Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.

But first He was led to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, as John says, then to Caiaphas, as Matthew says, but Mark and Luke do not give the name of the High Priest. (ut sup.) What ails thee, Peter, thy voice is suddenly changed? That mouth full of faith and love, is turned to hatred and unbelief. Not yet awhile is the scourge applied, not yet the instruments of torture. Thy interrogator is no one of authority, who might cause alarm to the confessor. The mere voice of a woman asks the question, and she perhaps not about to divulge thy confession, nor yet a woman, but a door-keeper, a mean slave. (de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 6.) And it is supposed that in the second denial he was addressed by two persons, namely, by the maid whom Matthew and Mark mention, and by another whom Luke speaks of. With respect then to what Luke here relates, And after a little while, &c. Peter had already gone out of the gate, and the cock had crowed the first time, as Mark says; and now he had returned, that, as John says, he might again deny standing by the fire. Of which denial it follows, And Peter sa…

But first He was led to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, as John says, then to Caiaphas, as Matthew says, but Mark and Luke do not give the name of the High Priest.

(ut sup.) What ails thee, Peter, thy voice is suddenly changed? That mouth full of faith and love, is turned to hatred and unbelief. Not yet awhile is the scourge applied, not yet the instruments of torture. Thy interrogator is no one of authority, who might cause alarm to the confessor. The mere voice of a woman asks the question, and she perhaps not about to divulge thy confession, nor yet a woman, but a door-keeper, a mean slave.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 6.) And it is supposed that in the second denial he was addressed by two persons, namely, by the maid whom Matthew and Mark mention, and by another whom Luke speaks of. With respect then to what Luke here relates, And after a little while, &c. Peter had already gone out of the gate, and the cock had crowed the first time, as Mark says; and now he had returned, that, as John says, he might again deny standing by the fire. Of which denial it follows, And Peter said, Man, I am not.

(de Con. Ev. ut sup.) What Matthew and Mark call after a little while, Luke explains by saying, about the space of one hour after; but with regard to the space of time, John says nothing. Likewise when Matthew and Mark record not in the singular but in the plural number those who conversed with Peter, while Luke and John speak of one, we may easily suppose either that Matthew and Mark used the plural for the singular by a common form of speech, or that one person in particular addressed Peter, as being the one who had seen him, and that others trusting to his credit joined in pressing him. But now as to the words which Matthew asserts were said to Peter himself, Truly thou art one of them, for thy speech bewrayeth thee; as also those which to the same Peter John declared to have been said, Did not I see thee in the garden? whereas Mark and Luke state that they spoke to one another concerning Peter; we either believe that they held the right opinion who say that they were really addressed to Peter; (for what was said concerning him in his presence amounts to the same as if it had been said to him;) or that they were said in both ways, and that some of the Evangelists related them one way, some the other.

(ut sup.) The cock-crow we understand to have been after the third denial of Peter, as Mark has expressed it.

Luke 22:61 · 2 passages

And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

When fear overwhelmed him, as the Lord had predicted, he three times denies the one for whom he promised to die. As it says, “The Lord looked at him and he, for his part, wept bitterly.” Remembrance of his denial was necessarily bitter, so that the grace of redemption might be even more sweet. If Christ had not left him to himself, he would not have denied. If Christ had not looked at him, he would not have wept. God hates people relying presumptuously on their own powers. Like a doctor, he lances this swollen tumor in those whom he loves. By lancing it, of course, he inflicts pain, but he also ensures health later. When he rises again, the Lord entrusts his sheep to Peter, to that one who denied him. Peter denied him because he relied on himself, but later Peter would feed his flock as a pastor, because he loved him. After all, why does he ask him three times about his love, if not to prick his conscience about his threefold denial?

How we should understand this, requires some careful consideration; for Matthew says, Peter was sitting without in the hall, which he would not have said unless the transaction relating to our Lord were passing within. Likewise also, where Mark said, And as Peter was beneath in the hall, he shows that the things he had been speaking of took place not only within but in the upper part. How then did our Lord look upon Peter? not with His bodily face, since Peter was without in the hall among those who were warming themselves, while these things were going on in the inner part of the house. Wherefore, that looking upon Peter seems to me to have been done in a divine manner. And as it was said, Look thou, and hear me, (Ps. 13:3.) and, Turn and deliver my soul, (Ps. 6:4.) so I think the expression here used, The Lord turned and looked upon Peter.

