16:16–17 Teaching About the Law and the Prophets and the Kingdom of God
The Good News of God’s Kingdom is Opened Through the Violence of
Christ’s Death and Resurrection. Cyril of Alexandria: He says that Moses
and the company of the holy prophets announced beforehand the meaning of my
mystery to the inhabitants of earth. The law declares by shadows and types that
I should even endure the death of the flesh to save the world and by rising from
the dead abolish corruption. The prophets also spoke words meaning the same as
the writings of Moses. He says, “It is not strange or not known before, that
you reject my words and despise everything that would benefit you. The word of
prophecy concerning you and me extends until the holy Baptist John. From the
days of John, the kingdom of heaven is preached, and everyone takes it by
force.” The kingdom of heaven here means justification by faith, the washing
away of sin by holy baptism, and sanctification by the Spirit. It also means
worshiping in the Spirit, the service that is superior to shadows and types,
the honor of the adoption of children, and the hope of the glory about to be
given to the saints. Commentary on Luke, Homily 110.
Jesus’ Baptism by John. Ephrem the Syrian: The Law and the Prophets
reached as far as John did, but the Messiah is the beginning of the New
Testament. Through baptism, the Lord assumed the justice of the Old Testament
in order to receive the perfection of the anointing and to give it in its fullness
and entirety to his disciples. He ended John’s baptism and the law at the same
time. He was baptized in justice, because he was sinless, but he baptized in
grace because all others were sinners. Through his justice, he dispensed from
the law, and through his baptism, he abolished baptism [of John]. Commentary on
Tatian’s Diatessaron 4.2.
Old Things Pass Away. Tertullian: The Creator promised that old
things would pass away because he said that new things were to arise. Christ
marked the date of that passing, saying, “The law and the prophets were until
John.” He set up John as a boundary stone between the one order and the other,
of old things thereafter coming to an end, and new things beginning. The
apostle necessarily, in Christ revealed after John, also invalidates the old
things while validating the new. His concern is for the faith of no other god
than the Creator under whose authority it was even prophesied that the old
things were to pass away. Against Marcion 5.2.
To Take the Kingdom by Force. Cyril of Alexandria: He says that the
kingdom of heaven is preached. The Baptist stood in the middle saying, “Prepare
the way of the Lord.” He has also shown that he is already near and, as it
were, within the doors, even the true Lamb of God who bears the sin of the
world. Whoever hears and loves the sacred message takes it by force. This means
that he uses all his eagerness and strength in his desire to enter within the
hope. He says in another place, “The kingdom of heaven is taken by violence,
and the violent seize upon it.” Commentary on Luke, Homily 110. (Luke,
ed. Arthur A. Just [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; Downers Grove,
Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2005], 258-59)
