Matthew 15:34–39
From many things Christ shows that he is God. Not least, he also presents this by feeding the crowd in the desert (Matthew 15:34–39) — doing the sign of the loaves, as if somehow unwillingly, because of necessity and how hard food was to get — which he would not have done in a city, where market goods are abundant. Yet though he could have strengthened them by a word through what is unseen, he does not do that; he did the sign of the loaves as clearly showing his God-befitting glory.
Peter did not say, “You are Christ,” or “a son of God,” (Matthew 16:16) but “the Christ, the Son of God.” For there are many christs by grace and who hold the dignity of adoption, but only one is Son of God by nature. That is why, with the article, he said “the Christ, the Son of God.” And by calling him Son of the living God he shows that he himself was life, and death does not lord it over him. For even if for a little the flesh weakened in dying, it rose, since the Word in it could not be held under death’s bonds.
Greek
Ἐκ πολλῶν δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς δείκνυσιν, ὅτι θεός ἐστιν· οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τρέφειν ἐν ἐρήμῳ τὸν ὄχλον τοῦτο παρίστησιν οἱονεί πως καὶ ἄκων διὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην καὶ τὸ τῆς τροφῆς δυσπόριστον ποιῶν τὸ τῶν ἄρτων σημεῖον, ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν ἐποίησεν ἐν πόλει, ὅπου τῶν ὠνίων ἡ ἀφθο νία· πλὴν δυνάμενος λόγῳ κραταιῶσαι αὐτοὺς διὰ τὸ ἀφανὲς τοῦτο οὐ ποιεῖ· τὸ δὲ τῶν ἄρτων ὡς ἐναργῶς δεικνύων τὴν αὐτοῦ θεοπρεπῆ δόξαν ἐποίησεν. Οὐκ εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος· σὺ εἶ Χριστὸς ἢ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ ὁ Οὐκ εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος· σὺ εἶ Χριστὸς ἢ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ· πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ χριστοὶ κατὰ χάριν καὶ υἱοθεσίας ἀξίωμα ἔχοντες, ἀλλὰ μόνος εἷς ὁ φύσει υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. διὸ μετὰ τοῦ ἄρθρου ἔφη ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰπὼν δὲ αὐτὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος δείκνυσιν, ὅτι αὐτὸς ζωὴ ἦν καὶ θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐ κυριεύει. κἂν γὰρ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἡ σὰρξ ἠσθένησεν ἀποθανοῦσα, ἀλλ' ἀνέστη μὴ δυναμένου τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ λόγου ὑπὸ δεσμὰ θανάτου κρατεῖσθαι.
About this text
Catena fragments on Matthew (CPG 5206). Contents follow Matthew chapter and verse. Edition fragment numbers stay in About this text and under each passage.
English follows the named copy-text (Aegean/khazarzar Migne PG 72 extract). Other prints were checked as noted; no silent merge of recensions.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 72 Commentarii in Matthaeum (Aegean Digital Patrologia / khazarzar) (Greek · CPG 5206 catena fragments (290 parsed heads))
- Checked print matia.gr mirror of same Aegean extract (Greek · Byte-identical PDF; integrity check only)
- Checked print Internet Archive PG 72 volume OCR (bim … 1859_72) (Greek (OCR damaged) · Locus confirmation only; not used as reading text)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.