Luke 22:62 · 2 passages

And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

To wash away the sin of denial, Peter needed the baptism of tears. From where would he get this, unless the Lord gave him this too? That is why the apostle Paul gave this advice to his people concerning deviant opinions and about how they should deal with them. He said they must be “correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth.” So even repentance is a gift from God. The heart of the proud is hard ground. It is softened for repentance only if it is rained on by God’s grace.

By saying that Peter did penance, we have to take care not to think that he did it as those who are properly called penitents now do it in the church. Who could bear it that we should think the first of the apostles was numbered among such penitents? He repented of having denied Christ, as his tears show, for so it is written, "he wept bitterly." They had not yet been strengthened by the resurrection of the Lord, the coming of the Holy Spirit who appeared on the day of Pentecost, or by that breath which the Lord breathed on them after he rose from the dead.

Luke 22:63-65

And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 7.) The temptation of Peter which took place between the mockings of our Lord is not related by all the Evangelists in the same order. For Matthew and Mark first mention those, then Peter's temptation; but Luke has first described the temptations of Peter, then the mockings of our Lord, saying, And the men that held Jesus mocked him, &c.

Luke 22:66-71

And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,

(de Con. Ev. ut sup.) Now our Lord is supposed to have suffered these things until morning in the house of the High Priest, to which He was first led. Hence it follows, And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? &c.

Luke 23:1

And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 7.) Luke, after he had finished relating the denial of Peter, recapitulated all that took place concerning our Lord during the morning, mentioning some particulars which the others omitted; and so he has composed his narrative, giving a similar account with the rest, when he says, And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him to Pilate, &c.

Luke 23:2-5

And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

(lib. iii. c. 8.) He next relates what happens before Pilate, as follows, And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting our nation, &c. Matthew and Mark do not give this, though affirming that they accused Him, but Luke has laid open the very charges which they falsely brought against Him.

Luke 23:13

And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

Luke returns to those things which were going on before the governor, from which He had digressed in order to relate what took place with Herod; saying as follows, And Pilate, when he had called, &c. from which we infer, that he has omitted the part wherein Pilate questioned our Lord what He had to answer to His accusers.

Luke 23:26

And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 10.) But John relates that Jesus bore His own cross, from which is understood that He was Himself carrying His cross, when He went forth to that place which is called Calvary; but as they journeyed Simon was forced into the service on the road, and the cross was given him to carry as far as that place.

Luke 23:33

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

(de Gr. Nov. Test. Ep. 140.) For not without reason did He choose this kind of death, in order that He might be the master of breadth and length, and heighth and depth. For breadth lies in that cross piece of wood which is fastened from above. This belongs to good works, because on it the hands are outstretched. Length lies in that which is seen reaching from the former piece to the ground, for there in a certain manner we stand, that is, abide firm or persevere. And this is applied to longsuffering. Heighth is in that piece of wood which is left reaching upwards from that which is fixed across, that is, to the head of the Crucified; for the expectation of those who hope for better things is upward. Again, that part of the wood which is fixed hidden in the ground, signifies the depth of unrestrained grace.

Luke 23:34 · 5 passages

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 12.) This matter indeed was briefly related by the three first Evangelists, but John more distinctly explains how it was done.

You are a Christian. You carry the cross of Christ on your forehead. The mark stamped on you teaches you what you should profess. He was hanging on the cross, which you carry on your forehead. Do not delight in the sign of the wood but in the sign of the one hanging on it. When he was hanging on the cross, he was looking around at the people raving against him, putting up with their insults and praying for his enemies. While they were killing him, the doctor was curing the sick with his blood. He said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” These words were not futile or without effect. Later, thousands of those people believed in the one they murdered, so that they learned how to suffer for him who had suffered for them and at their hands.Brothers and sisters, we should understand this from this sign, from this stamp that Christians receive even when they become catechumens. From this, we should understand why we are Christians.

So, brothers and sisters, let us learn above all from the example of this martyr [Stephen] how to love our enemies. We have just had the example given us of God the Father, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad. The Son of God also said this after receiving his flesh, through the mouth of the flesh which he received for love of his enemies. After all, he came into the world as a lover of his enemies, he found absolutely all of us his enemies, he didn’t find anyone a friend. It was for enemies that he shed his blood, but by his blood that he converted his enemies. With his blood he wiped out his enemies’ sins; by wiping out their sins, he made friends out of enemies. One of these friends was Stephen, or rather, is and will be. Yet the Lord himself was the first to show on the cross what his instructions were. With the Jews, you see, howling at him from all sides, furious, mocking, jeering, crucifying him, he could still say, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing; after all, it is blindness that is crucifying me.” Blindness was crucifying him, and…

