TRV
Tertullian
Ante-Nicene · to AD 325 · 3,450 passages across 56 books
Commentary
Mark 10:35
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
Pray does the emperor in person set forth, or the prefect in person cudgel? One whose ministers do a thing is always said to do it. So "He will baptize you" will have to be understood as standing for, "Through Him," or" Into Him," "you will be baptized.
Mark 10:52
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Now, whether they were baptized in any manner whatever, or whether they continued unbathed to the end-so that even that saying of the Lord touching the "one bath" does, under the person of Peter, merely regard us-still, to determine concerning the salvation of the apostles is audacious enough, because on them the prerogative even of first choice, and thereafter of undivided intimacy, might be able to confer the compendious grace of baptism, seeing they (I think) followed Him who was wont to promise salvation to every believer. "Thy faith," He would say, "hath saved thee; " and, "Thy sins shall be remitted thee," on thy believing, of course, albeit thou be not yet baptized.
Mark 11:17
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
She has none to whom to make such a promise; and if she have had, she does not make it; since even the earthly temple of God can sooner have been called by the Lord a "den of robbers," than of adulterers and fornicators.
Mark 11:30
· 2 passages
The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
The baptism announced by John formed the subject, even at that time, of a question proposed by the Lord himself to the legal experts. It concerned whether John’s baptism was from heaven or from men. They were unable to give a consistent answer. They did not understand because they did not believe.
The baptism announced by John formed the subject, even at that time, of a question, proposed by the Lord Himself indeed to the Pharisees, whether that baptism were heavenly, or truly earthly: about which they were unable to give a consistent answer, inasmuch as they understood not, because they believed not.
Mark 12:17
· 3 passages
And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
We pray for the safety of the emperors to the eternal God, the true, the living God, whom emperors themselves would desire to be benevolent to them, the One who is “above all others who are called gods.” We, looking up to heaven with outstretched hands, because we are harmless, with naked heads, because we are not ashamed, without a prompter, because we pray from the heart, constantly pray for all emperors, that they may have a long life, a secure empire, a safe center of governance, adequate defense, a faithful senate, a well-instructed people, a quiet state—whatever Caesar would wish for himself in his public and private capacity.
That means render the image of Caesar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is imprinted on the person, to God. You give to Caesar only money. But to God, give yourself.
Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons. "The things which are Caesar's are to be rendered to Caesar." It is enough that He set in apposition thereto, "and to God the things which are God's.
Mark 12:18
· 4 passages
Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,
Their specious inquiry concerned the flesh, whether or not it would be subject to marriage after the resurrection; and they assumed the case of a woman who had married seven brothers, so that it was a doubtful point to which of them she should be restored. Now, let the purport both of the question and the answer be kept steadily in view, and the discussion is settled at once.
They put to him the strongest case they could to impair his credibility. They fashioned a contorted argument to pursue the question which they had initiated. Their deceptive inquiry concerned the flesh, whether or not it would be subject to marriage after the resurrection. They assumed the case of a woman who had married seven brothers, so as to make it doubtful as to which of them she should be restored. Now, let the gist both of the question and the answer be kept steadily in view, and the discussion is settled at once in this way: The Sadducees indeed denied the resurrection, while the Lord affirmed it. In affirming it, he reproached them as being both ignorant of the Scriptures—which declare the resurrection—and disbelieving of the power of God as able to raise the dead. He then spoke without ambiguity of the dead being raised.
If, then, forasmuch as there is in the law a precept that a man is to take in marriage the wife of his brother if he have died without children, for the purpose of raising up seed to his brother; and this may happen repeatedly to the same person, according to that crafty question of the Sadducees; men for that reason think that frequency of marriage is permitted in other cases as well: it will be their duty to understand first the reason of the precept itself; and thus they will come to know that that reason, now ceasing, is among those parts of the law which have been cancelled.
Therefore no solicitude arising from carnal jealousy will, in the day of the resurrection, even in the case of her whom they chose to represent as having been married to seven brothers successively, wound any one of her so many husbands; nor is any (husband) awaiting her to put her to confusion. The question raised by the Sadducees has yielded to the Lord's sentence.
Mark 12:23
In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
To Christians, after their departure from this world, no restoration of the carnal aspect of marriage is promised in the day of the resurrection, translated as they will be into the condition and sanctity of angels. In the day of resurrection no dilemma arising from sexual jealousy will injure any of her so many husbands, even in the case of her whom they chose to represent as having been married to seven brothers successively.
Mark 12:24
And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
God; who have restored the honour of their flesh, and who have already dedicated themselves as sons of that (future) age, by slaying in themselves the concupiscence of lust, and that whole (propensity) which could not be admitted within Paradise! Whence it is presumable that such as shall wish to be received within Paradise, ought at last to begin to cease from that thing from which Paradise is intact.
Mark 12:25
· 3 passages
For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
All the more we shall be bound to them [our departed spouses], because we are destined to a better estate, destined to rise to a spiritual partnership. We will recognize both our own selves and those to whom we belong. Else how shall we sing thanks to God to eternity, if there shall remain in us no sense and memory of this relationship? Or if we shall be reformed only materially, but not in consciousness? Consequently, we who are together with God shall remain together.… In eternal life God will no more separate those whom he has joined together than in this life where he forbids them to be separated.
"But if 'in that age they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be equal to angels,' is not the fact that there will be no restitution of the conjugal relation a reason why we shall not be bound to our departed consorts? "Nay, but the more shall we be bound (to them), because we are destined to a better estate-destined (as we are) to rise to a spiritual consortship, to recognise as well our own selves as them who are ours.
With what consistency do we mount that (future) judgment-seat to pronounce sentence against those whose gifts we (now) seek after? For you too, (women as you are, ) have the self-same angelic nature promised as your reward, the self-same sex as men: the self-same advancement to the dignity of judging, does (the Lord) promise you.
Mark 12:28
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
For in this law given to Adam we recognise in embryo all the precepts which afterwards sprouted forth when given through Moses; that is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from thy whole heart and out of thy whole soul; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shall not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; False witness thou shall not utter; Honour thy father and mother; and, That which is another's, shall thou not covet.
Mark 12:31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Are we to paint ourselves out that our neighbours may perish? Where, then, is (the command), "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself? " "Care not merely about your own (things), but (about your) neighbour's? " No enunciation of the Holy Spirit ought to be (confined) to the subject immediately in hand merely, and not applied and carried out with a view to every occasion to which its application is useful.
Mark 12:32
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Accordingly, God's judgment will be more full and complete, because it will be pronounced at the very last, in an eternal irrevocable sentence, both of punishment and of consolation, (on men whose) souls are not to transmigrate into beasts, but are to return into their own proper bodies. And all this once for all, and on "that day, too, of which the Father only knoweth; " (only knoweth, ) in order that by her trembling expectation faith may make full trial of her anxious sincerity, keeping her gaze ever fixed on that day, in her perpetual ignorance of it, daily fearing that for which she yet daily hopes.