν διωκόντων ἀποφοιτᾶν, ἀλλ' ἐνδόντας πρὸς βραχὺ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ νουθετεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐπανέρχεσθαι, ὅταν τὰ τῆς ὀργῆς παύσηται. οὕτως καὶ αὐτοῖς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησεν διωκόμενος μὲν καὶ ὑποχωρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ πάλιν ἐπανερχόμενος.
About this text
Catena fragments on Matthew (CPG 5206). Contents follow Matthew chapter and verse. Edition fragment numbers stay in About this text and under each passage.
English follows the named copy-text (Aegean/khazarzar Migne PG 72 extract). Other prints were checked as noted; no silent merge of recensions.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 72 Commentarii in Matthaeum (Aegean Digital Patrologia / khazarzar) (Greek · CPG 5206 catena fragments (290 parsed heads))
- Checked print matia.gr mirror of same Aegean extract (Greek · Byte-identical PDF; integrity check only)
- Checked print Internet Archive PG 72 volume OCR (bim … 1859_72) (Greek (OCR damaged) · Locus confirmation only; not used as reading text)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.