From: Matthew 7:15-20
False Prophets
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
15-20. There are many references in the Old Testament to false prophets; per-
haps the best-known passage is Jeremiah 23:9-40 which condemns the impiety
of those prophets who “prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray”;
“who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own
minds, not from the mouth of the Lord [...]. I did not send the prophets, yet they
ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied”; they “lead my people astray
by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them;
so that they do not profit this people at all.”
In the life of the Church the Fathers see these false prophets, as of whom Jesus
speaks, in heretics, who apparently are pious and reformist but who in fact do not
have Christ’s sentiments (cf. St Jerome, “Comm. in Matth.”, 7). St John Chrysos-
tom applies this teaching to anyone who appears to be virtuous but in fact is not,
and thereby misleads others.
How are false prophets and genuine prophets to be distinguished? By the fruit
they produce. Human nobility and divine inspiration combine to give the things
of God a savor of their own. A person who truly speaks the things of God sows
faith, hope, charity, peace and understanding; whereas a false prophet in the
Church of God, in his preaching and behavior, sows division, hatred, resentment,
pride and sensuality (cf. Gal 5:16-25). However, the main characteristic of a
false prophet is that he separates the people of God from the Magisterium of the
Church, through which Christ’s teaching is declared to the world. Our Lord also
indicates that these deceivers are destined to eternal perdition.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
First reading | 2 Kings 22:8-13,23:1-3 © |
---|
Psalm | Psalm 118:33-37,40 © |
---|
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:18 |
---|
Or | Jn15:4,5 |
---|
Gospel | Matthew 7:15-20 © |
---|