Matthew 5:26 (WEB)
Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny.
Catechism · 1
“Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Mt 5:22-39; 5:44.
Fathers and councils · 30
Tertullian
“Moreover, as often as the soul has fallen short as a defaulter in sin, it has to be recalled to existence, until it “pays the utmost farthing,” thrust out from time to time into the prison of the body.” — editor's note: Matt. v. 26.
Read the whole comment“In short, inasmuch as we understand “the prison” pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, and as we also interpret “the uttermost farthing” to mean the very smallest offence which has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe that the soul undergoes in Hades…” — editor's note: Ver. 26.
Read the whole comment“For who is there that will not desire, while he is in the flesh, to put on immortality, and to continue his life by a happy escape from death, through the transformation which must be experienced instead of it, without encountering too that Hades which will exact the very last farthing?” — editor's note: Comp. Matt. v. 26, and see Tertullian’s De Anima, xxxv. [and see cap. xliii., infra, p. 576.]
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Irenaeus of Lyons
“Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last farthing.”” — editor's note: Matt. v. 25, 26; Luke xii. 58, 59.
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Jerome
“He has but now washed himself and is clean, yea, is made white as snow; whilst I, stained with every sin, wait day and night with trembling to pay the uttermost farthing.” — editor's note: Matt. v. 26.
Read the whole comment“And you shall by no means come out thence till you have paid the uttermost farthing, that is, till you have expiated your most trifling sins; for we shall give account of every idle word in the day of judgment.” — editor's note: Matt. v. 25, 26.
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Augustine of Hippo
“…are meant sins, either from that statement which the Lord Himself makes, “Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing;” or from the fact that He called those men debtors who were reported to Him as having been killed, either those on whom the tower fell, or those whose blood…” — editor's note: Matt. v. 26.
Read the whole comment“Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not go out thence, till thou payest the last farthing.”” — editor's note: Matt. v. 25, 26.
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Gregory of Nyssa
“For the Gospel in its teaching distinguishes between a debtor of ten thousand talents and a debtor of five hundred pence, and of fifty pence and of a farthing, which is “the uttermost” of coins; it proclaims that God’s just judgment reaches to all, and enhances the payment necessary as the weight of the debt…” — editor's note: of a farthing. No mention is made of this in the Parable (S. Matt. xviii. 23; S. Luke vii. 41). The “uttermost farthing” of S. Matt. v. 26 does not apply here.
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Cyprian of Carthage
“…“Behold the fowls of heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them: are you not of more value than they?”” — editor's note: Matt. v. 26.
Read the whole comment“Also in the Gospel: “Thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the uttermost farthing.”” — editor's note: Matt. v. 26.
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Lord suffers us at no time to be wanting in peaceableness of temper, and therefore bids us be reconciled to our adversary quickly, while on the road to life, lest we be cast into the season of death before peace…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
The word here in our Latin books is ‘consentiens,’ in Greek, εὐνοῶν, which means, ‘kind,’ ‘benevolent.’
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Let us see who this adversary is to whom we are bid to be benevolent. It may then be either the Devil, or man, or the flesh, or God, or His commandments. But I do not see how we can be bid be benevolent, or agreeing…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Some, from that verse of Peter, “Your adversary the Devil, &c.” [1 Pet 5:8] will have the Saviour’s command to be, that we should be merciful to the Devil, not causing him to endure punishment for our sakes. For as…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
I do not see again how it can be understood of man. For how can man be said to deliver us to the Judge, when we know only Christ as the Judge, before whose tribunal all must be sisted [?]. How then can he deliver to…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
And how can the body be cast into prison if it agree not with the spirit, seeing soul and body must go together, and that the flesh can do nothing but what the soul shall command?
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Perhaps then it is God with whom we are here enjoined to agree. He may be said to be our adversary, because we have departed from Him by sin, and “He resisteth the proud.” Whosoever then shall not have been…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
But from the context the sense is manifest; the Lord is exhorting us to peace and concord with our neighbour; as it was said above, Go, be reconciled to thy brother.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Lord is urgent with us to hasten to make friends with our enemies while we are yet in this life, knowing how dangerous for us that one of our enemies should die before peace is made with us. For if death bring us…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, the adversary delivers you to the Judge, when the abiding of your wrath towards him convicts you.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
by the Judge I understand Christ, for, “the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son;” [John 5:22] and by the officer, or minister, an Angel, for “Angels came and ministered unto Him;” and we believe that He…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
“The officer,” that is, the ministering Angel of punishment, and he shall cast you into the prison of hell.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
By the prison I understand the punishment of the darkness. And that none should despise that punishment, He adds, “Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the very last farthing.”
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
A farthing is a coin containing two mites. What He says then is, ‘Thou shalt not go forth thence till thou hast paid for the smallest sin.’
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or it is an expression to denote that there is nothing that shall go unpunished; as we say ‘To the dregs,’ when we are speaking of any thing so emptied that nothing is left in it. Or by “the last farthing” [margin…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, If you will make your peace yet in this world, you may receive pardon of even the heaviest offences; but if once damned and cast into the prison of hell, punishment will be exacted of you not for grievous sins…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
For because “charity covereth a multitude of sins,” we shall therefore pay the last farthing of punishment, unless by the expense of charity we redeem the fault of our sin.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, the prison is worldly misfortune which God often sends upon sinners.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, He here speaks of the judges of this world, of the way which leads to this judgment, and of human prisons; thus not only employing future but present inducements, as those things which are before the eyes affect…
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Cross-references · 34
Parallel passages
Matthew 5:26 and Luke 12:59 share the same wording (16 words).
Cited together with
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in Against Heresies I.25.
Cited together in Against Heresies I.25.
Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount II.8.
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Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount II.8.
Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount II.8.
Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount II.8.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Against Heresies I.25.
Cited together in John Chrysostom on Matthew 5:25–26 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 42.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount II.8.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 35.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews III.58.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews III.58.
Cited together in Letters Letter 4.
Cited together in Against Heresies I.25.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews III.58.