So, brothers and sisters, let us learn above all from the example of this martyr [Stephen] how to love our enemies. We have just had the example given us of God the Father, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad. The Son of God also said this after receiving his flesh, through the mouth of the flesh which he received for love of his enemies. After all, he came into the world as a lover of his enemies, he found absolutely all of us his enemies, he didn’t find anyone a friend. It was for enemies that he shed his blood, but by his blood that he converted his enemies. With his blood he wiped out his enemies’ sins; by wiping out their sins, he made friends out of enemies. One of these friends was Stephen, or rather, is and will be. Yet the Lord himself was the first to show on the cross what his instructions were. With the Jews, you see, howling at him from all sides, furious, mocking, jeering, crucifying him, he could still say, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing; after all, it is blindness that is crucifying me.” Blindness was crucifying him, and the crucified was making an eye-salve for them from his blood.But people who are reluctant to carry out the precept, eager to get the reward, who don’t love their enemies but do their best to avenge themselves on them, don’t pay any attention to the Lord, who would have had nobody left to praise him if he had wanted to avenge himself on his enemies. So when they hear this place in the Gospel, where the Lord says on the cross, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing,” they say to themselves, He could do that as the Son of God, as the only Son of the Father. Yes, it was flesh hanging there, but God was hidden within. As for us, though, what are we to do that sort of thing?
So didn’t he really mean it when he gave this order? Perish the thought; he certainly meant it. If you think it is asking too much of you to imitate your Lord, look at Stephen your fellow servant.…
So Stephen loved his enemies. I mean, while he stood up to pray for himself, he knelt down for them. Clearly he fulfilled what had been written. He proved to be a true imitator of the Lord’s passion and a perfect disciple of Christ, completing in his own passion what he had heard from the Master. The Lord, you see, while hanging on the cross had said, “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” And the blessed Stephen, when he was already almost buried under the stones, spoke like this: “Lord Jesus, do not hold this sin against them.” Oh, what an apostolic man, already from being a disciple become a master! It was necessary, after all, for the first martyr of Christ to follow the teaching of the Master. He prays for the godless, he prays for blasphemers, he prays for those who are stoning him.

Look at the Lord who did precisely what he commanded. After so many things the godless Jews committed against him, repaying him evil for good, did he not say as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing”? He prayed as man, and as God with the Father, he heard the prayer. Even now he prays in us, for us and is prayed to by us. He prays in us as our high priest. He prays for us as our head. He is prayed to by us as our God. When he was praying as he hung on the cross, he could see and foresee. He could see all his enemies. He could foresee that many of them would become his friends. That is why he was interceding for them all. They were raging, but he was praying. They were saying to Pilate “Crucify,” but he was crying out, “Father, forgive.” He was hanging from the cruel nails, but he did not lose his gentleness. He was asking for pardon for those from whom he was receiving such hideous treatment.

Let me now tell you something that will help you believe what you cannot possibly understand unless you believe. Tell me, how many souls were there, in the Acts of the Apostles, who believed when they observed the miracles of the apostles? I mean those Jews who had crucified the Lord, who brought along blood stained hands, who had sacrilegious ears, whose tongues were compared with a sword. “Their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” Christ had not prayed for them in vain. He did not say in vain, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” From their number, a very great many believed. As we can read, “There believed on that day,” as it says, “three thousand souls.” There you have thousands of souls, and here so many thousand souls. The Holy Spirit came on them, through whom loved is poured out in our hearts.

Luke 23:35

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

(ubi sup.) Having mentioned the rulers, and said nothing of the priests, St. Luke comprehended under a general name all the chief men, so that hereby may be understood both the scribes and the elders.

Luke 23:43

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

“Recognize to whom you are commending yourself. You believe I am going to come, but even before I come, I am everywhere. That is why, although I am about to descend into hell, I have you with me in paradise today. You are with me and not entrusted to someone else. You see, my humility has come down to mortal human beings and to the dead, but my divinity has never departed from paradise.”

Luke 23:44-46

And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 17.) What is here said of the darkness, the other two Evangelists, Matthew and Mark, confirm, but St. Luke adds the cause whence the darkness arose, saying, And the sun was darkened.

(de Civ. Dei, l. iii. c. 15.) This darkening of the sun it is quite plain did not happen in the regular and fixed course of the heavenly bodies, because it was then the Passover, which is always celebrated at the full moon. But a regular eclipse of the sun does not take place except at new moon.