Verse 11. Elias is come
The present is here put, in the usual manner, for the future or
indefinite, with a word signifying obligation, as Elias ought to come, or
should come (so infra, verse 23, and S. John 21:23). “Should not die;” that
is, would not die, or ought not to die. Christ says that Elias will come. The
followers of Calvin say that what He said about the future coming of Elias is
to be referred to S. John the Baptist, as Christ, indeed, seems to explain in
the verse following. But Christ does not say that Elias has come already, but
that he will come; for His words in the verse following are spoken not of
Elias, who He here says shall come, but of S. John the Baptist, who had come in
the spirit and power of Elias.
From the fact that He speaks of S. John in the past tense, and of
Elias in the future (or He speaks of an appointed time in the present put for
the future), they ought to have concluded that He intended to teach that,
besides John, who had already come in the spirit of Elias, the very true Elias
himself would come hereafter: as also from the words, “he will restore all
things,” which John did not do. Their gloss on John’s having restored all
things, because he preached Christ, who restored all things, is nothing to the
purpose. For in this case all who have preached Christ have restored all
things. But it is clear that Christ opposed Elias to all others, as if he
alone, after Himself, should restore all things. The words appear to be a kind
of paraphrase of Malachi 4:6; or it
may be that Elias is said to be about to restore all things, partly because he
did restore many per se; partly, and
much more, because he was to be the sign of the restitution of all things, that
is, of the consummation of the world, which could not be in the case of John.
The testimony of Malachi, too, is clear (4:5). It is evident that the Prophet
is speaking of the great and terrible day of judgment, before which the
promised Elias was to come. This, therefore, is to be understood not of John,
but of the true Elias. Again, the author of Ecclesiasticus
(48:10), speaking of Elias, and alluding to the testimony of Malachi, says:
“Who are registered in the judgments of time to appease the wrath of the Lord,
to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of
Jacob”. But they say that this is not a canonical book. Granting that it be so,
yet a very ancient tradition is certainly contained in it, which Christ
confirmed in the same words, that the true Elias would restore all things.
Again, S. John in the Apocalypse
(11:3–6) writes so clearly that Moses and Elias would come, that it cannot be
denied with any sense or modesty. “And I will give unto my two witnesses, and
they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in
sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks that stand
before the Lord of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come
out of their mouths, and shall devour their enemies; and if any man will hurt
them, in this manner must he be slain. These have power to shut heaven, that it
rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn
them into blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they
will.”
Who these were he immediately describes. “These have power to shut
heaven.” Who does not see that this is Elias? And, “they have power over
waters”. Who does not see that Moses is pointed out as by the finger? This was
the reason why Moses and Elias, rather than any other of the Prophets, should
be present at the Transfiguration. 1. Christ pleased to show His future coming
visibly to these three Apostles. 2. Because, in His second advent, Moses and
Elias were to be sent before to prepare His way, as John had done at His first
coming. Lastly, this was the opinion of all the Ancients; of Elias it was most
constant, and without any dissentient voice; of Moses it was less constant, for
some thought that he, and others Enoch, would be the witness of the second advent
of the Lord.
The followers of Calvin object that in the following (twelfth) verse
Christ says: “I say unto you that Elias is already come”; and (verse 13): “Then
the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist, and that
John came in the spirit and power of Elias, as the angel testified” (S. Luke 1:17). But we maintain that
Christ did not, therefore, deny, but rather, in plain terms, confirmed the fact
that Elias also would come before His second advent.
But when Christ said, “Elias has come already,” He wished only to
signify that which pertains to the result, that is, to the sign of the first
advent, and to the preaching of repentance (both of which Elias was to do in
the second coming), to show that he had come already, because in the first
coming John had done both. For Malachi said of the second coming: “Behold I
will send you Elias” (4:5), as of the first coming he had said of S. John the
Baptist: “Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face”
(3:1).
Christ, therefore, desired to say that this was not the cause of the
unbelief of the Jews, but their perverseness and obstinacy. For the Elias who
had been promised before His first coming, that is, John, had come as Christ
had declared (supra, 11:14). (John
Maldonatus, A Commentary on the Holy Gospels, 2 vols. [2d ed.; trans.
George J. Davie; Catholic Standard Library; London: John Hodges, 1888], 2:72-75)
