Matthew 25:46

Ver 46. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Aug., de Fid. et Op. 15: Some deceive themselves, saying, that the fire indeed is called everlasting, but not the punishment. This the Lord foreseeing, sums up His sentence in these words.

Origen: Observe that whereas He put first the invitation, "Come, ye blessed," and after that, "Depart, ye cursed," because it is the property of a merciful God to record the good deeds of the good, before the bad deeds of the bad; He now reverses the order, describing first the punishment of the wicked, and then the life of the good, that the terrors of the one may deter us from evil, and the honour of the other incite us to good.

Greg., Mor. xv, 19: If he who has not given to others is visited with so heavy a punishment, what shall he get who is convicted of having robbed others of their own. Aug., City of God, book xix, ch. 11: Eternal life is our chief good, and the end of the city of God, of which the Apostle speaks, "And the end everlasting life." [Romans 6:22] But because eternal life might be understood by those who are not well versed in Holy Scripture, to mean also the life of the wicked, because of the immortality of their souls, or because of the endless torments of the wicked; therefore we must call the end of this City in which the chief good shall be attained, either peace in life eternal, or life eternal in peace, that it may be intelligible to all.

Aug., de Trin. i, 8: That which the Lord spoke to His servant Moses, "I am that I am," [Exodus 3:14] this we shall contemplate when we shall live in eternity. For thus the Lord speaks, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true [p. 869] God. [John 17:3] This contemplation is promised to us as the end of all action, and the eternal perfection of our joys, of which John speaks, "We shall see him as he is." [1 John 3:2]

Jerome: Let the thoughtful reader observe that punishments are eternal, and that that continuing life has thenceforward no fear of fall.

Greg., Mor xxxiv, 19: They say that He held out empty terrors to deter them from sin. We answer, if He threatened falsely to check unrighteousness, then He promised falsely to promote good conduct. Thus while they go out of the way to prove God merciful, they are not afraid to charge Him with fraud. But, they urge, finite sin ought not to be visited with infinite punishment; we answer, that this argument would be just, if the righteous Judge considered men's actions, and not their hearts. Therefore it belongs to the righteousness of an impartial Judge, that those whose heart would never be without sin in this life, should never be without punishment.

Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 11: And the justice of no law is concerned to provide that the duration of each man's punishment should be the same with the sin which drew that punishment upon him. There never was any man, who held that the torment of him, who committed a murder or adultery, should be compressed within the same space of time as the commission of the act. And when for any enormous crime a man is punished with death, does the law estimate his punishment by the delay that takes place in putting him to death, and not rather by this, that they remove him for ever from the society of the living? And fines, disgrace, exile, slavery, when they, are inflicted without any hopes of mercy, do they not seem like eternal punishments in proportion to the length of this life? They are only therefore not eternal, because the life which suffers them is not itself eternal.

But they say, How then is that true which Christ says, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," [Matthew 7:2] if temporal sin is punished with eternal pain? They do not observe that this is said with a view, not to the equality of the period of time, but of the retribution of evil, i.e. that he that has done evil should suffer evil. Man was made worthy of everlasting evil, because he destroyed in himself that good which might have eternal.

Greg.: But they Say, no just man takes pleasure in cruelties, and the guilty servant was scourged to correct his fault. But when the wicked are given over to hell fire, to what purpose shall they burn there for ever? We reply, that Almighty God, seeing He is good, does not delight in the torments of the wretched; but forasmuch as He is righteous, He ceases not from taking vengeance on the wicked; yet do the wicked burn not without some purpose, namely, that the righteous may acknowledge how they are debtors for eternity to Divine grace, when they see the wicked suffering for eternity misery, which themselves have escaped only by the assistance of that Divine grace.

Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 3: But, they assert, nobody can be at once capable of suffering pain, and incapable of death. It must be that one live in pain, but it need not be that pain kill him; for not even these mortal bodies die from every pain; but the reason that some pain causes their death is, that the connection between the soul and our present body is such that it gives way to extreme pain. But then the soul shall be united to such a body, and in such a way, that no pain shall be able to overcome the connection. There will not then be no death, but an everlasting death, the soul being unable to live, as being without God, and equally unable to rid itself of the pains of body by dying. Among these impugners of the eternity of punishment, Origen is the most merciful, who believed that the Devil himself and his Angels, after sufferings proportioned to their deserts, and a long endurance, should be delivered from those torments, and associated with the holy Angels.

But for these and other things he was not undeservedly rebuked by the Church, because even his seeming mercy was thrown away, making for the saints real pains in which their sins were to be expiated, and fictitious blessedness, if the joys of the good were not to be secure and endless.

In quite another way does the mercy of others err through their humane sympathies, who think that the sufferings of those men who are condemned by this sentence will be temporal, but that the happiness of those who are set free sooner or later will be eternal. Why does their charity extend to the whole race of man, but dries up when they come to the angelic race?

Greg.: But they say, How can they be called Saints, if they shall not pray for their enemies whom they see then burning? They do indeed pray for their enemies so long as there is any possibility of converting their hearts to a profitable penitence, but how shall they pray for them when any change from their wickedness is no longer possible?

Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 19, 20, &c.: So some there are who hold out liberation from punishment not to all men, but to those only who have been washed in Christ's Baptism, and have been partakers of His Body, let them have lived as they will; because of that which the Lord speaks, "If any man eat of this bread, he shall not die eternally." [John 6:51] Again, others promise this not to all who have Christ's sacrament, but to Catholics only, however ill their lives, who have eaten Christ's Body, not in sacrament only, but in verity, (inasmuch as they are set in the Church, which is His Body,) even though they should afterwards have fallen into heresy or idolatry of the Gentiles.

And others again, because of what is written above, "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved," [Matt 24:!3] promise this only to those who persevere in the Catholic Church, that by the worthiness of their foundation, that is, of their faith, they shall be saved by fire. All these the Apostle opposes when he says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, uncleanness, fornication, and the like; of which I tell you before, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Whoever in his heart prefers temporal things to Christ, Christ is not his foundation, though he seem to have the faith of Christ. How much more then is he, who has committed things unlawful, convicted of not preferring Christ, but preferring other things to Him? I have also met with some who thought that only those would burn in eternal torments who neglected to give alms proportioned to their sins; and for this reason they think that the Judge Himself here mentions nothing else that He shall make enquiry of, but of the giving or not giving alms. But whoso gives alms worthily for his sins, first begins with himself; for it were unmeet that he should not do that to himself which be does to others when be has heard the words of God, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," [Matthew 22:39] and hears likewise, "Be merciful to thy soul in pleasing God?" [Ecclesiastes 30:24]

He then who does not to his own soul this alms of pleasing God, how can he be said to give alms meet for his sins? Why we are to give alms thenis only that when we pray for mercy for sins past, we may be heard; not that we may purchase thereby license for continuing in sin.

And the Lord forewarns us that He will put alms done on the right hand, and on the left alms not done, to shew us how mighty are alms to do away former sins, not to give impunity to a continuance in sin.

Origen: Or, It is not one kind of righteousness only that is rewarded, as many think. In whatsoever matters any one does Christ's commands, be gives Christ meat and drink, Who feeds ever upon the truth and righteousness of His faithful people. So do we weave raiment for Christ when cold, when taking wisdom's web, we inculcate upon others, and put upon them bowels of mercy. Also when we make ready with divers virtues our heart for receiving Him, or those who are His, we take Him in a stranger into the home of our bosom. Also when we visit a brother sick either in faith or in good works, with doctrine, reproof, or comfort, we visit Christ Himself. Moreover, all that is here, is the prison of Christ, and of them that are His, who live in this world, as though chained in the prison of natural necessity. When we do a good work to these, we visit them in prison, and Christ in them.