“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 15. In the clothing of sheep. Beware of hypocrites, with their outward appearance of sanctity, and sound doctrine—by their fruits you shall know them. Such hypocrites can scarcely ever continue constant in the practice of what is good. Worthington.—Heretics usually affect an extraordinary appearance of zeal and holiness, calling themselves evangelical preachers and teachers of the gospel, as if that Church which preceded them, and which descends by an uninterrupted succession from the apostles, did not teach the pure gospel of Christ. A.—Beware of false prophets, or heretics. They are far more dangerous than the Jews, who being rejected by the apostles, are also avoided by Christians, but these having the appearance of Christianity, having churches, sacraments, and so forth and so forth deceive many. These are the rapacious wolves, of whom Saint Paul speaks, Acts 20. Chry. hom. xix. Origen styles them, the gates of death, and the path to hell. Com. in Job. lib. i. Tom. 2.