chapter five
man “to do the law and the prophets,” and Jesus’ subsequent reply to
the man makes it clear that the law and the prophets also include the
commandment of love.
None of the synoptic gospelsmentions the law and the prophetsin this
connection but the phrase has a central position in the symbolic world of
Matthew’s gospel where it is closely connected to the love commandment.
The editorial verse Matt : closes the middle section of the Sermon on
the Mount: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you;
for this is thelaw and the prophets.” Furthermore, the same expression
appears as the editor’s addition in Jesus’ answer in the Lawyer’s Question,
Matt :– (cf. Mark :–; Luke :–): “He said to him, ‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And
a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these
two commandments hang allthe law and the prophets” (trans. NRSV).
Matthew makes it very clear that the concept of the law and the prophets
is tied to the love commandment. Because Origen’s passage makes the
same connection, it is possible that its author was familiar with one of
the key convictions of Matthew’s symbolic world.
To be sure, although the term “the law and the prophets” has a more
central role in Matthew’s theology than in the other synoptics, Matthew is
not the only one who uses it. The phrase is also in Luke (and originally in
Q; cf. Luke : and Matt :), although not so closely tied with the
love commandment. As a matter of fact, the convergence of Matthean
and Lukan usages of the term “the law and the prophets” in theDiates-
saronoffers the best explanation for its appearance in Origen’s passage.
Understandably, this assumption will be justified only if it can be proved
below that Origen’s passage depends not only on Matthew but also on
Luke and on Diatessaronic traditions.^17
Luke
There are two interesting similarities between Luke’s version of the story
and the one in Origen’s commentary.
First, in the beginning of the passage, both Luke’s and Origen’s passages
use a participle form of the verb “do” (πι8σαςin Luke;faciensin Origen’s
quotation). The same participial construction can also be found in the
(^17) We may also note that in contrast to Mark and Luke and in accordance with Origen’s
passage, the proper name “Jesus” is not mentioned in the introduction to Jesus’ answer
in the beginning of the verse Matt :, but very little can be built on this.